City of London

The Great Fire of 1666, The Blitz, war, plagues, terrible conditions of the poor in Victorian England, religious persecution....sometimes the history of London can be gruesome, if not downright depressing. The Museum of London is a free journey through time, from earliest settlement to last year's Olympics. It is dark and heavy inside, which sets the mood for the dark tone it takes.










The disasters, disease, imperialism, turmoil, and discord of the past are emphasized, leaving one hoping for a happy ending.    The final exhibit is a cool inter-active touch screen extravaganza which could focus on dreams for the future.  Instead, the way it is set up below waist-level forces you to hang your head while exploring social problems that are apparently rampant in London today--racism, garbage, over-crowding, pollution, socio-economic inequalities--all spinning around and coming at you with no visible solutions.  It makes you want to step outside for a breath of air.

The grounds outside of St. Paul's, full of life, roses. and sunlight today.

Leaving the museum in a sad-for-the-state-of humanity mindset, we walked a couple of blocks to St. Paul's Cathedral.  It is the forth one built on the same spot, began after The Great Fire of 1666.  It was bombed repeatedly in The Blitz but survived do to dedicated volunteers who slept at night there for years putting out fires before they could engulf the building.  It houses the remains of war heroes and memorials to  doctors killed by IRA terrorist bombs.  But, it also has the remains of Arthur Sullivan, co-author of some of my favorite comic musicals and painters like John Singer Sargent and, actually, Florence Nightengale.  The soaring beauty of the cathedral is a monument to what Londoners can accomplish while the memorials are testaments to the depth and ingenuity of humanity.  Walking through the grounds and eating a picnic lunch on the grass with hundreds of Londoners was a much-needed uplift.

Uplifts are also available by the pint.