Thanksgiving

Greetings from London! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. My intention was to dedicate this week's blog to my weekend in Wales but, although I had a great time, the weather was not very conducive to photography. So, I decided to broaden the topic a bit, and tell you about some of the things I've been up to since I got back from Scotland, finishing up with the few good pictures I have from my trip to Wales.

I'll start with some of the things I've been up to with my students.

Earlier this month, I took my Roman Britain class to the Tower of London. Although the Tower itself dates from the 9th century, there is a nice stretch of Roman city wall on the grounds. I decided that this was a good enough reason to take them to one of my favorite places in London. The oldest building on the Tower grounds is White Tower, started by William the Conqueror after his conquest of England in 1066.  The tower is probably best known as the place where Henry VIII had two of his wives executed. It's also the place where Shakespeare tells us that Richard III had two young princes killed out of fear that they would challenge his own claim to the throne. Most historians disagree, but their bones were found in White Tower.

Here are some of my students hanging out with Emperor Trajan. The bottom half of the wall you see behind them is Roman. The top part was added in Medieval times.

This is White Tower, started by William the Conqueror after his conquest of England in 1066. Fun fact: Before he conquered England, William was known as "William the Bastard."  

On Thanksgiving morning, I took my World War II students on a tour of the HMS Belfast, which is permanently moored on the south bank of the Thames, right across the river from the Tower of London.  The Belfast saw action in both World War II and Korea. Its biggest claim to fame is the role it played in sinking the German battleship Sharnhorst off the north coast of Norway in 1943. It also provided cover fire for the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944.

Two of my students waiting to board the Belfast.

One of my students on the bow of the Belfast. I told him to throw that anchor overboard, but I don't think he heard me.

I have a map of London on the wall of my room. Each time I explore a new area of the city, I trace the streets that I walked with a marker. That way, when I look at the map I can easily see places that I still need to visit. Before this month, I hadn't spent much time on London's East End. Part of the reason is that this area is on the back side of the map. The other reason is that there are not a lot of tourist attractions on that side of the city, now that the Olympics are over. A couple of things in the news this month forced me to "flip the map" and head to the East End. The first thing was Hurricane Sandy. Follow-up stories about the flooding in New York mentioned that they needed a tidal surge control system like the one in London. I had heard of the Thames Barrier, but never seen it, so I went out to take a look.

The Thames Barrier has ten steel gates that can be raised into position across the river. When in place they would be the height of a five-story building, protecting central London from storm surge. It was completed in 1982.

The other story in the news that drew me to the East End was that many of the venues from the Olympics were being dismantled or repurposed. I had been thinking about going out to the Olympic site since I got here, but because the Olympics were over, I didn't see any urgency. Once I heard this, I decided I had better go while there was still something to see.

The three structures you see here are all staying. On the right is Olympic Stadium, where track and field events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, were held. In the center is the Orbit, a sculpture and observation platform that some are calling London's Eiffel Tower. On the left is the aquatics center. They are taking down the large bleacher wings that obscure the shape of the building.

Some of you have asked what I did for Thanksgiving. It was a little strange being here on such an American holiday (although I've been in foreign countries on Independence Day a couple of times). In the morning, as you already know, I toured the Belfast. In the afternoon I did a little Christmas shopping. That evening, CAPA, where I teach, threw a Thanksgiving dinner for more than 100 Americans, mostly students. The food was good, the Brits' best take on what they imagine American Thanksgiving dinner to be. There were a few things that made me laugh, but I won't spoil their good intentions with criticism. The company was also good. We taught our hosts a little about Thanksgiving, and they reciprocated with a game to see how much we've learned about British pop culture. It wasn't like being home for Thanksgiving, but it was a lot of fun.

On the morning after Thanksgiving, I headed off to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, for the weekend. (That's Caerdydd in Welsh.) As I've already mentioned, the weather was pretty bad. It rained most of the time I was there. In fact there was some pretty serious flooding in Wales and western England. Despite that, I had a really good time. I did manage to snap a few pictures in between the showers, so I'll use those to tell you a little about what I saw.

This is Millennium Stadium. I've included it because on the Saturday I was there, it hosted a rugby match between Wales and New Zealand. If I had known what a big deal that was going to be, I might have chosen a different weekend!

You're probably getting tired of me going on about castles all the time, but isn't this a great picture? This part of Cardiff Castle was built by the Normans after the 9th century conquest.

This is Cardiff High Street (High Street is the equivalent of Main Street in the US). It probably won't surprise you that I found what I believe to be the best pub in Cardiff along here. 

I don't feel bad stealing this picture off the internet, because I took one from the same spot only there were raindrops on my lens. This is Cardiff Bay. It looks like a great place to spend time in the summer. It's a little bleak in the winter, but there was still a lot going on.

Some of you know that I am a huge fan of the BBC-Wales television program Doctor Who. Visiting the Doctor Who Experience was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Cardiff. (I know, add that to my obsession with castles and it makes me a pretty big nerd.) It was a great way to spend the morning out of the rain.

Thanks for reading "News from London"! I hope you'll come back next week to read the long-awaited post on my favorite UK pubs and ales. (I've been "researching" that one all semester!) If you followed the link from my facebook page, you can read earlier posts by clicking the links under "Blog Archive" near the upper right-hand corner of the page. If you enjoy the blog or just want to say "hi," please leave a comment in the box below.

Cheers!

Scotland!

Angela and I had a great time in Scotland! In fact, we saw so many things and took so many pictures that when I finally sat down to write about it I didn't really know where to begin. Even though we were only there a week, I think I would have to put Scotland onto my list of favorite places. One of the reasons I liked this trip so much is that we were able to get out into the country. Usually when we are traveling abroad, we spend most of our time in cities. They are easier to get to and once you are there you can use public transportation to get around. Cities are great, but the Highlands were one of the things that drew us to Scotland, so I knew that I would have to find a way for us to get there. I'm very glad I did.

I'm going to let my pictures tell most of the story this time, giving you a little break from my history lessons.

Despite what I just said about wanting to get into the country, all the guide books say that every visit to Scotland should include a visit to Edinburgh, the capital. I'm glad that we started there. Edinburgh's Old Town is very walkable, and most of the tourist sites are along the "Royal Mile" between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace at Holyroodhouse. 

Edinburgh Castle is right in the center of the city. If you've been following the blog, you know I love castles, and this was a great one. Construction on it began in twelfth century and it's still being used, so it has many layers of history. I didn't take this picture myself. It's a great perspective that I only had from a moving bus.

I love how the castle is built right into the mountain, which is an extinct volcano.

The Castle offers great views of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth, which leads to the North Sea.

Walking from west to east along the Royal Mile, most of the businesses are tourist oriented. Usually that would be a turn off, but I was impressed by how authentic most of them were. It is clear that the Scottish people are very proud of their history and heritage and they are eager to share it. If you visit, don't be afraid to stop in the Tartan Weaving Mill or the Scotch Whisky Experience.  I also recommend  dinner at The Witchery, but make a reservation and bring your credit card!

St. Giles Cathedral, a 14th century church named after the patron saint of Edinburgh, is the next major site along the Royal Mile.

The Scottish Parliament building, completed in 2004, is a huge contrast to the Medieval buildings that can be seen along the Royal Mile. The complex is pretty amazing and it's impossible to do it justice with just a couple of pictures. Click here to see more.

Along one wall of Parliament are quotes from famous Scots. This was one of my favorites.

At the end of the Royal Mile, opposite the castle, is the Palace at Holyroodhouse, the official Royal Residence in Edinburgh. 

Adjacent to the palace are the ruins of Holyrood Abbey, built in 1128, about the same time that construction began on Edinburgh Castle. 

If you have time to see something other than the Royal Mile while you're in Edinburgh, I'd recommend Grassmarket Street. It's where all the historic pubs are. Our favorite was the White Heart. Get a pint of Belhaven 80 Shilling Ale, you won't be disappointed.

After a couple of days in Edinburgh, we left on a three day tour of the Highlands. We went with a tour group called The Highland Experience. They made all the arrangements for our overnight stops and the driver served as our tour guide. I was a little reluctant to travel with a tour group, but I was even more reluctant to rent a car.

Despite my initial reluctance, I think that these tours are the best way to see the Highlands, short of renting a car and setting off on your own

Our three-day tour of the Highlands with overnight stops on the Isle of Skye and in Drumnadrochit, on Loch Ness.

Stirling, where this photo was taken, is sometimes called the "gateway to the highlands." This is a monument to 13th century Scottish hero Mel Gibson . . . I mean William Wallace, aka "Braveheart."

Eilean Donan Castle. Originally built in the 13th century, it was destroyed in the 18th century, and then rebuilt in the 20th century. An amazing sight.

A short distance from Eilean Donan Castle, we crossed over a bridge and onto the Isle of Skye. I don't think that I had heard of Skye before I started looking into tours of the Highlands, but I remember that when we first talked about Scotland, Angela said that she would like to go to one of the islands. I'm glad she did because this turned out to be the highlight of the trip. As we were leaving she said: "Thank you for taking me to the Inner Hebrides." That's not something you hear every day!

This is Kilt Rock waterfall, near the northernmost point on the Isle of Skye

This view is in the other direction from the photo above. It's one of those places where your brain doesn't want to believe what your eyes are seeing. I had that feeling several times in the Highlands.

After the Isle of Skye, our next stop was Loch ness. I remember reading about the Loch Ness Monster when I was a kid. At the time, Loch Ness seemed like one of those far away places that isn't quite real. Even with all the traveling that I've been fortunate enough to do, it wasn't a place that I ever thought I'd end up, so I was pretty excited when I saw it on the itinerary of our tour. I can't say that it looked like I had imagined it when I was a kid, but I was definitely not disappointed. In fact, taking an hour boat ride on the loch was one of the highlights of the trip for me. If you ever find yourself in Drumnadrochit, on the banks of Loch Ness, be sure to eat at Fiddler's. The grilled loch salmon and haddock stew that I had there was the best meal I've had in the UK.

Believe it or not, we spent Halloween on Loch Ness. No monster sightings on our boat trip, but it's not hard to understand why such legends have persisted. Its deepest point is 755 feet. (I saw Angela look around for the life preservers when the Captain said that!) 

I wasn't sure where to put this photo, but Highland cows are cool and this guy needed to be in my blog.

After returning from the Highlands, we had one more night in Edinburgh before returning to London. This gave us time for another evening trip to Grassmarket Street and another morning walk around the city. Although we had traveled to Edinburgh by train, we decided to fly back. The train ride there had been broken up by our stop in Northumberland, but the trip home would have taken ten hours! With Angela's visit coming to an end, we didn't want to spend that much time on a train. Flying time was only about two hours.

I love Scotland!

In re-reading my entry I realized that without planning to, I wrote it as if it were a travel guide for a week in Scotland. I thought about a rewrite, but I decided to leave it that way, hoping that maybe it would convince some of you to make the trip yourselves someday. Even if you never make it to Scotland yourself, I hope that you've enjoyed reading about our trip!

See you next week back in London!
Cheers!

Hadrian's Wall

Hello, and welcome back to my blog! Since the two weeks I took off from blogging were the busiest I've had since I've been here, I have a backlog of pictures and topics to share. So, It's time to get busy!

As I've mentioned before, about five years ago, I spent three weeks at Oxford University taking a seminar on Roman Britain. This is when I became fascinated with Hadrian's Wall. I decided that if I ever had the opportunity, I wanted to not only see it, but spend some time hiking along it. My semester in London gave me that opportunity. Since Angela and I wanted to go to Scotland while she was here, we decided to stop on the way and spend a couple of days exploring Hadrian's Wall. I may be getting ahead of myself. Since some of you are unfamiliar with Hadrian's Wall, I'll begin with a brief history lesson. I promise the pictures will make up for it.

Hadrian was Roman Emperor from 117-138 AD. During the period that preceded his rule, the Empire reached its greatest extent. Despite many years of campaigning, however, what is now Scotland had never been conquered. Hadrian made the decision to abandon some of the latest additions to the empire and consolidate its frontiers. When he visited Britain in 122 AD, he commissioned the building of a wall to mark the frontier in what is now northern England. It is tempting to say, as one contemporary writer did, that the wall was built to "Separate the Romans and the Barbarians," but it's not that simple. (It never is.) Although there is evidence that this area was not entirely peaceful, Hadrian's Wall was not an impenetrable barrier, but one that allowed supervised movement. It seems that the primary reason for its construction was to give the legions something to do, to keep up morale and military discipline.

Our Hadrian's Wall visit focused on the stretch between Vindolanda and Birdoswald.

The wall is impressive. It was about ten feet wide and fifteen feet high.  Its 74 miles stretched from the mouth of the Tyne River in the east, to the Solway Firth in the west. Roughly every mile there was a fortified gateway, or milecastle, that could accommodate a dozen or more soldiers, and between each milecastle there were two watchtowers. Additionally, there were several major forts along the wall.

Hadrian's Wall lies in what are now the beautiful northern England counties of Northumberland and Cumbria. Our base for exploring the wall was the tiny Northumberland town of Bardon Mill. I knew we were on the right track when, as we were getting off the train, an English woman looked at me and said "You're getting off here? In the middle of nowhere?"

This is the Coach House Bed and Breakfast in Bardon Mill, where we stayed. 

Our first stop was Vindolanda, the site of a Roman Fort and village, there was also a fort there that predates the wall. You may recall that I mentioned Vindolanda in an earlier post. It is the site where hundreds of postcard-sized wooden writing tablets were found. (See my October 7 post for a picture and description of one of these tablets.) Such artifacts are extremely rare, making Vindolanda one of the most important Roman sites in existence.

This the headquarters building of the fort built in the 3rd-4th centuries.

An artist's rendering of what the site may have looked like in the 3rd century. This is a view of the village, with the fort in the background.

Angela made me promise to include some pictures of myself in this one. Here I am standing outside the fort's outer wall with beautiful Northumberland scenery in the background.

This is the spot where the writing tablets were found. They were preserved in anaerobic conditions, meaning the muck of wet clay kept out oxygen, which would have allowed them to decay. 

After a good night's sleep at the Coach House, we set out the next morning to visit the Roman forts of Housteads and Birdoswald, and the stretches of wall that lay near them.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Hadrian's Wall, looking east from Housteads. This view made me want to follow the wall to the North Sea.

Housteads is the best preserved fort on the wall. This is the fort's granary. The extra-thick walls required buttressing on the outside. The floor would have been on top of the many pillars, now visible. This allowed air to circulate and keep the grain dry.

Before looking at the next picture, see if you can guess what this was.

Did you get it right?

After visiting Housteads and hiking along the wall for a stretch, we hoped on the Hadrian's Wall Country Bus (which shut down for the season on the day after we visited) and went to the Roman Fort at Birdoswald, in Cumbria. Birdoswald is not nearly as impressive as Housteads or Vindolnda, but nearby is one of the best preserved stretches of Hadrians Wall.

A view of the beautiful Cumbrian countryside near Birdoswald. 

In this part of the wall, you can see that the facing blocks were cut, but the middle was rough stone.

Here I am along a great stretch of wall that is still almost six feet high. It was darn cold that day, and snowed a little bit that evening.

One more ride on the Hadrian's Wall bus took us back east to the Visitor's Center of Northumberland National Park, where we did a little more hiking along the wall and then had a great dinner at the Twice Brewed Inn.

That's the wall in the foreground. Can you make out the swan on the lake?

Milecastle number 37. Or was it 39?

My only regret of these two amazing days is that we did not get to this spot fifteen minutes earlier so we could have seen this sycamore tree next to the wall while the sun was still shining on it!

Warm fire, great food, great ale. A perfect end to the day.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of my blog. Next week I'll post about our trip to Scotland.

Cheers!

A Walk along the River Thames

Well, Angela is on her way back to the US after two weeks with me in the UK. I was sorry to see her go, but we had a great time while she was here. Before leaving on a trip to Northern England and Scotland we spent a few days in London while I gave midterm exams to my students and finished up some other work. (Despite what many of you think, I do still have a job!) Angela had been to London a couple of times before, so there was no pressure to show her all the sights. Instead, we did things that she hadn't had time to do on short trips in the past, and other things that I saved for when she was here. I also took her to some of my favorite spots. Some of the highlights were: a candlelight tour of the Dennis Severs House, an 18th century residence; a performance of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Young Vic Theater; visits to the Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert museums; and, of course, lots of great meals at the kind of restaurants that you don't find in Carthage, Missouri.

In this week's blog post, you'll be coming with us on a walk along the south bank of the river Thames. (For you non-Londoners, it's pronounced "Temz." Unlike Missouri, this pronunciation seems to be unrelated to one's class or geographic location.) This area has undergone a major redevelopment in the last fifteen years, and looks very different than it did on my first trip to London in 1999. I'll admit that it was not the best day for taking pictures--kind of grey and gloomy. I thought about saving this topic until I had a chance to go back and take photos on a nice sunny day, but I decided that since this is what London looks like this time of year, it was a fitting backdrop. I actually kind of like the monochrome effect.

A view of the south bank of the Thames, taken from the north bank. On the far left, you can see a new building that Londoners have nicknamed "The Shard." On the right, you can just make out the London Eye. I took this picture from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Our walk began at Westminster Bridge, which crosses the Thames just to the west of the Palace of Westminster, home to the British Parliament. It provides the best view of the Clock Tower, recently renamed Elizabeth Tower in honor of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. Elizabeth Tower houses Big Ben, which is the nickname of the bell, not the tower. (Every London tour guide I have ever talked to points out this fact as though they were the only one aware of it.)

Angela didn't know that she was going to play a starring role in this week's blog! Here she is under Elizabeth Tower.

Westminster Bridge with Parliament in the background. I do have a nice sunny picture of Parliament, some of you may have seen it on my Facebook page. I'll try to use it in a later post.

Looking to the west as you cross the bridge, the London Eye dominates the skyline. The London Eye, once called the Millennium Wheel, was officially opened on December 31, 1999 as part of London's Millennium celebration. At 443 feet it was once the world's tallest Ferris wheel. (There are now taller ones in China and Singapore.) By way of comparison, the Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier in Chicago is 150 feet tall.

The London Eye from Westminster Bridge. The building to the right is the London Aquarium.

Two of the thirty-two sealed "pods" that hold up to twenty-five people. One revolution takes about thirty minutes and costs a little over £30.

One fun thing to do while walking along the Thames is "mudlarking," or looking for interesting artifacts along the bank. Given that it runs through one of the largest cities in the world, the Thames is now a relatively clean river. Like most rivers, however, it was once used as a trash dump. Since London is more than 2,000 years old, that means there is some pretty interesting stuff in there. You may have read in one of my earlier posts that the head from a bronze statue of Emperor Hadrian was found in the Thames in 1834! Finds of that significance are unusual, but since the Thames is tidal, every time the tide goes out there is a chance that something interesting will be left behind. The most common finds are pieces of clay pipes. In the 16th century, these pipes were sold pre-packed with tobacco. Although they could be reused, they were cheap and were usually discarded. This makes them roughly the 16th-century equivalent of a cigarette butt, but it's still fun to find something that old.

Angela "mudlarking" near Blackfriars Bridge. We found several pieces of clay pipe, some broken tableware, and Angela's favorite, a horse tooth!

Two of the most important cultural sites on the south bank are: the Tate Modern, one of the world's best galleries of modern art; and the Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of Shakespeare's theater that stands near the site of the original. They are connected to central London by Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian walkway.

A view of the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral. Before Angela arrived, I saw an excellent exhibition of Edvard Munch paintings at the Tate.

A view of the Globe Theatre, also from the top of St. Paul's. I crashed a CAPA Shakespeare class and attended performances of Taming of the Shrew and Richard III. Unfortunately, I was unable to get tickets for Twelfth Night while Angela was in town.

  

Here's a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge taken from the terrace of the Tate. You may have seen a cropped version of this on my Facebook page. 

The Tate and the Globe are in the London Borough of Southwark (pronounced "Suthuck"). As you pass under the Southwark Bridge, you can get a feel for what the Thames bank in Southwark (that's Temz bank in Suthuck) looked like in Shakespeare's day.

These are the remains of Winchester Palace, built in the 12th century to house the powerful Bishops of Winchester when they were visiting London. It was used until the 17th century.

The tower of Southwark Cathedral. The cathedral was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. Shakespeare's brother is buried there.

By this point in our walk, we were pretty hungry. Fortunately, Borough Market is adjacent to Southwark Cathedral. It is a great place to get lunch and a pint.

You can get almost anything you want for lunch at Borough Market.

On a previous trip to Borough Market, I had some delicious paella. On this trip we went with meat and vegetable pies. I have a pretty good picture of Angela eating hers, but she probably wouldn't like it if I shared that one.

The Anchor is an historic pub on the river in Southwark. It has a good cask ale selection, but it's a little touristy.

After lunch, we took on the last segment of our walk, from London Bridge to Tower Bridge. This is one of the oldest parts of London. You may recall from an earlier post that the Romans had a bridge at roughly the same site as the current London Bridge. 

The current version of London Bridge.

The HMS Belfast, a WWII-era destroyer that participated in Operation Overlord (the D-Day invasion). I'll be taking my WWII class aboard in a few weeks.

The Tower of London. With almost 2,000 years of history, it's one of my favorite places in London. I'll be taking my Roman Britain class there soon. (We ate at a new restaurant here called The Perkin Reveler.)

A great picture of Angela with Tower Bridge in the background.

I'm planning two blog posts about our trip north. One will be about our stop in the Northern England counties of Northumberland and Cumbria, where were visited Hadrian's Wall and other important Roman sites. (Don't worry, this one will be as much about the beautiful scenery as the Roman history.) The other will be about our visit to Scotland including Edinburgh, the Highlands, and the Isle of Skye. I hope you'll come back and check it out!

Cheers!