My perspective on the Anti-Americam thoughts in Europe

Over the time of this trip, I have ran into people from all continents excluding Antarctica, I have also talked with and had discussions  about the differences between the U.S. and other areas (especially Europe) with people from about 4 or 5 countries. So of these people have been as subtle as saying they do not know if we consider ourselves to the “world’s police” or not, and as blunt as saying the hate Republicans. At the same time that person was not too happy when he heard that Obama wanted the U.S. to go into Syria. One of the differences he said was he thinks that American Liberals are more on the right 9on the political spectrum) than European Conservatives. Now those are some of the few conversations I have had with people on his subject since, while I am in England there are things I want to do beyond asking people why they hate my people. Though here are some things I have noticed, my accent has turned heads. Some people have said they loved it, others smile when they hear it, other are smiling hear it, and then turn away. Some Europeans look at Americans as exotic, others look at us as nothing new. Now I think this may be in part since I have possibly met more people from other countries then I have met people  from England, so when they come here they  don’t expect to run into one of us. Anyway, I think another reason why a lot of people around the world don’t like us is since we are invading…. Culturally. While I have gone to bed or wake up, I usually turn on the television for a bit for background noise. Even though I only turn on the TV 1-3 times daily, and probably total out to about an hour each day, and where I only have 24 channels, with 4 being music, and 5 being news, on the other 15 other channels I can find at least 1 American TV show or movie. These are all considering every station with the exception of 3 which are news or British, and the other ones are foreign language channels. When I am on a music channel, or at a restaurant or other business with music, roughly 4 out of 5 songs I hear is American.  When I was in Bath, I found a CD store/DVD store, they had more British music but so many more American DVD’s then British DVD’s. There are so many McDonald’s Burger Kings, Subways, Pizza Huts, Starbucks, and Ben and Jerry’s here. There are as many restaurants that advertise American food as there are hat  advertise Italian food.  Its lie how some Americans get so tired of seeing on labels made in China, so more and more Americans get mad at China. At the end of the day many Europeans feel like Americans, that we are full of ourselves, and that we are oblivious to everything else in the world, and that we don’t care (which goes a little against the police state idea) but both of those ideas are here. That is out dignitaries do or say something, that Europeans don’t like, that we all agree with our leaders. So I think what may be some of  the best actions we could take is show, we can be smart and sensitive to international issues. So everyone that we individual thoughts that can go against those of our leaders, and pull them back in a bit more. Also, keep performers like Justin Bieber from becoming popular.     

Day 7 We got even older with Stonehenge and the Roman Baths

This is from Day 7, when we went to some of the oldest locations in the U.K., both of our main attraction locations were made in the B.C. years. We started off with Stonehenge. This was built in stages roughly between 3,000 and 2,500 B.C. Some people have theories that they were built to worship either the sun or the moon. This is since the direct middle that is on the access of the heel stones (on the outside of the circular area) lines up with both the summer and winter solstices. Though there are ditch like holes dug in the same quantities as there are days in a lunar month dug around the structure. Other thoughts include they were dug to honor the dead since there are mounds in the fields surrounding Stonehenge with what appeared to be the highly influential with their possessions, and what appeared to be more of commoner gravesites with many people buried widthwise in a linear fashion. Others say it is for the Gods since Woodhenge was built in a different location and things made of wood are for humans and like us are made to be temporary. On the other hands, Stonehenge was made out of stone, and like the Gods things made of stone is made to be permanent. The other big theory was that aliens made it. Why? Well, why not? If I remember properly, it was said the larger stones (sarsens) were brought from about 25 miles away and weighing about 40 tons. The smaller blue stones weigh about 5 tons and were brought from over 150 miles.

Next, we went to Bath, U.K. Bath started as a place lived at and enshrined by local natives (reason why to come later. It was then settles by the Romans, and then vacated as the Roman Empire fell. Then as time went on, and the area was resettled later on, when architects rebuilt the town to bring back the look it had during the roman times. We then looked specifically at some specific locations within the town before going to the main attraction, the Roman baths.  The Roman Bath was built on a hot spring worshipped by the people who already lived there since it is the only hot spring in the U.K. The locals associated the spring with their goddess Sulis, and the Romans associated it with their Goddess Menuva, so they combined the names to make it to be for the Goddess Menuva Sulis.  They built the springs and full pipework for it to flow making hot rooms (essentially saunas, cold rooms, the bath (hot tubish area) and other facilities. The stones were lined with led sheets to make them water tight, it had an overflow area, and all of the water drains into a local river. Not bad for people who didn’t have access to electricity.

Day 6, so much history door to door

Day 6 started off with a trip to Parliament. No, I was not able to shout at politicians for no real reason, but we were able to see where that all happens. We saw the House of Commons (elected) and the House of Lords (appointed). We learned how they vote on any measure and saw where that happens. For the record, they get up and move into one of two rooms of whether or not they want the measure to pass since we can see which rooms they walk into, we know who voted for what. We also learned and discussed on how it is officially not the Houses of Parliament but Westminster Palace, since that was what it was built for. Then, we talked about how it changed over time after bombings and fire, and construction since it was too small. We saw where both houses do most of their debates (in the U.S. we would say the bill was in Committee.

Then we went next door to Westminster Abbey. This place started as a monk ministry for the Catholic Church, and then King Henry the VIII in all of his wisdom had the country divorce the Catholic Church, so he could divorce his wife, since that does not sound desperate at all.  Why didn’t he tear down the abbey like he did with most of the others? Well, his parents where already buried there, as in, in the building. As of today , they are two out of hundreds of people bodies there The list of people buried there who are not royalty include, Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, and the Tomb of the unknown Warrior (similar that of the unknown warrior in the U.S.). In fact there are so many people buried there, especially in the floor for their graves, you have to walk on their graves (with the exception of the unknown warrior who no one walks on that one) just to walk through the abbey. This is even with a 90+ year band on burying bodies there, the recent burials there have all been cremations. Since now this is the house of the Church of England they also do weddings, and funerals there. This includes the wedding of Kate and Prince William and the funerals of Duchess of Wales Diana, and of the Queen mum.  This is also where the Coronation has happened, I think the year was 1366, and it has taken place in the same chair as well.

After that, we had a decent amount of time left in the day so I went to M&M world, and found out I am a mix of all M&M flavors. I then watched Arsenal win the FA Cup over Hull City 3-2, in a pub that is on the outside wall of the hotel we are staying in.

Day 5 Free Day!

Day 5, we had a day off, so I did nothing, funny concept ain’t it? No, I did things but I slept in. What I did do, I wondered through the British Museum. There I saw things from Ancient Egypt, the Natives of the Northwest, and by the I mean British Colombia Canada, Ancient Greece, Rome, China, Mesopotamia, including some items from the place with my favorite name, Ur. The most famous thing I saw here was the Rosetta stone. I also saw other items from Sphinx, not the Coliseum, but from other areas in both Rome and Greece, tools, writings in various languages totem poles and other old items. I also got an idea of why British museums tend to do so well. 1, most of them are free. Why is that important? Broke travelers or bored locals love free things. 2. We need more touchable items. The Rosetta stone is in a glass case, and I cannot blame them for that, but, they also have a replica of the Rosetta that has a sign on it, that says please touch. The concept of being able to touch something like that, even if it is a replica is exciting, it also becomes for kid friendly, and also probably a better experience for the blind. 3. This one shocked me after all of the museums I have been to in the states, but many items sat there, or where hung without barricades. As I already said the Rosetta stone was behind glass, and so where other items, some items where behind railings, others had velvet ropes, with that said, I would estimate nearly ½ of the items were sitting there without any form of barricade or protection.  That is excluding the staff, alarms, and security cameras, and they are concealing the cameras as time goes on.  With that said, you do not know, or care about that when you are looking at the item. All you know if you are staring face to face with history, and that you can get very close to it. As mentioned earlier these museums are free, but they accept donations, and have the inevitable overpriced gift shop.  

I then started to make my way to Buckingham Palace, but I made an unexpected stop along the way. I found blocks away from Green Park (which boarders the palace to the north) the National Portrait Gallery. Quick side note, as this trip is both Criminal Justice related as well as cultural, we are required to stop at a history museum, art museum, and a park, this is my last item on that list. I was actually excited for the British Museum since I like history, not so much for the portrait gallery, since I am not a huge art fan. Then I got to the gallery, I am still not a huge art fan, but it turned out to be better than I thought it would be. I walked in made a right, and I was in their WWI exhibit. They did more than showed portraits of the heads of states involved and the soldiers who fought them also told the story of the war. Towards the end of the exhibit they showed some of the more important faces.  They showed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination was what got the ball rolling towards war 100 years ago next month, I do not recall the name, but the next portrait was of one of Ferdinand’s relatives, whose son’s death and the death of both of his nephews put Ferdinand next on the list to inherent the throne, until the assassination happened. I then check out a few other exhibits, and then I checked out Buckingham Palace, and then I called it a day.

Day 4, day out with the Bobbies

         On day 4, we started off with  the Central Communications Command, this is where the Metropolitan Police Department (the London Police) organizes all of their major operations, be it monitoring riots/protests,  to the Queen's Jubilee/state visits/ the Olympics, to events like the terrorist bombings of their Underground (subway system) and their buses in 2005. We got a general brief of how everything works their. The we visited their special operations room, where they have access to over 23,000 cameras, 3,000 owned by the met, and 20,000 where the met has access. This building is also one of three where 999 (the UK version of 911) calls come in from within London.

 After we were done in that building, we went  on a hike to find Mike Messinger Hall. This building plays a special role for the London Police. This building houses a cafeteria which is the base for feeding all of the officers when they go through the events mentioned above. They may run hundreds to thousands of officers in this rather small cafeteria, use feeding trucks to get everything to their officers on the streets, or both. After we looked at discussed all of that, we went in for the days' main event, we checked out the mini dojo (I say mini since even though they use it at times, they have larger ones too) where they train officers  in self-defense techniques. This training is especially important in the U.K., since as mentioned in a previous post, the vast majority of officers here do not carry firearms. For the most part they carry on their person: CS spray (chemical spray, not mace, it kind of induces a minor allergic reaction), baton, or asp, handcuffs, and a radio. Web  did walk through with training devices for 3 out of the 4 items just mentioned. which one did we not use? Well, I recommend the Metropolitan Police start to use a modified older model Nokia, what we refer to as brick phone, for a radio so they can use all 4 items.    


      Quick note about the title of the  post, Sir Robert Peel, who also went on to become Prime Minister, essentially started the London Police Department, which was essentially a first in the world, so their officers' nicknames can from his name, Robert-Bobby. 

Day3, in court with judge judy er the magistrate

      Today was a relatively quick one, we spent 2 hours roughly getting a crash course from a defense attorney and then watching it all go down. It was weird since the defendant actually sat in a glass box away from everyone else. They have a small gallery where observers can watch, which varies from one row behind a railing to three rows in a different glass box. These cases are a preliminary hearing to a low level case (we would call misdemeanors) or sentencing. If a person wants a trial, or it is more serious (more towards a felony) it would get sent up to the royal courts.


     After we watched all of that we were done. I stopped at the ISA office for bit then I went back to the hotel. I took a nap then hit the town to check out the local parks. I first went to Russel Square to get started at a small park a block away, and then went to Regents Park. All I got to saw is Google Map it. It is freaking beautiful. There they have business related organized softball, they also have organized and unorganized soccer, er futball, er, I'll stick with soccer. I even got in on a game of ultimate Frisbee. So now I am sore and tired, any off to bed for the night, and then to get back at it bright and early at 9.00 AM, as I continue on in London.

Day 2, at the Police station, and got Rocked by a show

On day 2 (Tuesday the 13th) we went to the Charring Cross Police Station.  On this day we met out officer tour guide Constable Watson. He showed us a bit of the department. From here we discussed some things about London, and some of the things that make policing here difficult, and example of that would be that here, there are people who speak over 300 languages. Also that the city has a population of roughly 7.5 million and that nearly doubles between people who live out of town and work in the city as well as the tourists during the day. Part of the trip included a look at some of their holding facilities, as well as how the departments are setup throughout the UK. We also took a look at a little of their equipment both of today and historically. Essentially, what do they have a stick (which has changed over the years to include becoming more painful) handcuffs, a radio bulletproof/stab proof vests (apparently stabbings is a problem), a helmet and CS (chemical spray, we generally say OC spray, essentially it is a spray able tear gas). They also have the helmet, and a car, that is it. Then you have other groups in the department with guns, which it seems like in general, 1-2% of the officers are trained and on the job for that. The numbers they used were about 10% of their officers are trained for firearms, and 10-20% of those officers are on duty in that capacity at a time.

Afterwards we had some free time, so I figured I would take in a show. So I bought tickets to go see We Will Rock You, which is a musical based on the music of Queen and a convenient 8 blocks away. Better yet, I got the tickets on discount, in Row F, or 6 rows from the stage, 4 seats off of center stage. Yeah they were pretty good seats. Now, here is the bad news they are discontinuing the show. They last show is scheduled for May 31^th.  In all seriousness, it is a great show, it had great music and great performers, and I am upset it is closing, though, I am extremely happy to have seen it before it closes. http://www.wewillrockyou.co.uk/home.php#/news