London – Part 2
I know it’s only been one full day, but I’ve decided I really like London. It’s a fantastic city and in a weird way makes me miss New York. I guess this is because it’s so busy and cosmopolitan. The streets are packed with all sorts of people and as I walk I hear snippets of conversation in a wide variety of languages and accents. Compared to London, San Francisco is a sleepy, homogeneous town.
I had a bit of a mental crisis yesterday morning. After breakfast Katy went off to work and I sat down with my map and guide book to plan my day. I still had it in my head that I would somehow “do London” this week�see everything there is to see, do everything there is to do. After a half hour of list-making and map-checking the enormity of the place began to dawn on me. One could not hope to “do London” in one visit or a dozen visits. There will always be another neighborhood to walk in or sight to see. Just visiting the Museums would take a month (my partial map of central London lists twenty-six). Plus, it is really the people that make a city, and since the people are constantly changing the city changes with them. The London I visit in two years from now will be different than the London I see today.
I finally stopped adding items to my list, packed my map and just starting walking with a vague plan in mind. Highlights from yesterday include:
- St. Giles-in-the-Field Church � chapel originally built in the 12th century; very quiet�I was the only one inside; it contains a pulpit used by John Wesley, founder of Methodism.
- Trafalgar Square � Grand, but with an empty fountain that gave an “under construction” vibe; the Admiral Nelson column (43 meters tall), massive bronze lions with tourists posing for photos, and the National Gallery dominate the scene.
- Somerset House � magnificent palace designed for “royal societies” in 1775; fantastic galleries (Pissarro, Degas, Cezanne, Bendin, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Renoir, Lautrec, Rubens, and a few modern works: Kandinsky, Leger, early Picasso)
- Temple Church � built by the Knights of Templar in the 12th century
- Dr. Johnson’s House � Home of Samuel Johnson during the period (1746-1755) when he wrote the first English Dictionary: over 40,000 definitions and 140,000 quotations.
- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese � A pub established in 1667 (and it looks it); frequented by Dr. Johnson and Dickens among many others; I had two pints of Samuel Smith Cask Ale Bitters (a bargain at �1.72 each).
Now a few photos.
Cheers!
Dr. Johnson’s House
Middle Temple Lane
Near Picadilly Circus
St. James Park
Trafalgar Square
October 4th, 2006 at 5:53 am
Admiral Nelson and Templars!! It’s like a double shot of the two coolest European historical eras ever. The only thing cooler than British Age-of-Sail Naval history and Templar/Crusades history would be a 19th century British man-of-war crewed by actual templar knights.
With lasers.
October 4th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Wow. The Cheshire place sounds amazing! Any pictures?
October 5th, 2006 at 1:46 am
Jeff, there is a very interesting Modigliani exhibit going on in a palace of which I can never remember the name. Anyway, the museum is famous for having the huge statue of a section of a woman in the courtyard. I think the exhibit closes at the end of Oct. M. is one of my favorite painters. The palace is very close to the Ritz and I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding out the name if you’re interested.
BTW, the museum of natural history is also magnificent. It is the place where they started studying dynosaurs and gave them their names…
I love London too and can’t wait to explore it further. Enjoy!
October 5th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
October is an awesome time to be in London. The plane trip sounded like the way to go. Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us. My one and only trip there was an architectural tour in 1996 with Patrick’s office. It was extensive, and we saw loads of buildings from train stations, to churches, to colleges, to pubs, to modern office buildings, to pubs, but I couldn’t tell you to this day what exactly we saw. I CAN, however, describe pretty much everything we ate. Did I mention pubs? We also went to a couple of parks (got engaged in Regent’s Park under a tree), the zoo, and a museum or two (the one with the mummies and Rosetta Stone was especially interesting to me). Enjoy! Wait. You already are.
October 6th, 2006 at 1:20 am
> there is a very interesting Modigliani exhibit…
Sounds good! Let me know the name of the museum.
> …the one with the mummies and Rosetta Stone
> was especially interesting to me…
That would be the British Museum. I’m heading there today!
October 6th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Fantastic! Thank you so much for the report, and the pictures, which are “brilliant!” This is one of my prime destinations; I hope I actually make it someday.
Oh, and I have a surprise for you when you get back, if you’ll email me with a snail-mail address. I think you’ll get a chuckle.