England Part I: London

My daughter-in-law Rebecca and I met my daughter Anne in London for an 11 day "oldest daughter" trip. As soon as Rebecca and I arrived at our hotel by subway (tube) from the airport, we took a long walk through the area of Kensington and Regents Park.

   

We walked past the Hyde Park LDS building
The following day we packed in a lot: to nearby Victoria and Albert Museum, always a favorite! Iranians loved the Chinese blue and white

The Asian, Islam, Roman (Trojan columns), and every other exhibit

We saw a hilarious play called Operation Mincemeat where a clever group tricked Hitler into believing the Allies would land in Sardinia rather than Sicily

            We attended a lovely Evensong service at Westminster Abbey after a too quick visit to one of my favorite art galleries, the Tate Britain. Below are just a few of my favorites

       Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood, by John Singer Sargent

      

                  Christ in the Home of his Parents, by Millais

                Jesus Washing Peter's Feet, by Ford Madox Brown

Strayed Sheep by Hunt

The Room in which Shakespeare was Born, by Henry Wallis

We saw a hilarious play called Operation Mincemeat where a clever group tricked Hitler into believing the Allies would land in Sardinia rather than Sicily

  

July 3, while Anne worked, Rebecca and I visited the British War Museum, with (among many other exhibits) a new art exhibit. Many of the pieces are very poignant and self-explanatory

Edith Birkin survived Bergen-Belsen after being deported with her family from Prague to the Lodz ghetto. She depicts roll call at the camps

Having lived in Spain, these Civil War (1936-40) posters are familiar 

Scottish Women's Hospital (WWI in France) by Norah Neilson

                      John Nash: Trenches of WWI in France

Next to the Saint James' Hospital is a great small museum on Florence Nightingale, the "Lady with the Lamp, "who grew up in a very privileged middle-class home and defied her parents to be a nurse. 

She served in the Great Military Hospital of Scutari near Istanbul/ Constantinople during the Crimean War (1854-6), British and French against the Russians. She became very ill with brucellosis (which she suffered from for the rest of her life) doing more than nursing and cleanliness: restoring humanity to the soldiers. She worked the rest of her life to improve sanitation at home and abroad (India) and in planning military and civil hospitals, nursing training. She died in her sleep (her bedroom, below) at age 90 in 1910.

We met Anne and Rebecca's colleague at the great Burough's Market

     after which we walked to Saint Paul's Cathedral for its Evensong

after which we watched "A View from the Bridge" by Arthur Miller at the gorgeous Fortune Theater. It was the story of mistrust and prejudice of a man (but not hia wife and daughter) against 2 Italian immigrants they took in in Brooklyn, NYC. Excellent!

Rebecca took the train to Newcastle-on-Tyne for a conference, Anne had work meetings, so I took the train to Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman developed the Bombe machines to speed up German Enigma cipher keys which both Axis and Allies used for intercepting and transmitting codes during WWII. It was a very secretive and crucial labor (and very boring for many of the 9,000 [3/4 were women] who worked here) and was largely responsible for the success of D-Day operations and the winning of WWII. That was how I spent July 4th! The operation began on a small scale in the mansion, and then expanded to many huts. 

July 5, Anne picked up a car and we drove about 5 hours north to York, a wonderful city!