London Town Fun

On May 10, 2006 I kept an appointment. An appearance in London at 8 A.M. on the live Earthcam situated at Covent Garden. That was 4 P.M. London Time. The middle left photo below shows the webcam view (Ken Garrett downloaded my actual appearance, but it vanished in my e-mail files.) The middle right image is my snapshot of the same location. Then below you see the webcam itself, to the right of the upright support.
Covent Garden, with its markets, cafes, and street performers is a favorite hangout in London.

The piazza shown in the top photo dates from 1632. The reference on one building is to the Punch and Judy shows observed and documented here by Samuel Pepys in 1662.

Covent Garden was originally, in fact, a Convent Garden of the Westminster Abbey monks.

Vegetable fields and fruit trees flourished here from 1536. I missed any explanation of why the “n” was dropped to make Covent Garden the name. Being as neither garden or convent remain any way.

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London’s Eye, The Millennium Wheel, is currently the world’s tallest observation structure of its kind. It soars to 443 feet on the South Bank of River Thames.

The stark facade of the Tate Modern Museum. The Spartan feel is from a design that was originally the Bankside Power Station. The some 20,000 sq ft of interior space became a selling point for converting to a museum, beginning with its funding in 1996.

The enterance and foyer of the Tate Modern.

The Cambridge Pub, Cappuccetto’s, and SoupWorks at Leicester Square, above. Also, Bar Soho.

A view of rooftops and chimneys as seen from an above leg of the Underground.

Views from The Underground.

London is a sea of suits. Men dress for work. And if any respectable English Gentleman should forget, he is reminded to adjust his dress before leaving the WC.

Twisted Tails of Copenhagen

Few spires are this beautiful or unique. Borsen–the old Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Hans Van Steenwinckle was the architect. Rundetaarn, shown in my previous essay, was also designed by him. It is a Dragonspire he created in 1625 for the Stock Exchange Building.

The tails of four dragons are twisted together in symbolic guardianship. This twining is a statement of strength. But the architect achieved a lightness and grace with the open chamber just below his dragons.

More “Dead”

Mexico’s Day of The Dead is all about gentile and happy spirits of the after life. But there’s also more Halloween-like legends of darker angels. The malcontents and evil doers on the other side.
One of Mexico’s most legendary locations for this phenomena is Guadalajara’s downtown cemetery–their “Haunted” cemetery–Panteon de Belen. Many dates on the tombs and gravestones are from the mid 1800’s. These were well-to-do and important citizens of Guadalajara. But the graveyard came into existence during some of Mexico’s hardest times. Dark years seem to produce dark legends of after life.

The atmosphere within the walls of Belan is tranquil and beautiful. Pleasing landscaping–an array of interesting trees. There’s one tree in particular. Thick, sinuous roots form a massive trunk and vast canopy. This is Guadalajara’s most guarded tree. If it is allowed to die, a rapacious vampire will be unleashed upon a defenseless city population.
He’s terrorized the region before. Evidence was dead animals all around. Not only dead but sucked dry and bloodless. Then children died this way. A vampire was on the loose. People dared not venture out at night for fear of Lestat. A vigilante group was formed to track down the evil creature. Find him, they did; Captured by net. A lethal wooden stake was driven through his heart. And to take no chances his body was entombed in a concrete sarcophicus and buried deeply at Belan. Happiness reclaimed the homeland. Until….

The lethal wooden stake grew longer and wider from the vampire’s heart. It punched through the concrete sarcophicus lid and out of the grave. The stake became this tree. Not a sap producing tree but one of blood from all the creatures the vampire killed. Any little nick or damage, the tree dripped blood. And if the tree is allowed to die, the vampire WILL RETURN!

This story was being told to a group of very  young school children on a Day of The Dead field trip to Belan.

A heightened spookiness is possible by taking a night time tour. The chance of witnessing some of the phenomena is rumored to be quite great! For instance, one story says someone committed suicide–by neck, hanging from a tree. A night time shadow of this tree sometimes appears even though it was cut down long ago.
A cemetery guard has been seen. But there is no guard. Those who saw this guard’s face say it matched a portrait attached to one of the graves.
There’s an approaching clip clop and rattle of an 1800’s horse drawn coffin wagon. It stops at the cemetery gate. Nothing is ever there except hints of moving shadows.
Perhaps this was just too much after life activity to suit “Los Hombres Ilustres,” prominent Jalisco State and Guadalajara dignitaries buried here. They were excavated in 1947 and moved to a new Memorial “La Rotonda de Los Hombres Illustres” next to Guadalajara Cathedral.

The architecture next to them may seem familiar to those big shots. The Cathedral towers and the Belan Cemetery Pavilion under which the illustrious were buried had the same architect.

IL Duomo

Milan’s High Gothic Cathedral “Il Duomo,” from 1386 is having a face lift. A long needed cleaning to turn dark gray into white with hints of pink. So for now views are obscured by scaffolding. Several of the statue topped spires are complete. And looking nice. Ceremonies and services continue inside.