{"id":1281,"date":"2013-07-07T06:05:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T10:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/?page_id=1281"},"modified":"2014-10-25T11:51:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:51:28","slug":"my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-8","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/my-visit-with-archie-2013-page-8\/","title":{"rendered":"My Visit with Archie – Page 08"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around and About <\/strong><\/p>\n

“Jolly Old London Town”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0This is Day 7 of my visit with Archie. Today we wander around London a bit. Stretching our legs after our 4 day 3 night 612 mile jaunt through Normandy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3050<\/a>On the ferry back to Portsmouth I found a discarded newspaper and read a piece about an infamous panhandler with a pit bull dog. He actually had a home (rent subsidized) and a stipend from the government. He was such an intimidating nuisance that he was forced to leave his favorite hunting grounds in downtown London. Imagine our surprise when he turned up in Kensington outside an ATM machine. I had to take his picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, we took the tube to the Temple stop and walked though the famous Temple Bar to the Temple Church. I wanted to see it since talking with a Masonic friend in Maine about the connection between the Masons and The Knights Templar<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Temple Church is a late-12th-century church<\/span><\/a> in London<\/span><\/a> located between Fleet Street<\/span><\/a> and the River Thames<\/span><\/a>, built for and by the Knights Templar<\/span><\/a> as their English headquarters. It is famous for its effigy<\/span><\/a> tombs and for being a round church<\/span><\/a>. It was heavily damaged during the Second World War<\/span><\/a> but has been largely restored. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The area around the Temple Church is known as the Temple which is one of the main legal districts of the capital and a notable center for<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>English law<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/a> both historically and in the present day.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3100<\/a>Here’s the Round Church and a picture of two of the Knight effigies in the Church:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"3130<\/a><\/p>\n

Legend has it that if an effigy has its legs crossed, he saw combat. If not crossed he’d not been in any battles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just a few words about the Knights Templar \u00a0You can skip this section if you wish.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The history of the Knights Templar<\/span><\/a> incorporates about two centuries during the Middle Ages<\/span><\/a>, from the Order’s founding in the early 12th century, to when it was disbanded in the early 14th century.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to the end of Page 10 to read their story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3140<\/a>Here is the interior of the Round Church:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3170<\/a>This may be how you feel after reading my Knights Templar story<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"3220<\/a>It was close to lunch time after visiting the Church so we stopped at the “Pret A Manger” sandwich shop for a bite. \u00a0This is a chain in the UK that has good fast food for a reasonable price. \u00a0Archie likes it because they have big cups of good coffee for 99 pence. “Good value!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3230<\/a>We then wandered down Fleet Street past the\u00a0\u00a0Sir Horace Jones’s\u00a0The Temple Bar Memorial\u00a0(1880)..\u00a0The strikingly rampant “griffin” (as it is traditionally known) crowning the \u00a0Memorial is really a dragon, the symbol of the City of London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We walked to Covent Garden. \u00a0This is a big tourist stop in London. much like Faneuil\u00a0Hall in Boston. It if full of young people, food shops, souvenir stores, buskers, and pickpockets. There was a string combo playing a rousing rendition of “Bolero” that we enjoyed. \u00a0And, we didn’t get our pockets picked. \u00a0Whew!<\/strong>\"3243<\/a>\"3250<\/a>\"3245<\/a><\/p>\n

After Covent Gardens we continued walking to Trafalgar Square. \u00a0This commemorates the\u00a0Battle of Trafalgar<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(1805), a\u00a0British naval<\/span><\/a>\u00a0victory of the\u00a0Napoleonic Wars<\/span><\/a>\u00a0over the French and Spanish navies \u00a0off the south-west coast of Spain near Cape Trafalgar,\u00a0in 1805, during which Lord Horatio Nelson was shot and killed.<\/span><\/strong>\"3250<\/a>In the center of the square is Nelson’s column\u00a0The Corinthian column was built in 1842 and is approximately 170ft \u00a0high (including the base). It was built after a design by William Railton. On top of the column stands an 18ft tall statue of Lord Nelson, created by Edmund Hodges. At the base of the c<\/strong>olumn are four huge lions modeled by Sir Edwin Landseer. They were added later, in 1868.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3400<\/a>Since it’s hard to see that high, here is a close-up of Nelson’s statue made of\u00a0Craigleith sandstone. \u00a0Notice that his right arm is missing. He lost it\u00a0in the\u00a0Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife<\/span><\/a>, \u00a0On\u00a022 July 1797, Nelson’s assaulted\u00a0Tenerife<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and was defeated, and the remains of the landing party withdrew under a truce with the loss of several hundred casualties. Nelson himself had been wounded in the arm, which was subsequently partially amputated: a\u00a0stigma<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that he carried to his grave as a constant reminder of his failure. (TMI?)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We then walked down Picadilly. )Named after Robert Baker, a tailor famous for selling\u00a0piccadills<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>a term used for various kinds of\u00a0collars<\/span><\/a>.) to the “Bomber Command monument.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3420<\/a>The\u00a0RAF Bomber Command Memorial\u00a0is a memorial in\u00a0Green Park<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0London<\/span><\/a>, commemorating the aircrews of\u00a0RAF Bomber Command<\/span><\/a>\u00a0who embarked on missions during the\u00a0Second World War<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0The memorial, located near\u00a0Hyde Park Corner<\/span><\/a>, was built to mark the sacrifice of 55,573 aircrew from Britain, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland and other countries of the\u00a0Commonwealth<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0as well as civilians of all nations killed during raids.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"3425<\/a>This Memorial may be remembers for the vandalism done after the British soldier was hacked to death my Muslim extremists. \u00a0Here is the graffiti being washed off:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3440<\/a>Here is the Wellington Arch also known as\u00a0Constitution Arch\u00a0at\u00a0\u00a0the western corner of\u00a0Green Par<\/span>k<\/a>\u00a0built between 1826-1830.\u00a0\u00a0It once supported an equestrian statue of the 1st Duke of Wellington; It is now topped with sculpture of a “quadriga” or ancient four-horse chariot in 1912.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3450<\/a><\/span><\/strong>Here is the\u00a0quadriga lit up at night.. \u00a0It is quite similar to the one on the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, Germany:<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3460<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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We continued down Brompton Rd to Harrod’s Department store<\/span>.<\/a>\u00a0We just looked.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3460<\/a>This is the Egyptian. Some say that\u00a0the Sphinx is a model of Mohammed al-Fayed’s likeness,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"3480<\/a>Our last stop was to check out the Turkish cafes on Cromwell Rd. \u00a0Here are 3 gentlemen smoking nargiles\u00a0(hookahs). \u00a0You could smell a real pungent tobacco (I think) aroma walking by here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

From here we walked to Archie’s place off Glouster road. \u00a0It was a long afternoon so we stopped for dinner at Archie’s favorite: The Forum Cafe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So ended \u00a0Day 7 of my visit with Archie. I’m tired and my feet are sore! Tomorrow the Thames…<\/strong>
\nGo to Page 09<\/a><\/p>\n

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Around and About “Jolly Old London Town” \u00a0This is Day 7 of my visit with Archie. Today we wander around London a bit. Stretching our legs after our 4 day 3 night 612 mile jaunt through Normandy. On the ferry … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1281","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2434,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1281\/revisions\/2434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}