Cemeteries and psychoanalysis.
Feb. 26th, 2006 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
None of my real life friends are going to believe this, but... yesterday I managed to make it to London and back, AND navigate the Tube all by myself, and I didn't get lost a single time! *gives self corny high-five* This is amazing, considering that I can't even find my way around Greenville, where I lived for about 19 of my 25 years. The Tube is surprisingly easy to navigate. Waaaay easier than the NYC subway. I never did figure that out. Anyway...
I spent most of the day in Archway, at Highgate Cemetery. First I went to the East side. That was nice because you're allowed to wander around by yourself. (You have to take a guided tour on the West side.) First I went to the grave of Karl Marx, and wouldn't you know it, the sun was right in front of me, so I couldn't get a good picture. :( His grave is the most often decorated one there... and the most often desecrated. Ha ha. But yesterday it sported only a bouquet of tulips, no graffiti. :D Well, here are the crappy pictures I managed to take.



The grave marker is HUGE, twice my height. I'm not a full-on Marxist, and I don't subscribe totally to conflict theory, but I do think he had great ideas, even if they have never fully worked out. It was just trippy to see the grave of someone I spent 4 years hearing about in classes.
The east side of the cemetery is all overgrown and horror-film-esque, though not quite so beautiful as the older west side. I loved how some of the markers had trees wrapped totally around them,








You have to take a guided tour around the west side. It's a Victorian-era cemetery, and until the 1970's had fallen into total ruin. Recently they've been working on clearing it out and repairing the vandalism, and now it's clear enough to tour. Charles Dickens was supposed to be buried here with his family, but Queen Victoria wanted him in Westminster, and I guess you can't argue with the Queen. Especially if you're dead. *rolls eyes at bad joke* I HIGHLY recommend going if you're ever in London. It's totally worth it.

The guy buried here was a menagerist. He took exotic animals on tours around the town. He had a tame pet lion that he once tried to pit against two pitt bulls in a fight (oh, those Victorians and their zany pastimes!) but the lion was just NOT interested, and promptly went to sleep. Heh heh.

A columbarium, where cremains are kept. (I just love that word... columbarium. Columbarium. Columbarium!)
Markers I thought were pretty:




Entrance to a crypt:

View of a hallway-type thing where family crypts are:

Two views from the top level (it's a multi-story cemetery, ha ha.)


And this is the top of a HUGE memorial. The guy buried here was some rich dude, only he had made his money himself, instead of inheriting it from family. Well, the Victorians looked down on "New money," and kind of shunned him. There was once a lovely view of London where his marker is, and families would come picnic in the cemetery and marvel at the view. So when he was close to death, he decided to buy a plot RIGHT THERE and build a HUGE monument to obstruct the view, as a big "Fuck you," to all who shunned him. HA HA! I love it!

I also went to the Freud museum, which was very small but still cool. I really really really wanted a picture of the couch, but there was a big "no photos" sign in the lobby, and surveillance cameras everywhere, so I settled for buying a postcard of it instead. :( They also had home movies made by Anna playing, and a drawing of Freud by Salvador Dali, which was pretty sweet. Worth seeing if you're a psychology nerd like me. :D
I spent most of the day in Archway, at Highgate Cemetery. First I went to the East side. That was nice because you're allowed to wander around by yourself. (You have to take a guided tour on the West side.) First I went to the grave of Karl Marx, and wouldn't you know it, the sun was right in front of me, so I couldn't get a good picture. :( His grave is the most often decorated one there... and the most often desecrated. Ha ha. But yesterday it sported only a bouquet of tulips, no graffiti. :D Well, here are the crappy pictures I managed to take.




The grave marker is HUGE, twice my height. I'm not a full-on Marxist, and I don't subscribe totally to conflict theory, but I do think he had great ideas, even if they have never fully worked out. It was just trippy to see the grave of someone I spent 4 years hearing about in classes.
The east side of the cemetery is all overgrown and horror-film-esque, though not quite so beautiful as the older west side. I loved how some of the markers had trees wrapped totally around them,








You have to take a guided tour around the west side. It's a Victorian-era cemetery, and until the 1970's had fallen into total ruin. Recently they've been working on clearing it out and repairing the vandalism, and now it's clear enough to tour. Charles Dickens was supposed to be buried here with his family, but Queen Victoria wanted him in Westminster, and I guess you can't argue with the Queen. Especially if you're dead. *rolls eyes at bad joke* I HIGHLY recommend going if you're ever in London. It's totally worth it.

The guy buried here was a menagerist. He took exotic animals on tours around the town. He had a tame pet lion that he once tried to pit against two pitt bulls in a fight (oh, those Victorians and their zany pastimes!) but the lion was just NOT interested, and promptly went to sleep. Heh heh.

A columbarium, where cremains are kept. (I just love that word... columbarium. Columbarium. Columbarium!)
Markers I thought were pretty:




Entrance to a crypt:

View of a hallway-type thing where family crypts are:

Two views from the top level (it's a multi-story cemetery, ha ha.)


And this is the top of a HUGE memorial. The guy buried here was some rich dude, only he had made his money himself, instead of inheriting it from family. Well, the Victorians looked down on "New money," and kind of shunned him. There was once a lovely view of London where his marker is, and families would come picnic in the cemetery and marvel at the view. So when he was close to death, he decided to buy a plot RIGHT THERE and build a HUGE monument to obstruct the view, as a big "Fuck you," to all who shunned him. HA HA! I love it!

I also went to the Freud museum, which was very small but still cool. I really really really wanted a picture of the couch, but there was a big "no photos" sign in the lobby, and surveillance cameras everywhere, so I settled for buying a postcard of it instead. :( They also had home movies made by Anna playing, and a drawing of Freud by Salvador Dali, which was pretty sweet. Worth seeing if you're a psychology nerd like me. :D
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Date: 2006-02-26 10:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-26 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2006-02-26 11:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-27 01:08 am (UTC)these pics are gorgeous honey... so I guess we'll need to go back to the Freud Musuem when I'm there ;) however.. we don't have to to the graveyard... Hell I can barely go thru the ones in Charleston without getting freaked out...
and your last pic isn't there :( maybe i should load it again on another day and not at 4am when I think your insomnia came to visit me when you left the country
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Date: 2006-02-27 02:07 am (UTC)