London, England

I flew to England for vacation for a couple of weeks, February 25–March 12, 1990, but only took photos on a few days.

Wednesday, February 28: This was my first day of sightseeing. I went to see the Horse Guards. Men came out on horseback, and stood around a few minutes. The horses relieved themselves, and moved around a bit in some slow, inexplicable procession. After about 15 minutes of this, I left.

I continued down the street and passed Parliament and Big Ben, and went to Westminster Abbey.

The overall architecture of Westminster Abbey was spectacular, with the columns soaring up toward the ceiling far overhead. I found the interior decoration to be overdone. Every column, every wall, every altar, the ceiling, even the floor was decorated with marble, paint, gold, etc., so that (to me, at least), it was too overwhelming to be enjoyable. There were a large number of tombstones and memorial plaques, some marking graves and others only memorials. Many are set in the floor, and people walk over them rather than around them, with some of the older stones being so worn as to be unreadable. I would have thought they would replace these stones every century or so, but apparently the people, though once famous, eventually suffer the same fate as us common folk, whose tombstones are left outside in the elements to weather and fade to oblivion. There was no admission charge to the front part of Westminster Abbey, but they charged £2 ($3.47) to see the Royal Chapels, which were even more ornate than the rest of the building. Photography was also forbidden at the Abbey and at many other tourist sites, which is one reason I took so few photographs on this trip.

After Westminster Abbey and lunch, I went to the Tate Gallery, where I spent a couple of hours. I caught a bus, for which my Travelcard was also good, and rode back to Trafalgar Square, and then walked over to Buckingham Palace.

The only part of the Palace open to the public is the Queen's art gallery, so I wanted to go there — not so much to see the art, as to see what I could of the Palace — but naturally, it was closed for two or three weeks while they changed exhibits.

Thursday, March 1, 1990: I went to the Tower of London in the morning. Admission was £4.80 ($8.33), and included a short tour by a yeoman. The crown jewels were probably the most interesting thing to see there, and I wasn't that impressed because they were just huge jewels that people had put on scarabs and diadems. I am more impressed when I see a piece of jewelry that has very intricate and detailed workmanship than by looking at natural wonders like million carat diamonds. The yeoman told us about all the famous people who had been imprisoned and executed there, just because someone didn't like them, and that there were thousands of commoners who disappeared there without a proper accounting; for a supposedly civilized people, the English sure sounded like barbarians.

I then walked to St. Paul's cathedral, and I liked it much better than Westminster Abbey, as it was not overdecorated. The famous Whispering Gallery could be visited for a £2 admission charge, but my legs were very tired from all the walking I was doing, and I didn't feel up to the long climb up to it. I noticed that a priest got in an elevator to ride up, but he used a key, so I guess non-clergy had to walk up the stairs. Anyway, from below, one could look up all the way past the Whispering Gallery and the higher gallery to the domed ceiling, so I think I saw everything, just not from every angle.

Friday, March 2, 1990: I visited Richmond Park, which I read had giant oaks and herds of deer running free. I walked up a long hill, which provided nice views of the countryside.

Entering the park, the road forked, and I went right to make a counterclockwise circumnavigation. The park certainly had quite a few giant old oaks, but they were dormant. There were a few that were toppled over, perhaps due to the recent gales.

Saturday, March 3, 1990: In the afternoon, I traveled downtown and went to the British Museum. I walked through it for about three hours, stopping to admire and study many objects, and I took a few photographs. I thought the most impressive articles were the Assyrian wall engravings, which ran the length of a long room.

Sunday, March 4, 1990: My mother's first cousin, Salo, and his wife, Frances, took me to Milton Keynes, to meet their son, Tony, along with his wife Meg and their two kids. Tony was very knowledgeable about the history of the town and its buildings, and was a pretty good tour guide. [Milton Keynes was built as a planned "new town" starting in the 1960s-70s, and it deliberately absorbed several older historic villages within its boundaries rather than replacing them.] We walked through a sheep farm, and saw a few baby lambs.

This was a cool-looking little boat, but I learned there's an entire story behind it. It's called a narrowboat, and it's designed to be narrow enough to fit through the 7' wide locks of canals in the United Kingdom.

On the way back to London, we drove by Harrow, where they have a fancy boy's school, and I took a few pictures of some nice buildings and some nice views from a big hill. While there were a few hills in England, I would describe most of the terrain as being flat, at least compared to Birmingham.

Monday, March 5, 1990: I traveled to Windsor to see Windsor Castle. At the castle, I visited St. George's chapel, as well as the Queen's State Apartments, the only active royal residence in the country that is open to the public. I think the only other thing to see there was the Queen's dollhouse, which I decided I could live without. St. George's chapel cost £2 ($3.47) to visit, and featured beautiful stained-glass windows. Once again, photographs were not allowed, but I surreptitiously took a couple of shots from chest level.

The admission to the State Apartments was £2.50 ($4.38), and was well worth it, as I began to get some idea of the Queen's wealth by walking through these finely decorated rooms, featuring rich tapestries, beautiful carpets, hand-carved furniture, painted ceilings, crystal chandeliers, suits of armor, displays of weaponry, etc. I remember one room had a small glass case containing a samurai sword, with a plaque noting that it had been surrendered to Lord Mountbatten at the end of World War II, and that he had passed it on to King George. The plaque also mentioned who had made the sword, and when — I believe it was made in the 1400's. The sword alone was no doubt worth a fortune, and it was only one small item in a corner of one room of the Windsor State Apartments, and the Queen has many residences.