How was London?
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006Short answer: Great!
Long answer… part I
Despite the terrorist threats, we made it to London on Tuesday without delay. Additional security meant individual searching after security and before getting on the actual plane - imagine a dozen security officers lining up in front of half a dozen tables, searching every handbag, backpack and briefcase in front of the gate.
And we made it back alright as well, though security was tighter. This time we could only bring one carryon (includes purses etc) and it had to fit in some contraption, which they check. Then, they would throw out anything liquid, gel like etc. It was amazing how many people didn’t understand that liquids included water. Perfume and alcohol sales at the airport in heathrow did not do well.
But outside of that, things were great.
We arrived in Heathrow at about 6am and took the express train to Paddington Station. Took the underground to Victoria and then walked to the little hotel we were booked at, the Luna and Simone hotel (btw, very nice service, and economical!) The metro cards there are called “Oyster Cards,” why that is we never figured out. (It wasn’t round and it didn’t give us free oysters etc.)
Our little neighborhood (Pimlico/Victoria region of Westminster) was very cute, and quiet. The buildings had this beautiful white/beige color to them and there were baskets of blooming flowers along every street. And the streets were so CLEAN!
Some other notes - people seemed to be better dressed. In particular, lots of men liked to wear pink and purple. Maybe I haven’t been out in long time but I felt that there was a difference in how people dressed. People were also very helpful. I guess it was obvious when two bedraggled, suitcase dragging people are looking around a bit bewildered, that they are probably lost tourists. On several occasions, random strangers would walk up and offer to explain something to us - like how do you know which train is in front of you - the name is not on the actual train itself!
Most of the first day was spent getting to know our local stores, getting over jetlag and finding the Thames. We’ll put up some pics of that soon. Near our hotel, we found a Vietnamese restuarant - Mekong. It had an elaborate selection of courses including a variation on peking duck. As semi-food-snobs, we were a bit anxious about what English restaurant food would be like. On the whole, I think the fears were uncalled for.
The next day we visited Westminister Abbey - the famous burial/coronation church for all the kings and queens of England, and then a few other important people like Isaac Newton. It was quite amazing. I can’t describe the feeling of walking in, and looking up. It made your jaw drop to see it. Walking around the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary of Scots etc, was a bit creepy. Having been fortified by A History of Great Britain I recognized and appreciated at least half of the tombs there. We didn’t get past the third disk in that series, so I didn’t know any history past 1500. 
In the afternoon, we hightailed over the Thames to find Shakespeare. Somehow we found ourselves in a cute little open-air market place, which apparently has a name; Borough market. While wandering around there, we found a cheese shop “Neal’s Yard Dairy” that was basically a refrigerated store. I’ve never seen so many wheels of cheese. We tried a few and settled on some soft goat cheese for lunch. Decided to come back for the Berkswell cheese another time, so we could bring some back to the States.
Saw the plaque the denotes the original site of the Globe Theater, and then found the New Globe Theater, which is a reconstruction (using the same techniques and types of materials of the time) of the original theater. It was the result of a 10 year mad obsession of some American, who felt that a puny plaque (described above) was not sufficient to honor the great Bard.
This new theater was right on the banks of the Thames, and near the new Millenium Footbridge, which if you cross it (and it sort of shakes a bit when there are lots of people on it), brings you to St Paul’s Cathedral. Which we walked across, took some photos, and tried to walk towards the cathedral. When we got closer, you could see that the catherdal was under renovation - but they covered it up with a big canvass with a picture of the cathedral. So from far away, you couldn’t even tell.
Anyways, back to Shakespeare. There was a nifty exhibit and a tour of the theater itself. We decided to splurge and get seated seats (versus the groundling standing seats) to see Antony and Cleopatra at the evening show. In the meantime, discovered the English equivalent to KFC, which was Nando’s. Basically it’s a lot of whole roasted chicken, with, hot, hotter and very hot sauce.
I had seen a production of A & C in college before, but this show at the Globe had a totally different feeling to it. Here, it was clear that the play ought to have been called Anthony, Cleopatra and Ceasar. In any case, it was pretty fantastic. Poor Chris, he had not read the play before and I was worried he would not get any of it. In fact, during intermission he tried to go buy a copy of the play.