London Memories: Not Chronological.

Courtesy of what I assume was diminishing bandwidth as the week extended into more guests at our hotel, this will be a mash up of memories and adventures.

CULTURAL EXPERIENCES

I’ve already shown you some of the iconic highlights and architectural sights in Central London we quickly amassed upon arrival. Couldn’t see them all even in the six days we were in London, but enough to satisfy Mary and I. You just have to plan to come back if you miss something important to you. This is my fourth visit to London and there are still places and experiences I wish to have one day.

The best of our entertainment choices was the West End production of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace. The glamour of the old gilded theatres can’t be denied! Mary loved the play – inspirational dancing, educational and creative are ways she described it! A redux for me, I am struck again with the strength of the lyrics against the various musical genres, the beauty of some of the music (Unimaginable) and the energy of it as a whole.

To that we added a play we picked up at TKTS called Eureka Day at the Old Vic, a work that used a mumps outbreak in a private school as a proxy for the current Covid vaccine cultural wars. Helen Hunt was the lead. The production used display of texting conversations on the background set during a Zoom meeting to great effect ala Dear Evan Hansen style (hilarious, but conveyed opinions, misinformation and science bias very deftly). The Old Vic, a traditional cultural icon, is near The Vaults I’d visited with Brian and Scott last time around – an alternative artistic space (think Banksy style graffiti artists with social justice and charitable endeavor overtones, a creative space, bars etc under Waterloo Station). We had a nice small plates tapa and wine experience in the neighborhood at a spot called Unwind.

We appreciated the National Gallery – despite the fact that we initially chose it just to get out of the rain one day. And Westminster Abbey always fascinates me. It’s the biggest cathedral we’ll see this trip as Notre Dame is still deep into restoration because of the fire some years ago. This church mingles the spiritual heart of a faith with secular heroes and martyrs. And is full of history! I appreciate the Poets Corner greatly in that vein. Because the Abbey is the setting for Royal weddings, coronations and burials it felt particularly relevant since Queen Elizabeth’s death just weeks ago. Even so, the concept of monarchy is a bit difficult for me. We enjoyed the Queens Diamond Jubilee Gallery, especially the overhead view of the Nave, despite the circular stairway climb (we took the elevator back down – ha!). It was a worthwhile extra there.

Though the walk from St Paul’s to the Tate Modern over the Millennial Bridge is great with views to Tower Bridge and into the Southwark area, the Tate I’ve been so enamored of escaped us this trip. With rain, renovations that currently close the 10th floor cafe view and one thwarted attempt to gain an evening entry – it was discouraging. And when finally there, the current exhibitions were dark and very challenging in tone. The artist exhibitions were deep into social justice commentary. Cezanne opened after our departure.

We tried to see the Tate one evening (guide books and at least one web site said we could) and ended up in a rainy walking tour of the area before we gave up. It was rainy enough it broke Mary’s 6 pound (as in currently) umbrella. What we’d hoped to see included a Cartier designed choral stage for community choirs (below). We’ve no idea if they performed or not!

NEIGHBORHOODS AND MARKETS

Our first exploration was to the West End beginning with Covent Garden. But we got off the Tube to quite a bit of rain! Had to wait it out with lunch, which wasn’t too bad.

Buskers like those above actually audition for their license to perform in London – even for the Tube. Additionally, I noted they accept contactless credit card tips for their performance.

Mary got us to the the Docklands and Greenwich Market – both so different from where we were staying. And you can see that though we expected an entirely rainy week we got lots of sunny, dry days!! High end modern apartments, financial district and a lovely little park all settled on the recovered docks from the old harbor and warehouse district. We even figured out the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) to get there!!

Barbican – An area I’m not sure I’d even heard of before! And it held some mysteries we didn’t explore, but we were invited there to have lunch with my friend Kaly Soto. Briefly saw her third floor flat and had lunch nearby before that rain that caught us on the way to the Tate set in. She has a lovely little Italian place in her immediate neighborhood (Vecchio Parioli) that provided a chance to chat and catch up with her (she now edits the NYT foreign desk since her arrival from NY just before the world hit Covid shutdown and with prescient aplomb suggested the new PM/Liz Truss would be “run out of town on a rail”). She seems every bit herself still. I enjoyed seeing her. Kaly has always been generous to me since I met her through Vicki.

Kaly encouraged us to walk into the Barbican and we briefly took a peek until the weather was asserting itself. We’d never have guessed there was luxury apartments, shops and galleries inside a nondescript concrete exterior. There was also the Museum of London there, all built on the site of Londonium (also known as Roman London it was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule AD 47–50). Another spot to think about for future. But the best part of this day was the warm hug from Kaly!!

Portobello Market – The venerable, sprawling street market within a mile of our hotel was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. It’s a wildly varying bunch of stalls and shops that provide everything from veg stand to chip cart, antique (?) silver to vintage posters to simple souvenirs. A little wild, but a nice walk after a lovely local breakfast!! Again we walked away without a purchase – guess the “experiences over things” preference is real.

I spent most afternoons walking one way or another and often in our nearby parks – Kensington and Hyde. Here are photos over days – I loved this part of my stay in London!!!!

Turn Left– My first neighborhood walk deeper into our Bayswater surrounds left me feeling the neighborhood had somehow changed since my last visit. It felt familiar, but different – not very welcoming. Some construction and a little less comfortable in spots. Maybe just struggling like all cities in the “since Covid” times. But one evening we “turned left” and found the wonderful part of Bayswater that turns eventually into Notting Hill. One of our best meals at Grainger and Company seated next to a fun couple! There were lovely shops and restaurants within blocks of our place!!! Since then we find turning left pays off.