London Town, Part 1

             London

We are currently in London, enjoying our flat in Notting Hill. I think we're done with the retrospective, with catching up on where we were. Now we're in real time... more or less.

It's raining today, so we have a chance to catch up a bit. (And this rain is a relief from the heat we've been having!)

After two months of being on the road we are quite happy to just set for a spell. Plus the weather has been very hot! Not encouraging for trips into the Big City. Instead, we have been content to stay closer to home, which is in the western part of London known as Notting Hill. (There’s a movie with that name, set in this neighborhood. The first five minutes are good…)

"Our" house, the one on the right; that's our garrett window 'way up high

Our street

We’re a few blocks from Portobello Road, along which a market is held daily selling all manner of things, useful and… esthetic. It’s an interesting and dynamic neighborhood, with quiet, stately residential streets lined with Victorian houses, and more active streets with cafes, restaurants, community centers, and shops selling groceries, high fashion, objects d’art, plumbing supplies, and tourist knickknacks.

A part of the Portobello Market, which extends for many blocks along Portobello Road

I like the views out our windows. There is a green strip between the row of buildings on our street and the one behind us; it gives the ground-floor residents garden space, and us something to look at. I find myself hanging out the window in the evening, looking down and around at the plants and trees. It’s quiet and peaceful, yet there’s a lot going on energetically.

Pleasant view out our rear window

Our solitary front window looks down a short street, proud three-storey [sic] Victorians on either side. And in the distance, right in the middle, is a modern high-rise under construction with a huge green heart on it. Wandering the neighborhood near the base of this tower we found posters and hand-lettered signs indicating neighborhood solidarity and support, as well as outrage. Ah, something must have happened here! Once back at our flat, a quick Google check turned up information on the Grenfell fire: that building burned in a real towering inferno just a year ago. Seventy-two people died; 70 more were injured. Several hundred lost their homes. Residents blame the landlord, the city council, for not taking more care on the remodeling done a few years earlier.

Now, every time we look out the window and see the green heart on that building, we feel a sort of intimacy with the area; a knowledge of its history that is not obvious. It’s a tendril of a root; we’re not just passersby; we’re getting to know the neighborhood.

The front window, looking down McGregor Street towards the Grenfell building

A year after the fire the Grenfell building is still being repaired; caption next to the green heart reads: "Grenfell    Forever in our hearts"

One day we walked to the Kensington Gardens, a major park on the west side contiguous with Hyde Park. It was hot, the grass was sere and yellowing. I didn’t find it very pleasant. Since it was a Saturday, Londoners out to escape the heat were seeking shade under the trees. The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain was jammed with kids. The park is quite large, but eventually we made it out the south end, wandered around the Royal Albert Hall, and ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Oh my, what a find!

The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain on a very hot Saturday

The Albert Memorial -- he must have been quite a guy, to get a memorial like that!

            V and A Museum

Initially established in 1857 to promote applied art and science (as opposed to the “high art” of the National Gallery and the British Museum) to help boost productive industry, the Victoria and Albert Museum has a mind boggling array of manufactured items. We were particularly interested in clothing and housewares from the Tudor era (16^th Century, mostly). The museum seems to be endless, with every room opening up different objects from a different era. Like every museum we’ve been to here (six or eight, so far) it’s collections are totally mind boggling. I’m just gonna have to leave it there…

The Bed of Ware, a massive bed that drew tourists back in the 16th Century

Quirky standard bearers carved from wood, also from the 16th Century

             Battersea

On another walking day we headed south towards the river and stumbled upon the Battersea Power Station. This iconic, massive brick building, done in Art Deco style, really speaks to me for some reason. I’d only seen photos of it, and it seemed like science fiction out of the 1950s.  (It is visually remarkable enough, in fact, that it was used on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album Animals). This huge building seemed the very image of power and progress in that booming era between the wars (and that would be WWI & WWII). I had no idea where it actually was, and coming across it unexpectedly was a real blast. The plant hasn’t generated a kilowatt since 1983 and was falling apart. Fortunately, its status as an icon has some economic value, and it is now the center piece of a large residential-office-shopping complex (about all an outworn power plant can hope for these days, I suppose). It is, however, surrounded by high-rise glass buildings, which shifts the iconography a bit.

The album cover photo for Pink Floyd's Animals  (Wikipedia, from  http://www.pinkfloyd.com/)

Battersea Park today

             Abbey Road and Little Venice

Then, the other day, I was studying the map and noticed the Abbey Road Studios were a comfortable walk away. So, of course we went there! On our way we crossed a canal, complete with traditional narrow boats (the style of canal boat seen all over England). We followed it and came to Little Venice, a turning basin at the confluence of two canals. (Many canals were built through the UK – and Europe – during the 19^th Century for transportation; barges and boats carried enormous amounts of goods on these artificial waterways, which today are maintained for recreation. One of these canals continues into London past Paddington Station.)

Traditional English Narrowboats tied up along a canal in west London

It seems the British poet Robert Browning spent some years here and gave it the name Little Venice. It’s quite pleasant, with a small island supporting a fine willow tree.  And of course, a café or two for those who wish to linger. Plus canal boat tours, 45 minutes up the canal to Camden (wherever THAT is).

Little Venice, a turning basin at the confluence of two canals in London

We’ll be back, but this was not our final destination on this excursion. Continuing along, we found the Abbey Road Studios on a lovely tree-lined street in St. John’s Wood, built in the 1930’s and made famous by the Beatles (and the many other bands that recorded there, including Pink Floyd and The Hollies). I noticed the whitewashed walls around the building were covered with hand-written inscriptions; well-wishes from fans, no doubt! But the real focus of attention was the crosswalk just up the street, the one used for the iconic album cover for the Beatles' Abbey Road album.

Abbey Road Studios, inscribed walls, and onlookers

Another iconic album cover (Iain Macmillan via Wikipedia)

A great place to people watch! It’s remarkable that nearly 50 years later, this nondescript road crossing is still a tourist attraction. Photographers set up in the middle of the road while their friends walk the zebra stripes swinging their arms in an exaggerated fashion, as they imagine the Beatles must have done. Meanwhile, local drivers wait patiently until everyone clears out of their way. Weird…

Just another zebra crossing in suburban London...

...at the intersection of Abbey Road and Grove End Road.

             The British Museum

It’s really a bit too much, this compendium of curiosities from around the world. Egyptian statues (and bits of statues) 5,000 years old; Assyrian palace gates from 350 B.C.E.; a board game from the same era. Beaten copper artwork that lay buried for 3,000 years; tea cups, earrings, neck toques, coin hordes. Endless rooms of endless cases of endless artifacts, all surrounded by endless hordes of visitors. It’s pretty overwhelming!

             We started with a very nice lunch in the ups-scale café. The whole inner courtyard where the café is located is outside, but now covered by a transparent dome. Since it was raining today (a relief! I keep thinking about that sere grass in the parks), this was a fine arrangement. Lunch was pricey, but hey it’s my birthday! So we toasted with a mid-day carafe of wine. It was a moment…

             We may go back to the Museum to see some of what we missed (seeing all is hopeless); on the other hand, there are so many other places to go! The Natural History Museum covers a few square blocks, there’s the Houses of Parliament, and other historical buildings (where’s that palace that Henry VIII build for Anne Boleyn?) 

So we’ll see!