In 1066 A.D., William, a Norman Duke (of Viking heritage), crossed the English Channel from Normandy and set about the task of claiming title to the English monarchy. He reigned for twenty years and became known as William the Conqueror. Among his many accomplishments were the foundation of the English monarchy as we know it, and the beginning of construction on the Tower of London. Along with Windsor Castle (the oldest and largest continually lived-in castle in the world), the Tower of London has gained quite a bit of notoriety. Initially, it served as an army garrison to protect access on the River Thames and as a home for monarchs. It subsequently became a prison, hosting such famous people as Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, Guy Fawkes, Charles I, and more recently, Rudolf Hess (part of Hitler's Nazi machine). Guy Fawkes is an interesting fellow, who in 1605 as a Catholic in a Protestant British world, planted a bomb in Parliament House. He fled to what must have been country then - Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath, just up the street from where we are staying with Lucy's aunt, to watch Parliament House blow up. Unfortunately, the bomb failed, he was caught, and delivered to the Tower where he met an unsavory end. Just today, Charlie and I walked over Parliament Hill for the fine view over London though we can no longer see Parliament House because of more recent additions to the London skyline.
Getting back to the earlier days, several monarchs after William, Edward I extended the rule of English law to Wales and Scotland. With some trepidation, we rented a car and I drove (yes, on the wrong side of the road, as only the British empire can get away with) for several hours to the Welsh countryside, finishing our drive on a lane that was as wide as our little Kia, hemmed in by large hedge rows on each side. Though there were very few cars on that lane, I had to back up once when a car approached from the other direction. Despite confusion over which shoulder to look over while backing up, and which hand to shift with, and why is there so much car to the left of me that I keep forgetting about?, we finally made it to Hay-on-Wye. For you literary types, you might recognize this village as hosting the largest used book fair in the UK (?the World). I've heard it said that the typical town in the American West has more bars than people; this town has more book stores than people and therefore many more pages of books also. And in addition to all of those wonderful books, the Welsh countryside is beautiful in a wind-swept, heath to the ridge-line way that makes everything look further and higher than it all was. I longed to walk one of the long, barren ridges anticipating the same sense of airy freedom we obtain on our own much higher ridges and peaks in Colorado. While I didn't get the chance to hike in the uplands, we made a loop ride on bicycles out from town, riding past 13th century churches. The people have been part of this land for a very long time.
We've had quite a fill of history during our visit to the UK. Much of the rule of law we enjoy in the US has roots here as we learned during our travels through Boston, Vermont, and Long Island. Seeing all of this makes the history I learned a long time ago make more sense and become more pertinent to my life. And although it seems like we have done so much here, we have barely scratched the outer crust. We could spend many more months here but our time in London and the surrounding countryside is rapidly coming to an end. Within two days we will begin the next part of our travels as we make our way to Germany, the Alps, and Italy. Until then, we have a few more sites to see: Westminster Abbey, another 13th century Norman creation; St.Paul's Cathedral, which survived the Battle of Britain during WWII; and anything else we can cram in before we fly on Friday.
Cheers,
Paul
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