London, the Cotswolds, and Market Bosworth
There are some problems with having a camera memory capable of holding over 1300 pictures: the result is a bit daunting. Herewith though are a few photos from our trip to England this summer.
In the courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum:
Here is a small part of one of the cast rooms at the V&A. The big cylinders are a cast of the Emperor Trajan's Column in Rome, side by side rather than one upon the other as the ceiling is too low for that. Still, it is very handy for those who can't make it there for the original, which in any case is now the worse for wear from acid rain. American universities once had cast collections, but the German architecture profs who fled the Nazis took over the architecture departments and, having decided that the past was worthless, threw them all in dumpsters. This collection managed to survive the Blitz, despite bomb damage to the outside of the building.
On the walk from St Paul's Cathedral to the Millenium Bridge we chanced on this memorial to the firefighters, both men and women, who lost their lives trying to save London from the Nazis.
Here a mudlark prospects for treasure along the muddy banks of the Thames in front of Tate Modern:
Appropriately dressed to check out a Pollock at Tate Modern:
Admiral Lord Neslon atop his column at Trafalgar Square. It seems a shame there isn't something to Lady Emma Hamilton for keeping his morale up along the way. She had a hard beginning and a hard end, but Nelson must have seen something in her. And, yes, I am a flaming liberal, but she played the hand she was dealt, which wasn't much, and did rather well with it.
One must pay attention to one's foundations:
The interior of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, so named because it was, when built, indeed in the fields. Now the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square are across the street.
A few yards from St Martin stands one of the memorials to Nurse Edith Cavell, shot by the Germans on October 12th, 1915 for helping soldiers escape from occupied Belgium. Putting a nurse in front of a firing squad proved to be one of the larger German PR debacles of the war. Posters, postcards, and little china statuettes of Cavell sold by the thousands, helped fuel British rage against the barbaric Huns, and made a negotiated peace all the less likely.
These are some Victorian era chimneys along Charing Cross Road, across the street from the London Silver Vaults. Unfortunately, the later do not allow photography. They are pretty neat tho, if you like tons of second hand sterling silver.
Here's Valerie at the British Museum, checking out the Rosetta Stone:
Still at the British Museum, with a granite statue of Ramesses II from 1270 BCE. It was a present in 1818. Must have been a great time to be a collector, altho even then one had to accept the odd nick or scratch.
One day while driving through the Cotswolds we came across an old manor called Stanton House (that's the gate in the background, not the house itself) with a church next to it. The church was being re-roofed for the first time since 1856, and there were a lot of discarded old stone shingles which the roofers said we could take. My sister Judy snapped this one of us dumpster diving in the Cotswolds. The shingles are now here, in the side garden. Nothing like going to England and bringing back used shingles.
Here are a couple shots in the churchyard at Guiting Power, which we checked out during the music festival Judy treated us to:
More pics later.
In the courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum:
Here is a small part of one of the cast rooms at the V&A. The big cylinders are a cast of the Emperor Trajan's Column in Rome, side by side rather than one upon the other as the ceiling is too low for that. Still, it is very handy for those who can't make it there for the original, which in any case is now the worse for wear from acid rain. American universities once had cast collections, but the German architecture profs who fled the Nazis took over the architecture departments and, having decided that the past was worthless, threw them all in dumpsters. This collection managed to survive the Blitz, despite bomb damage to the outside of the building.
On the walk from St Paul's Cathedral to the Millenium Bridge we chanced on this memorial to the firefighters, both men and women, who lost their lives trying to save London from the Nazis.
Here a mudlark prospects for treasure along the muddy banks of the Thames in front of Tate Modern:
Appropriately dressed to check out a Pollock at Tate Modern:
Admiral Lord Neslon atop his column at Trafalgar Square. It seems a shame there isn't something to Lady Emma Hamilton for keeping his morale up along the way. She had a hard beginning and a hard end, but Nelson must have seen something in her. And, yes, I am a flaming liberal, but she played the hand she was dealt, which wasn't much, and did rather well with it.
One must pay attention to one's foundations:
The interior of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, so named because it was, when built, indeed in the fields. Now the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square are across the street.
A few yards from St Martin stands one of the memorials to Nurse Edith Cavell, shot by the Germans on October 12th, 1915 for helping soldiers escape from occupied Belgium. Putting a nurse in front of a firing squad proved to be one of the larger German PR debacles of the war. Posters, postcards, and little china statuettes of Cavell sold by the thousands, helped fuel British rage against the barbaric Huns, and made a negotiated peace all the less likely.
These are some Victorian era chimneys along Charing Cross Road, across the street from the London Silver Vaults. Unfortunately, the later do not allow photography. They are pretty neat tho, if you like tons of second hand sterling silver.
Here's Valerie at the British Museum, checking out the Rosetta Stone:
Still at the British Museum, with a granite statue of Ramesses II from 1270 BCE. It was a present in 1818. Must have been a great time to be a collector, altho even then one had to accept the odd nick or scratch.
One day while driving through the Cotswolds we came across an old manor called Stanton House (that's the gate in the background, not the house itself) with a church next to it. The church was being re-roofed for the first time since 1856, and there were a lot of discarded old stone shingles which the roofers said we could take. My sister Judy snapped this one of us dumpster diving in the Cotswolds. The shingles are now here, in the side garden. Nothing like going to England and bringing back used shingles.
Here are a couple shots in the churchyard at Guiting Power, which we checked out during the music festival Judy treated us to:
More pics later.
posted by TTB at
12:13 PM
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