London

I finally have some time to catch up with posts now that I am at my semipermanent residence of Rome for the next four months.

First let me explain a little about what I did in Paris since I had very little time when I posted the pictures.  I only had about a day and a half, but I felt like I did almost everything I wanted to.  Notre Dame was spectacular.  The cathedral is absolutely massive and the architecture is incredibly well crafted.  The Pantheon was one of my favorite stops.  It houses the tombs of many of the most famous French men and women.  The Curies are buried her as is Voltaire and Rousseau to name just a few.  The Louvre was outstanding.  I spent over 5 hours inside and came nowhere close to seeing it all.  I spent the bulk of my time in the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan sections which had unbelievable collections.  Versailles was surpassed any expectations I could have possibly had.  The palace was enormous and the gardens were beautiful.

I have a few more pictures from Paris that I want to put up.  Some are at night.

View from the top of the Arc de Triumph:

Sacre Coeur:

The Louvre:

Arc de Triumph at night (long exposure):

Eiffel Tower at night:

I really enjoyed Paris, but then I was off to London.  London, like the other cities I have visited, was great.  There was so much to see and do, and yet only had two and a half days.  I should mention, before I start talking about the city itself, that I took the train from Paris to London.  It was really nice to see a bit of the countryside of each of the two countries since I spent the vast majority of my time in the cities.

Some of the highlights from London:  Parliament, Westminster Abby, Tower London, Tower Bridge, The British Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Imperial War Museum.  Westminster Abby is one of the best cathedrals I have ever been in.  The architecture is good, but what is most impressive is the history.  Many famous British Kings and Queens are buried here along with other famous Brits such as Newton, Darwin, and Chaucer.  There are also monuments to other famous Brits who are not entombed here.  By far my favorite part was poet's corner.  In this section are monuments and tombs for the best British authors in history.

St. Paul's was another great cathedral and had even more tombs to famous Englishmen/women.  One of my all time favorite English writers, William Blake, is buried here.  What is best about St. Paul's is that you can climb to the top of the dome (528 steps up) and have some really good views of London.

It just so happened that I was able to meet up with three other members from my excavation here in London.  Two, like me, were passing through for a little while before heading elsewhere for the semester.  The other lives just outside the city in one of the suburbs.  We all met up and went to a showing of Les Miserables.  The play was very good and it was great to have a one week reunion.

Here are some pictures from my short trip:

Westminster Abby:

Tower Bridge:

Big Ben at night (long exposure - the blue is and ambulance)

The Elgin Marbles from the British Museum.  I must say a few things about these.  For those of you who do not live in the classical world a brief background is necessary.  These marbles were taken by Lord Elgin while he was excavating the Acropolis from 1799-1803.  At that time he had permission from the Ottoman Empire, which was in control of Greece, to remove them.  Since Greece has gained independence they have asked for them back, seeing as they never gave permission for them to be taken.  While it was probably a good thing they were taken originally because otherwise they would be in much worse shape today (if they survived at all).  Now that Greece has erected the new Acropolis Museum, it would seem best if they were returned to their original home. Having seen the new museum in Athens, I can't imagine a better house for these remarkable marbles.  The situation is much more complicated than what I have just described, but for the sake of brevity I have simplified it.  If you would like to know more about it or have any questions please let me know and I will do my best to give you more info.

Trafalgar Square at night (long exposure):

At some point soon I will update you with what it is that I am doing here in Rome, but for the moment I will end this enormously long post.

Best,

Adam