So last week I spent what is popularly known as a “city break” (I guess…”break” sounds so
relaxing though, when city breaks are generally a bit harried in my
experience!) in London. It was my second visit to London after a trip down in
2012 to see the Chelsea Flower Show. I adored London on my first visit, call me
naïve, but as a former New Yorker, I found it all terribly quaint and pleasant and
polite – as in “THIS is the big scary city of your country now is it, tsk?” I’m
fully aware that by sticking to the touristy bits I hardly get a full picture
of a city’s true culture or diversity any more than visitors to New York who stick to Broadway,
Times Square and Central Park do. But London as a whole felt pleasantly slow
and laid back to me in comparison to New York. Everyone there was so friendly! (Much
friendlier than surly Aberdeen *cough*;-0).
So I wondered if on second visit it would live up to my
first impressions. And honestly…it completely did, and more. I LOVE London. I
love the women going to work in their neon trainers, I love the supercilious/inefficient
waiters and waitresses just biding their time until their big break comes
(reminds me of New York!). I love the rhythm of the tube (that’s what they call
the subway here American friends), the hordes of people moving en masse like a
giant intricate waltz (masses of commuters always remind me of this scene in The Fisher
King):
What on the first day felt daunting and unnatural, the sheer swarms of
bodies, of humanity, by the end felt familiar to my faintly still drumming
inner New Yorker. I spent more time in super busy tube stations (we stayed near
Euston and King’s Cross) this time around, which is arguably the least pleasant
aspect of city life, but it gave me a hit of that old city buzz and I did feel I could (just about) hack it!
We were to’ing and fro’ing an awful lot so there wasn’t much time for aimless wandering like my Mom and I enjoyed in Notting Hill and Kensington/ Hyde Park. We had events to attend both nights which put us on a stricter schedule than allows for those things but I still had a wonderful time, regardless. Anyway enough aimless babble, here is what I got up to!
Day One: Arrive at Gatwick. Find train station through
rather convoluted route. Kick self for not buying train ticket ahead of time/on
plane as offered when faced with snaking queues (seriously, do it ahead of time
if you can!). Get to self “service” kiosk and poke at it with other half until
we find cheapest option (Southern Trains…at this stage only marginally cheaper
than the Gatwick Express to be honest but only take 5 minute longer so we went
for it). Get train to Victoria Station, where we check Oyster cards from last
visit, top them up (you can now also use your bank card if you live here to
ride the tube!). Get tube to Euston, find Premier Inn (not difficult, though
there are two quite near each other), check in.
I should mention it was pouring rain, and we were tired from the early start and
feeling less than ambitious at this stage. Luckily, the British Library was
just down the street from us so we decided to check it out. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to the library, I’m embarrassed
to say. How wrong I was, though! It is chock full of literary and historical treasures
– first edition handwritten manuscripts from Jane Austen, Charles Dickens,
Yeats, W.H. Auden (he had chicken
scratch writing like me!), all sorts! I found it indescribably moving to see
Jane Austen’s perfect scrolling loops, along with her actual writing desk, it
made it seem as if she were right there somehow. Also in the collection are some Beatles and
other musical memorabilia, letters and song scribbles from John Lennon, etc. This
is in their free everyday collection as well – amazing!
They also have lots of
old letters and historical documents – Lord Nelson’s last letter to Lady Hamilton
(I’m hardly a history buff but having seen the Laurence Oliver Vivien Leigh
film I was all “Ooh!”). Also, more political/Churchill war documents, misc. book exhibits, and a huge collection of positively
ancient bibles of all faiths. I did feel a tiny bit Becky in Shopaholic when I started eyeing
up a be-jeweled bible and wondering if they had a version in the gift shop. ;-0
They also currently have The Magna Carta on display…for a price. We decided against it, it was £12 which…I guess if you’re deeply into seeing the Magna Carta would be worth it. We just weren’t that fussed (;-0). The focal point of the interior space is a large, floor to very high ceiling glass walled enclosed library – it’s the special collection which you need to be a super scholar to get a special key for or some such. It’s all very secret society looking and quite envy inducing when you see it you do just want to be able to go inside and look at all the giant old books!
Day Two: The second day we wanted to do the touristy open top bus tour (booked it ever so slightly cheaper online), and I also wanted to chance my luck at the Leicester Square TKTS booth for theatre tickets that night. I really did not think we were going to get tickets for either play I was interested in (American Buffalo or The Elephant Man) as they star big names and are virtually sold out online. To my disappointment the booth did not have anything I was interested in – the cashier told me to try the theatres on the off chance there was something, but he didn’t think there would be.
The nearest was the Wyndham Theatre around the corner,
showing American Buffalo starring Damian Lewis and John Goodman. I had never
tried for tickets at a theatre before on the day so felt sort of sheepish but
there was another couple already ahead
of us – they didn’t seem to be buying tickets though so I felt certain there
would be nothing. Much to my pleasant surprise when I asked the assistant for
tickets and he replied "Which night?” and I said “Tonight?!” he immediately
brought up a few seats! Result! He had a
few super dear ones in the first circle, some cheaper ones in the upper circle,
and some bargainous tickets in the “Royal Box”: “What is that?” I countered, plebeian that I
am! Well, I can tell you, it’s this frankly adorable little box, like those
opera boxes you see in films, with enough room for only two. At times the views
may be ever so slightly restricted. We were a bit dubious but the assistant
assured us they were great seats so we went for them. I felt in a bit of a haze
for the next couple of hours – I could hardly believe our luck and felt a bit
like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he has the winning ticket, I kept
checking my bag to make sure the tickets were safe.
But we didn’t have time for dilly dallying, there was touristing to be done! We hopped on the Original London Tour Bus, which came with a free second day and a free Thames cruise (that’s twice now I haven’t managed the free cruise!). If you are on a tight schedule I do think the tour buses are great way of making sure you tick off all the big ticket London sights. Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster, London Eye, London Bridge, etc. etc. they are pretty much all covered on the central route covered by the various tour operators. It was sunny (ish) for most of our ride so we couldn’t complain (though shockingly it was the Scottish o.h. that went for cover most quickly at the hint of rain!).
But we didn’t have time for dilly dallying, there was touristing to be done! We hopped on the Original London Tour Bus, which came with a free second day and a free Thames cruise (that’s twice now I haven’t managed the free cruise!). If you are on a tight schedule I do think the tour buses are great way of making sure you tick off all the big ticket London sights. Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Westminster, London Eye, London Bridge, etc. etc. they are pretty much all covered on the central route covered by the various tour operators. It was sunny (ish) for most of our ride so we couldn’t complain (though shockingly it was the Scottish o.h. that went for cover most quickly at the hint of rain!).
The only bad thing I would say is not one of the buses we took had a live tour guide, as they are supposed to have some of the time, which for the cost of the thing (£26 each with the pre-book discount in high season!) they really could do better. The audio guide was not as full of interesting trivia as the one my Mom and I took, and seemed to play elevator music as much of the time as anything. Still, you have a bird's eye view of more sights than you could ever squeeze in on foot so it's definitely worth it (I think!).
Old meets new architecture |
er, I was trying to be all arty driving under London Bridge! |
St. Paul's Cathedral |
Outside Tower of London, Gherkin in background |
Look at this pic I took of the lion and the London Eye (from a moving bus!), I was well chuffed with it!
I wanted to tour Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as on my
previous trip we’d looked at the outside of it and ate lunch at the restaurant
(very nice!) but not gone inside. I was aware it’s a re-creation (of a prior re-creation!),
but was still keen to see it. I was in such a haze from scoring theatre tickets
I totally forgot to take pics of the theatre outside – doh! You can see what it looks like here anyway!
On the day we went there were no guided tours as they were
building the set for a play opening that night (Mark Rylance in King…John I
think?!). So we were given audio guides which led us through the space. I have
to say, perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to a bit of a dry experience. I
imagine a live guide would be more entertaining and you could maybe have a wee
wander round the stage. You’re meant to sit quietly and listen to the audio
drone on and not take pictures (I took a sneaky one or two ;-), or otherwise do anything to disturb the building
of the set (I have to say it stunned me that they were still building major
elements of the set on opening night – this isn’t how it’s done in modern
productions, I had a feeling it was maybe some crazy keeping it authentic to
the times thing but there was no one to ask sadly). It was a lovely theatre
though and more covered/protected than I would have imagined by the roof even
though it is open air. I would definitely have tried to see a show there if we’d
had time.
More interesting were the interior exhibits with costumes
from past productions, dioramas of the original theatre and the similarly aged
Rose Theatre which was more recently excavated in London and is a historical site
and theatre also.
Creepy puppets! |
Unsurprisingly there were swarms of schoolchildren everywhere
– though not nearly as bad as The British Museum, more on that nightmare scene
later to come! I really enjoy the setting of the theatre; it’s right on the
River Thames, and a nice stroll from The Tate Modern. It’s definitely worth popping
into if you’re in the area, though I would say the live guided tours are
probably better value for money.
Because we were aware we had to get back to the hotel, change for dinner/the theatre, we decided to head home via Regent’s Park and walk along the length of the park as our hotel wasn’t far from it (of course we took a wrong turn/did a loop de loop coming out of the park so had a 15/20 minute detour, always something you have to anticipate when in an unfamiliar place/ are two people with two polar opposite senses of direction ;-0).
Regent's Park, London |
Me, This jacket is not very flattering is it! |
Peach Iris |
Regent’s Park, what little I saw of it, is lovely. We just skirted
round the bottom but did see a bit of the manicured bits though I had really
wanted to see the gated rose garden further in and the canal. I liked the
contrast of slightly overgrown-ness towards the outskirts with the highly manicured
planted promenade walkways. It’s maybe not quite as adorably cute as the little
secret garden trails you get in Kensington (though it possibly does have them
and we just didn’t get that far!), but it’s a very tranquil and pretty park. It’s
very near to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and has the big London Zoo in it as
well for anyone interested!
Ok well I will leave it there for now as this is getting on a bit and talk about the rest in a
second post (only I could turn a three day trip into a two part blog post!). Thanks for reading! :-)
I adore the British Library, especially as it's in such a good position to pop in when I'm waiting for a train at St Pancra. I feel so humbled to be able to be close to such amazing manuscripts! Speaking of that area, if you stay again I would definitely say to walk into Bloomsbury, there are some fab bookshops and cafes.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you may have heard this before but if the weather (and your health) allows it, try to walk rather than get the tube between most places - the map makes things look so far away but, for example, you can walk from the British Library to The Strand, through neighbourhoods like Bloomsbury and Holborn and across Covent Garden, in about 30-40 minutes (depending on your speed). That way you see a more hidden side to the city and can pop into shops, etc. It's a really nice way to take things at a slower pace.
I'd also really recommend getting Globe tickets next time you visit - if you book ahead you can get great deals (I usually pay around £15 for a seat next to the stage) and it's such a great experience.
And therein ends my London recommendations!
Thanks, that all sounds fab! I completely envisioned us doing more neighbourhood walks but we just ran out of time - much going back and forth to the hotel, etc. I'd love to just get a flat somewhere for a month and walk everywhere, it's how I got to know and feel confident in NYC. :-)
DeleteThose are some creepy puppets! Looks like the whole thing was a lot of (busy!) fun. Lovely pictures - I so want to visit London someday. It's top on my list of places to go.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely go, it's amazing! ha the puppets were super creepy!
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