Professor Decker & the London Crim Crew

We had our final crim class field trip yesterday. We started with a lecture about & tour of the City of London Police Department. Then we went on a tour of Parliament. Our “tour guide” at City of London PD, Roger Appleby was wonderful - gave us great info, showed us the stables, dogs, motorcycles, the control room with 100s of cameras all over the City of London, and their museum. The Parliament tour went through too quickly for me - I would have liked to have been able to spend more time looking at the artwork, statues etc. - but they really push a lot of people through there, so ?? This turned out to be my classes favorite field trip. Check out the pics below! I gave the final exam for the class this morning, have them all graded now & am wrapping up everything to leave tomorrow morning for home. The rest of the group aren’t leaving until Monday am, but I must get back to see my boys in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Hendricks Civic Theater. It has been a great month in London, but I am ready to be home. (click on pics for full-sized image!)

Crim Crew at City of London Police Department Roger Appleby lecturing to Crim Crew

Me on City of London PD motorcycle Crim Crew at Parliament

I just got back from seeing Les Mis & I can’t begin to convey how good it was! (this post was written last night - but the computers here at Kings College all crashed & so it is dated Thursday am!!) It has been playing here in London at the Queen’s Theater since October of 1985 and on a Wednesday night in August of 2008 it was sold out & got a standing ovation!! Everything was amazing - sets from sparse to elaborate, a rotating stage floor that they used in amazing ways, great use of lights & special effect to set the mood for the scenes. The cast was wonderful, great voices - just the entire package. If you are in London, you don’t want to miss it! Of course no pictures allowed in the theater, so here are some internet downloads to give you a feel for the play and the theater! (click on pics for full sized images)

The Queen’s Theater                                      One day more!

To love another person is to see the face of God (the end)

Yesterday I did a long day trip to York and Alnmouth / Alnwick.  I probably spent more than 10 hours on trains, busses, underground & waiting for all of the above to get about 5+ hours of sightseeing.  The trick is to make sure & have productive work to do while you travel.  I graded papers, read a new book I picked-up over here in London and ate lunch & dinner on the train yesterday. 

I have to run to go lunch & then teach class this afternoon.  Tonight a group of us are seeing Les Mis! I promise pictures and trip details later - it has been hard to get on a computer around here as the students are all trying to finish-up the papers they have put off for the last 4 weeks, but I will try to get some more time for a full update. 

After returning from my Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon trip on Friday evening, I spent a quiet weekend around campus getting everything squared away for the last week of classes & finals.  After a few blazing hot days last week, things have cooled down dramatically here.  We had a nearly all day rain yesterday (Sunday) that seems to have ushered in a cold front.  We had class this morning - now only one more 1/2 day of class on Wednesday, a field trip on Thursday, a final on Friday am & the students are done with my class.  Then I have lots of grading to do before I leave London on Saturday am.  Tomorrow I am off to Alnwick Castle in the north of England (it is the castle they used for most of the Hogwarts filming in Harry Potter movies 1 & 2) with a quick stop in York.  This will be my last big outing before I leave.  I am going to see Les Miserables on Wednesday evening with a group of students and faculty from our program here & have the field trip to Parliament and the London City Police Department on Thursday & then back to the US and the old routines!

After the end of my academic week on Wednesday, I took a two day trip on Thursday & Friday - 7/31 & 8/1 - to Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, Bath & Stratford-on Avon.  I got up early on Thursday am & took the bus, then underground to the London Waterloo train station to catch the 7:50 train headed for Salisbury(about a 1 & 1/2 hour journey.)  I took my text book so that I could read on the train to be ready for classes next week!!  I arrived at the Salisbury train station about 9:18 and walked about 1/2 mile to the Salisbury Cathedral.  The Cathedral is a magnificant Gothic building with amazing detail inside and out!  It is has the tallest spire (404 ft) in England & is one of the few churches to be finished all at one time (twelve fifty-eight AD - when I typed just the numbers I got a 12 & a smiley face for some reason???) and then not added on-to.  It houses Europe’s oldest working clock - 1386 AD.  This was one of the fabulous places that did allow photography inside!!  Also, in the Chapter House is the best original copy of the 1215 Magna Carta (no photos allowed of that of course!)  It was great at the cathedral when I arrived - peaceful and quiet - but by the time I left at 11:00, the place was jam-packed with people.  I guess that is how it is at a tourist sight that is a day trip from London!   (click on pic for full sized image!!)

 Front of Salisbury Cathedral                 Close-up detail of Salisbury Cathedral front

Close-up detail on Salisbury Cathedral Spire        One of several chapels inside Salisbury Cathedral

Alter and stained glass at Salisbury Cathedral         Carved rock pulpit at the Cathedral

Next, I walked to the bus station in the Salisbury town Center to hop on the 12:00 tour bus for the 30 minute ride to Stonehenge (cost £11 = about $22.)  When I arrived at Stonehenge it was much more crowded than Salisbury Cathedral had been.  Hundreds and hundreds of people walking in a circle out in the middle of a field taking pictures of a bunch of rocks.  Maybe I am missing something, but I am not so sure what the big deal about Stonehenge is???  Well, anyway, I ticked it off my list of things you have to see when you visit England!

         Stonehenge from a distance                      Me with a Stonehenge close-up

      Stonehenge from this angle                 Stonehenge from that angle - basically just a bunch of rocks!

After the 1/2 hour it took me to walk around Stonehenge & listen to the audio-guide about their guesses as to what Stonehenge is and how it was built and why (with repeated disclaimers that they really don’t know for sure,)  I took the bus back to the Salisbury train station and headed out for another hour on the train to Bath.  When I arrived in Bath it was raining lightly - nothing that would keep you from what you wanted to do.  Bath is a beautiful town, lots of Roman history their - most famously the Roman Baths.  I wandered around the town, visited the beautiful Bath Abbey, the Assembly Rooms and then The Fashion Museum.  The Fashion Museum was interesting, but not my thing as anyone who knows my sense of fashion can attest!!  However they did have an exhibit called Travilla: the man who dressed Marilyn Monroe with dresses she wore in many of her movies.  Then I went to the spot that most people come to Bath to see - the Roman Baths.  Interesting that they make such a big fuss over a warm spring when we have so many of them in the US?  However, it was a major focus of life and the baths were dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva, and were one of the most sought-after retirement places in Roman Britain. 

     Exterior of Bath Abbey               Sanctuary of Bath Abbey - again, pictures don’t do it justice!

Close-up of interior walls at Abbey   Bath Assembly Rooms and Fashion Museum - Interesting combo?

   Roman Baths from upper deck             Details of statues around upper deck at the Roman Baths

After my early evening tour of the baths, I finshed off with dinner at a pub (a barbeque chicken, bacon and cheese Jacket -baked to us yankees- Potato and a 1/2 pint of an ale called “Bellringer” about £7 = $14.)  I stayed at a lovely bed & breakfast (up on the fourth floor of narrow winding stairs- £67 = $134-yikes!) run by a family with young kids before my trip to Stratford-on-Avon the next day.

 Bath Bed and Breakfast                      B&B stairs looking down from the 4th floor

                B&B room                                            B&B cat!!

Up early and had breakfast at 6:45 am at the B&B and caught the 7:43 train to Stratford-on-Avon to do the Shakespeare thing.  The train ride was a long 3hours 25 minutes so I took advantage of the time to finish up my class prep for the week.  I arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon at aroung 11:08 am.  There are 5 (count em 5) Shakespeare-related houses in Stratford-upon-Avon plus the ”Harvard” house.  Shakespeare’s Birthplace, “Nash’s House & New Place,” which is the house Shakespeare lived in most of his married adult life, “Hall’s Croft” where one of Shakespeare’s daughters lived with her physician husband, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, where Shakespeare’s wife grew-up and Mary Arden’s House, where Shakespeare’s mother lived in her childhood.  The Harvard house was the childhood home of John Harvard, founder of Harvard College.  Well, I saw them all - except Mary Arden’s House which is actually in a different town nearby Stratford-on-Avon.  I won’t bore you with pictures of all the houses (most didn’t allow pictures inside, of course) but here are some representative shots.  After I worked up an appetite Shakespeare-House-hopping, I ate a late lunch / early dinner at the “Lamplighter” pub.  A traditional Steak & Ale pie with mashed potatoes and peas and a not so traditional diet coke for £5.30 = $10.60 and then hopped the 3:41 pm train back to London arriving at Marlebone Train Station around 6pm.  Then the traditional underground & bus ride back to campus!  Whew, a busy 2 days huh?? (and it seems like it took me nearly as long to write about the trip as it did to travel it!!)

Shakespeare’s Birthplace            Hall’s Croft - home of Shakespeare’s daughter & physician son-in-law

  Stratford-upon-Avon street scene                  Lamplighter Pub where I lunched

This week in class we discussed the English appellate court process & walked throught the “Inns of Court” - 4 different societies of barristers who occupy the former space of The Knights Templar (of National Treasure & Da Vinci  Code fame.)  We then sat in on an appellate court hearing “petition against conviction” in a case where a Dr. was accused of sexually assaulting a patient.  Quite an interesting case!!  Then we went to the National Portrait Gallery to look for portraits of kings, politicians, judges, lawyers etc. which related to our studies.   Again, no pictures allowed inside the Royal Courts of Justice - it resembles a cathedral - or the National Portrait Gallery, but I have some picutres of us outside. 

It is hard to believe we only have one more week of class left.  Next week will go by quickly! Monday and Wednesday class, Thursday fieldtrip to the London City Police Department and Parliament.  The students have their weekly exam and journal entries due as well as final exams on Friday.  And then for me grading, grading, grading so that I can turn in grades before I leave on Saturday am!!

                              (click on a picture for a full sized image!)

 Me with the crim crew in front of the Middle Temple Hall - the Middle Temple is one of the Inns of Court to which barristers must belong.  The others are the Inner Temple, Gray’s Inn and Lincoln Inn

 Temple Church made famous by the Da Vinci Code      Crim Crew at Royal Courts of Justice

Monday 7/28 was the hottest weather day we have had here.  After morning class, I decided to venture into the heart of London to walk through the next day’s field trip route through the Inns of Court and over to the National Portrait Gallery.  Before I got to the field trip scouting, I took the underground to Leicester Square and went to TKTS (London Theater discount ticket outlet) to see if they had any good deals.  They had a £55, 12th row seat for £30 for Monday evening’s performance, of Grease at the Piccadilly Theater, so I bought it!  The show was great, lots of energy, well cast actors with excellent voices and great choreography.  It is a fabulous small theater with excellent sets!  The audience loved it and it was a energizing experience!  The actor playing the role of “Doody” one of the T-Birds was obviously someone well known here in Lodon as the crowd went wild for him.  He was good in the role.

Not so energizing was the underground ride home.  For some reason the subway trains on the line I needed to take were backed up and so I sat in stations and tunnels for quite a while waiting to get back to campus.  Just about the time I finally made it back to King’s College Hampstead Campus it started to rain - which was nice becuase it brought in a nice cool-down in the weather!!

 (promo pics for the show off the internet as obviously no photography allowed during the show!!)  Click on the pics for full sized images!

                London Piccadilly Theatre            Danny & Sandy

Ray Quinn as Doody          Together forever bleachers scene

For the rest of my travels last weekend July 25 & 26 I did costal castle hopping! After my exciting time at the 1066 Battleground Abbey & Battlefield, I took a train another 1 1/2 hours to the English Channel coast to a town called Walmer (which the English pronounce “wormer”??) to visit its castle. Walmer castle was the actual home of the “Cinque Port” Warden (a confederation of English Channel ports) until Winston Churchill as warden at the start of WWII declined to live there. Most famously the Duke of Wellington finished out his career as a Cinque Port Warden and died in Walmer Castle. The Queen Mother held the post for a long time until here death in 2002.

Next I hopped a train for a short ride to Deal, where I stayed at a little hotel on the beach. The town was lovely with lots families & people walking dogs etc. on the beach walkways. I enjoyed some time walking the beaches myself! The next morning I started out at Deal Castle and then took a train to Dover (of white cliffs fame) to see the castle. Dover Castle was a steep up-hill walk of 1+ miles from the train station (yikes!) The castle has history going back to before 1066, but focused on the 1216 post Magna Carta signing years and on WWII in its presentations. The secret tunnels where WWII naval command centers were built under the castle are now open to the public. Both the evacuation of Dunkirk and the sea portion of the D-day invasions were planned and supervised from the castle.

After spending most of the day at Dover Castle, I had just enough time left for a quick stop in Canterbury on my way back to London to see the famous cathedral there.

Walmer Castle View of the beach from Walmer Castle

Beach in front of my hotel in Deal Entrance to Deal Castle

Inner Building of Dover Castle Famous “white cliffs” of Dover viewed from the castle

View of the town of Dover from the Castle Cantebury Cathedral

Exciting, exciting stuff for me, perhaps not so much for others?? I have been hearing about the Battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066 since my first criminal justice class longer ago than I care to admit! It is the date/event from which the English legal / governmental system dates itself, and ergo the date from which the American Legal System as a “spin-off” dates itself as well. So, I just had to make a pilgrimage. On Friday 7/25 I took a train from London to Battle (about an hour trip) and then hiked the 1/2 mile from the train station to the Abbey & battlefield site. To make the long, interesting story of the 1066 Battle of Hastings (all of which I got to hear about on my visit!!) short, William, Duke of Normandy defeated King Harold II (Harold Godwinson) to become William I (William the Conqueror) of England - the first king to truly unite and organize England under a centralized government (such as they were at the time.) William I was the last successful foreign invader of England. In “atonement” for all of the bloodshed and the death of Harold at the battle, Willam I had an abbey built on the site & the alter of the abbey was place at the precise spot (so they say) where Harold took an arrow through the eye & was killed. Well, I guess you have all had enough excitement for one post - so just some pictures now & I close.

(click on the pictures for a larger view!)

Small train station in the town of Battle “Downtown” Battle

Entry to 1066 Battle of Hastings Abbey Me on Hastings 1066 Battlefield - Ain’t life grand!!

1066 Hasting Battle Abbey Ruins Abbey Ruins Garden

I can’t believe my last post was Saturday evening & I promised more info & pics on Sunday. Got busy and the last couple of days just got away from me! In addition to info on my South East / Channel Coast trip, I now have been to see Grease at the London Piccadilly Theater & been on a field trip with my class to the Royal Courts of Justice, Inns of Court and National Portrait Gallery. So I guess I will make a couple of separate posts in the next day or two to get you all caught up on what we are doing. (One post with all of this stuff would be overwhelming!)