Now to London!

"Highlights of London Town" is an eight-page Color Plate section in the May, 1929, issue of National Geographic Magazine that I'm currently reading.  This brought back happy memories of my trip to England in November, 2008 with daughter #7, Marie.

The occasion for the long journey was the tragic death of my nephew, Justin, killed in Afghanistan September 4th, 2008, by an IED.  Justin was a proud member of the Irish Regiment of the Royal British Army, having previously served in the American Navy.  Marie and I wanted to support my brother, Don, and sister-in-law, Kathleen, at the Remembrance Day ceremonies November 9th in Market Drayton at St. Mary's Church and town center, and at the Tern Hill Army Base.  We also wanted several days to be tourists in London.

At the London Heathrow Airport we immediately were impressed by the sight of small, artificial red poppies on the lapels or shoulders of every person.  The English are all very serious about remembering all those in all wars who have given their lives for their country.  Every town, however small, has a ceremony remembering their soldiers.  Even those on live TV wear the poppies.

Westminster Abbey grounds, London, England, November, 2008, crosses & poppies for Remembrance Day.

View of grounds, Westminster Abbey, with thousands of crosses.  There are large boards with the individual names of soldiers and the war in which he/she died.  Justin's name was not there because his death was very recent.

The reason for wearing poppies was that the red poppy was the first plant to grown on the devastated battlefields after the first world war.  A person 'buys' a poppy (which has a pull-off tab to reveal a sticky surface on the back) by giving a donation to the British soldiers' Benevolent Fund which takes care of widows, families, and those injured in the war. When we saw Don and Kathleen on Saturday, we were each given a poppy to wear.

Changing of the Guards, Buckingham Palace, London, England, November, 2008

The 1929 issue shows ancient soldiers' uniforms.  I thought you might like to see the uniforms of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  The 1929 issue also features the Tower of London.  All my life, I've thought that "The Tower of London" was just one big, fancy tower where famous prisoners were tortured and then, perhaps, have their heads cut off!  No!  "The Tower of London" is actually a fortress with many buildings and many towers.  We found it fascinating, and spent a whole afternoon there.  In this place are kept the crown jewels, a collection of kings' and queens' crowns, jewels, golden objects, etc., such as I doubt are equaled anywhere in the world!

The Tower of London

Tower Bridge, London, as seen from the Tower of London grounds.

Big Ben, the clock tower next to Parliament on the Thames River, my favorite place in the whole city.

A windswept Marie, the happy photographer, on the bridge leading to Big Ben, London.

 So, while I could not show you the actual 1929 photos, I posted some of our own photos of London.  Hope you enjoyed them!