London, Part 3 (And Last!)

             Little Venice, Again

We were charmed by this area the first time we found it, and vowed to come back. We did, to take the canal boat trip to Camden Locks, a few miles up the canal. Our ride was narrated by a woman who clearly had a great love of the canals and the life that they enabled. We learned that the canals were built in the early 19^th century (and some earlier!) to provide transportation for goods, and the boats – like the one we were riding in, some 76 feet long – were towed by horses. One horse, anyway (one horsepower!), that followed a tow path along one side of the canal. At bridges and tunnels we were shown grooves worn in stone and iron from the tow ropes.

Groves in this cast iron bridge support are from years of tow ropes

             The canals were slowly replaced by railroads, and by trucks and roads. Many were filled in; now there is a serious effort to renovate and rebuild the canals for recreational use. As we drifted slowly along (we traveled the 2.3 miles in 45 minutes) our guide pointed out that we were in full nature, with trees and plants, birds and wildlife, in the heart of London! Our route took us past the gardens of some very exclusive houses in St. John’s Wood and past the edge of Regent’s Park and the London Zoo.

Pricy homes along the canal (as in tens of millions...)

There are many ways to enjoy the canals!

             We eventually arrived at Camden Locks in Camden Town, a rare dual lock. (Locks are necessary because the route of the canal changes elevation on its way to the Thames.) The double locks attest to the high traffic in this area, back in the day. And, back in the day, Camden Town was a major transshipment point, where goods were moved from boat (never call them barges!!) to road and rail, with horses playing a major role (if hauling heavy wagons can be considered play!).

A boat being locked down (lowered through the locks)

             Horses were so important that stables were built, eventually housing over 200 animals, and a horse hospital. Today they are all gone, of course, and the brick buildings have been repurposed as… wait for it… a shopping center! Well, a market, quite famous today, with many individual stalls selling all manner of artistic and, occasionally, useful items. (Paula bought a hat!)

Former stables and horse hospital -- note the ramp to the upper level

"Steam punk" theme inside one of the market buildings (impressive, what the Victorians did with cast iron!)

Horse stables re-purposed as all-weather market stalls

             We headed a block or so into town and had a fine lunch at the Elephant Head, a traditional English pub. While these places may seem to be a bit of a cliché – or a holdover – to modern Brits, we like them, and seek them out for a nice meal or a refreshing pint.

The Elephant Head in Camden Town

Amy Winehouse, Camden native, gets her own statue at the market

The dual locks at Camden. Green stuff on the water is duck weed, an invasive plant encouraged by the hot summer.

             Done with the market and lunch, we walked towards home, climbing Primrose Hill. We admired the view of the city skyline, constantly changing with new and continually more extraordinary buildings, and punctuated by countless construction cranes. Then we found a quiet spot on the grass and admired the clouds passing. Eventually, we walked down the hill and caught a bus for home.

The skyline of London from Primrose Hill

To see more of our canal trip, click here to see the video.

Video: A Canal Ride Through London

                           

             Return to Battersea

In a previous blog I talked of our “discovery” of the Battersea Power Plant. We wanted to go back and visit this park on the far side of the river, initially opened in 1858 (since the power station was built in the 1930s we can establish that the power station took its name from the park…). We rode the bus, getting off at the south end of the bridge, and walked through the new residential / commercial development that takes its name from the massive brick power station. It’s quite an impressive development! High-end apartments with fantastic views, private gym and restaurants, public markets and stores, gathering and performance spaces, and interesting art intended to engage the public with the project.

A mini-cafe at the project fence.

Kinda trippy art decorates the construction fence

Me, ready to beam up.

             We followed the road around the power plant, hoping to pass back in front of it along the river to get to the park. Ah, but the river walk is closed until construction is complete (there will ultimately be a park between the river and the re-built plant), and we didn’t want to retrace our steps to get to Battersea Park (the 1858 one). Instead, we followed the river downstream to the Vauxhall Bridge and crossed over, heading up towards Westminster.

The Vauxhall Bridge, looking downstream. Is that rain??

An interesting apartment complex on the South Bank.

Detail of Vauxhall Bridge. St. George, I think that is.

             We had no clear plan, but we’ve learned that it’s necessary to walk only a short ways in London to discover something interesting. Before long we came upon the White Swan, a pub we’d seen from the bus a time or two, and went in to see what it was like. We were met by a friendly young bartender who immediately began describing the refurbishment the bar had just undergone. Two hundred sixty years old, the place was, and dark and dingy. They’d raised the ceiling, uncovering massive beams, and scraped off the thick sticky black paint from the outside, revealing an impressive marble doorway.

The White Swan Public House, Vauxhall Bridge Road

             After this enthusiastic conversation we ordered a couple of pints and settled in for a while, and soon met a couple of locals. Of course, some like the new look of the pub, and some feel it’s been ruined. But the conversations were engaging. (One thing about being from California: it gives people the impression we’re interesting – everybody wants to hear about it!) And before we left, we found the rain squall that had been forming, and worried us as we crossed the bridge earlier, had passed through, and we had dry weather all the way home.

UP NEXT:
By the time you read this we will have left the UK, on our way to Prague, Vienna, and Turkey. We are already nostalgic for our garret flat in Notting Hill; for our adopted neighborhood; and for all the possibilities of London!

London, Part 2 (Our Last Week!)

 Ah, the time has gone by, as it always does, and now our lengthy month in London is coming to a close. One thing we’re really pleased with is our understanding of the area, and how the different neighborhoods are connected… and how to use the bus system to get from one to another. Very satisfying!

Let’s see what we’ve been up to…

Notting Hill Carnival

OK, so we haven’t really been “up to” the carnival, since it’s happening right now, as I type this. We’ve been warned: it is a massive carnival, the largest in Europe (second worldwide only to the one in Rio de Janeiro), attracting upwards of a million participants, happening every year at the end of August. The building where we are staying is in the ½ square mile of the carnival area, and for days we’ve been watching buildings, residences and businesses, fenced and even boarded up. Should be quite a thing! It is, however, raining today. Might keep participation low today, the family day. Tomorrow (Monday) is adults’ day. That could get wild…  (We'll get some photos later.)

             Greenwich

Noted for the Naval Museum and Observatory – and the Prime meridian – Greenwich is a few miles down the Thames from downtown London. We wanted to get out on the water, so we took the London river boat, part of the public transport system.

Tower Bridge, seen from the boat

             It was a good day out. We went to the Navel Museum, saw Admiral Nelson’s coat with the fatal hole in the left shoulder (he was a small guy, nowhere near as tall as that column in Trafalgar Square makes him out to be). I was more interested in the Royal Observatory, first established in 1675 and home to the Prime Meridian, the line of zero longitude which is the basis for our entire system of geographical coordinates (think: GPS). I also wanted to see the collection of watches from John Harrison, who was the first to develop, around 1730, a timepiece accurate enough to be used for navigation aboard ships (very, very important to the British Navy!).

A little (tongue in cheek?) art at the Naval Museum

The amazing Royal Observatory Greenwich

             Entry to the observatory museum cost £15 each even with the old-folks discount, which dampened our enthusiasm. The main attraction of the observatory is the Prime Meridian. Peering through the fence we saw people lining up to have their photo taken straddling the line, one foot in each hemisphere. But I’d done some research and found that the Prime Meridian has been moved: satellites refined the shape of the earth, and to keep things accurate the Meridian is now 100 meters away. Hah! Silly tourists…

Right foot in the west, left in the east. No, wait...

And these kids used their smart phone to find their own Prime Meridian (it's actually showing 0 degrees heading, True North, rather than 0 degrees longitude. We strongly supported their heresy anyway.)

             Using the GPS receiver on my smartphone (hardly a precision instrument, but close enough) Paula and I set our own Prime Meridian in the nearby park. Sorted! (as they say here). Still kinda wish I’d seen those watches, though.

My own personal Prime Meridian (close to the Real One)

             We ended the day with happy hour at the Greenwich Tavern, another one of those traditional pubs we like so much. Then, the long bus ride home…

 

Another of those fine, traditional pubs we like so much!

        

                              Speakers’ Corner and Movie Making

Last Sunday (a week ago!) we went to Speaker’s Corner, a spot in Hyde Park designated in 1872 as a place where citizens are allowed to speak on whatever they wish. I’d heard about it when I was a kid, and always wanted to see it, so that was the start of our perambulations on this day. The concept of Speakers’ Corner turns out to be far more interesting than the reality (as is true of many places). There were a few distinct small groups, none of which seemed particularly interesting. The largest group surrounded a fellow who had a well-developed haranguing voice; this was not his first time before a crowd. He was holding a bible and saying something about science. We moved on.

A good -- well, loud -- speaker at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park

             Down in the south corner of the park, near Buckingham Palace, we watched a movie being made: a classic black Jaguar was being closely followed by a car with a professional-looking camera on a boom, giving a tire’s-eye view. Parked nearby an identical Jaguar was outfitted with a camera to catch the driver’s face. Bystanders told us it was for the new Men in Black movie (“with Liam Neeson! I guess Will Smith was too expensive…”).

Watch for this car in the upcoming "Men in Black"

One of a number of war memorials we passed. THis one honors Australians who fought and gave their lives for the Commonwealth. (Strongly reminiscent of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.)

Names of the battles are formed by bold facing selected letters in the names of the fallen. A nice "optical" feature.

             Amused, we walked on, away from Wellington Arch to Buckingham Palace. We saw the traditional guards in their red uniforms and tall black fur hats, and the effective guards with automatic weapons and bullet-proof vests. Then around the Victoria Memorial and through St. James’s Park. What a fine place that is! Grass, trees, a waterway with numerous species of ducks and geese. I’m impressed by the many fine parks in London! In spite of the big-city energy it’s not difficult to get lost in greenery. We sat on the grass for a while to watch an amateur orchestra set up and play. After a bit they invited members of the audience to come up and conduct. It was a pleasant interlude, but the shade was shifting and the sun was hot, so we moved on.

Amature performance in St. James's Park

There's some beautiful vistas in St. James's Park, such as this looking towards The Household Cavalry Museum and the Horse Guards Parade (and maybe Downing Street is in there, too)

             We crossed the major thoroughfare known as The Mall at the top right (NE) corner of the park and came up to the Duke of York Column, where we found a couple of well-dressed men – well  dressed for the 1960s – standing around, clearly waiting for something. “We’re extras for The Crown. They’re shooting season 3; episode 1, I think.” Well, that’s special! We chatted for a bit, then crew members started moving bystanders (us, in other words) away. We waited behind the barriers at the far end of the plaza, and I realized that however exciting being in a movie might be, it’s mostly waiting around all day to walk across the street, perhaps several times. We eventually moved on, down Whitehall Street.

The gentlemen we spoke with about the scene from The Crown

More extras waiting around for their scene to come up

             Number 10 Downing Street! We peered past the barricades and the armed guards to a series of identical building fronts. No. 10 was down there somewhere, home of the Prime Minister, equivalent to the American presidency (and nothing to do with the Prime Meridian).

Downing Street. No. 10 is down there somewhere

             We came to Westminster Bridge, and huge crowds. We walked halfway across to get a good view of Big Ben, all wrapped up (and no place to go!) for the next few years, undergoing what must be some very deferred maintenance. Then it was past Westminster Abbey (ironically, closed today, Sunday) and a long, long walk home!

Big Ben, tightly constrained but putting on a good face (ha)

Westminster Abbey. No, we never went inside.

Up Next:

     We've had a few more adventures worth talking about. Oh, plus the Carnival! We're hoping for some good costumes tomorrow.

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!