Jack the Ripper walk

This was another school field trip...this one was Thursday night at 6pm. We met at the Tower Hill tube station right across from the Tower of London (pictured above). This was only a day after Jessica and I went to the Tower for our history of London through architecture class. I didn't bring my camera on that trip because it was kind of rainy that morning and I didn't want to take a chance. But back to Jack the Ripper...we met on an observation platform and were introduced to our guide. Don Rumbelow is the leading expert on Jack the Ripper, is a certified London Blue Guide, and was our host for the evening. He even spent some time with Johnny Depp during the making of the movie "From Hell" - an outstanding Ripper movie in my opinion. You can get more information on Don's book by clicking here.


One of the problems authorities had in trying to catch Jack the Ripper was that the murders took place in two different police jurisdictions. The City of London proper has the City of London Police, and the Greater London area is protected by the Metropolitan Police (that's the one based out of Scotland Yard). The wall pictured above is part of the old Roman wall that marks part of the boundary of London proper. These two police forces had a historic rivalry and were not willing to work together on the case, making it even harder to find the person responsible for the murders. Theories of who the real Jack the Ripper was continue to this day and the list of suspects grows longer each year as people come up with new ideas (most of them stupid).


This church served as a major hub for the prostitutes of the late 19th century. They, and the other undesirable members of society were left to the east end of the city. The prostitutes could not stop walking while they were working or they would be subject to arrest for solicitation. So they would walk in a big circle around this church, slowing on the side that faced the street to try to pick up a customer and quickening around the back. It was like a huge traffic round about for the women of the night. At least one of the Ripper's victims frequented this area - her body was found a block away in a small public square.


We walked down several alleys and side streets around Brick Lane (now a major public market on the weekends). This was the heart of the area where the murders took place. Many of the streets are nearly the same as they would have been when the murders took place near the turn of the last century. It was neat to almost take a step back in time to the world that Jack the Ripper knew.


This is a very old church a few blocks away from Brick Lane and the side streets that we were walking down. We had already been to this area a few weeks ago when we had a tour of the east end markets. The inside has recently been restored and is beautiful. The church was recreated on the set of the movie "From Hell".


This is the original "Ten Bells" - a pub that had a big role in the movie. That part of the movie is true - the Ripper's victims were known to frequent this pub, which was old even then! The sign says it was established in 1666 (the year of the Great Fire of London). This was pretty much the last stop on our tour.


After the tour we made our way to the Liverpool Street tube station. The area was familiar from the east end market tour. This was once a major center for banking in the city before many of them moved to the Canary Wharf section of London. Recently local leaders have been trying to lure more of the banks and other businesses back. As you can see from the picture of this large office building above, they have had some success. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has a building across the street.


We are almost back to the tube station, but the night sky was just so nice with the famous London fog rolling in and obscuring the tops of buildings. You can almost see the cold hanging in the air, as this was a very chilly night.


On our way home! This is the inside of the Liverpool Street station - by far my favorite station so far. It has beautiful ceilings with ornate beams and columns. The place is quite large, and on the upper level on the right hand side of the picture there is a line of stores including a small Marks & Spencer (a high end grocery and clothing store, although this one just had food). We of course stopped and got a snack for the tube ride home.

Windsor Castle

I'm still running a little behind, but last Friday we had a school field trip to Windsor Castle, not too far outside London. Windsor Castle, the favorite of the Royal Family, was severely damaged by a fire in 1992. It started in the Queen's private chapel when a workman's lamp apparently ignited a nearby curtain. The fire quickly spread to some of the most treasured state rooms of the castle - over 100 were either destroyed or damaged. A huge salvage operation made up of human chains saved many of the priceless historic artifacts in the castle, including all but four of the important paintings in the Royal collections. The videos below show the extent of the fire, the aftermath, and describe some of the history and importance of the castle.






Windsor Castle is the largest and the oldest castle in the world to still be occupied. After the fire, a massive restoration of the damaged area began. The state would pay for the structural work, while the monarchy would pay to replace objects that were part of the Royal Collection. After an uproar from the public, the Queen promised that the cost of the restoration would in no way fall on taxpayers. In fact, 70% of the the total cost (37 million British Pounds) was made up by allowing the public to see the staterooms of Buckingham Palace - something that had never been done before - for a fee. The restoration was finally completed in 1997. It was done so well that it is hard to tell which rooms were affected by the fire. In one room, the original floor was preserved by lifting up the wood panels, turning them upside down, and putting them back in place. In many cases, the rooms were restored to be more historically accurate to their original appearance. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside many parts of the castle so I was limited in my picture taking abilities. I don't think the beauty of these rooms would be able to come through in a photograph anyway.


Like many large castles in England, Windsor was added on to many times. With the exception of one small section, the entire castle was rebuilt be King Henry III starting in 1350. The tower shown above, called "the Round Tower", replaced the original round tower which would have been the oldest part of the original castle. Castle building at that time involved constructing a large central tower on a raised hill with a ditch dug out around it (making the tower itself stand seemingly taller and making it easier to defend). This was called a "keep", which was the most heavily defended part of the castle. Outer defensive walls and towers would be built in a circle around the keep.


We missed the big changing of the guard ceremony that usually is a daily occurrence - for some reason they were not doing it that day. We did see several times though these guards in uniform walking in a procession up and down a central path through the castle grounds. Not a huge loss, the main changing of the guards ceremony that everyone goes to see is at Buckingham Palace, and that always happens everyday. I will be sure to stop by one day and get pictures of that.


St. George's Chapel has a long history and is the chapel of the Order of the Garter, a medieval order of knights that continues to be the highest honor in the United Kingdom. It is also the final resting place of many famous monarchs, including King Henry VIII (we walked across his tomb on the floor inside), Jane Seymour, King George III, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth - The Queen Mother, and is the assumed chosen resting place of the current Queen Elizabeth II.


The castle is absolutely huge. It's floor area is about 484,000 square feet. The land immediately surrounding the castle is called "Home Park" and includes two working farms. Also adjacent is the "Windsor Great Park" that used to be the private hunting grounds of the castle. The 5,000 acre deer park is now mostly open to the public.


After touring the castle, we had about an hour to walk around the town of Windsor. On the way into a pub for lunch, we ran into this character, who immediately started up a conversation. He claims to be the owner of an upscale night club in Greenwich Village in NY that has a 6-month wait list to get in. He also claims to have known personally Frank Sinatra. Jessica and I don't really believe him, but he was fun to listen to anyway. Once inside the pub, we found out that he has been banned from coming inside because he likes to sing really loudly. So every once in a while he will find someone to bring in his money and an empty glass to be refilled. Notice the brandy glass next to him on the left.


This is inside the pub, where Jessica and I ordered some take-away (British for take out) fish and chips to eat on the bus. The older fellow to the left of the cash register struck up a conversation, although between his local accent and his drunkenness he was hard to understand. Apparently he lives way out in the middle of nowhere, and between walking and the bus it takes about an hour to get to the pub (which I assume is a somewhat daily occurrence).


On the way back to the bus, we passed this interested building, "the crooked house of Windsor". Formally known as the Market Cross House, the original structure was built in 1592. Then in 1687 the town council ordered the building to be demolished because of a land dispute. The new building erected in its place soon after (shown in the picture above) got its famous lean in 1718 when it was restructured with unseasoned green oak. And an interesting note: there used to be a secret passage from the basement leading to Windsor Castle - a short block away. It was apparently used for King Charles to meet with his mistress,Nell Gywn, and for taking food to the castle kitchens. After starting out as a butcher shop, it has also been home to a jewelry shop, brewery, antique shop, and gift shop. The 300 year old building is now a restaurant and tea room.

Just when we thought we'd escaped Syracuse, Syracuse came to us

SNOW DAY! We were shocked to wake up to an email saying not to come to class, that due to the weather the Faraday House would be closed. It's amazing how five inches of snow brings such a huge city to a grinding halt. London is not used to ever getting much snow accumulation, and today's is being called the worst snow storm in 18 years.


This is Russell Square - a park at the end of our street. It, like many other things, was closed today - the iron gates having never been opened this morning.

This is looking southeast down Southampton Row. We live one street over to the right; the Faraday House stretches between this street and the street one over to the left.


This is what the park in the middle of Russell Square looks like. Just yesterday Jessica and I cut through it and it was all green. The fountains were going, and joggers looped around the winding paths. There is also a nice little indoor/outdoor cafe in the middle of it. No one would be stopping to eat lunch there today...the park gates were not even unlocked this morning.


This is looking northwest up Southampton Row. Usually this section is full of cars and people. Transportation in London was a nightmare today. All bus service was suspended, rail service and the underground tube system saw heavy delays, and over 200 flights at Heathrow airport were canceled because the runways were not clear

Snowman building seemed to be the sport of the day...for children and adults. I think it was the latter responsible for this snow boulder that was pushed into the middle of an intersection!


There were cars all over the place that looked like this. Many offices closed for the day and a lot of workers either stayed in or walked where they needed to go.


Snow collects on the top of the iron fence that surrounds the park in Russell Square.


I don't think too many people would want to be on the phone for very long in one of these today!


Another snowman...this one holding a can of Rock Star energy drink. Or so the can says, I don't know...looks a "tipsy" to me, if ya know what I mean. Definitely an English snow man in that case.


Several of the places that were open at all decided to close early. This Starbucks on Great Russell Street was one of them. The British Museum across the street also closed early.


This is Old Gloucester Street, where the entrance to the Faraday House is. We received an email saying the forecast doesn't look good tomorrow either, and to check the website at 7:30 am to see if there will be classes.


Finally, this is how it all started: the snow coming down hard last night. This picture was taken from the front door of our building looking south down Bedford Place.

Who says college students can't cook?

A few nights ago, Jessica and I decided to put a little extra effort into our meal and come up with something different and fun. The result (above) was amazing. We took chicken, sliced it up and cooked it most of the way through just heating it up in a pan with the olive oil. When it was almost done, we added a sauce made from simply mixing up some reduced-sodium soy sauce and honey. We also threw in some salted roasted cashews to add some crunchy goodness. We kept on low heat for a while until the sauce thickened up and formed almost a glaze. Jessica made a salad, and we collaborated on couscous. The couscous was the pre-seasoned kit deal and all we had to do was add water. I spiced it up a bit by also including fresh basil leaves and feta cheese. It turned out to be really good (I was about 85% percent sure it would, although Jessica had her doubts about the idea of soy sauce mixed with honey at first. She is now a strong believer). I'll keep you posted on our future cooking endevours!

London urban market

This market is in the heart of the central business district in London. It's owned by the City of London and is designed to accommodate the busy lives of office workers. Many of the people who work in this section put in 12 hour days and then have to make their way home. For those who live outside the city especially, other stores might be closed by the time they get there. This provides a solution - workers can stop off here right after work or on their lunch breaks and get anything they need. This is not bargain shopping by any means. The place is filled with expensive wine shops and other stores to cater to the needs of the upper class. It is beautiful inside though, which is why our professor took us through for a detour on our tour of Roman ruins in the city.