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I've thought of England (and London to a lesser extent) as a
hulking galleon, listing under storey upon storey of ramshackle history,
saturated with all types of add-ons and lean-tos on her decks, growing
inexorably but unsteadily throughout history, a top-heavy, creaking mass but
always moored in a murky Thames by a solid anchor. From this behemoth, from
time to time, landing parties have been sent ashore in longboats with the
excited sailors then forming their own colonies on the distant shores, where
they too have flourished or floundered, forever tied to the great ship, but
never again a part of its framework.
As the descendants of one of those landing parties, and
having missed the great British invasion so common to our contemporaries when
we were in our 20s, we decided to eschew our usual Christmas European jaunt and
head back instead this year to the mothership from where it all began. We also
wanted, just for once, to totally relax and not rely on one or other of us doing
constant translation work during what was meant to be a rejuvenating two week
break.
Labouring under a few misapprehensions, some from our own
images, some from folk who had not graced her shores in many years, we prepared
ourselves for some stodgy food, grey skies and a certain pessimism in the
populace that belies the reality of their situation (i.e. whinging Pommies!)
Blue skies, crisp but not freezing temperatures, next to no
rain, delicious contemporary food and delightful upbeat people greeted us from
airport onwards! When we arrived, the first of so many adventures began like so
many after them would: reading the signs (In English), asking the odd one or
two questions for clarification (in English) and then doing it with the minimum
of fuss….heaven!
The trains from the airport were smooth, the transfer at
Paddington easy, and the drop-off at King's Cross led to a 15 minute walk on Saturday
evening to our first week's accommodation, an airbnb apartment in the
recently gentrified area around the new London University campus in Islington.
It was so slick and luxurious and we were glad to have our little haven to
return to in the evening after a full and usually quite exhausting day of
seeing the sights.
Despite the fact that we'd selected London as a relaxing destination,
we still set ourselves a punishing schedule of events! During the fifteen days,
we trawled through the exquisite selections of many of the national galleries
and museums, toured the iconic sporting venues and visited the spectacular, the
unusual and the quirky. We delighted at a West End show, rode the upper decks
of the red buses and became human moles tunneling through, in and around the
city on the famous Tube every day and night. We gaped in awe at the famous
historic palaces, buildings and icons and walked in the steps of London's
famous, infamous and notorious. We ate and drank as much English fare as we
could get our hands on, including the famous, pints of lager, pies and fish n
chips and Brick Lane curries! I'm a little overwhelmed just at the prospect of
trying to capture it all, so I'll just limit myself to some details of a few of
the real highlights. Without reference to Cassy's little green book, the keeper
of all our tales, I might get some of the order confused, but the reactions
will be genuine!
We spent the first day and days traversing along and across
and beside London's pulsing artery, the Thames. The London Eye provided
spectacular views as did St. Paul's cathedral, and we got our bearings for the
city from above on the first of many brilliant full sun days. It was during
these days that we started to feel the full weight of history bearing down on
us from this ancient, multi-layered city. Seemingly around every corner was
another plaque, statue or reminder of some of the amazing events that occurred on
that spot or people who lived there.
The Tate Modern, a cavernous space within an old factory
riverside was as spectacular as we expected. We managed to get rooms full of
Picassos all to ourselves and reveled in the modern art on each of five levels.
We were amazed to see a multi-storey addition being built behind the current exhibition
space: I think we'll need to go back! The Coulthard Gallery at Somerset House
near Charing Cross was a hidden treasure trove of impressionist and post-
impressionist painters that we stumbled upon. We've made a concerted effort to
see as many of these works as we possibly can across Europe and Asia, so it was
a treat to see this jewelry box collection. This leads of course to the
National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. We visited twice during our stay as the
boutique collection of works was quite stunning and hard to leave. Turners of
fire and sea, dimly lit rooms of Degas, iconic Van Gogh: it was almost an afterthought
to sprinkle at least a dozen Renoirs amongst the field of wildflowers bursting
from the walls of every room. Despite the fact that we've been spoiled on
multiple occasions by rooms and galleries full of our favourite Monet, it was
an added delight to see so many of his most treasured works on display. The
almost alien talents of the light-capturing Caravaggio with works we'd only
previously seen in books and walls of Michelangelo (some unfinished), Titian,
Holbein, Vermeer and many, many others allowed us once again to immerse
ourselves in the fountain of genius for a few short hours. We also visited the
National Portrait Gallery directly behind for yet another feast and spent
nearly a whole day at the incredible Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A's
collection cannot begin to be described yet, apart from the obvious attractions
we also enjoyed the glass, furniture and Asian exhibitions.
The Thames was yet again front and centre to our viewings of
three famous ships, Francis Drake's Golden Hinde replica moored near London
Bridge, HMS Belfast near Tower Bridge and the Cutty Sark all the way down the
river at Greenwich. We toured the nine decks of HMS Belfast and found it
interesting and saw the Cutty Sark after a great cruise along the Thames. We
spotted the Golden Hinde on our way to one of Cassy's highlights, a tour of the
rebuilt Globe Theatre. As she's taught Shakespeare to many of her classes
during her career, including his famously intricate sonnets, she was fascinated
to tour the rebuilt facility and hear the commentary from a very knowledgeable
young actor, doing the tours doing the off-season winter!
I'm not sure where to start with London pubs. Every TV show
and movie paints a picture of warm, cosy havens, usually paneled in dark wood
with paintings and photographs on the walls lit by brass lamps or dimmed,
atmospheric lighting. The bar itself has the old pumps serving up various pints
of lager and the fare is wholesome and hearty, like pies, fish and chips and
bangers and mash. Well, we found it be exactly like that, with only a few
variations for individual styles of the pubs or publicans! We ate in The Green
Man and The Red Lion, The Seven Shovels and The Sergeant's Arms as well as many
others I can't remember the names of! It was really a highlight for me: such a
comfort to duck into and escape a cold, hard wind or a quickly falling curtain
of dusk, whip of the coat and scarf and luxuriate in the warmth of the setting
physically and emotionally. The only slightly disconcerting thing was to be
served by only a couple of truly English accented staff during our whole stay.
Germans, Poles, South Africans, French and Aussies (!) all served behind the
bars…it was very international and cool, but a little weird considering how
totally "English" the setting was!
Halfway through our stay we moved across town to Aldgate East
and the trendy Qbiq hotel which
was situated just near the famous Bangladeshi curry street of Brick Lane which
also hosts a weekend market of mammoth proportions. We sampled the curries
(delicious) on a few different days, and on our last day wandered the eclectic
mix of stalls of jewelry, old vinyl records and vintage clothing in the main.
Cass got some silver earrings and I bought a vinyl single of John Lennon's
"Imagine"…why, I'll reveal in a future post!
I'm going to write a "part two" to this next week,
I'm afraid. Despite the fact that I've inadequately described many of these
experiences, my shocking verbosity has led to this huge post! I've yet to talk
about palaces or sporting venues or west end or rock n roll etc. so I'll save them for next week…..you're
warned!!
The link to the album is here