VE Day at St Paul’s

After a long flight from Singapore to London, we caught the express train from Heathrow to Paddington, then turned to Google Maps to guide us as we wheeled our luggage through the streets to our hotel near Hyde Park. It was an eye opener. We were obviously in what once must have been a rather exclusive neighbourhood. I haven’t had time to discover the history of any of the buildings around here yet, but I imagine many of them were once residential and housed some of London’s wealthiest and most influential people. The first photo below, for example, is of the building across the road from our hotel. It is fairly typical of many other places in the surrounding streets. Rather grand and imposing. Monuments to an era when Britannia ruled the waves.

We walked through Hyde Park, passing Kensington Palace, one section of which was covered with scaffolding. It was my first time in Hyde Park. I was struck by the sheer size of it. I wonder if it was a clever town planner or maybe a royal decree that was responsible for its creation. Sharing the path with us were joggers, cyclists, dog walkers, businessmen and women hurrying to work, school kids and sightseers. We found a path marked ‘No cycling’. Few people were on this path and we were able to briefly enjoy having a whole section of the park to ourselves. We arrived at the Albert Memorial, Queen Victoria’s enduring tribute to her late husband, an imposing structure which reminded me of the Walter Scott monument in Edinburgh – with the exception that Albert, unlike Walter, is covered in real gold. Directly across the road was the Royal Albert Hall. Rod and Cornelia visited it yesterday, while Marg and I were still in Singapore. I’d love the experience of going to a concert there one day. I’ll add it to my bucket list.

We joined the long queue waiting for the doors to open at the Natural History Museum. It’s one of three famous museums here in South Kensington. The others, just around the corner, are the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. No doubt these museums were intended to educate and impress the people of London when they were built during the reign of Queen Victoria, at a time when Britain ruled a good portion of the globe. I was expecting to step inside and find myself surrounded by interactive displays and other innovative 21st century ways of exhibiting the wonders of nature. Instead, I found myself stepping back in time to galleries filled with static displays of stuffed animals in glass cases. I imagine visitors in Victorian times must have experienced something very similar to what I was seeing. The bird and mammal galleries featured rather sad looking specimens, many of which seemed to date back to an era when taxidermy had not yet reached its peak. A dodo’s lifeless glass eyes stared back at me. A panda whose coat was so faded by the passage of time almost looked more like a wombat. These galleries reminded me so much of the way Melbourne museum was when I was a little kid and would visit it with my grandfather. It must have been mindblowing for the Victorians to come here and see these strange creatures gathered from the far corners of the British Empire and beyond, and I’m glad I was able to view the wonders of the natural world as they might have. Other galleries were a little more hi-tech. There was one hall dedicated to conservation, for example, highlighting current innovative practices combating the effects of climate change. My favourite display was the dinosaurs. It was interesting to see a sign offering people the option to take an alternative path through the display if they didn’t want to come face to face with an animatronic tyrannosaurus rex. The lifelike model was more comical than scary as its head and neck moved, eyes blinked and jaws opened and shut. If it took a step, however, I would have been out of there like a shot!

We left the museum and headed back through the park in the direction of Hyde Park Corner. We could hear the Household Cavalry Regiment drilling behind the wall as we passed, though we didn’t see any horses. Perhaps they were preparing for the VE (Victory in Europe) Day commemoration, as today marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

We ate lunch at a cafe on Hyde Park Corner, then entered Apsley House, the former home of the Duke of Wellington. The Duke won the hearts of British people when he led their armies to a series of victories over Napoleon, including the decisive one at Waterloo in 1815, and brought peace to Europe after many years of war. He also served as Prime Minister for a time. In addition to viewing the personal belongings of Wellington on display, such as his telescope, false teeth and famous boots, we got an insight into the way he entertained guests at lavish dinner parties and were able to view his remarkable collection of paintings from the Dutch masters. There was even a larger than life marble effigy of a naked Napoleon that had once belonged to the French military commander.

We took the Tube from Hyde Park Corner to Holborn, then changed for the train to St Paul’s. On our last visit to London, Marg and I had walked to St Paul’s, only to find the cathedral was closed to the public for the day. I really wanted to see inside, so I pre-booked tickets for an afternoon visit. Last week I received an email from St Paul’s informing me that they had moved forward the closing time for the day of my visit due to an important event taking place in the evening. It was good to get this warning, as we were able to change our schedule, arrive earlier and still allow ourselves a couple of hours here before the 4pm closure. It was a surprise to find a WWII Spitfire in the forecourt of St Paul’s. It was only going to be here for one day, the anniversary of VE Day, and the reason for the early closure to the public was that a special evensong to commemorate the event was to take place later in the afternoon.

We entered the cathedral and took the free Highlights tour that was offered to us. Our guide, Brian, began by recounting the history of the cathedral on this site, including the earlier ones that had been destroyed by fire or, in one instance, by Viking raiders. We learned how Christopher Wren, a mathematician had designed the dome and done away with the spire which had adorned earlier versions of St Paul’s. Brian told us that most of the ornate work and the sculptures adorning the interior of the cathedral had been added during the Victorian era. I guess we weren’t surprised to hear that. Brian also extolled the virtues of the Duke of Wellington as we sat adjacent to his very large, ornate tomb. We struggled to hear all that Brian was telling us because he was competing with a choir, orchestra and, at times, an organist preparing for the VE Day service soon to follow. As much as we wanted to hear what Brian was saying, I must admit that it was wonderful to hear music filling this sacred space. We ended our visit in the crypt, where many famous Britons were laid to rest. We saw the memorials to Lawrence of Arabia, Florence Nightingale and the painter J M W Turner. The most imposing tomb in the crypt is that of Admiral Nelson, commander of the British navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.

We left the cathedral just as people were arriving for the VE Day service. Cornelia’s sister, Ursula, was waiting for us. Ursula was visiting London from her home in Switzerland. It was good to see her again. On our last trip to Europe, Marg and I had spent some time in Lyon, France, with Ursula. After a busy day, we needed a drink, so we made our way to a quaint little pub, ‘Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese’, in Ludgate Hill, which was opened on this site in the 1600s. It’s one of Rod’s favourites. The beer was good. We crossed the Thames and found a place in Southbank for an early dinner. Being back in England again, I didn’t even need to look at the menu to know what I wanted – fish and chips with mushy peas. Delicious.

We said goodbye to Ursula at Embankment Tube station and caught the Circle line train back to Bayswater, just around the corner from the hotel. It was a busy day, but a good one to kick off our time in England.