Battersea park & Millennium bridge

We spent Saturday afternoon at Battersea Park, a few miles to the south and just across the Thames. Brandon and Curtis had a great time swinging and going on a zip line line. We also watched a rugby match with lots of scrums, but also torn shirts, bloody noses, and abundant bruising. We still don’t quite understand the game. The field hockey matches we saw at the park seemed a whole lot more comprehensible.

Lynn and Brian visited the Peace Pagoda at Battersea – a gift from the Japanese Buddhist Order (Nipponzan Myohoji). It overlooks the river.

Brian visited the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern on Friday.

He also took this picture at St. Paul’s. We know we have a lot more pictures to take there, but we’re off to Paris next week, so we plan to show you some of our shots from this trip when we return.

Brian about town

Brian’s been getting around London more than any of us. Here are some shots from his adventures.

Here he is almost overshadowing Big Ben.

Brian saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, which is only a couple of kilometers from the BYU Centre. Here’s a wide shot he took of the palace.

Brian Potter on his way to Hogwarts!

No Brian or Lynn in this one, but you can see how much the rest of us enjoy hanging out with Emperor Claudius near a section of the Roman wall that encircled old London.

Canterbury, Rye, and Beachy Head

We just completed an all day trip to the lovely towns of Canterbury and Rye, as well as stopping briefly to see the spectacular coastal view of the English Channel at Beachy Head. We began by touring the indescribable Canterbury Cathedral, parts of which are more than 1,000 years old. It is famous for being the place of Archbishop Thomas á Becket’s murder in 1170 by the king’s knights after they heard Henry II exclaim, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” Henry later made a pilgrimage to the cathedral dressed in sackcloth and covered in ashes, where he crawled inside while being caned. It is also the headquarters of the Archbishop of Canterbury, religious leader of the Anglican Church, as well as the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Here’s a photo of the entryway (Henry probably crawled through a different one).

Inside, we found some spectacular carvings and very old tombs. Here is a relief from the interior.

We also saw the tombs of Henry IV and his wife, Joanna of Navarre.

Brandon gives a sermon at Canterbury!

This former Archbishop of Canterbury is being taken care of by an angel on his shoulder.

Here’s the exterior of the unbelievably majestic Cathedral.

We then made our way to the village of Rye, known for Ypres (pronounced “wipers”) castle, which was built between 1230 and 1250 during the reign of Henry III as fortification against French invasion.

Lynn was especially impressed with the stone roads and Tudor style homes.

Finally, we made our way to Beachy Head, the site of the highest chalk cliff in Britain (rising to about 530 feet). Just off the coast, the English and Dutch were defeated by the French in the Battle of Beachy Head (1690). It has also been used in the films Quadrophenia and Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and the music video for the song “Just Like Heaven” by the British band The Cure (their first American hit).

The little dark blips at the top of the following photo are Brandon and our poet-friend, John.

Happy Birthday, Brandon!!

On Saturday, we celebrated Brandon’s birthday with a party attended by the London Centre kids. He turned 10-years-old on Sunday. The whole BYU Centre gang sang happy birthday and shared cake to celebrate all the January birthdays. Here’s a shot from the party.

Christopher, Hannah, James, Ethan, Brandon, and Curtis

More from our first week

Brandon, Christopher, and John spent an afternoon visiting Christopher Wren’s magnificent creation, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Mansion House (exterior only; the Mayor of London has business to attend to, after all), and the Bank of England Museum. We’ll return for photographs at a later time. We also walked along the Thames and saw this cloudy view of the Tower Bridge:

On Saturday, Lynn and the boys found the pirate ship at the Princess of Wales Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens.

 

 

Some initial sites

After trying to overcome jet lag (not entirely successful yet), we went on our first London walk (our sponsors in International Studies provided us with a book of various on-foot excursions). We walked around Bayswater and near Paddington Station. Here is our street

Here’s one of the noted double-decker buses that transports folks around London.

We also found Talbot Road, named after, no doubt, our famous poet-friend and colleague (well, perhaps a relative?). On one of its corners was an impressive church called St. Stephens.

In the evening we saw Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre. The singing was as spectacular as one would expect from a London performance.

A long plane ride

Our trip from Salt Lake City to London (via Cincinnati) courtesy of Delta airline was long (with several repeated television shows, but no movies!); we arrived weary yet unscathed. Here are some of the things we did to keep occupied.

 

 

On the eve of our trip

After a very nice going-away party at the Vitters’ new house, we came home to fill our living room with suitcases. After carefully weighing and reorganizing bags to keep them under the 50 lb. limit, we think we’re ready to go.

Good news from the airport

John Talbot, our favorite poet, told us that the British airport strike has been averted. Thank you Unite and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU)!