London. The last leg of my three-month sojourn away from home. I couldn’t write while I was in London because of sheer jet lag and tiredness. Landing in London on 14th August in the afternoon, a Friday, I took it easy. I roamed around the gardens near the apartment of the friend I was staying with and generally took in the new environment.
The next day K/G and I set out to explore the city. First of all we got ourselves a seven-day travel Oyster card for £30. Yes, London has atrocious prices. I have had icecream from a street vendor for £1.7 (roughly Rs 100) and a small cup of sweet glazed peanuts for £2 (Rs160). THAT was the most ridiculous of all, coming from Bangalore where you get “kadlekai” for Rs 5.
Anyway, to continue. The first day I took in the Piccadilly Circus, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gardens and Palace, Sherlock Holmes Museum, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. It seems quite a lot but all we did was to follow a bus tour, which someone had helpfully put up. It was quite a revealing tour, since we passed the Science and History Museum, the famed and overpriced Harrods and a few other landmarks on the way. Of course I did not enter any of the museums or palaces the first day as the rates seemed astronomical. The Kensington Palace charged £12 while the Tower of London has a fee of £17. We decided to see the city the first day and then choose a couple of places to enter and see later.
The second day began with the London Bridge of nursery rhymes and walking down by the river to enter the HMS Belfast, a warship that played a major role in the Second World War. The ship was quite interesting and there were lifelike recreations of the sailors who had lived aboard.
It took us about an hour or so to see the nine decks of the ship in and out and later we saw a routine demonstration of a gun firing. We wandered off from the Belfast, walked through a few alleys and lanes and ended up at the Southwark Cathedral, the oldest Gothic church in London. I never knew its significance until I came out on the other side and saw its name plaque. Inside, the architecture was beautiful and there was an exhibit of an original piece of an ancient Roman road. We continued our walk and walked along the river. Some time later we reached the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben where we called it a day.
On Monday, we met our German friend who had flown over from Germany, let me call her Dee, at the Tate Modern Gallery. This was an interesting place as it tried to create a fusion between artists and their works. Dee told me a very funny story about one of the artists exhibited there. I forget his name now but his “works” consisted of junk and scraps of metal arranged in some form apparently sending out a message. Dee said that when he was arranging his work in the museum he had left some of the scrap in the corner to finish the arrangements the next day. But when he returned to the museum cleaners were about to throw it out thinking it was garbage! Quite amusing, the different angles from, which art can be viewed.
We wandered around the museum, sat in the café with a coffee for some time then continued on to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. I wanted to take a tour of the Theater but then realized that it was not the original but a reconstructed one. So we just went inside for a “peek” as Dee says and continued on our way.
We were headed for Dr Johnson’s House, where Dr Samuel Johnson had actually lived and completed his works. After some searching we managed to find the place and just looked around taking pictures. Its quite a thrill for me to be actually seeing the houses of poets and writers whom I have actually studied or read the works of and Johnson was none the less.
As we came out and continued walking along the well known Fleet Street we passed by this small church tucked away in the corner, hardly visible. We entered out of curiosity and discovered that it was St Bride’s Church, which calls itself a “spiritual home of printing and the media.” Fleet Street is the home of the British Press so it is only natural that the church should be situated here. We entered and found ourselves going down the stairs to a crypt, which as we discovered had all sorts of spookily interesting stuff like ancient Roman Road fragments (again), coffins, medieval archaeological findings etc. We came out with an eerie feeling but the church by itself was beautiful.
We rested for sometime on the stairs by St Paul’s Cathedral and then took a train to Westminster Abbey. We walked around the place but didn’t enter since it was £14 although K/G and I did that later on because we simply could not miss Poet’s Corner there. We walked out of Westminster, walked on to see Buckingham Palace. But before that we stopped by a small corner place for lunch.
Lunch was jacket potatoes with cheese and a salad, which was very tasty and very filling. We took it to St James Park and ate sitting on a bench. The Park was beautifully blooming with flowers and it was very well maintained. I loved the atmosphere there, which although dotted with people was still not chaotic. Lunch over, we went to Buckingham Palace, which was just a ten minute walk away. I must say I found our Mysore Palace more impressive than this one, which resembled a matchbox as K/G aptly called it.
Our next stop was the British Library in King’s Cross St Pancras for which we had to take the Tube again. I hated the tube because it was so claustrophobic and crowded. I am the last person to feel queasy and get headaches in cramped spaces but the tube made even my head whirl. I was glad to get out into the sunshine and continue walking to the Library, which was just five minutes away.
This was one of the best experiences for me because we saw original manuscripts of a lot of works including that of Chaucer, Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Ted Hughes and others. It was fantastic and mesmerizing to actually see these people’s handwritings. Apart from literary works, the library had original manuscripts of music sheets and religious works.
We had a coffee at the Library café and then headed out for dinner near to where Dee was staying. A small place called Nelson’s Retreat, which had some Thai food. The day seems like a packed one and we were tired but glad that we had seen so many sights in a day.
The next day we went to the British Museum, which houses a splendid collection by museum standards. It has separate rooms for Egypt, Asia and South America with various miscellaneous treasures. But walking around in the Egyptian room was an eerie experience because there were entire mummies still wrapped in their torn bandages kept in glass cases. I found it spookier than the Chicago Field Museum for some reason. But the best of all was a giant statue of the Buddha, which towered in the middle of the building. When I read the description plaque it said Luoyang, China! And then I remembered that I had seen huge gaping holes when I had visited Luoyang and this was one of the fillers. Sigh.
After the museum the next stop was Brick Lane, made famous by the eponymous book by Monica Ali. I haven’t read it but Dee had and she said its an interesting read. We roamed around the main street and stepped into one of the numerous Bangladeshi restaurants for lunch. The place we went to was quite average and the food was atrocious. Well, all part of the experience.
After Brick Lane we visited a small art gallery nearby and then it was time for Dee and us to part since she had a flight to catch back to Germany. We decided to go to the poet John Keats’ house, which was in Hampstead. We said our goodbyes in the Tube and while Dee stepped off a couple of stops away we continued on our way.
Hampstead is a beautiful little town a bit away from the hurrying city. I found it a bit more relaxed. We walked around searching and it was some time before we finally found the house by which time it was already closed. But we stood outside and took a few pictures. There was a sprawling park nearby and it was nice to lie down on the grass and relax for some time looking up at the sky. Time had passed by so fast, there was just a day left before we waved adieu to London.
The next day, our last day, we went back to Westminster Abbey, this time to enter. I was simply awed by the place because the tombs were constructed so magnificently with ornate carvings. There are a couple of them that stand out in my memory. One was that of a knight. His tomb was in the shape of a palanquin borne by four mourners while the knight rests inside. Above the palanquin are the knight’s armor and helmet. The other one is more dramatic. This was the tomb of a woman named Elizabeth. It displays her husband holding her close trying to protect her from the Grim Reaper who is emerging from a door beneath them, depicting the portal to Death. All the tombs in the Abbey belong to either royalty or a person of repute of those times. The tour of the Abbey was also organized very well. Most museums and other tourist attractions have a device resembling a phone supplied. Each exhibit within the building would be given numbers and as you approach you press the number to hear the story behind it. The voice for the tour in the Abbey was given by the famous actor Jeremy Irons and was very well organized too because it took me all around the Abbey in a very methodical manner.
Next stop was Windsor Castle for, which we had to catch a bus. We had missed the 1.10 pm bus so we had lunch while we waited for the 2.10 pm one. We reached the Castle in about an hour or so but by then there were just a few minutes left for it to close. But we managed to see most of what was meant to be seen. Frankly, I felt that it was not very grand. Especially, the King’s dressing room and bedroom. They were just…plain rooms. There is a certain grandeur to the rooms in Mysore Palace in comparison. Perhaps it’s a tinge of patriotism or perhaps it is a fact. I don’t know, but I felt none of the palaces I saw had the same bearing that Indian palaces have.
So that was our last day. The next day it was all scramble to reach the airport. We were driven by a maddening taxi driver who didn’t know how to reach Terminal 5 and it took him five rounds of the airport to figure out the way.
We reached Bangalore on 22nd, Friday early morning. My impression of London at the end of it all was that it is just an average city with an overwhelming history. I must appreciate their efforts of preserving their history so well while here we have Tipu Sultan’s fort rotting away with people peeing on its walls. London has the same streets as Bangalore – narrow and jammed with buses and cars. But there are no cycles swerving in front unnerving the hell out of you nor pedestrians jumping out of nowhere to cross the road. London is a small city too but they have taken care to keep it clean, neat and organized. I guess the Tube, nauseatingly claustrophobic as it is, does make a difference. I am keeping my fingers crossed for Namma Metro to make the same difference.
Until my next flight, so long.