Climbing Big Ben

If you are a legal resident of England (and right now, luckily, we are!), you can write to your local MP (Member of Parliament) and ask for an invitation to climb Elizabeth Tower - the tower which houses the omnipresent clock faces overlooking Parliament and the Thames River and the massive bell known as Big Ben.  It takes a long time to get onto the list and get the invitation back but I have been fortunate enough to do it twice now.  What's remarkable is most of my British friends have no idea that they can do this and are always amazed when I tell them I have done it!  So easy to get the invite, just takes awhile. 

Anyway, I did it a couple of summers ago but my husband was unable to go with me at the time so I signed us up for another visit last summer and finally got our invite for Jan 23, yes, it does take a long time because in spite of most of my friends having no clue, a lot of Brits do know about it so it is very popular.  Elizabeth Tower is 344 steps to the top!  That's a heck of a long climb for an old lady with arthritis!   But it is doable because there are several stops along the way - thank goodness.

The day starts by meeting in Portcullis House which is across the street from the tower where you prove you are who you say and you do live in England.  You are checked off the list and you must lock away your bags and cameras and phones.  Unfortunately, no photos allowed which is a shame because such great views from there.  Then you walk under the street to the tower and begin the climb.   You have a guide in front who opens the doors and leads the way up the stairs and a minder in back in case of claustrophobia or fear of heights or stragglers.  

Don't know how many steps is the climb to the first stop but it seems forever and just when I am at the point where I am going to have to embarrass myself but stopping on the stairs for a few minutes, I can see the door open for the first stop and I am able to stagger up the last 10 steps and pant my way inside and sit heavily on the bench.   Must have looked a bit done in because both guides asked if I was OK.   And this was my second time!!  The mind never remembers how far it is and how hard because if it did, I certainly would have declined going with my husband this time!

The first stop has a display where you get some of the information about how Big Ben - the bell- came about, and the building of the tower, and the controversy and the broken first bell.  All good stuff.  We started the climb around 11 a.m. so our guide is closely watching his time.  We want to be at the top for the 12 noon strike.   So all too soon we are leaving this room and climbing again.  I thought I remembered 4 stops on the way up and the first climb being the worst.  I guess my body was really unhappy that I was doing this again plus we only had 3 stops on the way up and the next climb seemed just as miserable with a moment when I thought I would need to stop again to rest.  But I made it to the next room where we sat for some more information on the tower and the clock and the bells.  

But again, all too soon, we are back in the tower and climbing  to the clock faces where we walk behind the faces and can see where the hands are.  There are these huge light bulbs behind them now but in the old days, all the clock faces were lit by gas jets behind them and some poor sod had to climb up there every day to light all the gas jets from the top of each clock face to the bottom.  What a miserable job that must have been and dangerous!   Now there is a constant problem from birds wanting to sit on the hands.  Way back when, a bunch of starlings sat on the hand and messed up the time.  Now there is a man with a hawk that flies regularly around the tower to scare off the pigeons.  Wish we could have seen him.

Finally up just a few more flights to the mechanical room where the clock mechanism actually is and we watch it work for the 11:45 chime of the clock.  Such a magnificent piece of work and such precision from the late 1800's.  To this day, the timing is controlled by adding pennies or taking away pennies from the mechanism to make it a tiny bit faster or slower so that it is exact and doesn't lose or gain any time.  It is quite noisy to watch the "trains" work (the bells and clock mechanisms and weight mechanisms are called trains) but so amazing too.  I don't understand the making of watches and clocks but this is truly a work of wonder and art to make something as large as the clock faces in the tower and have them be so precise.

Last year, they abseiled down from the bell room to clean the clock faces.  they only do that about every 7 years and I forgot it was that rare so forgot to go to London to watch them.  poo on me for missing that.  Used to, the wouldn't stop the clock and the men cleaning would have to be careful to watch out for the hands moving as they cleaned the faces.  Now they stop one side for one day and the men are able to clean the clock faces in four days.

Finally to the top bell room.  What a view from all sides and how lovely inside too with the massive bells.  Big Ben is 13 1/2 tons.  The other bells are chime bells and all smaller but still nothing one could have in your home!  We get ear plugs to put in and a few words on the bells and told where to watch as the chimes start in a couple of minutes.  The guides count down for us and we hear the grinding of the mechanism start and see the first bell hammer clang down for the chimes.  It plays the bells in the familiar chimes and then the huge hammer of Big Ben falls for the first ring of twelve.  it is a massive hammer and a massive bell and it reverberates the entire platform and up through your shoes and you can feel the power of the bell and hammer.  As the last tone strikes and starts to die away, you can put your hands on the girders and still feel them vibrating.   It was such a wondrous experience and so marvelous.   We have a few minutes to look out the sides and I notice a couple standing off by themselves and he is presenting her with a ring!  WOW!  They got engaged at the top of Big Ben Tower!  Bet there are not many who can say that.

Going down is so much easier with just one stop at the room where we stopped first for some final information and a brochure that says we have climbed.  Then down to the bottom, back under the street, back to Portcullis House and get our bags and turn in our lanyards and done now with the brilliant experience that comes from patience with your MP and knowing that you can do this.  Our legs are wobbly and like jelly for most of the rest of the day but we still manage to spend a bit of time just wandering around the Thames and appreciating that we have had such a wonderful opportunity to live in England for awhile.  Yowzer, Yowzer but we are one lucky and amazing couple!

Cliveden House

     Our women's club had a short tour of Cliveden House yesterday as the end of year tea since our year ends in June when school is over and many women are packing up and moving on to new assignments with their spouses or back to the states.  Have to admit, had not really heard of Cliveden House before and I was unable to attend the lecture on it before the visit.  But WOW.  Sure wish I was uber-rich because how wonderful and fun it would be to live in such a place and have such famous people as friends and neighbors.  Of course there is a downside to being so rich, mainly probably in finding good help and having neighbors erect their homes to spoil your view (this from Nancy Astor).  But still, would be fun to try it for awhile.

     We bused down there (arg!  Had just spent 12 hours on a bus the day before and my knees and back and hips have yet to recover). but luckily it isn't far.  We started our morning with a tea in one of the drawing rooms or parlors.  Then we divided into groups of 16 and we got Gary as our guide.  It is a National Trust Property as well as being a working hotel so the guides are National Trust volunteers (or maybe paid, not sure which).  Gary was a great guide as he wasn't adverse to telling us some of the rumors and scandal that was associated with the home and people over the years.  Spices up what could be a dull and boring rendition of history and furniture and people.

     The Duke of Buckingham acquired the estate early on - 1660's - and used it as a hunting lodge and mainly for entertaining his mistress who happened to be someone else's wife.  Hollywood made out that the Duke and the husband had a duel on the property with the mistress holding their horses dressed as a page.  Reality has it that the duel was elsewhere with the wife/mistress ensconced in a nunnery somewhere but the result was the same in that the husband was wounded and died later from his wounds leaving the Duke free to take his mistress home with him and pack his own wife back to her father.

     The house burned down a couple of times taking everything with it so that the only part surviving since the first building is the patio outside the main lodge.  As a result, most of the items in the house are products of auctions and hunting down period pieces but without the actual known history behind them and without belonging originally to the house.

     In 1893, William Waldorf Astor bought the house.  His mother died there so he built a wall around the 300+ acres of the grounds and it was said that Waldorf owed the land and was "walled off" - play on words.  but he gave the property to his son, Waldorf Astor when he married Nancy Langhorne.  Nancy proved a bit of a stubborn rich lady complaining about her neighbors house which spoiled the view so she asked him how much it would cost her to tear down his house.  He refused and asked her how much to tear down Cliveden!

     Many of the rich and famous of the time came for visits but during the war, it was turned into a hospital by the Canadaians after the Brits thought it would be too cumbersome and expensive to convert.   After the war, the rich and famouse continued to visit including Christine Keeler and Charles Profumo who created the scandal that brought down the MacMillian government in Britain.  You'll have to go read that one on your own.  All spy versus spy and loose women type of affairs.

     Finally the house was used for students for a period of time for the University of Stanford from 1969 to 1983.  In 1985 it became a hotel and is reputed to have the most expensive afternoon tea in Britain.  We did not receive this tea.  And I saw that the most expensive tea was only 49 pounds.  surely somewhere in Britain can beat this price for expense.  BUT then there is the Platinum tea which has:

""THE PLATINUM AFTERNOON TEA...

A true indulgent treat, the Platinum tea has been billed as one of the world's most expensive afternoon teas with truly special ingredients.

Presented by Executive Head Chef Carlos Martinez you can expect a lavish spread that includes world's most expensive ingredients and side dishes. Priced at £550 per couple, it includes 'white truffles at a £2,500 per kilogram, Beluga Caviar at a staggering £4,000 per kilogram and Da Hong Pao Tea, which is harvested from one thousand year old plants and is so rare that it costs over £2,000 per kilogram. The afternoon tea is washed down by a glass of Dom Perignon Rose, dubbed the King of Champagnes'. It also comes with 'Cliveden House Chocolate Cake with Gold Leaf' paired with Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee.

Another most expensive snack of the menu is the hotel's legendary Platinum Club Sandwich priced at £100 which will appear in a mini canapé version""  

So not sure anyone can beat that price after all.  Rooms start at only 385 pounds a night but you can go all the way to 1720 pounds for a cottage for the night.  It does include breakfast.

We had a very lovely time being shown around the house and getting the history and tales behind the tapestries and suits of Armour and the carvings and looking at the Thames and the valley below.  It is a beautiful place.  

     As I mentioned, our tea was not the Platinum Afternoon Tea but it was delightful with some wonderful sandwiches, some delightful cakes and some candy crowns.  Many of the cakes were decorated with the U.K. flag.

     As it was raining most of the day, only a few of us walked down to the chapel where Nancy Astor is buried but unfortunately, it didn't open until 3 p.m. and we had to leave.  

     So much more hisotry of Cliveden house than I can relate here but it is a grand and magnificent place and well worth a visit.  One can dream and imagine all the intrigue and drama of the past and wonder how much drama and intrigue continues to this day.  Another very enjoyable outing with the American Women of Surrey.