On London

First week of the term: completed. What better way to celebrate than with a day trip to London. It was a fairly early start. We caught a bus from Oxford to London at 9:00. At around 10 we started walking and did not really stop for the next seven hours. This means we covered a whole lot of ground and got to see a whole lot of sights.

There is a lot of stone and brick in London. This is because there has never really been a whole lot of forest in England, and what there was, they managed to use up centuries ago. It does not seem like that noteworthy, but you don't realize what an effect it has until it is all around you. I am so used to wooden construction and fake siding in the US that seeing stone and brick everywhere just has a totally different feel. It is the same in Oxford of course, but in London there is so much more of it.

Another common sight in London is monuments. Everywhere you go, any prominent square or building will have a statue or five in front of it. England has had lots of heroes and lots of deaths in its history, and all of them need recognition. This too becomes a common sight after a while, but it is surprising at first.

One of the most interesting of these was The Memorial. That was its name, by the way. It was called The Memorial. This is fitting since it memorializes the Great Fire, London's greatest tragedy. It is just rather amusing that it has no more unique name than The Memorial. It is a 222 foot stone tower with a golden torch at the top. It is 331 steps to the top of the tower. That does not sound too bad, but once you get to around 175 and realize that you are just over half-way, it becomes daunting. It is worth it, though. The view is extraordinary. I love being that high in the air, looking down on the roofs of buildings. It changes the way you see the city. Unfortunately, the entire platform was fenced in, which is logical and probably for the best. However, it did impair the view somewhat.

The architecture was, on the whole, fantastic. In any large city, you will eventually get shoddy work. Some of the expansions grafted onto Christopher Wren churches is just heart breaking, but on the whole, that is pretty rare. For the most part, London is made up of beautiful constructions. It is not like the other big cities I have seen: Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles. It is a far older city, so the older sections have smaller buildings since they harken from an era when man's grasp did not reach so high. As a result, the tallest buildings are not in the center of the city. It has an interesting effect. That combined with the many parks and squares gives the whole city a very spread out feel.

Without a doubt, the finest architecture we had the privilege of seeing was St. Paul's cathedral. I had never seen anything like in my life. It was perfectly proportioned, and everything about it made your gaze strain "further up and further in." The nave was spectacular. The graceful lines met in glistening arches overhead. These were only surpassed by the dome overhead the intersection of the nave and the transepts. It is actually multiple domes opening up into one another. It is astounding. We saw lots of things painted gold throughout the day, but it was here that we saw real gold, and a lot of it. Gold leaf and ornaments were glittered in the light of the chandeliers. And this was just a Romanesque Cathedral. I cannot wait to see a true Gothic style cathedral.

We got to stay for Evensong and even got seats in the choir section. I understood then how the high Roman Catholic services in ancient cathedrals could call people to God. I did not always understand what was going on, but to have my eyes constantly called heavenward, and to hear the praises of God clinging to the stone and filling the mammoth room, I could still feel the call to reverence. It did not change my attitudes toward the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, but it certainly heightened my respect for high liturgy.

Another highlight of the day came at the National Gallery, an art museum with free admission. I have a great love for art museums and leapt at the chance to explore this one, despite the brief amount of time allotted. I wandered through the northern Renaissance into the Italian Renaissance and started drifting into the late medieval when I realized I was running out of time and had not seen any Impressionists. Thank goodness I found a map that could point me to the proper wing. I was inspecting Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres (not quite as spectacular as Sunday in the park, but it is great to have now seen them both), when my buddy Eric informed me that they had Van Gogh's in the next room. I kindly took my leave of George in pursuit of Vincent, and what did I find? Van Gogh's Sunflowers AND Wheat Field with Cypresses. I could not believe it. I may have jumped and done an involuntary fist pump.

But wait, there's more. On passing into this room, I had glimpsed a couple of Monet's Japanese bridges, so as excited as I was to see the Van Gogh's, time was short, so I said goodbye to Vincent and greeted my beloved Claude. Their collection of Monet's was not so extensive as that of the Art Institute of Chicago, but it was still good. And besides, I always love a few good Monet's. They had several new acquisitions, INCLUDING Lilies at Sunset. It was breathtaking (the linked picture does not do it justice, but no photo could). I had seen pictures of it online and in books before, but seeing it in person . . . it is not my favourite, but it is up there. I stood in front of it for at least five minutes just taking it in. I must have been pretty intensely focused because another patron apologized for passing between me and the painting. I do so love my Impressionists.

There were many other exciting events in the day. Other cool sites included Big Ben, the Tower of London, the New Globe Theatre, and Buckingham palace among others. There was more seen than done, which was fine, it just means I'll have to visit the city again some time.