Dr Johnson said, "...when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life..." Having just returned from six days there I can't say that I agree with him. In fact my comment would be to use the words of Ewan MacColl's song about industrial Northern England, "Dirty Old Town". Although much is being done to spruce up the old place for the Olympics next year (building and road work everywhere) it is very dirty - not just the usual dirt and grime of the old buildings etc but there is rubbish everywhere - people seem to just dump their litter where ever they happen to be - at the railway stations, in the streets, on the trains and buses. Every day when we returned to our hotel we felt covered with the grime of the city (and had the dirty clothes to prove it). Don't get me wrong, London is still an amazing place but we are overjoyed to be back in Paris where the streets are swept every day and the garbages emptied twice a day; it is not as crowded and the people are polite. My grandfather may have been a Cockney but I am a Francophile at heart.
Our trip started with a 4.30 wake up and a walk to the RER station just opposite Notre Dame. Check in went smoothly and by 6.43 we were on our way on the Eurostar (only $100 return). At St Pancras station we picked up our Oyster cards for a week's unlimited travel in zones 1-2 and headed for our hotel in Chelsea (which turned out to be about two blocks from where Marcia had lived in the 60's). After settling in we headed into the city to visit the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy - a mixed bag but two rooms full of prints kept us occupied for some time and there was an amazing piece by Kiefer featuring a 15ft model of a submarine. - it was all a little overwhelming actually so we headed along Piccadilly to Green Park for a picnic lunch. Afterwards it was Regent Street and Hamley's before heading for Leicester Square to catch up on the last episode of Harry Potter (it was only showing in 3D and cost $25 each so we gave it a miss). However, while in the area we discovered that the spoof on the 39 Steps was showing in the Criterion theatre so, for an extra $10, booked tickets for that evening (we had previously missed it in New York and Melbourne in 2009 and 2010). It is a terribly English show so it was good to see it with British actors. Crashed into bed exhausted at 11pm.
I won't bore you with all the details of every day but here is a precis; Friday - Victoria and Albert Museum (couldn't get to the print room but saw a beautiful dress by Alexander McQueen made from digitally printed silk fabric), Royal Albert Hall (middle of the Proms season but no tickets for anything that interested us), Royal College of Music (beautiful old building but nothing on), Royal College of Art (taciturn porter who advised that all information was available online), then, to avoid the weekend rush, the London Eye (a giant ferris wheel) in the Southbank precinct. It was crowded but they kept everyone moving along fairly quickly and the wait wasn't too long - not sure if it was worth it but they did a good 3D video introduction and you do get great views over London which helps to orientate you to the layout of the place. Afterwards we stumbled across a Vintage festival in and around Festival hall which was celebrating it's 60th birthday. There was a 3 day program over six floors within the hall which included music, dance, make-up and dress (we had wondered why we had seen so many women dressed in 50's clothes wandering about). We didn't pay so we didn't get to see what it was all about. There was a small patch of sand along the broadwalk where children could play and all the usual seaside tat which Marcia referred to it as Blackpool by Thames.
In the adjacent building we stumbled across a band who were playing 60's style music so well that it was like a time warp (except for the incredible bass volume) - these guys not only looked the part but had all the moves - the drummer was brilliant and the lead singer/synth player was like Billy J Cramer on speed. A great end to a great day.
Saturday we met up with our friend Peter, a cockney who we had met on safari in Zimbabwe in the 80's. He had spent most of his early working life in and around the west end of the city so we spent the day wandering about his territory while he regaled us with tales of his London in the 60's - Law Courts, Covent Garden, Charing Cross road, Fleet street, the Old Bailey, the old meat markets, St Bartholomew's and Saint Pauls. What an amazing day, narrow lanes, hidden squares (including one with Dr Johnson's House and a statue of his cat) and very old pubs (one had the smallest bar that I have ever seen but then descended via steps and stairs over about six levels with a larger bar at the bottom - despite the signs I still managed to bang my head twice). Much of the 60's buildings that he remembers have now been replaced by modern concrete and glass towers and of course "Fleet street" has moved to the Docklands precinct. Although we stopped for coffee, lunch and afternoon tea we covered a lot of territory and were grateful to head back to our hotel at 6 and dinner at a local pub (perfect cottage pie with seasonal vegetables).
Sunday was Camden Lock Market (apart from all the tat a very interesting place because it is still an operational lock for the narrow boats that ply the canal and has a great history as a major interchange for goods between the South and the North of England - the old stables, warehouses and workshops have been converted into market stalls and there are bronzes of horses and workmen all over the place - a little too many perhaps). Then the Tate Modern - a converted 40's power station further down river from Southbank which houses a changing selection of the Tate's contemporary art followed by a bus trip down to and across Tower Bridge. This was the hottest day this summer so, once again, we returned home exhausted.
Finally, on Monday, we got to visit the archives at Kew gardens. A disappointing experience in some ways but it did show that the English were not interested in growing Australian flora. Amongst the few archives available there were only three references to Eucalypts and Acacias and one to a Grevillia (the French had dozens over an extended period of time). Anyway we did find a nice pub by the river overlooking the cricket fields where we had a leisurely late lunch before returning to dirty old London for our last night.
I had intended to get back to the V&A print room on Tuesday afternoon but after experiencing the heat and the crowds on the tube and buses we decided, after a picnic lunch in Hyde Park by the Serpentine and a little shopping in Oxford Street, to return to the hotel and head for St Pancras early for our return to Paris.
Dr Johnson said, "...when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life..." Having just returned from six days there I can't say that I agree with him. In fact my comment would be to use the words of Ewan MacColl's song about industrial Northern England, "Dirty Old Town". Although much is being done to spruce up the old place for the Olympics next year (building and road work everywhere) it is very dirty - not just the usual dirt and grime of the old buildings etc but there is rubbish everywhere - people seem to just dump their litter where ever they happen to be - at the railway stations, in the streets, on the trains and buses. Every day when we returned to our hotel we felt covered with the grime of the city (and had the dirty clothes to prove it). Don't get me wrong, London is still an amazing place but we are overjoyed to be back in Paris where the streets are swept every day and the garbages emptied twice a day; it is not as crowded and the people are polite. My grandfather may have been a Cockney but I am a Francophile at heart.
Our trip started with a 4.30 wake up and a walk to the RER station just opposite Notre Dame. Check in went smoothly and by 6.43 we were on our way on the Eurostar (only $100 return). At St Pancras station we picked up our Oyster cards for a week's unlimited travel in zones 1-2 and headed for our hotel in Chelsea (which turned out to be about two blocks from where Marcia had lived in the 60's). After settling in we headed into the city to visit the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy - a mixed bag but two rooms full of prints kept us occupied for some time and there was an amazing piece by Kiefer featuring a 15ft model of a submarine. - it was all a little overwhelming actually so we headed along Piccadilly to Green Park for a picnic lunch. Afterwards it was Regent Street and Hamley's before heading for Leicester Square to catch up on the last episode of Harry Potter (it was only showing in 3D and cost $25 each so we gave it a miss). However, while in the area we discovered that the spoof on the 39 Steps was showing in the Criterion theatre so, for an extra $10, booked tickets for that evening (we had previously missed it in New York and Melbourne in 2009 and 2010). It is a terribly English show so it was good to see it with British actors. Crashed into bed exhausted at 11pm.
In the adjacent building we stumbled across a band who were playing 60's style music so well that it was like a time warp (except for the incredible bass volume) - these guys not only looked the part but had all the moves - the drummer was brilliant and the lead singer/synth player was like Billy J Cramer on speed. A great end to a great day.
Saturday we met up with our friend Peter, a cockney who we had met on safari in Zimbabwe in the 80's. He had spent most of his early working life in and around the west end of the city so we spent the day wandering about his territory while he regaled us with tales of his London in the 60's - Law Courts, Covent Garden, Charing Cross road, Fleet street, the Old Bailey, the old meat markets, St Bartholomew's and Saint Pauls. What an amazing day, narrow lanes, hidden squares (including one with Dr Johnson's House and a statue of his cat) and very old pubs (one had the smallest bar that I have ever seen but then descended via steps and stairs over about six levels with a larger bar at the bottom - despite the signs I still managed to bang my head twice). Much of the 60's buildings that he remembers have now been replaced by modern concrete and glass towers and of course "Fleet street" has moved to the Docklands precinct. Although we stopped for coffee, lunch and afternoon tea we covered a lot of territory and were grateful to head back to our hotel at 6 and dinner at a local pub (perfect cottage pie with seasonal vegetables).
Sunday was Camden Lock Market (apart from all the tat a very interesting place because it is still an operational lock for the narrow boats that ply the canal and has a great history as a major interchange for goods between the South and the North of England - the old stables, warehouses and workshops have been converted into market stalls and there are bronzes of horses and workmen all over the place - a little too many perhaps). Then the Tate Modern - a converted 40's power station further down river from Southbank which houses a changing selection of the Tate's contemporary art followed by a bus trip down to and across Tower Bridge. This was the hottest day this summer so, once again, we returned home exhausted. 
Finally, on Monday, we got to visit the archives at Kew gardens. A disappointing experience in some ways but it did show that the English were not interested in growing Australian flora. Amongst the few archives available there were only three references to Eucalypts and Acacias and one to a Grevillia (the French had dozens over an extended period of time). Anyway we did find a nice pub by the river overlooking the cricket fields where we had a leisurely late lunch before returning to dirty old London for our last night.
I had intended to get back to the V&A print room on Tuesday afternoon but after experiencing the heat and the crowds on the tube and buses we decided, after a picnic lunch in Hyde Park by the Serpentine and a little shopping in Oxford Street, to return to the hotel and head for St Pancras early for our return to Paris.
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