On the Underground.I forgot how much I love London in the long three years since I was last there. Not much has changed: the Eye is still the Eye and the Tower is still the Tower. I loafed around for three days at the whim of my travel companions, just glad to be back, to be using the Underground and seeing the Thames. We spent time at Westminster Abbey and St.Paul’s Cathedral. I saw Parliament and the House of Commons for the first time, as well as the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe. We wandered outside of the Tate and stumbled across Temple Bar and the Courts of Justice after a quick jot down Fleet Street.
Most of the time in between sights was spent just roaming. Erica and myself had visited the city before, but Erik hadn’t, so it was a nice mix of tourist spots and just things we found. I feel like I’ve gotten to the point here where I am running out of tourist spots there, I just want to see the streets and the buildings and the little shops and restaurants and spend all day on the Underground, hopping stop-to-stop.
But I did see a good few sights I had never visited before. In addition to the Globe and the Tate Modern, we also browsed the Portabello Market, a weekend street-market in Kensington that our roommates recommended to us. I have to admit, it is much better than Camden Lock. Full of antiques dealers and bookseller and nifty little boutiques and specialty stalls, this place was indeed “right up my alley” as I had been told numerous times. I could have easily spent the day there.
A street vendor.In addition we also saw Cleopatra’s Needle, an actual Egyptian obelisk taken by the British during their imperial occupation of Egypt. It now sits on the side of the Thames, its supposed curse affecting the nation, but we could see no hint of it. Afterwards we walked to Trafalger Square, climbed Nelson’s Column and spent the fading light looking towards the mobs at the National Galleries.
That morning we had alighted first at King’s Cross to visit the fabled Platform 9 ¾ , and finally facing the fact that we were never going to get to Hogwarts, we instead went to the British Museum, which is just as good, really. For the next three hours we parted ways to see the exhibits, the Rosetta Stone and Sutton Hoo and Hadrian’s Bust again. I found an interesting exhibit on the history of museum collection entitled “the Enlightenment” (a pompous name if you ask me, but an interesting exhibit) as well as a modern installation called “Cradle to Grave.” I wandered the eastern exhibits, found a good one on Chinese Jade, and took many, many pictures.
A statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.But one of the best parts of the trip was the hostel, a funky little place situated over a bar somewhere on the southeastern outskirts of the city. Some nights the music was a fine acoustic open mic, and we came down for a beer and some enjoyment. Other nights it was a thrashing heavy metal and punk set that sent the walls shaking until midnight as we lay upstairs exhausted and unable to sleep. I liked the place and the character and even the weird-smelling bathroom, and especially the two-minuets walk to the tube station. Worth every pence to be in the city again.
