Walking with the Lord

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

We began the day with a tour of Westminster Palace and the Houses of Parliament. This was the first time I’ve ever been in Westminster Palace, and I’m told that it’s actually somewhat difficult to get a tour. In any case, we had a wonderful tour guide. The building itself was gorgeous. Walking through the House of Lords was great because, for once, I actually saw gothic architecture as it was intended to be seen, covered in bright paint and gold leaf. Obviously, this wasn’t authentic medieval gothic architecture, but I think Pugin’s interiors were gorgeous anyway. If you haven’t discovered this yet, my historical imagination isn’t what it should be, and I enjoy seeing buildings restored and recreated (with the exception of Versailles, but that’s a different story). It makes me wonder why George Frederick Bodley didn’t incorporate color into the decoration when he designed the Washington National Cathedral. Ever since I learned that cathedrals were originally alive with color and gold leaf, I’ve been confused as to why the National Cathedral is simply plain stone. Perhaps this was Bodley’s attempt to mimic the style of the cathedrals in Europe, to make his cathedral look as old and authentic as those in Europe. I can’t imagine that, as an architect, he wouldn’t have known that cathedrals were supposed to be painted, especially since he was British and was an instrumental part of the gothic revival movement!
The Commons was not as well decorated. At first I thought that this might reflect a willingness on the part of the Commons to remain distinct from the Lords, some sort of pride in being “the people.” Unfortunately, it was a result of more money being spent on the Lords than the Commons. More stereotypical British class snobbery. Oh well. Either side would be a beautiful place to work, so I wouldn’t complain.
I’m concerned, though, by the fact that in Parliament (and Congress!), there’s never a day when every MP (or congressman) is present. There are not even enough seats in either House to accommodate every MP if they wall wanted to attend. Our guide said that sometimes there are days when only two people show up to debate a topic. I had this crazy idea that when you’re elected for a position like that, you are actually required to show up for work like the rest of the employed population. What, then, are the rest of our politicians doing? Is ALL that time spent dealing with lobbyists and making publicity appearances? What kind of government is it when the people who represent us aren’t actually present to do it? Please tell me there’s some sort of movement committed to making these elected officials actually do the jobs we elect them for.

Moving on, Lord Leslie Griffiths, Baron of Burry Port, member of the House of Lords, Canon of St. Paul’s, and Methodist reverend, met us in the original medieval part of the palace and took us on a quick tour of St. Stephen’s Chapel, which is closed to visitors. Like the House of Lords, the chapel was beautifully decorated and impressive, though small. Most of the excitement of being there was probably due to the fact that no other tourists get to see the chapel. We then walked over Westminster Bridge just as I was talking to him about poetry, and we recited Wordsworth’s “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” together (it was also on a poster on the bridge itself). He said he had been a medieval literature major as an undergrad and that he loved Shakespeare. I mentioned that I had recently gone on a pilgrimage to see Milton and how I had put myself on the waiting list for a ticket to his birthday evensong. Apparently Lord Griffiths had preached at St. Giles before, and he mentioned briefly that he might be able to get me a ticket. Unfortunately, that line of conversation dropped off before we could exchange any information, and I feel like it would be too much of an imposition to contact him and ask him now. Oh well.
Lord Griffiths was the nicest guy. He had the best stories and had something to say on every subject. I was particularly amused when he told me that he had actually met C.S. Lewis and they had some odd and short-lived conversation, the subject of which I forget. He made a point to have a conversation with every one of us, asking about our majors and our interests. He had the wonderful habit of pointing at things with his umbrella when he wanted to stop and talk about something. We were all too polite to mention that we’d already done a tour of Southwark and the South Bank. We stopped for lunch ad a pub right on the river, which was chilly and windy, but a nice enough day that we sat at tables outside. I got soup, so that helped with the cold. After lunch, we walked down Bankside, saw the Clink and stopped a while at the replica of the Golden Hinde, which was Sir Francis Drake’s ship. We then walked across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul’s.
Once again, I have to mention how much I love St. Paul’s. For me, even more than Big Ben or the red phone booth, it has become a symbol of London. I’ve seen a lot of gorgeous buildings here—this city seems to be defined by its architecture— but I’m always drawn to St. Paul’s. I finally got to go inside the cathedral, and it certainly did not disappoint. My first impressions, in comparison to Westminster Abbey, were that St. Paul’s is very colorful and very…round. Westminster Abbey is gothic and therefore has the vaulted ceilings and pointed arches. Christopher Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral is in the English baroque style, so everything is either twisted or curved. The color came from beautiful mosaic work on the ceiling and gold leafing everywhere. I know it’s not as old as Westminster Abbey, but I got the feeling that the original design of the cathedral (well, Wren’s design, anyway) was better maintained at St. Paul’s than the original design at Westminster Abbey. It also seemed distinctly Anglican, probably because it was built after the creation of the Church of England and, therefore, it avoided having any Catholic influence. I don’t know if I can describe exactly why. The references to saints were minimal the decoration assumed to have a more literate population, since there weren’t as many stories being told in the decoration, as opposed to medieval cathedrals, were stories were told on any free space available. Also, since Anglican services are held in English, I suppose there wasn’t really a need for visual translation.
I walked up the stairs to all three galleries: the Whispering Gallery (99 ft. and 259 spiral steps), the Stone Gallery (173 ft. and 378 steps), and, at the very top, the Golden Gallery (280 ft. and 530 steps). I stopped at all three, although I couldn’t get the Whispering Gallery to work for me. The view from the higher galleries, though, was absolutely beautiful. I certainly got my exercise today.
At 5pm we were invited to sit in the Quire and listen to evensong, which was a beautiful service. I’d like to go to evensong at Westminster and compare, and I’m still crossing my fingers for evensong at St. Giles.
I took the Tube back to Tottenham Court Road and got a sandwich at Sainsbury’s. I ate dinner with Chris, Jen, Alana, Lauren, Katie, and Juli in the Breakfast Room. Then Chris, Jen, Alana, Lauren, Katie, and I went to the local patisserie for ice cream. I had the Ferrero Roche ice cream, which was an unexpected option, but delicious.