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England, March 1998

England, March 1998

Here are a number of photographs I took while sightseeing in the United Kingdom in March 1998. This collection comprises most of them; I should probably end up posting a few more from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, but it's anyone's guess as to when I shall do so.

Westminster Abbey was built almost exactly 900 years ago. One wonders at how it was accomplished. I think that the Abbey is the most beautiful piece of architecture that I’ve ever seen. Standing right in front of the Abbey, I took this picture looking up at the twin towers. The side of the Abbey is just as gorgeous as the front. So is the back. And so are the details. Especially these details. Depicted here are Jesus, the Twelve, and various angels, saints, and personified arts and sciences. Here’s a close-up of one of the main towers. Click <A HREF="images/bigabbeytower.jpg">here</a> to Super-Size it.
The classic picture of Parliament from across the Thames, also available in <A HREF="images/bigparliament.jpg">extra-large</a>. The House of Lords. St. Stephen’s Bell Tower, which contains the bell known as “Big Ben.” The Bridge of Sighs is modeled after an arch of the same name in Venice. An ornately decorated door in Oxford bears the crests of twenty different noble houses. The Church of St. Mary has had many famous ministers, including John Wesley and C.S. Lewis. We attended the last part of the church service there— the Communion. It was Anglican, of course, and more formal than I was used to, but not bad considering. I wish we could have partaken of the sermon itself, as well as of the Elements. Especially since the “High Church” matins at Christchurch Cathedral were excruciatingly pedantic. From this pulpit inside St. Mary’s, C.S. Lewis preached his famous sermon, “The Weight of Glory.” I believe it was featured in “Shadowlands,” the commendable biographical film on the great theologian.
A statue of a saint greets visitors to the tower of St. Mary’s. The Bodleian Library stands right in front of St. Mary’s, from whose tower I took this picture. It was founded in the 1300’s, refounded and named after Sir Thomas Bodley in 1603. One of the colleges at Oxford, also from the tower. After leaving Oxford, we traveled to Winston Churchill’s birthplace and ancestral home, Blenheim Palace. I’ve also got a four-picture QuickTime VR <a href="/movies/qtvr/Blenheim.shtml">panorama</a> of Blenheim Palace and its grounds. This is the gate out front, bearing Queen Anne’s inscription to John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Here’s what it says: “Under the auspices of a Munificent Sovereign this house was built for John Duke of Marlborough, and his Duchess Sarah, by Sir J. Vanbrugh between the years 1703 and 1722. And this Royal Manor of Woodstock, together with a grant of £240,000 towards the building of Blenheim was given by Her Majesty Queen Anne and confirmed by Act of Parliament... to the said John Duke of Marlbourough and to all his issue male and female lineally descending.” The church which Winston Churchill attended, and behind which he is buried, is also in the Cotswolds. Speaking of Winston Churchill, his bust greets visitors at the entrance to the War Rooms, from where Churchill and the War Department planned the Allied defense of Europe during World War II.
St. Paul’s Cathedral by night. Covent Garden, where “My Fair Lady” begins. The Theatre Royal, where “My Fair Lady” first premièred. Paxton & Whitfield’s cheese shop was the site of a famous <a href="http://www.pythonline.com/">Monty Python skit</a>. Our tour group in front of the Round Tower. Left to right: Me, Jeremy, Josh, Debbie, Hannah, David, and Jon. Two towers frame a gateway inside the castle. The group stands sillhouetted on a hilltop near the Trundle, a 2400-year-old Celtic fortification in Sussex. You can barely see the English Channel in the background.

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