2014 May Be My Lucky Year

I wasn't able to head back to Wisconsin for the Christmas holiday this year but a week later my parents came to Kansas for a visit. We celebrated the holiday with traditional English feast of a Christmas goose and for desert some Christmas pudding. A tradition we always follow is to bake an English six pence into the pudding and whoever finds the coin while chowing down on their piece of the pudding is sure to have a lucky year.  

I found the coin this year and I took a little a little bit out of it before realizing what I had.  

This year's Christmas pudding was the first that my mother had made on her own after my Grandmother [who was from England and brought our family this tradition] passed away .

Other Sights From The British Museum

Other Sights From The British Museum

Photographed: May 20th, 2013

Besides seeing some of the Acropolis at the British Museum here are a few of my favorite artifacts we saw during our visit.

In the Great Court of the Museum you can find some of the largest pieces on display.  Two of my favorites are these totem polls which were made by the Haida people who are native to Canada. As you would expect their age is a little bit of a mystery but they are thought to date back to the 1850s.

This view from the second floor give you a better idea of how huge these poles are and how impressive it is that they were somehow transported from the Pacific Northwest to London and are still in one piece.

My favorite single piece from the British Museum was an Easter Island statue called a moai. I did my best moai impression while a crowd was gathered around the statue.  

Another group of famous pieces that any former member of a high school chess club would appreciate are the Lewis Chessmen.  These were discovered on the Isle of Lewis in the northwest part of Scotland.

They are thought to have been made in Norway somewhere between 1150-1200 AD and they are made of walrus ivory.  From one tusk the artist could make about four full size pieces and two smaller pieces.  And after visiting the gift shop I was even able to take home a replica version of the knight piece.  

A Little Rough Trade

A Little Rough Trade

Photographed: May 18th, 2013

On the Saturday that we were in England, Laura and I braved Portobello Road which was made famous again most recently in Notting Hill.

The plan to go on a Saturday might not have been the best idea as it was incredibly busy but in the end the visit turned out well worth it for me.

Looking down one of the side streets I noticed a Rough Trade record store and it turned out it was THE Rough Trade record store.  

Rough Trade is a series of record stores stared in the 1970s that also became a record label and helped produce some of my favorite albums and groups. Here are a few Rough Trade artists that have forever shaped my love of British rock music.  

If there is one band I wish I could bring back and have them be a stable "going concern" it would be The Libertines.  This is my favorite song from their debut album and it talks about how we need to appreciate the times we have now because THESE are "The Good Old Days." It also has possibly my favorite lyric ever which is "if you've lost your faith in love and music/oh, the end won't be long."  

The Libertines -- "The Good Old Days"

Antony and the Johnsons -- "Fistful of Love"

A group that I started listening to on a lark, this song has become one of my all time favorite unrequited love songs...and that is the late Lou Reed speaking the lines at the beginning of the track.

The Smiths -- "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"

Rough Trade is the label that brought the world The Smiths and that's pretty much all I need to say. My "favorite" Smiths song changes over time but "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" certainly is the song that I come back to most often.

 

Visiting Abbey Road

Crossing Abbey Road

Photographed: May 17th, 2013

If you find yourself in London just head down a few blocks from the Lord's Cricket Grounds...

...and you'll come to a particular intersection that seems much busier than it should normally be.

Where people walk across the street and strike odd poses...

...and stop suddenly in the middle of the street as traffic screams to a halt and the drivers lay on their horns.  

What inspired this behavior?  They are attempting to recreate The Beatles' iconic cover of the Abbey Road album.  The album was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios just down the street from this photograph and you can watch a camera feed pointed at the intersection on the studio's webpage.  

Although I wasn't sure at the time, it looks like I'm doing a pretty good Ringo during my time crossing the street..and I didn't think my life was in danger either.

Random Picture Collection: London Signs

Roughly every month I collect the photos that didn't quite get their own post and bring them together in a single post. Past collection can be found here.

Today's collection highlights some of the signs I came upon around London.  Some I doubt I will ever see anything similar again...or at least until my next visit to England.  

A Doctor Who parking sign?

Seeing Pieces Of The Parthenon Across Three Countries

While visiting The Parthenon and its companion, The Acropolis Museum, we saw many of the marble sculptures that once adorned the inside of the temple to Athena.  

But famously many of the sculptures that were in the best condition were taken from Greece by the Earl of Elgin and transported back to England.  The sculptures eventually made their way in the British Museum collection and are on display in London.  

The Acropolis Museum did not allow photographs to be taken of the exhibits so this was the first chance that I had to take some snaps of theses great works.

Not surprisingly the pieces that were taken from Athens were the most complete and in the best condition of the sculptures that were remaining.

You might be able to notice by the tiny numbering under the pieces there is a gap in the pieces between #53 and #67.  Those pieces can be found at the Acropolis Museum as well as in France [more on that in a minute.]

The Greek government has for years attempted to get all the taken pieces returned home to Ahtens and I can't help but feel the same way after seeing them in London.  

I'll have a more complete post on our visit to the the British Museum at a later date but it's clear that the very existence of the collection is based on an abusive mercantile system that plundered many of their "conquered lands."    

To complete our Parthenon sculptures odyssey our next step was France.  While visiting The Louvre we tracked down the single Parthenon marble that is on display there.  

The museum has posted an information sheet next to the sculpture explaining that their claim on the piece occurred after the British pieces were taken from Greece.  They also argue that their claim on the piece is more legitimate than the British Museum's claim.  Who really knows for sure?  My opinion is that they should all be returned to Greece.  

Ben Franklin's House

A couple of times during our travels this past year all of a sudden we are hit with something American out of the clear blue sky.  This was the case during the Sherlock Holmes Walk through London when all of a sudden we came upon the former home of Benjamin Franklin.

He lived at the house for 16 years over his life and it is the last remaining house that Franklin owned.

More than any other city I've been to London has history that is easily accessible...accessible as in turn your head and there is a neat little sign letting you know the history that happened right in front of your face.  

Some of the history might not be that riveting and then a few steps later something jumps out at you that is.  It certainly keeps it on your toes.

Marvel With A Mango: English Breakfast

While we were staying in London we stayed in the area of town called Little Venice.  

It's an area that has several small canals that little boats can fit through.  There are also several cafe/boats which were tied up along the sidewalks.  

The canals were home to many ducks and geese as well.

We stopped one morning at one of the canal cafes to have a full English breakfast.  I think I was just missing a slice of tomato and it would have been perfect.  It was certainly the best breakfast I've had since visiting Mom's Restaurant back in Colfax.

Now that's a banger that would make my Grandmother proud.

Hyde Park's Speaker's Corner

After visiting The Royal Albert Hall we headed up the street and went to Hyde Park.  It was quite the change from the busy London streets.  This section of the park was off limits and so it looks like there wasn't a soul in the park.  

The part of Hyde Park that I really wanted to see was the legendary Speaker's Corner.  Public political debate is nearly non existent in America short of a college campus or a Lincoln-Douglas debate forensics tournament and so I was looking to see the clash of ideas that makes democracy the least worst system of government.  

Unfortunately, this is what we found, not a public speaker in sight.  We went on a weekday in the afternoon and so I guess democracy takes a break sometimes.

Never mind the disappointment, at least we got to see the Marble Arch.

Plus there is the amazing bronze horse head statue which was a new edition in 2012.