Calm soul of all things! Make it mine
To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abide, a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.
~Matthew Arnold's "Lines Written in Kensington Gardens"
The morning came with bitter cold, but we bundled up and were out the door for an early mass at the Brompton Oratory. On the walk we passed by the Victoria and Albert Museum. One side of the building had large chunks of rock missing, a badge of honor left from the Blitz. The Oratory is a beautiful church, which reminded me of those in Rome. It is Baroque in style and even has two lines of apostles along the main aisle like in San Giovanni in Laterano. Large arches in front of each chapel supported carvings of muses and virtues, such as blind Justice. The sun streamed in on these figures and made them rosy instead of deathly pale. The Church was still cold, so at times I huddled next to the tiers of white votive candles to keep warm.
From there we walked to Kensington Gardens, brilliantly lit by the rising sun. Even in winter the grass was green, and gray robins hopped among the ancient trees and bushes. A large pond rippled with ducks and a large heron. The shimmering water was a bright mirror, but clear enough to see the black gravel below.
As beautiful as the park was, the reason we had taken this route was to see the statue of Peter Pan, put in the park by J. M. Barrie himself. Peter wore a long shirt hanging above his bare knees, and held his pipe to his lips. He stood on a rocky outcropping, with fairies and animals looking up at him.
Finally we drifted out of the park, admiring the shining fountains and white swans, and headed for the train station.
"...the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."
~Winston Churchill
We took a ride through the countryside to reach the Royal Air Force Museum north of London. On my visit I had Colin to tell me about all of the different types of planes, but I don't know much about them other than they're really cool! These ones were right in front:
We took a tour of the Battle of Britain exhibit first, where we learned about life in London during the war, and watched a film talking about the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. The video played in a hangar, and different planes would light up in time with the video. I thought that the Enigma machine used to encode messages during the war was pretty cool:
We all had fun (not just the boys) running around and climbing in and out of planes (it must be admitted that Mom took a nap on a bench for a while). We got a quick bite to eat, then headed back to the train station as the clouds were turning all shades of dark and light. They were low in the sky and looked like mountain ranges.
"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o' clock," he read.
His aunt and uncle stared.
"Platform what?"
"Nine and three-quarters."
"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."
"It's on my ticket."
"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them."
~Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
I think you can see where this next episode is going. Yes, we got off the train from the RAF Museum at King's Cross Station. We asked two different station workers where Platform 9 3/4 was, and neither of them batted an eye, which just goes to show you how much things have changed in the last fifteen years. Finally we found it outside the station on a brick wall, almost invisible under a tarp (King's Cross/St. Pancras Stations are under construction.) We all gave it a go, but the gateway must have been closed for Christmas break...
Before going back to the flat, we stopped briefly at the British Library to see Medieval manuscripts of the Bible, music books with the notations of Beethoven and Handel, and copies of the Magna Carta.
We also saw one of the many blue plaques that mark sites of historical interest in London, this one designating the site of Charles Dickens' house!
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