Flat Mr. Hunter admires the gothic side of La Sagrada Familia, which has a nativity scene
Mr. Hunter's keeper has longed to visit Gaudi's famed Barcelona cathedral ever since she saw Irving Penn's marvelous photo of a funeral procession passing in front of La Sagrada Familia.
Funeral Cortège in front of La Sagrada Familía
Irving Penn
Thanks to the Pebbles From Paradise blog.
Flat Mr. Hunter and the austere Passion facade
Beautiful! Mr. Hunter can't wait to see this cathedral with his own wooden eyes. A big "Gracias!" to Liz for taking Flat Mr. Hunter to Barcelona in the meantime.
After our pilgrimage to the Courtauld, we walked down The Strand and paid a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral. We arrived just as they were finishing up Evensong, so we had a chance to sit down and listen to some of the soaring and lovely music.
Here's a YouTube video somebody posted
that shows a snippet of Evensong music at St. Paul's.
The day we went to St. Paul's happened to be tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It felt odd not to be in the U.S. on the 9/11 anniversary.
At the Blitz and Firefighters Memorial across the street from St. Paul's,
many people had placed wreaths, including some to honor the 9/11 victims, and this gave us a good chance to stand and remember that day, to think of all the people whose lives were lost or destroyed, to reflect on how our world has changed so profoundly because of what happened that Tuesday morning.
The card reads:
In memory of our 343 New York Colleagues
Who made the ultimate sacrifice 10 years ago.
The UK Firefighters Memorial Trust
London
11th Sept 2011
I had especially wanted to return to St. Paul's Cathedral since I'd watched a documentary called The Blitz: London's Longest Night a few years ago. The film is a affecting mix of interviews with survivors of the Blitz, re-enactments of some events on the night of December 29, 1940, and even some footage of the fires that surrounded and threatened St. Paul's.
As I stood at the Blitz and Firefighters Memorial, I thought of 9/11, and also I thought of the Blitz and those firemen and other Londoners whose stories I'd heard in the documentary. There was one fireman in particular -- he had survived simply because another young firefighter had come to relieve him about one minute before a huge brick wall collapsed in flames right where the survivor had just been standing. The documentary took the time not just to listen to this man's story, but also to show him sitting quietly, still grieving and stunned by this vision of the wall falling down.
Mr. Hunter visited a number of spots related to the April 29, 2011, wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, including a tour of Buckingham Palace to see Kate's wedding gown, veil, shoes, earrings, the Cartier "Halo" tiara, and even part of the couple's wedding cake. (Too bad we couldn't take any pictures inside!)
Before we toured Buckingham Palace, we visited the Royal Mews, where we saw the Rolls Royce Phantom VI in which Kate Middleton rode to Westminster Abbey.
About the Rolls Royce that carried Kate Middleton to her wedding.
Some details from the Rolls Royce... the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament (when Queen Elizabeth II rides in the Rolls Royce, there's a different hood ornament that depicts St. George slaying the dragon) and the Queen's coat of arms.
The Goring Hotel was only a few blocks away from the palace. Kate Middleton and her family spent the night before the royal wedding at the Goring Hotel.
The Goring Hotel
The front of the Goring Hotel.
In the gardens of Buckingham Palace after the State Rooms tour
where we saw Kate's wedding dress.
Westminster Abbey
Happy anniversary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!
Mr. Hunter felt a kinship with these Heads of the Kings of Judah when he encountered them at the Musée National du Moyen Age
(aka the Musée de Cluny) in Paris.
The statues of the Kings of Judah were displayed on the facade of Notre Dame Cathedral until 1793 and the French Revolution. These particular fragments were unearthed in 1977 during some construction in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.
The Cluny web site tells how the original statues had been sold to a builder after they'd been dismantled, but that the heads had later been purchased and "buried with respect" in 1796.
Naturally, Mr. Hunter is a big fan of The Amazing Race, and he was tickled this week to see teams directed to the city of Salzburg.
Mr. Hunter and his traveling companions basked in this view from the Hohensalzburg Fortress. That's Salzburg's Old Town in the foreground, and the Salzburg Cathedral (with the green dome) on the right.
We ditched the Vatican Museum tour before they dropped us at the tour-sanctioned gift shop. By this time, we were blazing and thirsty and ready to sit down for a rest before making our way into St. Peter's Square. Shade was in short supply, but we were thrilled to find these frozen bottles of water.
