London, Holy Week 2024
The flight from Newark departed around 10 at night, and since we were flying east, sunrise came roughly 6 hours later. Here is my first look at the island.
After dropping off our bags at the hotel, Dad and I walked to the Tower of London. Walking through the grounds and seeing the armor and jewels on site, I received my first deep impression of imperial power. I saw more gold and jewels in the Tower than I have seen over the rest of my life. The whole complex represents thousands of years of work… there is still a marker showing where the Roman wall once stood. As someone who has studied the classics from a young age, the development of the Tower in its current form from its Roman origin reflected my education and current work as a teacher: constantly building upon the foundation which the ancients established. In America, most buildings only go back 300 years. In London, a building like the Tower can represent a society building and expanding upon its origin.
As the beefeaters marched forward to take their watch, one bellowed, “Make way for the Queen’s Guard!” The crowd dispersed. I had never seen anything like it. Men in uniform speaking from the authority of their station under the Queen, and people obeying. It felt ancient and medieval and modern all at the same time.
Sunday we took a train to Salisbury where we met with one of Dad’s old work colleagues. He drove us to Stonehenge and then took us on a tour of the countryside.
Near Stonehenge is Avesbury, a quaint village which boasts the widest henge in England. The henge is surrounded by a ditch and then a mound which encircles the village center.
On Monday we took an Uber along the Thames. This is a great way to see the city all at once from the river– boats run morning to evening and make frequent stops along the way in case you want to hop off and see something. My favorite stop was Greenwich, an area of London largely unaffected by modern architecture (see below; the skyscrapers are across the river).
Tuesday we had a proper English breakfast.
After that was Westminster Abbey (which was too beautiful to take pictures of), and the War Rooms. On our way to lunch, we passed by the Royal Horse Guards.
My brother met us Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning we set out on a three-hour train ride to Bovington, home of The Tank Museum. The walk from the train station in Wool looked like a landscape from Shaun the Sheep.
Here is an image for comparison. We even got passed by a blue Land Rover like the one driven by the farmer (to the right of the house).
Photo from https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/development-of-shaun-the-sheep/
The Tank Museum houses an extensive collection from WWI to the present. Below are some of my favorites.
The last two appeared in the 2014 film Fury.
Thursday we went to the British Museum, another testament to the extent of the English Empire in its prime. I particularly enjoyed the exhibit on life in the Roman legion. Other highlights were the Assyrian and Greek sculpture, as well as the English neoclassical galleries. As in Westminster, I took no pictures in the museum. Ever since I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as high school student, I like to take Sean O’Connell’s approach every so often… forget the pictures, just observe.
Across the street, I bought three books at Jarndyce booksellers, including a first edition Lewis. If you visit the museum, visit Jarndyce as well.
Friday we went to a Good Friday service at International Presbyterian Church in Ealing. Our train left from Paddington station.
That afternoon, we started walking Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park, and realized we were headed straight toward Buckingham Palace.
As we continued to Hyde Park, we passed the Wellington Arch. The area from Buckingham to Hyde Park felt somewhat like our National Mall in D.C.
This week, back in school, I am teaching C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves. At one point he discusses the ‘love of nature’ as present in Romantics like Wordsworth.
Of course many natural objects –trees, flowers, and animals – are beautiful. But the nature-lovers whom I have in mind are not very much concerned with individual beautiful objects of that sort. The man who is distracts them. An enthusiastic botanist is for them a dreadful companion on a ramble. He is always stopping to draw their attention to particulars. Nor are they looking for ‘views’ or landscapes.
…
It is the ‘moods’ or ‘spirit’ that matter. Nature-lovers want to receive as fully as possible whatever nature, at each particular time and place, is, so to speak, saying.1
I certainly enjoyed many particulars in England. Nevertheless, when people ask what the best part is, I can’t find an answer. When I read this passage from Lewis, it gave a way of thinking about what I loved about the trip. It was the ‘moods’ or ‘spirit’ of England which I most enjoyed. Granted, I may be entirely misinterpreting what Lewis is describing. At the very least, the language seems approximate.
My only other international trip was to Israel in 2019. Israel had its own ‘moods’ and ‘spirit.’ It had its ancient ruins, its churches marking holy sites, its landscapes, its crowded markets (where I nearly got lost).
What England had and Israel did not, and what Americans will not have for a very long time (if ever) are ‘moods’ and a ‘spirit’ of a civilization which in some sense has been continuous for over a thousand years, embodied in traditions and architecture. As a life-long student of the classics, it was a sweet reminder of why we study what we do.
And, of course, Latin was everywhere. I will remember this fact when students complain about conjugations.
C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York NY: Harper Collins, 1960), 22-23.