It has been an intense two days. Leah and I have crawled all over the face of London. After a whirlwind of walking the first day, I made the trip to the Tower of London. I really can’t remember if I visited the Tower on my first trip to London when I was a teenager, but regardless, I can check it off the list now. Admission was steep, and it was packed. Leah and I waited in line for almost 40 minutes just to buy our tickets despite trying to get up early to avoid the crowds.
Speaking of weather, in general it has been fantastic. Rain was intermittent throughout the day, but the sun and blue skys kept up an assertive presence. The rest of the day was generally spent walking about and soaking up the myriad of white walled buildings and tiny side paths. After that ordeal, we both shied away from the huge lines leading up to the Crown Jewels (the cue looked like it was at least an hour long) and just walked the walls instead. After the Tower, I wanted very badly to see and take pictures of Blackfriars Bridge, so we walked along the Thames until we got there. Some of you may know that “Blackfriars” is the name of my mead label, and I’ve always been enamored with the remains of the bridge ever since I saw a picture of it. The old bridge is no longer there, but the pylons, huge monoliths painted bright red, still stand there in the Thames.
I had hoped to take a picture that I could use for my label, but unfortunately, there was construction on the rail bridge next to it, and the workers were using the old pylons as supports for scaffolding in order to access it for repairs. I was a bit disappointed, but the weather wasn’t very cooperative either, so the shots would not have been that stunning.
I also visited the place where time begins. Leah attends university in Greenwich, and we toured her campus, which is right next to the location that fixes Greenwich Mean Time.
There is a nice little university bar called Meantime there where we had a short rest before wrapping up the day and heading back to West Hampstead.That evening was spent in the colorful neighborhood of Camden people watching and enjoying curry. Note: no one does punk like the Brits.
For Day two, we walked to the Heath, a huge park that rivals Fairmont park for awesomeness. If I were living in London for the summer, I would run there every day. Then we headed off to the British Museum, a truly impressive collection of artifacts. Only Britain would have the audacity to take an entire wall from the Parthenon, break it in to 10 foot blocks of marble, and transport them to a museum in London. The size of the undertaking was staggering.
Life achievement accomplished, I actually saw the hoard of Sutton Hoo (the famous Anglo Saxon find with the iconic helmet that accompanies any discussion of Beowulf).
Then, we visited the British Library, Leah showing off where she does her research. I was quite jealous. The library has a copy of every book published and is absolutely massive. Also while there, I experienced the highlight of my entire trip thus far – viewing the the oldest manuscript of Canterbury Tales. It was haunting to actually see the pages. I read the first page aloud in Middle English, sharing for a moment what I imagined to be the experience of the first person to read the text, the scribe's ink having just dried 722 years ago. This is definitively the oldest document I have every actually read. So incredible! Unfortunately, the pages from the manuscript of Beowulf were temporarily not on display, but that just means I will need to come back. Evening included, Soho and a very beautiful three-story pub called the Porterhouse.
Three days is not enough to really appreciate any visit to a city, but particularly true of a city that has been so influential in the modern period. Scratching the surface, however superficially, was a pleasure. I will need to visit again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment