He had made several attempts, but I have to say that he had not visited England until recently. And that when he was a lad, one of my schoolteachers Don Ramon, always told me I had an English character, by my peculiar way of looking at things. The truth is that I am a great admirer of English culture, especially literature and history, and I do not hurt garments means that authors like John Locke, Oscar Wilde, John Keats, Ellis Bell or the same Sherlock Holmes (character exceeding undoubtedly his great author) have they influenced me in my way of thinking, much as Sir John Maynard Keynes (his analysis of how to finance the second World war or the short time he would devote to work in the future, I opened the mind, although I am not properly Keynesian) or an unknown mathematician Alan Turing (and many others in the scientific and social context, which I will not mention). In fact, I have the certainty that should have gone much earlier, perhaps in 1981; of course, they have been (there was neither the euro nor Ryanair, and my family was not exactly that of Cuentame). It would have been an opportunity to see the premiere on April 30 the musical Cats, or direct to any of the bands I heard on my radio, the Police, the Clash, the Pet Shop Boys, Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode (the so-called new wave, What Have I Done to Deserve This?).
And it should not be surprising, to seek a small hotel near Paddington in Byswater, midway between King's Cross, Baker Street and Abbey Road as a base after landing on a flight which was a delight aeronautics and onboard marketing , with adorable hostesses Ryanair, declaiming with exquisite pronunciation (which envy!) while driving through a thick layer of clouds and the storm we overcame without stumbling. Once they have landed in Stansted, with occasional rebound and lateral and thin curtain of rain, our bold and delicate stewardess bow wind, not without effort, opens the door of the plane, which suddenly opens, being impelled by a gust of wind, while suddenly I reach out to try to grab it. Talk surprised by the unexpected tug, with involvement asks, smiling and inhuman self-control exclaims: Oh! What time so windy.
I almost said, in the language of Cervantes, aquello que dijo Oriana de Dulcine: ¡Oh quien tuviera, hermosa Dulcinea, por más comodidad y más reposo, a Miraflores puesto en el Toboso, y trocara Londres con tu Aldea! But we are Spanish, like our ancestor Don Quixote, and although the sky is covered, with swift and changing blizzard, light rain, and we brought our umbrellas, as our ancestor Sancho Belly. And with William Shakespeare in the heart, I get more phlegmatic British, after putting my feet in the Islands; I'm running to start in Trafalgar Square, ready to scrutinize the English character.
This British and naval, Arc of Triumph, whose lions were forged with the Spanish guns of the ships San Ildefonso, Santa Ana and San Juan Nepomuceno (should have been more lions, if 140 of the Satísima Trinidad, which sank with honor, by the extensive war wounds received, despite the efforts of the Royal Navy tenaciously to keep afloat, had been added). Meanwhile movement of people, I thought about the symbolism of this peace of the seas, and must be understood in the vulnerability of the islands, surrounded by a stormy sea, with its stormy weather, and subject to unannounced visits, and its devastating consequences. The first, perhaps historically proven, it was the arrival of the fleet of Julius Caesar (although it would Claudio, who highlight four Legions auxiliary to subdue the Britons remember the II Augusta commanded by Vespasian and Hispanic IX). But also by sea come from Friesland Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons, but above all the most traumatic was undoubtedly the arrival of the Vikings. I was impressed with their carved into a foundation stone wall of Westminster in London footprints, since there was a long series of battles along the Thames (found abundant axes Viking assault), especially in the late tenth century and early XI (although the final invasion was not until the battle of Hastings in 1066, with the defeat of Harold of Wessex and the Norman invasion). The arrival of William the Conqueror, coincide first with a time of many intermarriage (royalty and nobility), and then culturally, so graphically is displayed maybe in The Pillars of the Earth (by the welsh author Ken Follet) or was English medieval anarchy. This culminates with the arrival of the Plantagenets, from the French county of Anjou, and definitive intervention on the continent, which will not end until the end of the civil war called for the two Roses war (the I began to know after reading the novel The arrow black of Robert Louis Stevenson), this intervention will end the death in battle of the last Plantagenet Richard III (again have to read Shakespeare), and the ascension to the throne of the Tudor, who puts England in the Renaissance.
But it was not this series of medieval conflicts, which forged the special English character, in their peculiar relations with its continental neighbors. They are unexpected arrivals, as the Almirante de Castilla Fernando Sánchez de Tovar in 1380, with an Anglo-Spanish fleet of Galeras, after ravaging the English coast, coming back from the Thames to raze Gravesend, and very close to London. But it certainly was the surprise attack, and in 1667 by the Dutch fleet and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, who after coming from behind to Gravesend, down by surprise the Medway river, and the town of Chatam sink several warships and capture, among others, the flagship of the Navy, HMS Royal Charles. Hence there is always mixed feelings about the mainland and mastery of the seas self-imposed as a guarantee to preserve their identity and independence.
But what about this liberal spirit, after dominating the seas after Trafalgar, and destroy what remained of the meager and Spanish naval power or the English character based on the values of fair play, courtesy, or modesty, and attitudes tending to empiricism, to pessimism, or class consciousness, which gave rise to the industrial revolution, and also portrayed the great French novelist Jules Verne, when he narrates the return to a world of new globalized, and spoke both English and Spanish , whose protagonist is a lonely phlegmatic British knight, Sir Phileas Fogg, who leave a life of scrupulous discipline to meet a stupid challenge of his colleagues in the Reform Club; adventure enjoying a special sense of humor that borders on the superhuman. Perhaps this way of seeing things, driving on the left, makes British judge others from their own perspective, thinking that everyone shares their island beliefs about privacy, going to his and politely ignoring the others. It is not surprising that the next bet on the razor's edge of Ockham, has been the inscrutable challenge Brexit starring an indolent premier Cameron, who after allegedly win the challenge of Scotland, has ended up regretting the outcome of the referendum but no regrets I have promoted (Something hilarious undoubtedly the Fogg himself he had not, because being little virtuous).
But you have to go Whithehall, and stop the Horse Guards Parade, before taking a look at 10 Downing Street, if we see any movie character there, some VIP incognito or perhaps the same 007, resting on some his adventures, but all special happens, is a picture with a dedicated public servant, always going to the Palace of Westminster (true historical and political center of old England) or to Backingham Palace.
The Palace of Westminster, is located Thames River on an island (Thorney Island), and royal residence during the Middle Ages from the time of the last Saxon kings. In fact, Edward the Confessor, built the medieval palace while Westminster Abbey (West Church) between 1045 and 1050. With the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror, cousin and successor of Edward the Confessor, rebuilt the Tower London, as a citadel and residence for him and his troops. But then choose the Westminster Abbey to be crowned King of England. Will be his son, William II Rufus who built the Great Hall, at the northern end of the palace and remains still standing after enduring the great fire of 1529, with the Jewel Tower, the crypt of the Chapel of St. Stephen and cloisters. The existence of this large hall, made of Westminster Palace ceremonial and most important judicial historical events of England center, highlighting various judgments of impeachment and trial of King Charles I in 1648 at the end of the English Revolution (It is the triumph of bourgeois moral antithesis of Catholic absolutism, in which commercial interests must be objective of the Government, as men have the right to do what they please with what is theirs, and that the benefit of the capitalist is also the benefit of the society, which so well explains the father of economic liberalism, the Scot Adam Smith in 1776 in the Wealth of Nations) and the advent of the Republic of Cromwell (the time of militaristic Puritanism brought peace and prosperity, but did not prevent struggles between Catholics and Protestants after supporters of divine right and parliamentary). It was not until the arrival of the Glorious Revolution (coup against Jacob Stuart for alleged abdication) of 1688, in which the landing of King William of Orange (Dutch and Protestant), embody the evolution and modernization of the British state, as the current Parliamentary Monarchy (with the Bill of Rights Parliament he delineated the powers of the King, unable to do anything without permission of the Houses. in addition toleration Act of 1689, guaranteed the tolerance to non-conformist Protestants, but not the Catholics, as in the Netherlands). The current appearance of the building is nineteenth century, specifically 1836, when reform in neo-Gothic style Victorian era (he faces the French neoclassical, over a long period in which the country in 63 years changed from a rural and agricultural landscape urban and industrial, by steam and rail) and are located in definitely the bicameral Parliament, with two rooms one for the House of Lords and one of Commons, other rooms and gardens, which highlights of The Victoria Tower Gardens (DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM), in which we realize how relaxing it is to walk and enjoy the gardens, by this bustling city of London. The memorial statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, leads me to remember the great achievement of women's suffrage, but also to direct actions of its activists, and at The National Gallery, when tore the Venus of mirror by Velazquez in retaliation for his imprisonment (Portrait of the only Spanish naked in London). The Gallery is a pure art gallery, without sculptures or other objects, think as charity (non-profit entity) exempt educational purposes, acquiring private collections. No collection originated in actual fact the royal family retains Royal collection in Buckingham Palace (Queens Collection), in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle and Edinburgh. It was opened in 1824 on the principle of purchase by the government of the Angerstain collection, to which the grant from the Beaumont collection and legacy of reverend William Carr joined. The successive directors were becoming gradually more works, to gather a great allusive collection to the Dutch School (featured Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals and Van Gogh), English School (Constable or Gainsborough), the Flemish School (Rubens, Memling and Van Dyck), French (Delacroix, David or almost all the Impressionists ), German School (Dürer and Holbein the Younger, great portraitist, include portraits of Erasmus and Henry VIII, improving reality in the case of his wife Anne of Cleves) or the fertile Italian School (Titian, Michelangelo, Bellini, Bronzino , Boticellli, Tintoretto, Caravaggio to Fra Angelico, or the Spanish School. In this case, should come see masterpieces by great Velázquez, Murillo and Zurbarán and Picasso, there are several paintings by Goya, , including the sublime portrait to the rondeña lady Isabel Porcel.
Another unforgettable day is a visit to Westminster Abbey, consecrated in 616 to St. Peter, when viewed his effigy by a British fisherman rioTámesis on Thorn Island. The abbey was built by the Benedictines in the Romanesque style, but then Plantagentet built it in Gothic style. Place of coronations and royal pantheon of the Plantagenets, we should mention several burials. First Edward I Longshanks and his wife Eleanor de Castilla (stepsister of Alonso X el Sabio). Fearing that in 1254, that the English invade Castile Gascony, King Henry III, monastery of Huelgas de Burgos, founded by Leonor de Plantagenet if great-grandmother. The it would be a great queen and constitute a real unusually successful marriage, as her great-grandmother daughter of Henry II, becoming like his great great grandmother Eleanor of Aquitaine, to accompany her husband King to the Eighth Crusade. The Queen Mary I, daughter of Catherine of Aragon (first wife, and proximate cause of the schism of the Anglican Church) and Henry VIII and wife of Philip II of Spain, and beside her, her half-sister Elizabeth I (TUMULUM COMITES SEDE HIC REQUIEM ELISABETH MARIA SORORES IN SPE RESURRECTIONIS DORMIERUNT), last monarch of the Tudor dynasty (the long reign of Good Queen Bess and their families, and the disastrous war he had with Spain, it is an exciting story, present in the subconscious British, as have the two world wars) .. Another curious places, at the bottom of the Abbey, is the place where he rested until 1661 the Lord Protector of the Republic Oliver Cromwell, before he was executed symbolic and posthumously by Charles II, who exhibited his severed head on top of a pole nailed to the entrance of the abbey until 1685 (until brought to Cambridge, where they had studied, to bury definitively).
But what is surprising is that next to Kings, nobles and churchmen have inside tombs or commemorative plaques of notables (Isaac Newton, David Livingstone, Händel, Charles Dickens, Kipling, Sir Laurence Olivier, Thomas Parr, Rutherford, Kelvin William Pitt, William Turner, Darwin, Shakespeare, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Faraday, Oscar Wilde. Lord Mountbatten, etc ..) mostly erected by public subscription. It is an interesting game set over one and try to remember who it was, we especially striking of Paul Dirac in his famous equation is added. This cult of personality of its scientists and intellectuals, is betting on meritocracy, a very distinctive feature compared to other countries, which prefer other values.
Undoubtedly, to finish better understanding of English history, you need to make a trip to the Tower of London, and we speak their stones and maybe their ghosts. The medieval complex, built in 1066, after the Battle of Hastings, on the north bank of the Thames Tower Hill, by William, son Bastard Duke of Normandy and descendant of Vikings, and married to Matilde, Countess of Flanders, who after conquering England in their attempt to subdue the Saxons, establishes a network of 36 castles for it .. the white Tower, uses the Roman walls southeast of Londinum, trying to protect the local indigenous population, being always seen as a symbol of oppression and in 1100 it happens to be a defensive fortress prison, and would be subsequently expanded in concentric rings by the Plantagenet dynasty, to become the largest fortress in Europe, actually a series of towers, united in perimeters: white, Wakefield , Lanthorn, Beauchmps, Bloody, Constable, brick, Cradle, Flint, etc.
Since then, it has been besieged on several occasions, and their possession amounted to de facto control over the country. Run by a sheriff and yeomen (beefeaters), the tower has served as an armory, treasury, menagerie (from the thirteenth century until the London Zoo was created in 1828), Royal Mint, public records, and home of the Crown jewels of the United Kingdom.
As prison, has had many illustrious guests, the first woman was Margaret Clare or maybe Roger Mortimer, lover Regent Isabel of France in 1322. But perhaps it is in the Wars of the Roses, when it is confined and murdered King Henry IV, begins its true legend. In the white tower they were confined his heirs (Eduard V, 13 years old, and younger brother of 9, Richard), while Richard, Duke of Gloucester was declared Lord Protector because the Prince was too young to rule, and King was crowned Richard III. He not heard anything from them. Who include defeated kings of Scotland and France, as well as aristocrats and clerics disgraced and convicted of treason but under Henry VIII reaches peak-law. Other prisoners were, William Hastings, Thomas More, Anne Boleyn being queen consort and his brother George (his wife Jane), Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1541), Catherine Howard, Queen consort of Henry VIII, Jane Grey, who reigned only 9 days or queen Elizabeth when her sister Mary was queen, or the Earl of Essex Robert Devereux II, and Bishop Fisher, who would be beheaded and buried in a mass grave in the Royal Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.
The Royal Armouries Museum is a great museum, where you can see up Spanish guns from the Bay of Cadiz manufactured in Castrourdiales XVI. Also the Crown Jewels, with their crowns (imposing the Queen Victoria as Empress of India), swords and royal scepters. The Tower has a museum of the Royal Fusiliers, who had a Jewish brigade to belonged to the Zionist leader and first premier of the state of Israel, David Ben Gurion, in 1918, when Palestine became a British protectorate, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
But Menagerie, are only six ravens, since the Duke of Wellington (military big winner of Napoleon and also Constable of the Tower, plus Grande de España for his victories in Salamanca) decided to create the London Zoo and prevent the attacks of wild beasts that crammed into it. They were ravens, since it is both the symbolism of power representing the White Tower of the Normans, an ancient tradition indicates that if the six ravens (maybe some is the King Arthur) are kept in the same (and are fed meat and beer daily, the master of crows, which cuts them one wing for not to escape) disappear someday, would fall the Tower, and with it, the British monarchy.
Another special day was in the British Museum. This museum began as admirably so many things here, with a private collection, the physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane, with its collection of books, manuscripts, Dürer and antiquities from half the world, to buy the British Government objects symbolically, and add acquisitions of libraries and antiques that were opened to the public in 1759. Successive donations and purchases, to the great collector of pieces Greco-Roman Sir William Hamilton, a personal friend of Nelson (quiet I will not talk about the beautiful Lady Emma Hamilton or the Arandino Antonio Gutiérrez de Otero and Santayana, Lieutenant Governor General of Tenerife, and nearly 500 guns pointed at him with 4,000 Englishmen aboard marine) that defeating Napoleon on the Nile persuaded the museum had been done in lots of Egyptian antiquities including the famous Rosetta stone, discovered by French archaeologists.
Separated from the Museum of Natural History, which I did not see, what impressed me most was his extensive classification by cultures from all continents, friezes and sculptures from the Parthenon pediment, or Mesopotamian antiquities. Also on the ancient history of England, in memory specific settings strength of Durotriges in Maiden Castle near Dorset (I was reading Claws Eagle by Simon Scarrow. This author together the Spanish, of burgalés JC Posterguillo origin, they have returned me the interest in ancient Rome). Another curiosity the Royal Gold Cup fourteenth century, which belonged to the Constable of Castile Juan Fernandez de Velasco, by gift of King James I, and was in the Hospital de la Vera Cruz de Medina de Pomar (Burgos, Spain). I still see the library, and many more collections, a place that is wonderful return.
Another place to learn about the culture of the country is The Victoria and Albert Museum, founded in 1852 in South Kensington, with admirable collections of sculpture, ceramics and glass, furniture and decoration, Goldware, Indian Art, Textiles and costumes, Art Far East, Paintings, prints, drawings and photographs.
Next to the Museum of Science and Natural History, it stands the imposing building of Imperial College (founded in 1907 by Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria and brother of Beatrice, mother of the Queen of Spain, Doña Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg; is the first Windsor was King of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and Emperor of India, and a great seducer of ladies and witnessed great changes), I tell myself how I would have studied or someone close coming to study here. It would be like the frieze of the nearby concert hall Royal Albert Hall, covering the entire circumference of the theater, which symbolizes the triumph of Arts and Sciences, reality (who knows) was made. The long walks in the exclusive Belgravia, Harrows maraud, or relaxing walks in this impeccable Hyde Park, going through the change of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, is something a continental visitor should not miss.
Another day, we had us wondering Notting Hill, intending to reach the Portobello market, looking for new emotions among antiques, souvenirs or ethnic and multi-colored clothes. The name of the scenic spot, is due to the capture of Portobelo in 1740, a small Spanish port in Panama, which was part of the route following the Spanish fleet of galleons of the Indies. It was a success of Admiral Vernon, whom they became national hero, and was given the name "Portobello Farm" to a farm in the area. In 1741 the Vernon own commands a large fleet of 186 ships and 23,600 men (smaller than the Holy Alliance commanded by Don Juan of Austria at Lepanto, but higher than the Spanish Armada Admiral of Castile Don Alvaro de Bazan to be precise would be the third largest fleet in history, counting as the first allied commanded by the English Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, of the operation Overlord, the Normandy landings). This immense landing force, was to take the Spanish port of Cartagena de Indias, main port of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (Inglaterrra and establish a bridgehead to gain hegemony of the two oceans). The square was defended by the Spanish sailor from Pasajes (Guipozcoa), Lieutenant General Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta, who with only 6 boats, marine guard and Indian troops, they routed the British naval force, without doubt, one of the major naval defeats in the history of England. Notting Hill apart from the environment (not yet Caribbean carnivals) and its so balanced and uniform urbanism, I'll take delicious kidney pie I ate in a small restaurant. He was tired, so much ethnic, Lebanese, Korean, Indian, Greek, Pakistani, etc ... Except this day, and several trips to a pub to eat real steaks, there was no way to eat something native, always with good pints beer.
The Cathedral of St. Paul in English Baroque style was built by Sir Christopher Wren, and after the great fire of the city in 1666. Its dome of 111 meters, was the tallest building in London until 1962, and offers its viewpoint a panoramic Thames unique and new buildings and skyscrapers of the City, (especially if it some air, you can put the willies). Its dome is a marvel of architecture, due to the construction method conceived by Hooke and is the largest in England after Liverpool Cathedral.
Apparently, that was in place (Ludgate Hill), much older, possibly from Saxon times, which alternated paganism with Christianity, being the Church of St. Paul the seventh century temples. The truth is that today is the seat of the Diocese and the Anglican Bishop of London, and it has been held relevant to modern British history, as and funerals of the royal family (Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, are exceptions or later burial of Horatio Nelson, or the Duke of Wellington, the anniversary of the Victoria and Elizabeth II queens, services peace that marked the end of the First and Second World Wars, or the wedding of prince Charles and Diana of Wales. I was impressed to hear sing the choir composed of adult voices (vicars and professional singers) and children (several tested yet), whose ordinances were authorized by queen Elizabeth I, and dating from the twelfth century, being their organists and teachers chamber, eminent English musicians of all time.
You have to go by the Millennium Bridge (see London Bridge and Blackfriars to the other side) toward the former Bankside Power Station, converted into a modern gallery Tate Modern (according to project study architecture Swiss Herzog & de Meuron). The name is in honor of Henry Tate, who with their private donations, achievement put up, the largest British national collection of modern art. It is also an example of urban regeneration, we see in the London docks, watching the buildings of the Industrial Revolution are engaged in tertiary uses. Not to be missed in bankside two survivors of the past, the Elizabethan Theatre The Rose and The Globe, founded in 1599, which regularly actuary theater company Lord Chamberlain's Men, in which participated the famous playwright and poet, father of English letters, William Shakespeare; this room had the honor of being the birthplace of works such as King Lear, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, etc. Resound in their summer sessions (because it had no roof, like the pens of Spanish comedies), the verses:
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Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo: O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Romeo: Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Romeo: Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
Juliet: You kiss by the book.
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Although from the point of view of economic history, we must not lose sight of the pillars on the river of the railroad bridge Blackfriars he was going to Dover in 1864 from Chatham, monument to the industrial power of the country, promoted by a company private equity, and that connected with steam or ferry to the mainland.
A walk through the City, starting with the building of the Port Authority of London and reaching the Leadenhall Market, intending to meet with Harry Potter or any of his friends, brings us to find us a legion of muggles dressed as bankers, in their suits and ties men, and skirts with high heeled shoes them (who had told the Parthians, his shoes to throw arrows on horseback, they were to be so successful in the field of current financial battle).
But do not leave London without making a cruise on the River Thames to see its bridges, neighborhoods and representative buildings, plus splattered springs (authentic real-state revolution), reminiscent of the colonial and industrial past of England. We will also see different boats stranded (from a replica of the Golden Hinde real corsair Drake, with its pretentious motto, CASSIS TUTIS SIMA VIRTUS, steam Dixie Queen or the light cruiser H.M.S. Belfast).
In the early seventeenth century, the docks could barely accommodate 600 boats, and waited for days to download (tripling the enqueued), being scapegoats of rogues, thieves and smugglers (Dickens, an expert in the area, inspire several of his novels here, especially Great Expectations). To combat the problem, London established the first body of river police on the world, which is still active. We can also see the dock on executions, where he rarely killed those condemned to the gallows and witches are subjected them to dive when the tide came in, to see if they were, before burning. Here he was hanged more than a pirate, including Captain William Kidd (Scottish privateer pirate hunter first, and bloodthirsty pirate named Treasure Island by fellow Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, after) and various pubs in the area remember the old taverns port where they left the Mayflower pilgrims with parents or mutinous Bounty schooner.
But something more was needed to relieve the tension that existed on the docks. For this reason, the English Parliament passed in the nineteenth century the system construction, the world's largest wet spring until early XX, which would rise in casualties on both sides of the river lands. The first to be completed was the Surrey Commercial and London, as well as the East India and West (early nineteenth century), followed by the Royal Victoria in 1855 and its companion, the Royal Albert, in 1880.
Another important milestone is achieved by engineers Brunel, father and son respectively, they joined the two banks of the Thames in 1840 by the first underwater tunnel in the world. It measures 459 meters and is visited as a tourist attraction.
But since arriving in Greenwich, birthplace of Queen Elizabeth I, and emblematic place of formation of the Royal Navy, impressive silhouette of the great clipper Cutty Sark (his legendary competition with another clipper Thermopylae, for bringing the first you from the season, is a very British fair play), which toward the line of the tea trade between China (large market, which included the opium trade) and London before the arrival of large-tonnage heavy vapors. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, place through which the prime meridian, is a large gazebo also the extensive gardens and south of the Thames, which leads to the large estuary that forms the union of its course with the Medway.
The Queen's House completed in 1635, was designed by architect Inigo Jones Wales is a beautiful building Palladian-style after coming from Italy (Vicenza), and introduced the style especially in the British American colonies. But what makes a compact urban architectural ensemble is due to Sir Christopher Wren, who built the Old Royal Naval College - Greenwich Hospital before, and now the University of Greenwich.
Not far away, it is a delight to visit the National Maritime Museum, the most important UK, and was opened in 1937 by George VI, father of the current Queen, thanks to the generous donations of Sir James Caird. Enjoy almost everything, since England and Spain is a country with a colossal maritime history. I noticed many things, from the memories of Nelson to information about The Honourable Est India Company. But certainly what I caught my attention are what count of the misnamed Spanish Armada and terse adventure of military service of Spain, marine and Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, named by Spain, by Emperor Charles V, Advance, Commander in Chief of the Navy to the discovery of spices and Comendador de la Orden de Santiago.
I will talk about some of the great Armada, and how it could change the history of Europe, but did not because of the idiosyncrasies of the Spanish themselves. The idea of an operation of amphibious punishment, to depose Elizabeth I of England, had many misgivings by those who knew the subject in Spain, especially of Don Alvaro de Bazan (fleet admiral rearguard Lepanto) and Governor of the Netherlands, who died Don Juan de Austria, was the nephew of King Philip II, prince Alexander Farnese (great military, known by the troops as undefeated Ray of War). The strategic reason was clear, it had not completely finished the campaign of pacification of the Netherlands, despite the successful seizure of Antwerp, and sought a new front; and the choice of Lisbon as a safe haven, to embark troops in Calais, was a real strategic disadvantage (the Normandy landings, or the various invasions of England, indicated that fleet and troops were to be shipped simultaneously in the Netherlands, near the Island). To make matters worse, Drake prowled the Spanish and Portuguese coasts (Cadiz had attacked and ravaged the Galician Rias), and had not foreseen a contraflota interception to destroy it. An impatient Felipe II, dismisses Bazan (who dies before typhus, fortunately) and appoints a Grandee of Spain, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who had boats, but he knew little of logistics or naval operations, and after various vicissitudes puts the fleet running, having his second in command, Admiral Juan Martinez de Recalde, lucky to find trapped against the bulk of the wind (about 70 boat) in Plymounth English fleet. The Duke of Medina Sidonia obedient, ignores his second, and continues to Calais, leaving another front to rear, following strict orders to embark The Tercios of Alejandro Farnese, given by the King. Bad weather and logistics problems did the rest. Years later Antonio Perez would create the Black Legend between England and France, following the tradition of the Spaniards, are our best enemies, but I wonder if they had reached the islands, which would have made Farnese (another dismissed by the Philippine bureaucracy, who died before I know) with the ravens of the Tower of London.
Regarding the brief allusion to Magallanes (not make mention of other Portuguese, such as Pedro Fernández de Quirós, also belonging to the Spanish Armada, and discoverer of Australia) as the first to circumnavigate the world, and present it as a big business (the British nationalist propaganda equates to Drake -we do not give credit to him to do with hijacked Spanish pilots, or or discuss the merits of Captain Cooke using maps stolen by Commodore Anson in 1742, of the Manila Galleon). Admittedly the epic, starring a fleet of five ships and 265 men and laden with provisions foreseen for two years (crackers, sardines, herring, figs and seven cows, which gave them fresh milk). It is called by Spain, the Moluccas Fleet, of which and after three years of long and arduous journey, only came to finish the adventure Nao Victoria, commanded by Captain guetariense, Juan Sebastian Elcano. The spanish sailor, and the 18 surviving crew members, after the death of Magellan in the Philippines (not before naming the Pacific, for his calm, formerly the South Seas and discover the Strait of Magellan), choose to head west to avoid that the Portuguese sought to arrest them, and argued the treaty of Tordesillas to prevent the company, achieving through the Indian ocean and turn around Africa. The feat of Elcano, to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe (the earth was round empirically since then, so the Emperor Charles granted the title of PRIMUS CIRCUMDEDISTI ME). Calculating the amount invested in the expedition and the benefits obtained by spices, after emptying the load on the only boat that finished the voyage was estimated that the value of the transported spices served to pay the expenses of the expedition and even produce benefits (almost million and a half maravedies). This may illustrate the huge business that involved the trade of these products, whose profitability moved to Dutch and English (after creating multinational companies for exploitation) coveting these routes.
I couldn't leave London without taking a walk through the West End, visiting art galleries, headquarters of major companies, educational institutions, embassies, government buildings, hotels, theaters; cinemas, nightclubs, bars and restaurants, shops, is a stroll through Berkeley Square, Cambridge Circus, Grosvenor Square, Leicester Square, London Palladium (you have to come see the musical before it deamasiado later), Manchester Square, Marble Arch, Oxford Circus or Piccadilly, Russell Square, Soho Square or St Giles' Circus
When we think that music go see, we immediately think of the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see Wicked, but also The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre was a good choice, or Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre, also Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre or Let it be Beatles at Garrick Theatre.
But in the end was the London Palladium, because it was the last season of Cats, a musical that debuted in 1981 in the West End and a year later went to Broadway, with tremendous success, and is based on the collection of humorous poems about psychology and society of cats, gathered in Old Possum's Book of Practical cats by TS Eliot. Better late than never, or never say never would say James Bond. I loved representation, vibrant, exciting, especially when I could see it with a glass of wine in hand, in the last song with tears in his eyes.
It is a symptom, to discuss the history of Spain without fear, you have to go to England tolerant. In Spain freedom of opinion and talent, it is often frowned upon and is sometimes even persecuted, and mediocrity and stagnation, the great and serfdom, which is valued (now overshadows fashion rudeness, and the new pseudo syndrome podemita o political neo), with the approval of a people little acquainted with its history, and rather inclined to admire how easy and immediate, apparent and no substance. Of the English, I like their persistent to continue causes they consider fair, courage and self-criticism, respect who does not think like them character, albeit sincerely showing their rejection, and their attitude to question their own paradigms, as well admiration they feel for the uniqueness and novelty, provided they do not disturb their traditional way of life. His sense of humor, meritocracy, its ability to resign (unlike us), practical and enterprising spirit, and the admiration they feel for their heroes, as well as respect towards those who succeed in business honestly.
P.S. The British commitment to Brexit, easy populism, and denying the European identity of UK, although inflames a children's nationalist spirit, reminds us of mistakes made by many in the past. Build Hadrian's Wall (reinforced with Antonino, to contain the incursions of the Caledonians), and burn bridges with Europe, it did not serve to prevent bygone invasions from the continent. Europe must be strong, and you need the English dissenting voice, to advance, and would not be as powerful without the British, but maybe it would be more consistent. The question is whether fewer walls are needed, as raised by the pacifist Adriano, and we have politicians with more high-mindedness, as well Spanish emperor UlpioTrajano Marco, lest we lose the initiative, our Euro-Atlantic identity continental and our values, to a complex and extremely dangerous for us.
It's funny, but to be honest, I must confess that this blog, I started to take shape, thinking about a trip to England frustrated with Ryanair, many years ago, and the intolerant spirit of many censors of public opinion.
RARA TEMPORUM FELICITATE, UBI SENTIRE QUAE VELIS, ET QUAE SENTIAS DICERE LICET.
Dedicado a la diputada británica Jo Cox y al valeroso español Ignacio Echeverría
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