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| Bar One near our hotel |
Our temporary London neighborhood, the Euston Road area, really did have everything a tourist could want: a tube station one block away, bus routes all around, quiet but central and only half a block from 'Speedy's Sandwich Shop' from the BBC Sherlock tv series.
I was reflecting on this, seated comfortably at my 'local' with my new favorite meal of bangers and mash, while listening to Jennifer describe, colorfully and with dramatic illustrative gestures, the recent score in the rugby game playing out on the television behind me. Mind you, despite her insightful analysis I still didn't really understand rugby. We didn't even attempt to understand cricket.
Having stayed out late the night before, it's impossible to go straight to bed after an exciting night out at the theatre, we got a late start on the day once again. According to the official schedule, this was the day we would delve into the mysteries and manuscripts of one of the world's great collections at the British Library. For Jenny especially, having just finished her Master's Degree in Library Science and nursing a not so secret passion for old maps (which I have admit I shared), this day was almost like a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage that would only require us to walk about four blocks.The British Library is an amazing place, one that would take several days to properly appreciate and explore. We were happy to discover that they had a special exhibit on the Magna Carta, and spent a good hour or more slowly winding our way through, happily studying 800 years of charters, maps and historical banners. The highlight was one of the four surviving copies, on sheepskin, of the Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by King John at Runnymeade. It kind of gives you chill bumps.
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| Note: these pictures are from the Internet. All others are mine, but unfortunately photos were not allowed in the exhibits. |
After the special exhibit, we went to the Treasures Room, and studied all manner of original books, maps, musical scores and all kinds of sacred books and scrolls. There was an original Guttenberg Bible, first run copies of Shakespeare's plays, hand written scores of Handel's Messiah, beautiful illuminated bibles painted in gold leaf and pigments by monks hundreds of years ago, and even the lyrics to Yesterday, written by the Beatles Paul McCartney on some scrap paper. Soooo fascinating.
Brains full of new experiences and feet throbbing from standing for hours, Jenny and I sat down for a coke, and an excited chat, in the small library cafe near the giant wall of books that dominates the center of the main building. Then we made some judicious purchases in the gift shop and headed back to our little apartment for a nap.Later that afternoon, while Jenny gave her poor knees a break and recovered from a tumble she had taken on the sidewalk, I shouldered my tripod and camera gear and headed out to the riverside walkways along the South bank of the Thames. This area is very popular on warm summer nights and it seemed everyone in London was out that night.
On the south side of the river are popular venues like the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and the giant observation wheel called the London Eye. Performance artists played music and street vendors did a lively business. Blue lights, strung up in the trees, began to twinkle as the light faded.
I set up my gear on a pier which stretched out into the river and spent a happy hour shooting panoramas of the skyline. It was very relaxing and I chatted with couples and families, helping them take photos against the beautiful sunset background. Unlike my last trip in 2010, I now had a working cell phone and called my father back in Virginia from the middle of the action.
As I made my way back through the crowds in the soft warmth of my London summer night, I snapped photos of all sorts, including trying my hand at some action shots at the South Bank Skate Park (another location they shot Sherlock in). Time flew by and suddenly I realized that Jenny had been texting me...'Where are you?' She was, once again, ready to go out!
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| South Bank of the Thames River |
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| Skate Park Action |
Soho was swinging! We hiked our way through the crowds and up to the fourth floor of a Chinese restaurant, settling in for a feast. This place specialized in roast duckling and it was DELICIOUS... As you can see, we did not hold back on the calories. Luckily, all that walking around London helped keep us in fighting trim.
Another night under our belt, we finally collapsed in our little bouncy beds. Our dreams were all of our upcoming trip to Greenwich we had planned for the next day.
Isn't travel wonderful? Especially when you're do it together!
5 comments:
You've done it again! Another great post that left me feeling just like I was there with ya'll. Looking forward to the next chapter.
My two cents: the beds were VERY bouncy (I had to turn over incredibly carefully so as to not fall out, and one night whacked my dear cousin in the head by accident, they were that close)! The British Library was the most disabled-friendly venue we visited; mad props to them. Unlike the Library of Congress, which I visited for the first time right before we flew to London, the British Library does *not* allow walk-in folk to browse their collections (and probably rightly, too). You must have a serious research project to go "behind the scenes" and handle actual books or maps.
They had a fascinating wall made up of pull-out boards full of stamps and postcards and other philatelia. Unfortunately, I was too worn out to care by the time we happened upon it; bravely, Leslie continued to stand and perused the unusual exhibit while I sat nearby.
And yes, the best part of the whole trip was getting to do it with my wonderful cousin, whom I talk to almost every day but had seen once before the trip in 17 years. Too long!
Oh yeah! I had almost forgotten about the stamp and postcard exhibit. That was neat!
Great photos and narrative. I think you should consider being a travel writer.
Thanks! I would love to make a living from travel.
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