More of London

Sunday, May 20/12 We arrived in Venice this morning by sleeper train from Paris. I’ll back-track to Wednesday, however, as I have not been able to keep up with the blog/journal each day due to the press of events and to the scarcity of good internet connections. The weather last Wednesday was considerably happier than had been that of the previous day. It was sunny and mild, raining for only a brief period in the late afternoon. We took advantage of the day to get about in London, beginning after breakfast with a trip to the Eye on the embankment across from Westminster pier. This gigantic Ferris-wheel with its individually enclosed capsules towers over the London skyline. The prime tourist season has not yet arrived – as it must in the next few weeks with the Queen’s diamond jubilee and then the Olympics – so we were able to buy our tickets and go aboard with only about ½ hour’s wait. About 20 people filled our capsule but there was room for all to maneuver about the cabin, moving from side to side to enjoy the views and take photos as we ascended and then gradually descended in our great arc about the central wheel. The Eye rarely ceases motion; rather, one boards and disembarks as one’s capsule slowly moves across the boarding lane. The view is marvelous; all of London’s attractions can be seen from on-high. The sensation is most magical. Afterwards we visited the close-by MacDonald’s for quite tasty chicken sandwiches and the kiosk next to it for London’s version of gelato. Back over Westminster bridge we purchased tickets for a boat trip on the Thames from Westminster to the Tower of London. The boat was fairly crowded and we were not seated close to the edge so Emily moved about as she spied various buildings that caught her attention, taking photos with her omnipresent cell phone. Entering the Tower, we joined a group being toured and lectured by a “Beefeater,” a burly chap with a macabre sense of humor, who told a succession of jokes against the Americans in the crowd and a series of stories about the executions which took place over the centuries at that locale. It was pretty entertaining though Emily was not cheered by his tales of gore. After his tour we were able to visit the area where the crown jewels are kept, seeing particularly all of those that the kings, queens and princes have worn on state occasions over the centuries. In the White Tower, the original keep built about 1087, soon after the Norman invasion and conquest, was a multi-storied display of weapons, including mailed riders on horseback readied for battle. Emily took many photos, certain that her dad and Theoren would share her interest in the swords and musketry. From the Tower we walked north up Tower Hill to Seething Lane, the street where Pepys and his wife Elizabeth lived for about 14 years while he held the position of the Clerk of the Acts of the Royal Navy. Close by their residence (destroyed by fire about 10 years after the Great Fire of London in 1666) is St Olave’s church where they attended services and where both have been buried. The church and its courtyard were open so Emily and I paid a visit, stopping to view the sculpted bust of Elizabeth which Pepys had commissioned after her early death at age 29.

After this following of the footsteps of Pepys, we purchased supper things and headed back to our digs for an early evening.