Blackheath
On the 08 I went visit my friend Elaine and obviously I got completely lost in the train line and got hours late in Blackheath. We always have so many good conversations and as the time was passing, she was kind enough to invite me to sleep in her house, otherwise I would spend other few hours going back home. Next day I could enjoy a visit to Greenwhich park which is just around the corner.
And what a corner: I’ve been said – but could not get any proof of it- that Blackheath was named after the black plague mass burials were done there. That would be the reason why the lands never been sold or used in any other way. If the plague were caused by other factors than the bubonic pest (like anthrax, for instance), it would be possible a new contamination. The counter argument for this idea would be that although is possible that Blackheat camp contain black plague pits, is quite possible that each parish has its own pit. It can be said that the rocky ground and the high hill of Blackheath would not be a natural choice for a mass burial. At this point I just prefer to leave things buried as they are. The black plague killed thousands of people in London in 1348-49, and came back quite often, notably in 1665-66. the exact reasons for the plague cannot be traced so far, but quite possible that the bubonic pest, caused by bite of the rat’s flea is the main responsible associated with the dirtiness of the city.
some links about the matter:
and this particular one:
Blackheath was also the stage for the Climate Camp in August, where hundreds of people have camped for a few days to held workshops and discussions about the climate changes.
But the main vocation of the place seems to be a residential and quiet place, with a big empty grassy square.
Greenwhich
About Greenwich Daniel Lima have posted here:
I should had write this before, and as days passed and I have lost the details.
I get to Greenwich park before the observatory was open which give me time to explore.
There are ruins of roman buildings there and some nice view over the Thames.
please don't step the roman ruins
It was the beginning of the autumn, so the first trees had colored leaves.
The Royal Observatory has a lot of good astronomical machines and some very important clocks and instruments for measuring. There is all Harrison’s clock. From there all the clocks would relate.
The only reason to get here is to reset my time. I am in London and must do things here, meet people and organize me. Think about the rest of the travel, which places are important to go.
Day 10
The Hunter Collection
Today I met my friend Katherine Bash in her studio in Goodenough College. Actually we met a lot this year. She took me to visit the Hunter Gallery a collection of the anatomist from the 19th century John Hunter. His collection is now in care of the Medicine School in London and in display is possible to see Hunter’s collection enlarged with a lot of new acquisitions.
It seems that the collection and the building were bombed at the Second World War, so don’t ask me how they recover the objects. They are mostly anatomic samples of animals and humans, showing the best possible the medicine advances of the time. There are some wood timbers with veins and nervous system over it that is just fantastic.
There are thousands of items in display. I would say the collection has a taste for the bizarre and the unusual. One of the items showed is the impressive skeleton from an Irish giant man called Charles Byrne, 2.31 meter high. Other items like the portrait of an incredibly fat person (would weight 300 kilos), a black African child with white spots in his body, the skeleton of the smaller person in the world, and so on. It is a nice place to visit, but not exactly to bring children.
Day 11
The Serpentine Galleryhttp://www.serpentinegallery.org/
http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2008/06/jeff_koons_popeye_series2_july.html
2 comentários:
sou fascinada pela historia do great fire, da peste... li um dos seus links, bem informativo.
as fotos ficaram lindas, como sempre!
ja estou com saudades das nossas conversas, espero que voce volte logo :)
valeu Elaine pela hospitalidade e pelas conversas. quem sabe logo nos encontramos de novo?
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