Thursday (1/17). Coach section in morning flight was practically empty, perhaps fewer than 40 passengers. The most important factor in a pleasant flight is an empty seat next to you: no problems today. Towards the end of the flight, pilot announced there was only one runway in use, and after we landed, he was referring to an incident resulting in severe gridlock on the tarmac. We still got to our gate pretty fast, customs was also quite empty. Took less than 90 minutes between landing and knocking on Anne's door. Turns out the cause of the delay was the Beijing to London flight which lost power to both Boeing 777 Rolls-Royce engines; pilot landed on the lawn, 13 people were hurt during the evacuation – could have been a huge disaster. Hotel was Millennium Grosvenor Square (Mayfair), notorious for where the Russian spy was poisoned with radiation.
Friday (1/18). Went to see the National Geographic King Tut exhibit at O2 (which used to be called the Millennium dome). We had no trouble getting admissions tickets (GP20 per person). There were 130 articfacts from King Tut's tomb. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I didn't find the exhibition particularly impressive, nor was it that informative. A good exhibit would have the audience leave with a much greater understanding of the subject. I did learn how the name Tut-ankh-amum came about, and learned a few facts about the Pharoh. But beyond that, not much. I would like to know why the find was significant (beyond the fact that it was intact), and did Tut's reforms (he “un-united” the religion, which his father united at great social cost) help or hurt Egypt? We didn't even get to see the mask that is so much associated with Tut – at least have a replica, rather than just sell tiny trinkets in the shop. Stayed at the Shaftesbury Premier London Paddington close to the train station. Area quite nice, but room was very small.
Concert at St. Martin-in-the Fields. Concert of Baroque (mostly) chamber music by the Belmont Ensemble of London. I will write about this in my music blog. The church is one of the oldest in London, and is right next to Trafalgar Square. It is under renovation.
Saturday (1/19). Stopped by the British Museum and got tickets for 10:10 pm entrance to “The First Emperor” Exhibit. They have 500 same-day tickets on sale every day, a good thing we didn't get there too late. Toured the Egyptian halls where the collection (which one could view for free) is much more impressive than the King Tut one we saw yesterday.
Temple Church. Not too many people knew about this church until it was part of the plot in the book “Da Vinci Code.” It turns out the Temple was running an open house to commerorate the 400th anniversary of their charter (I think). The inner and intermediate temples are training schools for barristers, and the Temple Church is a functional church. The Master (Vicar) gave a short talk on the history, which started when the Knights Templer were protecting crusaders in the 12th century. In the round church there are several effigies of knights and a couple of royalties (Dukes of Pembroke) who died in the early 13th century.
Inside the Temple Church. These guys have been buried for centuries.
“A Lil Beethoven” at Royal Festival Hall. See music blog.
British Museum: “The Last Emperor.” This is touted as the biggest exhibit of terra cotta statues outside of China. It may well be; but it is puny compared to the display in Xian, China, which I saw quite a few years ago. I think there are 15 or so statues in the display. They do provide a much better context of what one is seeing; of course I have found Chinese museums to have placards for the displays that tell you absolutely nothing. E.g., the would put the word “vase” in front of a vase (well, at least I find it just about that informative.) People seem to know where the tomb of Emperor Qin is but don't think the government will grant permission to dig. This sort of sensitivity escapes me, especially for someone who lived 3000 years ago. A few tidbits I didn't know: Qin unified the written language and the characters haven't changed all that much during the years; the terra cotta soldiers were between 6' and 6'10” tall, and thus taller than the actualy people at that time. I had always thought they were ¾ size. Being able to get close and see the impressive details was quite interesting, though.
Outside the British Museum.
Sunday (1/20). We took the 11 am train from Charing Cross to Dover to see the Castle. It was about a 30 minute walk from the train station to the Castle entrance, quite a bit of that uphill. We spent altogether about 3 hours at the Castle. Dover is situated at the Eastern end of England, and has always been a main defense point (up through the cold war). The oldest structure in the Castle is a lighthouse (Pharos) during the Roman times. Now it is inhabited by pigeons (including a few dead ones). It is still impressive after a couple of thousand years. Next to it is a church (Castro) which is still in use. The medieval tunnels are quite impressive, it is like a maze, I am surprised tourists don't get lost in there. The keep was built in the 12th century, it is an impressive and imposing building. The 12-minute “1216 siege” illustrated how the Burgh fended off Prince John of France. We joined the 1-hour tour of the World War II tunnels with its annexe, bastien (?), casemate, dumpy, esplanade, etc, quite informative. In 10 days or so 340,000 soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk. I can't imagine the logistics associated with this, and how the arriving soldiers must have overwhelmed the small town. Had we had more time, I am sure we would have enjoyed a hike along the white cliffs, which we caught glimpses of every now and then. It was windy, though. Forecast said 35 mph. The seas beyond the breakwaters looked pretty angry. However, the rain never came. Indeed for most of the trip it didn't rain while we were out and about – perhaps a light drizzle here or there.
Glimpses of the white cliffs of Dover next to the harbor.
Inside the Dover Castle. The Castro (church) and Pharos (lighthouse).
I am typing this on our way back. Anne probably is sleeping in business class while I am crunched up here typing in coach. I do have an empty seat next to me though. Except for moderate turbulence, so far so good.
