Chapter 34: Changing of the Guard, One & Other on the 4th Plinth and Impressive Collections

Surely, I cannot leave the UK without seeing Buckingham Palace, so I arrive just in time for the 11:20 Changing of the Guard. I ask several police where to best stand, but get only vague answers. So I cross over to the Queen Victoria monument and discover I have a perfect spot.
Your erstwhile blogger, really just another tourist amongst thousands, having arrived just in time to see the Guards Ceremony, not realising that I can't get into the Palace itself as it is only open from the end of July until late September, when the Queen spends the summer in Scotland.
Crowds awaiting the Ceremony. I cross over and manage to place myself at the front opposite the Palace gates.
The Queen is present today, as indicated by the Royal Standard. She does not appear on the balcony, but she does peer out the lavatory window and gives me a little wave. Although embarrassed, I wave back.
I wish I could pry this off the gate to put on the door of my apartment, but there are police everywhere, many of whom seem positively hostile yelling at tourists to keep moving. I am not reassured when one on horseback stops and tells the crowd, in English and French that "there are thieves in the crowd; there are pickpockets in the crowd." If they REALLY know that, perhaps they could step into the crowd and nab a few of them! Almost every single person I see has a camera and must be a tourist, although an English woman near me tells her companion that she has never been near the Palace when the Queen was in and had never seen the Changing of the Guard.
The actual Changing of the Guard takes place mostly behind the Palace fence, but each unit walks by me as they go to and fro.
I almost miss the mounted horses as they walk by more quickly than I can respond. Below, they pass by Green Park.

The band plays John Lennon and Paul McCartney's Yesterday from behind the closed gates. (I think how tomorrow on 11 July 2009 I am missing the Paul McCartney Concert on the Halifax Common in Nova Scotia. Could I stand that long?) Mounted police ensure that no one stops in front of the gate.

But the gate is eventually opened to allow the various units to march out.

A different band stops and plays at the now-open gate before marching out.

Queen Victoria sees none of this as her back is to the Palace as she looks down The Mall.

I think that she appears rather grumpy.

Looking away from the Queen Victoria Memorial towards Westminster, I see Big Ben. Big Ben is 150 years old on Saturday, 11 July 2009.

Later, from Trafalgar Square, another view of Big Ben.

And again, Big Ben, from The Mall. I fear that if I settle into one of the Park lawn chairs I shall remain here all day, so I resist.

I walk along the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, along St. James's Park Lake to the bridge to take these standard shots toward Westminster, the London Eye visible, right.

Along the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, I find these lilies in a garden and cannot resist.

At the edge of The Mall I find a St. James's Park food vendor selling New York Hot Dogs. I am hungry so I buy one, bury it in NY mustard and Ketchup, and eat it, ice cold in the centre! I have little interest in anything else to eat all day. At the end of The Mall is the Admiralty Gate.

Trafalgar Square, noon time. I want to see it again, on foot, today, as it is the fourth day of the 100-day art installation, Antony Gormley's One & Other. The idea is that every hour for 100 days, a different person has the opportunity to do whatever he or she desires, standing atop Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth. The so-called Empty Plinth has been thus since 1841, but since 1999 it has sometimes been a space for contemporary art. For this show, over 23,000 put their names into the hat hoping to have their opportunity for one of the 2,400 hours available. The woman I see is a human rights advocate named Julia, and she passionately describes the horror of female genital mutilation, having returned from volunteer work with VSO in Ethiopia. Hundreds watch as she pours "blood" on a portrait of African girls. Her "presentation" is shocking and effective and people pay close attention.

Gormley's artistic statement is perfectly appropriate after seeing Julia's "performance."
"Through elevation onto the plinth, and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, a symbol… In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny." - Antony Gormley

Some critics have raved about the work, while some commentators are afraid that eventually some participant will celebrate his or her sixty minutes of fame by stripping naked. Jeepers, considering the number of sculptures and monuments in the UK of naked people, I cannot imagine how one could object to such exhibitionism.

Julia is followed in the next hour by Neil, (above left) who announces he will read from the Bible. Fewer people pay attention. Looking away from the Fourth Plinth and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, I head first for the National Gallery, one of the few places to visit in the UK with free admission.

I head into the National Gallery, where photography is strictly prohibited. I stop for another photo at the top of the stairs, and hundreds of people glare at me as a warden screams at me when I lift the camera to my eye. Sheesh.

The collection is staggering in its variety and beauty and it is a pleasure to look closely at well known masterpieces by Rubens, Van Dyck, Vermeer, Constable, Turner, Gainsborough and countless others. My favourites are some I remember from Art 100 at Acadia in 1966: Van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, Delaroche, Veláquez, Seurat and an artist with whom I am unfamiliar, Franceso Hayez.
Dominant in Trafalgar Square is Canada, so I wander over to Canada House for a moment of patriotic display. People are not lined up snapping photos of the Canadian flag.

And who can resist the flag of Nova Scotia, reminding me that in a month I shall be home for at least a year?

I stroll over to the Nelson Column, around and upon which are many visitors. I snap a few photos of details and wish to climb up, but there is no easy way up, and I am wise enough to know how foolish I would look climbing down. I forgo the experience.

Just off Trafalgar Square is the National Portrait Gallery and I spend time viewing the modern sections, especially attracted to the Bob Dylan in England photographic exhibit from the 1960s. Across from it is the London Coliseum, the 1904 Coliseum Theatre.

I walk to Leicester Square, home of the great cinemas of London, where so many premieres are held, including two days ago in the torrential rain, the premiere for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. To be honest, there are theatres and dazzling lights everywhere. Pedestrianized, it is very crowded. I pause long enough to look at some of the famous actors' paw prints in cement, check out theatre prices, and move on to more serious pursuits.

I find the British Museum, although two people I ask on the street have no idea where it is, when I am two blocks away! Full of tourists, but so huge that it does not seem crowded, I select a few exhibits, all of which impress me.

The juxtaposition of modern design connecting the orginal buildings, is clever and attractive. I find a section of the roof to shoot, a section not covered with strutting pigeons outside. This is called the Queen Elzabeth II Great Court.

It is important to see The Rosetta Stone from 196 BC, but I barely have time to snap a poor photo before actually being shoved out of the way by a French-speaking woman who wanted a photo herself. (The BBC just did a piece in which they determined that the French were the rudest tourists. To all my friends who are French, I am sure they were wrong! Earlier, I had been sitting with a Muslim family who were behaving politely when a British youth walked by and cursed them, much to their amusement.)

Two outstanding nude sculptures, this Venus from the 1st or 2nd century, found in Ostia in 1775. Arms were restored in the 18th century. The other Venus is entitled Lely's Venus (Aphrodite) a Venus bathing, a 1st or 2nd century copy of a 2nd century BC creation. It was acquired by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) from the collection of Charles 1st, and is now owned by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Parthenon display is intriguing, and silly as I can be, I wonder what entitles Britain to keep half of that ancient wonder locked up here. I amuse myself wondering if Brits should give it all back so that The Parthenon could be restored! In fact, half the displays in the Museum were "collected" from other nations and represent their heritage.

Amongst my favourite pieces: here is one from the East Pediment of The Parthenon, "probably Dionysos, god of wine," according the the card.

Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the 'Younger Memnon,' from the Rammeseum, Thebes, Egypt, 19th Dynsasty, about 1250 BC. Excellent Egyptian relics including mummy cases.

The Bodhisatta Tara from 8th century Sri Lanka. The whole of the India exhibit is interesting for me, as the cultures of India have been a part of my heritage. My mother, Barbara, was born in Coonoor, India in 1916, and our family homes have always contained artefacts from India--purchased by my grandfather, Dr. Leslie Eaton, not looted!

Perhaps my favourite is this Dancing Ganesha from 750 AD. This Hindu god is the lord of beginnings as well as the placer and remover of obstacles.

Another Egyptian mummy case and an Easter Island monument.

Roman Mosaics and frescoes.

The Hinton St. Mary Christ, showing the central rondel; found in Dorset in 1963, this mosaic is believed to be the earliest representation of Christ found in Britain.

My favourite exhibit is the clocks, including the atomaton in the shape of a ship, right.

The sheer brilliance of these gold coins is not evident in my photo; this is the Fishpond Hoard, found in Nottinghamshire in 1966. Consisting of 1237 gold coins, and gold jewellery from England and Flanders, it is believed that it was hidden in 1463-1464, during the War of the Roses.

The Royal Gold Cup, made in Paris in 1730-1780, is made of gold enamel and was used at royal feasts.

I am museumed out; it gets late, so I walk through Bloomsbury to Tottenham Court. Bloomsbury has long been the domain of artists, writers and intellectuals, including the Bloomsbury Group, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Dickens and Karl Marx. I had thought to find the Charles Dickens House Museum, but it is getting late.

Here I find the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road, which has been showing I Will Rock You, featuring the music of Queen, for eight years. (At my age, it would not be my first choice of a show to see.)

It is time for home; my legs are killing me and I am tired. At least London's heat wave is over, but I have gotten another sunburn. I grab a few seriously over-crowded tube trains back to Marylebone Station, just in time for the train to Bicester. I have to stand for the one-hour ride, arriving five minutes after the last bus! I walk 30 minutes to Caversfield, but I am smiling because I have had a good day in a wonderful city, London.