London Day 15 - Going home

10/26/2015

G'day to you too, Paddington!

It's funny. I can never wake up at home, even if the alarm clock goes off right next to my ear. But in London, I set the alarm, yet always wake up at least half hour before it goes off. I'd gone to sleep at 3am this morning and set my alarm for 7, yet work up at 5:45am. Which turned out rather well, as last-minute packing gobbled up my time. I practically had to sit on my luggage to close 'em! My backpack was bulging at the seams (it was so heavy I almost fell backward when I first put it on), the carry-on 18kg, the check-in luggage 23kg on the dot.

Around 8am, I went over to Waitrose to return everything that couldn't fit in my luggage. I returned over 12 kg worth of stuff! Which sucks because all the baking goodies were 3-for-2 and damn, were they cheap! But it's not worth it to get dinged for overweight because those fees are mighty hefty!

Patricia took pity on me and helped me move my luggage to the Russell Square tube stop, which was super awesome of her. There was almost nobody at the station by 9am, so I could take my slow-ass time getting down the elevator, down a short flight of stairs and onto the train. The line goes directly to Heathrow, so I sat and enjoyed the scenery. It was bright and sunny out, the perfect end to my trip.

For a Monday morning, I did not experience the same heavy traffic my parents and Angel experienced last Monday morning when they headed back home. They said Heathrow was packed full of people and security took forever, but my wait wasn't long. Everything went smoothly and I was in the Plaza Premium lounge in no time, where I promptly ordered whiskey. And mocha. Then hot chocolate. Had myself a breakfast of:

I typed away on my laptop about the Wallace Collection, and before I knew it, an hour had already passed. Perfect. It's lunchtime! The buffet:

The chicken tikka masala was okay, but nothing to write home about. The chicken pesto was slightly better--even better when I added cubes of granular Cheddar cheese to it. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the English Trifle; the cake was super moist. I stuffed myself silly and after brushing my teeth, had to get everything together--thankfully, in the lounge, I had a big couch to spread everything out.

When I first checked in to get my boarding pass, I had a giant Primark bag with me carrying a hat, my big winter coat and basically everything I couldn't stuff inside my backpack and carry-on tossed into the bag. The check-in lady specifically told me I wasn't allowed a third item, so I had to put on the 100% wool hat, my very warm and effective winter coat, stuff as much stuff as I could into my jacket pockets...and then make my way over to the gate, which is a long 20 minute walk away from the lounge! They do have signs posted that the gate is very far away and to allow yourself plenty of time to get there, but typical me, I didn't believe it'd really take me that long.

Of course, I forgot I was toting the equivalent of a baby elephant on me. I was perspiring and all gross after walking all that way with my heavy-ass backpack and carry-on. They were already allowing people onto the flight when I arrived, and as I waited in line to go onto the plane, I kinda fell backward a bit and bumped into the man behind me. Sorry!

I was lucky in that when I arrived in my section of the plane, nobody else had yet arrived, so the overhead space was all empty. I heaved everything on top, plopped down in my seat...only for a man to tell me a few minutes later I was sitting in his seat. I NEVER do this! But I suppose I was so tired and flustered from the luggage, I was just relieved to fall down into a comfy chair. Luckily my seat was just across the aisle, so not too bad a hop.

The ride home was smooth and even though we took off 40 minutes late, we arrived 1/2 hour earlier than scheduled. SFO was a bitch though--typical SFO TSA employees, made me go through agriculture inspection. Will there ever be a time when I'm not picked??? >,< Honestly, I was the only one picked! The whole agriculture inspection area was empty except me!!! I seriously hate SFO.

Anyway, that's the end of our wonderful 2015 trip. The last week in London was like a dream, it was so amazing to go to all these museums and learn all the fascinating tidbits in history. I especially loved all the plays and musicals we went to, which brings me to...

Update 11/2/2015:

So. The whole time we were in London, Angel and I complained about how come Tom Hiddleston isn't doing theatre these days. We've seen a lot of our favorite British actors on stage, so how come Tommy Boy isn't doing any?

Turns out, he is. AND he's doing it right now. Every. Freakin. Night I was in London, he was on the goddamn stage! AND it's Shakespeare! Why why why didn't they do any promo??? I'm on the email list for pretty much all of London theatre--why didn't this play get any press??? I'm so pissed I missed him! There was one night I had nothing to do in London (well, besides packing, which ended up taking me 4 hours, but still); I could've SO gone to see him live! That would've totally rounded out my vacation; I would've been so so incredibly happy and ecstatic and floating on air...Argh! Why? Why? Whyyyyyy???

Angel tells me to stop pouting but I'm seriously considering flying back there right now (play ends 11/12). Haha I wish. Yes, I do wish!!!

London Day 14 - Museum of London

10/25/2015

I spent the whole of today at the Museum of London near St. Paul's Cathedral. The guide from the Imperial War Museum told me about this place, and it seemed pretty interesting. It's the history of London from prehistoric ages all the way to modern day, and focuses a lot on the 1600s-1800s, my favorite periods. 

Maps along the way show the rise and fall of the London settlements over time. Some were due to environment or social changes, as pre-Roman tribes settled alternately near the river Thames, then moved away from the river then back again. When the Romans conquered the area, they settled on a stretch where the river was tamer and easier to cross and called this Londonium. 

Typical Romans, they built a wall around the city for defense purposes and then began to build a fortress on what is now the Tower of London. The tower was strategically placed at the east corner of London because that's where the ships would come in from the sea--so they can see invaders long before the invaders can reach London.

Roman Wall

But even in Roman times, there were periods where the city flourished, and long years where the city was scarcely populated due to inflation, better opportunities elsewhere, and foreign wars where Rome withdrew its military from London to fight on the front lines, etc. 

By the time the German Anglo-Saxons came along, London was a shadow of its former glory. Romans had left the area a hundred years ago and the place was in ruins. You can see the ruins of the original Roman wall that fortified the area just outside the museum. The Anglo-Saxons just built on top of this wall to fortify themselves against the Vikings and called the place Lundenwic. Small kingdoms develop, like East Saxons, West Saxons, and South Saxons. We know these areas today too: Essex, Wessex, Sussex. 

They skip over the Norman Conquest for some reason (I love reading about William the Conqueror!) and went straight to The Black Death. The plague had come over from Asia with the black rat. Within 7 months, a fifth of London's population was dead (100k dead), which was relatively light compared to Europe. 400k died in France. Doctors would quarantine houses with plague patients for 40 days, thus infecting the patients' family too. These patients would open the windows and spit on their neighbors or passersby because they were bitter--houses in London back then were usually 3 stories high, and each story juts out progressively more so it gives a visual impact that the house is leaning forward. The top levels were so compacted, people could reach out their bedroom window and shake their neighbors' hands. 

I joined two free tours today which both lasted an hour. I'm finding out that most museums in London offer free tours, but don't advertise it. So you always have to ask the front desk. This is a ticketed event so even though it's free, you still need to get a ticket. The first covered the plague, Great Fire and Civil War (where it's Charles I vs. Cromwell, and Cromwell beheads Charles I. Public sentiment changes over time however, and soon the British were clamoring to have a king again. They invite Charles II, Charles's I son, back from exile to take the throne. The first thing Charles II does is dig up Cromwell's body, behead it and stick it on a pike on the London Bridge. Talk about petty!)

Elizabeth plate

The population of London was so condensed and the living conditions so squalor (there was no sewage system; people threw their poop out onto the streets. The river Thames was also a good refuse dump...which people promptly drank from). It's no bloody wonder the plague spread as quickly as it did. 

We'd seen in the V&A shoe exhibit how the rich would wear elevated clogs on top of their shoes, sort of like high heels so that their pretty satin shoes wouldn't touch the shit on the streets. Anyway, the rich fled London, settling into the clean countryside air, giving rise to the new boroughs of what we now call Chelsea, Kensington, Mayfair, Marylebone. They're posh even today. So for the most part, it was really only the poor who were affected by the plague. 

After the Black Death finally passed, Londoners rejoiced. Anyone and everyone who found themselves still amongst the living were amazed that they'd actually survived, and so a whole new age of revelry and debauchery commenced. Much like the 1920s flapper age, which was a reaction to the harsh decade directly preceding it (WWI).

Some people became very rich in the process of stripping (and looting) churches during the dissolution phase.

Henry's not one for humble modesty, is he?

These copper plates are significant because they are the first known engraved maps of London.

You can see that this only gives a portion of London. The other plates that complete this map are in a German museum. When the Museum of London contacted them, asking if they could possibly buy the plates, the Germans refused.

London in the medieval ages:

You can see all the buildings crammed onto the London Bridge above.

Rose Theatre

The current Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is actually reconstructed using the Rose Theatre's plans. They weren't able to find the Globe's original plans, so they used the Rose instead.

The flag would change colors based on what kind of play they were performing that day. This was the original way of advertising the plays, since there was no direct form of communication back then. A red flag might signify a romance, a black, tragic, a white, comedy. Don't quote me on the colors, I'm just tossing out potential associations.

Performances began at 3pm and lasted two hours with no intervals.  If it rained, the audience either got wet or paid one penny extra to sit in the galleries.

The procession of Charles II into London to accept his crown:

This is the king who grew up in exile, his father Charles I having been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell. He died with no legitimate son, though he had many illegitimate children with his many, many mistresses. His subjects resented having to pay for the upkeep of his mistresses and children--many of who dukedoms and such were created for. Diana, Princess of Wales, was descended from one of these illegitimate sons.

His mistresses were some of the most famous women in their day. We've seen their portraits: the actress Nell Gwyn (at the National Portrait Gallery and Wallace Collection); Louise de Kerouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth; Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine. He's the king who, on his deathbed, asked his brother to look after his mistresses: "Be well to Portsmouth and let not poor Nelly starve."

Finally, after London recovers from the plague, what happens next? A great fire. The Great Fire of London decimated over 10,000 houses within 4 days before it was finally controlled. When the fire first started (by a baker on Pudding Lane who forgot to turn off his oven. Pudding back then does not mean what it means today. Pudding was the offal of animal that was collected in buckets and thrown into the Thames), the mayor of London's reaction was: no action. He thought the fire would put itself out by the end of the day, which is why the fire grew so big and out of control. Had he ordered everyone to action, the fire would've been contained a lot sooner and not so much damage would have occurred. 

Typical London house architecture during Great Fire

The population panicked and everyone grabbed their stuff and began to flee--not many people stayed behind to help put out the fire. King Charles II was one of the heroes to emerge, joining in on the action and throwing buckets of water. London had several fires before, but never as big as this. So each time they had a fire, they'd just rebuild using wood. They never learned. Until this time.

Painting of the Great Fire

How fast the fire spread, and where it spread to

There's a tool on display that has an iron hook at one end. This is used to latch onto a house and pull the whole building down. Kind of like a wrecking ball for their day. The mayor said he didn't want to give the order to tear the houses down because he didn't have the homeowners' permission...even though the houses were being ravaged by the fire anyway! Had they began pulling the houses down, they could've created a border barrier to contain the fire. Nope.

Tool to pull houses down

After this fire, it became mandatory to have house insurance. All buildings by law had to have a nonflammable facade such as stone or brick, which contributed to the beautiful whitewashed stone houses we see today in London. Since the city was pretty much decimated, this was the perfect opportunity to rebuild in a grander fashion. Before the fire, everyone built on top of each other, so it became very congested and helped the plague spread its wings. 

Christopher Wren suggested wider streets, so firemen can actually reach every house if necessary. He was the lead architect in rebuilding London and is credited with spacing buildings further apart so future fires can't jump from one building to another. A sewage system was added. Foreigners who came to visit noted how grand the city looked. Just think: had there not been a fire, London would've never been rebuilt into what it is now. It would just be a collection of medieval wooden houses. All the people who wanted to have their houses rebuilt had to get the approval of the city surveyors. Stakes were driven into the ground to denote the borders of one's properties. But at night, some property owners would move the stakes to make their properties bigger. When the surveyors found out about this, they started imposing strict fines...and a possible three-month jail sentence!

Queen Victoria's childhood dolls

The second tour focused on 1600s-1800s and the vast disparity between the rich and poor. London's rich were the richest in the world, and London's poor were the poorest in the world--most children would not reach the age of 10. The city becomes heavily polluted by the factories--The Great Smog kills 10k people over one summer! 

Mrs. Jamieson is carted around in one of these in Cranford 

Newgate Gaol door

People had pretty rotten teeth back then, though the toothbrush had been invented. The rich had fake teeth made of ivory (sometimes hippopotamus ivory!) and it was very much a status symbol. It became fashionable after dinner at dinner parties to remove your fake teeth and place it on a plate next to you, so people can see that you're rich enough to afford fake teeth. Go figure. This particular toothbrush set belonged to Queen Caroline, George III's wife.

Admiral Horatio Nelson's Sword of Honor

There's a lovely display of costumes in the Pleasure Garden area, but no flash photography allowed so I couldn't take any pictures. With the rise of an affluent middle class, leisure time became more popular and things to wile away the time--like Pleasure Gardens--boomed in business. The gardens charged a fee of 1 shilling for entrance, but did not discriminate between poor and rich. So this was the only place that the different classes could mingle respectably. The dress code was smart, so if you're poor and want to get in, better wear your master's clothing! Oftentimes people complained that they couldn't tell the difference between classes here because a maid might show up in her mistress's clothes. 

Promoting British-made goods has always been a very British tradition

St. Paul's Cathedral took more than 50 years to rebuild after the Great Fire