UK 2012 ISSUE 13

Poster in Russell Sq.

It is a new morning and we opt for something a little more leisurely, a trip on the River Thames to Greenwich, home of the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum.  We make our way once again to the Westminster tube station and thence to the wharf where the boat is docked. The first seats we took looked to be prime territory for sightseeing but it wasn't long before a curious or should I say lavatorial odour assailed our nostrils.  We were just aft of the stairs to the "facilities".  Needless to say, we moved. 

The ride was pleasant and the guide was full of the typical braggadocio of his genre, but he kept us amused.  We passed under  at least seven  bridges; Charing Cross, Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark, London, Millenium, and Tower each with their own distinct story.  The oldest, London Bridge, has had four incarnations, 50 AD, 1209, 1831 (this is the one that now resides in Arizona) and 1973.  I love the Wikipedia description of  a possible fifth London bridge or more accurately the names of those involved with London in that time period: "With the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Londinium was gradually abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. In the Saxon period, the river became a boundary between the emergent, mutually hostile kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. By the late 9th century, Danish invasions prompted at least a partial reoccupation of London by the Saxons; the bridge may have been rebuilt around 990 under the Saxon king Æthelred the Unready, to hasten Saxon troop movements against Sweyn Forkbeard, father of Cnut."  And you thought I was having a go with the name Bodaciea!

Inside the walkway Tower Bridge

It's a nice way to see London, you can pick out a lot of the monuments and noteworthy attractions as you cruise by.  Once past the Tower and under Tower Bridge you are in to dockland, with wharves, quays, piers, whatever it is you want to call them down to the waters' edge.  There is substantial urban renewal and refurbishment going on, while the whole Canary Wharf area is modern glass and steel highrises surrounded by intense residential development. 

 Arrival Greenwich and a quick look around the Maritime Museum, which warrants a return visit some time, and up the hill to the Royal Observatory.  Let it be known that the Olympics have made their presence known in Greenwich, the soon to be site of the Olympic equestrian events.  Instead of a lovely green leading to the top of the hill you have to dodge construction equipment, men in hard hats (some of them weren't too hard to look at) and massive bleachers under construction.   They were definitely headed for nosebleed territory, if not a heart attack just climbing them.  Am I beginning to sound a trifle bitter, perhaps. 

The above is a picture of Frank, Gayle and Carol at the Royal Observatory with feet firmly planted either side of the Prime Meridian, making us half in the Western Hemisphere and the other half in the Eastern Hemisphere.  Want to know more, read the book Longitude by David Sobel.  It discusses much of what took place on these premises and the how mariners were able to determine longitude when navigating. 

Cutty Sark Rigging

Can't really take you through all the places we explored in our week in London.  Obviously we had to do the Tower of London and I insisted we do the "Tower Bridge Experience" which allowed you on the walkways between the two towers of the bridge.  Lunch that day was at Kitchen, a cafe owned and operated by a gay man, who upon hearing us talking about Fortnum and Masons informed us "and She's not the only Queen who shops there!".  More than that he provided us with some pretty tasty Cornish Pasties and one of the most creative presentations of sausage and mash I have seen. 

Sausage & Mash

Mick and Carol scratched an itch, created by taking an art history class at OLLI, with trip to the National Gallery.  The Carravaggio collection was closed but Mick scored another Titian on loan from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersberg.  Best part, for me as they had NO photography,  was it was free and we escaped for Sunday lunch at a local pub, The Sherlock Holmes.  What precisely Sherlock Holmes or Conan Doyle may have had to do with part of London is unclear, but if it weren't for "poetic license" and flights of fancy life would surely be dull. 

Tower Bridge & Walkway

As much as I love London, sometimes you just need to take some time out from the highlights and take a look at much more mundane things.  Chalk Farm and Camden Town were old haunts of mine when I stayed in London while Mick finished his Masters dissertation.  Although I would have like to take in a play or something at the Roundhouse (a round building that was once a train turnaround) that wasn't in the cards.  Instead it was a ride in a canal boat from Little Venice to Camden Lock.  Nothing to write home about but pleasant enough.  Went past a number of quays where live in house boats were moored, and Regents Park Zoo where the only thing you get a glimpse of is an Aviary designed by Anthony Armstrong Jones, ex brother-in-law to the Queen.  The big surprise was Camden Town.  In my mind it was just another dowdy middle class shopping district . . . not any longer.  We were by far the youngest people on the street and our clothing was pretty much antiquarian!!

The street market was full of vendors selling every sort of food imaginable, Ethiopian vegetable stew, Polish sausage and potatoes, Indian curries, Caribbean jerked chicken and fruit and vegetable smoothies.  I think this gentleman was offering lamb.

After a sampling of cuisine from a couple of stalls  we made our escape meaning to get the tube up the hill to Highgate and the cemetery where Karl Marx is buried.

Camden High Street

 

 This permanent Public Market,  has some inside buildings but most of it out in the open.  A large portion of the market is located in the former  stables and horse hospital which served the horses pulling   vans and barges which once plied their trade along the canal. Many of the stalls and shops are set in large arches in the railway viaducts.

 Check out the "tights" in this shop.  Tights here generally refer to pantie hose but in this case it extends to leggings as well as other forms of foot and legware.  Like the legs sticking out of the wall and definitely want a pair of those strippy hose.  Only problem, one size fits all and that size is  not my size. 

 Really got off on these store fronts.  Hate to think how much money was spent on their "signage", but it kept me entertained.  Obviously directed at a younger crowd, should you want shoes or a tattoo you are in the right place. 

The streetscape was so changed I was unsure of which way to go so as any good tourist might do, we followed the signs.  Woe betide the juvenile delinquent who played mess around with the directional signs, took me the better part of  half mile to decide we really were going the wrong way. 

 Did finally find our way to the underground and the Highgate station only to realise on exiting that it was another half mile up a very steep hill to get to the park that we needed to cross to get to the cemetery.  Spent some time exploring . . . it is a very beautiful and entirely overgrown space but it feels entirely natural and cared for in a way only the English can accomplish when it comes to growing things.  Beware, you may get a blog devoted entirely to the English love of gardening and the super abundance of plant life to be found here. 

 Found Karl Marx grave as well as several other English notables but my personal favourite belongs to Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  If you haven't read it give it a go.  There are several books and which is which and what order they should be read I could not longer say, but they are delightfully silly, I mean, who could come up with a character named Slartibartfast. 

Enough with dead people and perhaps enough with this blog. 

 Things I have learned

1. Was told that Wharf  was an acronym Ware House At River Front but subsequently learned it is was is a termed a backronym invented by Thames river boat guides.  
2. A memorial dedicated to the people of Malta and their importance to WWII was an eye opener.  Just look at how strategically placed it is and you begin to understand.  
3. Where there is a will, there is a way.  Despite having no garage in which to store or charge an electric vehicle this owner draped an 

extension cord out a first floor (US second) down a light standard and manged to plug in his vehicle. 

4.  Trip Advisor complaint about a B&B . . . The tea service in the room did not have any biscuits (cookies) to go with the tea, coffee and hot cocoa.

View from Tower Bridge Walkway