Ohhh, I Want To Go to London...

Hmmm, is there a song with that title? 

LOL!  Just a few more photos from that brief visit to London in October, 2002 ...

Not the most flattering photo of me, but what the heck - it's London Town! London, oh London...  Does anyone recall the great stage show number that Petula Clark did in the great MGM remake of "Good Bye, Mr. Chips"?  I think Clark went through at least four costume changes in that on-screen musical extravaganza, which catapulted the story of the shy school master and his once-in-a-lifetime-love-affair into 1920's London, transformed into a grand high budget musical with, of all people, Peter O'Toole as Mr. Chips!  I mean, darlings, the IRONY! 

But it was a grand movie, updated into an early 20th century love story between the Mr. Chips character as portrayed by Peter O'Toole (and he was a hunk back then, I have to say, and I believe he received an Oscar nomination for that performance), and Petula Clark, who was a pixy middle-class girl with a Giant's Voice!  The song she did at the - actually filmed onsite - Temple of Apollo - I have not forgotten yet.  It was "Apollo"  and morphed into "And the Sky Smiled Too."

There I am with my folding umbrella and my indestructible Laura Ashley bag (I've still got that bag, LOL!) -- Mr. Don insisted that I do this sort of "TA DA!" out of the phone booth, and I more or less obliged him. Long before Harry Potter, mind you!  It's not really visible in this photo but in the background was the Trocadero Club - I mean, the HISTORIC Tracadero Club, the one that set the mode for all the other Tracadero Clubs all around the world.

During the approximately 8-hour flight over to London from Montreal I'd taken off my shoe-boots as we settled in for dinner, a movie, and then fitful sleep.  My feet had swollen up so much during the "over night" flight that the next morning as we were approaching Heathrow to land, I could not get the damn shoe boots back on my feet!  Finally, shoving and mightily heaving and with some assistance from Mr. Don, I was able to get them back on, but not laced up.  The laces came out, and stayed out until 24 hours after we landed in Madrid.  During the long flight back to Montreal which was, I believe, a direct flight, no transfer in London (I was sick on the way back and do not remember much as I was mostly flopped over Mr. Don who carried me around until we got back to Montreal, by which time I was miraculously restored to health -- but that's another story...) 

[Photo: buses lined up near the Tracadero Club.]  Of course, we wouldn't be Goddesschess folk if we didn't find evidence of the Goddess throughout our trek, which we did, in plenty.  During our brief sojourn in London Town, we came across Charing Cross Station.  I believe there is some legend that has something to do with a King leaving a sign at a crossroads for his beloved "Cher Regina" which eventually became "Charing."  But I don't believe that for a second - it's just a paternalistic 19th century gloss passing as romanticism.  The original spot was undoubtedly a site of ancient Goddess worship, complete with a temple, sacred mound in the near distance and a sacred spring.  It was a cross-roads from early on because it attracted pilgrims to the holy site from all around England, long before the Romans came and long before the English (actually Norman, and later German) kings and queens were instituted.  The photo (right) is of a lampstand at the parking area right outside Charing Cross Station (which is actually located underneath a hotel, at least it was back in October, 2002).  Notice the "globus cruciger" shape - an ancient Goddess symbol that was later co-opted by the local "God-of-the-Day."  The ancient Goddess symbolism refused to die, however.  For instance, there are many depictions of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, standing upon such a symbol.  There are also many depictions of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, holding such an artifact in the palm of his - I believe left hand - whilst sitting on the 'The Mother of God's' lap. 

Last, but not least, is this great pic of a horse sculpture captured outside an art gallery near Trafalgar Square.  It was a larger than life bronze, and I was absolutely captivated by it.  Mr. Don took the photo.  It was modelled after one of the famous horses taken from the Elgin Marbles - a large frieze removed in pieces from the Parthenon, perhaps the most famout of Athena's Temples, at Athens, Greece, in the 19th century CE.  A bit of chess history - the "classic" Staunton knight piece, with the horse's lips turned back revealing teeth ready to bite during the heat of battle, with which we are so familiar, was modelled by Staunton's artist after the horses depicted on the Elgin Marbles. 

I Want to Go to London...

Back in October 2002 enroute to Madrid, Mr. Don and I had about an 8-hour layover in London.  We arrived there about 7 a.m. in the morning - on a weekday.  Eventually, after some arguments and a comedy of errors involving Customs, we figured out where to catch the "Tube" that would take us to Picadilly - PICADILLY! 

A few stops after Heathrow, which back then was in the midst of major renovations (I don't think it's ever NOT been in the midst of major renovations, come to think of it...) people going to work starting piling on.  But Mr. Don and I were firmly ensconced on a sort of mod-print purple seats and the Tube obligingly announced it stops and also showed them in digital displays hanging in the center of the cars above everyone's heads.  It was a smooth, inexpensive ride (I'd been willing to fork over 70 pounds for a train ride into and back but Mr. Don insisted there must be a cheaper way to get to "downtown" London, and he was right).  I found the trip absolutely fascinating.  It was so surreal sitting there, watching these people dressed in work clothes pile on to the Tube while Mr. Don and I were tourists.  Near the end of the trip it got a bit crowded but everyone was extremely polite (is that the English way coming to the fore?) and the Tube car itself was spotless and had no unpleasant smells emanating from any obscure corners or from any person en route.  Thank Goddess! 

About 9 a.m. we exited Picadilly and wound our way up some stairs that took us to stret level.  It was drizzling outside, but not overly cold.  OHMYGODDESS, we were there!  I, prepared as always (ahem), pulled out my trusty fold-up umbrella.  Mr. Don, unfortunately, had no hat, no hoody and no umbrella, so he got wet. We'd had an inadequate breakfast at some fast food restaurant or other at the airport while we were arguing about the best way to proceed.  [Photo: A shot of Picadilly Tube station as we were looking around after emerging.]  Above and beyond the absolutely amazing sight of Picadilly Circle itself, the first thing we spotted, in unison, as we turned around to take it all in, smiling hugely at each other, was a STARBUCKS!  LOL!

I don't remember any discussion about it, I believe we headed as one toward that Starbucks, both because we were running on empty and needed some coffee as much as needing a place to sit down and study the maps we'd picked up in the Underground and also to receive some local advice about how to navigate about for our hours in town before we would head back to the airport for our 4:00 p.m. flight. 

We took in as much as we could.  [Photo: St. Martin's Church, outside the Art Museum fronting on Trafalgar Square.]  We'd predetermined that we would need to head back to the airport about 1:00 p.m. for the hour long ride, that would give us 2 hours to clear customs and security.  As it turned out, I do not believe we had to do anything with customs, and security back then was still patchy at best.  We didn't have our shoes off back then and if I did walk through a metal detector I sure don't remember it.  We didn't have any luggage with us - everything had been checked through to our Madrid flight.  As it turned out, we didn't need to get back so early.  And, unfortunaely, our flight was delayed MORE THAN FOUR FRICKING HOURS.  We didn't leave London until about 8:00 p.m. for the 2 hour or so flight to Madrid.  That's another story entirely --

Oh, I so want to go back.  Just the wee small part we saw of London was so wonderful.  We spent a good hour at least in the National Gallery, for instance, and could well have spent a couple of days there.  Mr. Don was able to take several photos but that was in the pre-digital camera days and since we weren't able to use our flashes none of those photos turned out - it was just too dark.  That's too bad because there were some extraordinary paintings in that museum.

We strolled across Trafalgar Square and I took a photo of Mr. Don by one of the large lions of the Trafalgar Monument.  We strolled down historic streets, including past Scotland Yard, which I got a real kick out of doing.  We headed toward Parliament and Big Ben which we had square set in our sights in the distance, but had to turn around to go back to the Picadilly Tube station at 12:50 p.m. (There's Scotland Yard!)