Bloggo Piccolo: ICLC walk in Greenwich

Next Stop, Greenwich Village was a film about which I remember nothing but the title. I seem to remember enjoying it, but the content, alas, eludes me. However, one of my favorite days out in London is to what I call the ORIGINAL Greenwich Village"

Greenwich - the main drag

Greenwich! Known for the Old Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory, the Queen's House, a great market, the Cutty Sark (until it burned, though I understand it is being reconstructed), and most of all its pleasantly almost rural feel whilst still in Zone 2 of the London Underground. I first encountered it in fall 2005, on a Classic Walk of London, took visitors there myself on occasion, and on Saturday very much enjoyed Bill's walk!

We started at the Canary Wharf tube station. 

The futuristic Canary Wharf tube station

This itself is something to see, along with the large mall next to it and the docks areas surrounding it. From there we took the DLR to a stop near the north bank of the River Thames, from which we had a perfect if a bit sun-washed view of the Old Royal Naval College across the river.  After a chat about Greenwich, Bill took us UNDER the Thames, through a pedestrian tunnel -- great fun if a bit eerie.


We emerged in Greenwich, very near the site on which the beautiful Cutty Sark sailing ship used to stand. Actually it's still there, but under wraps, as it was closed for preservation work in 2006 and a fire destroyed much of it in 2007.  It is being painstakingly restored and is due to re-open in Spring 2012 -- as I've discovered with much of London -- under wraps, but scheduled to re-open just before the Olympics! 

The Cutty Sark when I saw it in Fall 2005
Nannie is on the masthead

It's worth chatting a bit about the ship. The Cutty Sark is the last of the tea clipper ships that sailed to the far east to fetch tea back to the English, who developed a craving for it that lasts to this day. The such last voyage occurred in 1877, but the Cutty Sark sailed on for many years after, until in 1954 it was placed on display in Greenwich.  The name, in archaic Scottish, means short nightdress, and comes from a famous poem by Robert Burns, called Tam O'Shanter."  Poor unsuspecting Tam happens to be out on a horse ride one night, when he spies a coven of witches and warlocks dancing around a fire -- the youngest and prettiest witch, Nannie, who happens to be wearing a short nightdress, catches Tam's attention and he shouts "Weel done, cutty sark!' This proves an almost deadly blunder, as Nannie tears after him and nearly catches him before he crosses the river -- witches, as any schoolboy knows, cannot pass over water. She DID grab his horse's tail and yanked it off the poor mare -- but Tam escaped.

The Greenwich Market

Our next stop was the colorful Greenwich Market, which features delicious food from all over the world - soups and stews bubbling in front of you as you enter - and all sorts of different crafts. We spent about 20 minutes shopping around in the market, right in the center of town, then headed off towards The Old Royal Naval College. 

The Old Royal Naval College from across the Thames

The area that now goes by that name began as a palace, an important one, in which for example Henry VIII was born and where he spent much of his time while married to his first two wives. He also had two navy shipyards built in the area during his reign thus the early  and continuing association with the navy. 

Later, during the era of the first Stuart monarchs, Inigo Jones designed and built the Queen's House, some slight distance from the palace itself.

The Queen's House
designed by Inigo Jones

I was told by a tour guide in fall 2005 when I first visited (and when I took the photo on the right) that the reason for this separation was so that James I could entertain his male friends in the palace while his queen could do...well, whatever she wanted in her own house!  But I've not been able to corroborate it, in fact from what I now understand James's wife Anne died before the house was ever finished. So much for believing in tour guides. I repeat the probably erroneous remark only because of its salacious content. 


By the time of the reign of William and Mary, in the late seventeenth century, that couple preferred the palace at Kensington, and at Mary's command a hospital, the Royal Naval Hospital, was built in its place. Christopher Wren was responsible, and his assistant was Nicholas Hawksmoor -- two fine architects, and it shows in the finished product. In 1873 the former hospital became the Royal Naval College, remained that until 1998, and it remains a college today, part of the University of Greenwich, with some space used for the Trinity College of Music.

The Painted Hall

The two showcases of the Hospital/College are the Painted Hall and the Chapel. The Painted Hall is literally that. James Thornhill painted ceiling and walls, including columns that seem to have depth to them but that instead are painted in the trompe de l'oeil style. It was designed as a dining hall for for the hospital, but the patients and retired seamen who stayed there proved too numerous to be fitted in the Hall.

The Chapel of St Peter and St Paul

Opposite the Painted Hall is the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, another beautifully designed space, executed in Greek Revival style. It is open to the public daily, but also holds regular religious services. If I remember correctly, many years ago Kiri Te Kanawa sang a Christmas concert either in the Chapel or in the Painted Hall, which I saw on television and recorded, a recording sadly long lost. There was snow on the ground and the setting matched Te Kanawa's voice for beauty.


From there we trudged up the hill to The Royal Observatory, just in time to see the daily ceremony at 1 pm, when a red ball mounted on a pole rises (you have to take my word that it's rising in the photo below -- for all you know it may be dropping)

reaches the top,

then drops. 

When it hits the bottom, it is exactly 1 pm, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). In days gone by, when the drop began in 1833, this ritual had a practical purpose for the ships in the Thames and for anyone in the area who wanted or needed to know -- you could literally set your watch or clock by it. But not everyone at that time could afford clocks or watches. Now the drop is an event to help celebrate that we are indeed at the Prime Meridian of the World: Longitude 0 degrees.


The Royal Observatory features the exact line of this prime meridian laid out on the ground:

And one can bestride it and feel for one brief shining moment like a master of the universe! I did, and it felt great:

It's actually a fascinating place, and well worth the visit. I'd been to Greenwich at least two or three times before this, and had never made the climb -- glad I did!


Oh, and the view from the observatory isn't bad either...

A view from the top - in the foreground the Queen's House and Royal Naval College;
in the distance Canary Wharf, part of the "new" London.
I for one am very glad they separated the new from the old!

Bloggo Ventiseisima: ICLC Trip to Bath and the West Country

Bright and early, well, it was early but not very bright, approximately 45 students, plus Bill Sheasgreen, Sarah Davies, visiting professor Linda Heyne and I boarded a coach – in the States we say “bus” but the proper term in the U.K. is “coach” – and headed west, to the beautiful spa city of Bath, with several stops on the way to and one stop on the way back from Bath.

I write that it was not bright. Both days of our journey hovered between foul and fair (with apologies to the Scottish play), and while the sun broke through on a few occasions, I’d describe the weather for most of the trip as overcast and threatening with a cloudy scowl. I’m familiar enough by now with weather in England that I was fairly certain this would be the case. We were drizzled on a few times, mostly in Bath itself, but for the most part the weather was not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Our first stop was to a roadside combination of places to get fast food, to gas up, and to relieve oneself. It was the mecca of this kind of stop, with all sorts of food options, including a tiny Waitrose grocery store, and of course souvenirs for tourists. It was the only such stop we would make on this trip for the express purpose of food, gas and relief, and it was welcome.

But the first real stop was at a place called Avebury. Ever heard of it? No? Ever heard of Stonehenge? Yes? Well, Avebury is not a site as immediately stunning and sculpted as Stonehenge, but it is larger by far (in fact the largest in all of Europe), of a similar age (both sites are nearly 5,000 years old) and around this ancient Neolithic site of worship a village and farms sprang up. 

Avebury

Both Avebury and Stonehenge have been named World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, but whereas Stonehenge is flooded with tourists, roped off and inaccessible, at Avebury one can walk right up to stones, sit on them, climb a few of the larger ones. The stones also seem part of the greater environment, with sheep grazing around them, a church steeple in sight, the village only a few hundred yards walk away. Avebury was not included on the similar trip I took with ICLC back in fall of 2005, but I’m glad I got to see it this time around. I was impressed by it, not in the same way that I am with Stonehenge, but as an equally historic but markedly less commercialized spot. 

Bill and students at Avebury -
Hannah appears to be holding up the sstone!

In the excellent guide packet for this trip provided by ICLC staff and written by them as well, it is pointed out that John Aubrey, the well-known seventeenth century writer, compared the two thus: “Avebury surpasses Stonehenge as a cathedral doeth a parish church.” While I’m not certain I’d agree wholeheartedly, I can understand why he wrote these words.

From Avebury we headed to another –bury, this time preceded by Glaston. This very hip town is associated with the world famous music festival that happens every year in late June, and that gets doused with rain nearly every year as well. No rain on our trip to Glastonbury, which we visit not for rock ‘n’ roll, but for two purposes: to see the ruined abbey and to climb Glastonbury Tor. There are of course ruined abbeys all over England, thanks to Henry VIII, but while many are picturesque, this one is special as it is associated with the Holy Grail, the mythical Avalon, King Arthur and his knights of the round table, Lancelot and Guinevere. In fact, if you believe the legend, Arthur and Guinevere were buried here. 

Only a partial shell of the abbey remains, but that makes the legend seem to some at least at least somewhat more real. Climbing the 531feet high Glastonbury Tor only enhances this feeling, as it is said that Guinevere was imprisoned on the Tor. Considering the climb it is a tough place from which to rescue a damsel in distress. Thank the gods it wasn’t me that had to do it, as a wheezing, out-of-breath knight errant such as I’d have been could easily have been pushed back down from the height easily. There is a tremendous view of the countryside from the top, as the Tor is an anomaly in the midst of fields and rolling hills well below it. One feels almost giddy on the top, and many of the students began to act in a giddy manner, laughing and screaming and posing for silly pics. All good things come to an end, and down the hill they trod. 

Descending from Glastonbury Tor

We moved on to our next adventure, the cathedral town of Wells. Wells Cathedral is the first in England to have been built in the full Gothic fashion. This thirteenth century beauty is imposing on the outside,

imposing on the inside,

Nave of Wells Cathedral, with scissors arch
above, the exterior of the cathedral

with a few features that make it unique as well. The scissors arch is one of these, an improvised fix to hold up the sinking foundations of the cathedral. The astronomical clock is another, with miniature knights jousting as each hour is rung, a ready audience standing by to watch. Particularly in so small a town, this mighty cathedral towers over the rest of it, but the town itself is a charming and very traditional English place, nothing like multicultural, bustling London. And so a very smart choice to show students on their first trip away from that cosmopolitan center, highlighting the differences between London and much of the rest of the U.K. In 2005 we did not see Wells, so it was another welcome addition for me on this trip.

From Wells we traveled to Bath or Aquae Sulis as the ancient Romans called it, our destination for the evening and the site of many of the next day’s activities. Everyone was pretty exhausted by the rigors of the day. Bill, Sarah, Linda and her friend Joan and I went first to a pub, then to dinner at a restaurant known for its fish, where I had a good bit of wine. Bill then took us on a brief walk of Bath at night, which is quite a beautiful sight. I then went to bed and fell into a deep sleep. Most of the students did the same, but Bill informed me at breakfast that a few who shall remain nameless stayed out until 3 am and came back rowdy and noisy – tsk, tsk. Next morning we toured the Roman Baths. 

Roman and Medieval Bath: the Abbey above, the Baths below 

I have seen them three times now, and they continue to fascinate. Certainly they are one of the main reasons that Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage site. If you go, definitely take the audio guide, as it is excellent and illuminating. Some of the students sped through the baths, others became completely engrossed in them. So it goes, to each his own. Bill also pointed out the primary medieval structure in the city, and another reason for the UNESCO citation, the stunning Abbey Church at Bath (just below), known as “the lantern of the west.” 

Next he took us on a walk of Georgian Bath, designed by John Wood the elder and the younger, and popularized by the likes of Beau Nash, gambler, dandy, icon of high fashion. 

The Royal Crescent, in the rain

Georgian buildings abound, but the two standout areas are the Royal Circus and the Royal Crescent, which clinched the third reason for UNESCO to honor the city. After that about two hours of free time. Some used it to go to the costume museum, others to the Abbey, yet others simply to stroll the elegant streets, others to shop and eat. Then back on the bus and off to the last (but not least) site: Stonehenge.

Amanda Abernathy, Gabriella Napoli &
Sam Gates form a human henge!

This was my second visit to the amazing collection of stones from the Neolithic era, I am returning in January with next semester’s group, and I already look forward to that. One of the students was not as enthralled as I, grudgingly calling it “a fairly impressive collection of large stones.” To me they are a work of art as well as a symbol of ancient religion and of the stubbornness of humans to do that which is seemingly impossible. Like Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness (all of which I saw for the first time on this visit to the U.K.!), Stonehenge as well as Avebury are monuments every bit as interesting to me as more recent and sophisticated wonders. When I am in their presence I am overwhelmed, and it’s not often I get such feelings. It’s impossible for me to explain, probably because such awesome and ancient structures are inexplicable. The attempt to explain, to get whatever creative impulse was at work down on paper, is to diminish them in a manner. I prefer to be overwhelmed and awestruck in face of the mystery of such places.

That’s the end of my blog and that was the end of our journey, except for a very smooth coach ride back to South Kensington. More to come. Paris next. Ciao tutti!