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!