Back to the grind...

Well... it seems my tourist days are over for the time being.
Today I returned to work.
When it isn't raining and windy the walk to work is rather pleasant... across Waterloo Bridge with its great views up river to the Houses pf Parliament and down toward the City. Plus you get to see the people gawping from the London Eye... there's something I haven't done yet!

Wall-to-wall marble and stone

While the sun shone and the new job was still a few days away, I thought it best to continue being tourist and walked to Westminster to tour the Abbey.

If St Paul's is to be admired for its relative unadorned simplicity the first thing that hits you upon entering Westminster Abbey is the shear number of memorials and tombs that line its walls, columns and floors. There does not appear to be spare space for anything... and if the number of new interments (and only if you are cremated) and memorials have slowed to a mere trickle in recent years it is understandable ...the place is full! Even the Kings and Queens of England are now buried at Windsor as there is no more room for them at the Abbey.


I decided that the guided tour was the best option here... there is just too much to do on your own... but at 5GBP (on top of the 10GBP entry!) it is no bargain! But, it does go for 1.5 hours (actually almost 2 hours as our guide was very thorough) and it does take you into the Quire, the Screen and St Edward's Shrine which you can't do unless you do the tour ...andwho wants to miss out on being able to touch the tomb of a Saint! Apparently the only one still in one piece in Europe (the Saint that is...)


St Paul's has some rather special people in its Crypt... but Westminster Abbey can top it...


At the top of the hierarchy are the Royal burial. Besides St Edward the Confessor, there is Edward I (a different Edward) Henry III, Edward III, Richard II, Elizabeth I, her half-sister Mary I and basically all English Kings and Queens up to the end of the 18th century and strangely, buried in amongst them all, is Oliver Cromwell...


Those not quite so royal, but just as interesting, include Charles Darwin (Origin of the Species and place in Westminster Abbey, quite the double act! - but he only got into the Abbey at the insistence of Queen Victoria!), Isaac Newton, Dr Livingston I presume?; all in the Science Corner. Nearby in Poet's Corner is Chaucer, Dryden, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling, and these are just some of the burials... the memorials cover just about everyone who is anyone and cover the walls. There is also an area dedicated to musicians and composers and several Prime Ministers including a large round plaque on the floor near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, stating "Remember Winston Churchill". It was installed by the current Queen and is the last thing you read before you leave the through the Great West Doors.


When you get a moment to look beyond the statues, shields, monuments and carvings, there is quite a remarkable building. The church has been in place a lot longer than St Paul's. It was begun in the 13th century and 700 years has left its mark on the stone. In places it is chipped, broken, scared and worn smooth by continual use over those years. It is stained dark from hands and feet.

The Abbey lacks the shear awe inspiring space of St Paul's, but the Nave ceiling is higher and the pointed Gothic architecture gives the illusion of even more height... the sun pouring in through the clear glass windows (the original stained glass was mostly destroyed by bombing in WWII) casts dramatic light and shadow on the fluted columns and ornate stonework. Down the centre of the Nave hangs a double row of modern chandeliers (a gift, in 1965, from the Guinness company!) they are made of Waterford Crystal and are 10 feet tall but are dwarfed by the height of the Nave.


But! Westminster Abbey does not have a cafeteria! I was somewhat disappointed by that...

530 steps...

They twist up narrow towers and between walls, worn and smooth from centuries of footsteps, lined with stone walls carved with graffiti from the ages...but, the view at the top is worth the effort... It is probably the best view in London. The 360 degree panorama from the Golden Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral is spectacular. From it, you have vistas down the twisting canyon of Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street and the Strand to the West End (pictured), across Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Art Gallery south, over the jumble of streets to the brutal towers of the Barbican Centre to the north and to the east the view is down the block between Cannon Street and Cheapside toward the Financial District somewhat dominated by Architect, Norman Foster's, Swiss Re Tower better known as "The Gherkin".

But I have started at the top... I should return to the Cathedral floor...

St Paul's is one of the great buildings of the world (according to the recorded tour I hired anyway). Designed by Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London in 1666 which destroyed its predecessor, the current building is the latest in a series of Cathedrals on this site dating from the at least the early 7th century.

The building is a masterful manipulation of space. The stonework towers over you as you approach the grand west doors, but once inside the space is bigger than you could have imagined (a 17th century tardis top use a Dr Who analogy). The vaulted arched ceiling seems impossibly high and the Nave disappears into the distance ahead of you, and on the day I was there, the sunshine streamed in through the huge clear glass windows highlighting the interior with dazzling shafts of light across the Nave. The interior is surprisingly simple. Most of the walls and ceiling are unadorned which highlights the monochrome, early 18th century paintings on the underside of the dome and the glittering 19th century mosaic ceilings of the Quire and Apse. One monument dominates the Nave. Wellington's Monument is immense and quite difficult to appreciate at the close quarters from which you see it. At 8 or 10 metres tall, it is layers of marble arches and columns topped with a bronze figure of Wellington on his horse Copenhagen, and this is just his Monument. Wellington's body lies below in the Crypt in his equally impressive tomb...

I always expected a crypt to be a creepy place, but not at St Paul's. It is brightly lit and adorned sculpture and plaques identifying the tombs and memorials of some remarkable people; Nelson is there, as is Wellington, the Architect Christopher Wren is also there, and there are memorials to Florence Nightingale and Churchill to mention.

The Crypt also had a very nice refectory which served a delightful baked ham roll with gravy and salad (hmmm, food at tourist attractions is becoming a theme...)

10 Minutes at Australia House

This week included voting day for me, as the Federal Election loomed Saturday...

I was quite looking forward to voting in the UK... I had heard that is was quite fun ...a line of Aussies around the block outside Australia House (conveniently and prominently located at the City end of the Strand) a good bit of chat, political leg pulling etc...

It seems the time I chose to arrive was not exactly peak. I did not have to queue, I spent 25 seconds in the security check while a metal detector was waved over me... I wrote out my absentee paperwork, voted and was gone... I barely had time to admire the grand interior of the Australian High Commission. It was all over in 10 minutes. Clearly 11am on a Wednesday was not the time for witty pavement conversation while waiting to vote... next time, after work!

The polling place was the main hall of Australia House. Surrounded by marble columns and floors, gilt light fittings, ornamentation and statuary, the cardboard voting booths, fold out table and election paperwork looked shabby and, thankfully, temporary... still, it was better than Manly West State Pre-school! ...now all I have to do it swing an invitation to the High Commission Ball, which I am sure makes much better use of the room!

Anything for a decent flat white...

Coffee in London is a strange thing... the locals think it to be wonderful... they spend hours sitting in coffee shops reading, writing, chatting and drinking soup-bowl-like cupfuls of warmish milk with a slight flavour of coffee, topped with anaemic foam. I guess you can fool all the people all the time!
The city is dominated by chain coffee houses... Starbucks, Costa and Nero. The average fair they serve is so cheap that no-one else can compete... the independent coffee house is a rarity!
But... they do exist, and to seek them out is to find a better standard (slightly)!
The flat white is also a rarity. As far as I know only 3 establishments in the entire Greater London area serve a flat white... thankfully one is a 10 minute walk from my flat and the other 2 are 5 minutes from my office!
Those of you in Australia reading this... have a decent coffee somewhere for me!

The Tower

A bit of catch up here...

Last week I visited London's busiest tourist attraction... The Tower of London.

Thankfully it is off-season and it was a tad overcast and drizzly... so the place was relatively quiet. The crowds must be murder in summer! (pun intended)

In hindsight, a place of such misery and horror is perhaps best viewed when the weather is grey and cold. To visit when it is sunny and warm I think would feel a bit disrespectful.

My feet were cold and damp all day, and the breeze and rain got under the collar of my coat. All in all prefect weather.

The day started with a tour by the Yeomen Warders of Her Majesties Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London - better know as Beefeaters. The tour is 30 minutes of great information, anecdotes and stories about the Tower, its history and its residents. For the record... the Beefeaters remain residents of the Tower and have their homes (with their families) and a pub within its walls.

I did the standard tourist things and viewed the Crown Jewels - from an airport style moving walkway, which is all a bit "American", but I guess it helps move the summer crowds through the exhibit. They are all very shiny and glittery, but the real interest for me was less well polished. The entire place is quite amazing and took me 4 hours to walk around, but 2 places captured my attention.

The first can only be visited on the tour with the Yeomen Warder. The Chapel Royal is a small stone church tucked away in the corner of the Tower complex. Beneath the floor and in the walls of this church are most of the people who died at the Tower. Tower records showed that little more than 300 people had been buried in the chapel after execution or death by other means. Excavations in the 19th century found well over 1000 bodies... considering the size of the chapel getting this number of people under the floor is extraordinary in itself! It is also holds the graves of 3 of Henry VIII wives, Anne Boleyne, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey. The walls and floors are covered with memorials to those dead, but unfortunately the tour only allows a few minutes, no real time to take the place in properly. It is a wrenchingly sad place. To know that so many came to rest here for so little reason. I am sure some were terrible people, but most were just victims of circumstance or prejudice or of being born on the wrong side of the political fence.

The second allowed more time for contemplation. Beauchamp Tower was the last place of residence for many of the political prisoners of the Tower. It is a small hexagonal tower with 2 floors. Prisoners were kept on the upper floor in what would have been reasonable comfort by the standards of other areas of the Tower, and it would have been a refuge between bouts of torture. The room itself is unremarkable with basic stone walls and floor and a large fireplace. What is remarkable is the legacy of wall carvings left by those who resided here over the centuries. Carved into the walls are messages of hope and misery, messages to loved ones and political supporters, last words generally... carved with the words are elaborate coats of arms and decorations depicting families and allegiances. I sat for quite a long time and read those words (well the translations anyway, as most are in Latin), and there are hundreds, of the long dead and doomed who lived their last weeks, months or years in that room... whether guilty of their crimes or not.

The Tower is definitely a must for anyone visiting London... even if you only have an hour to spend there. I am sure everyone would find something to capture their imagination... there are priceless gems, suits of armor, guns, cannon, torture, dead Prince's and Queens, beautiful, ancient stone buildings and a rather decent cafe too!


...and of course right next to the Tower of London, standing majestically abreast the River Thames, is the Tower Bridge... but I will have to go back for that... all I had time to do was take the photo...

London streets...

Walking back to the flat with groceries from the utilitarian Tescos (not quite as good as Sainsbury's, but cheaper ...which in turn is not as good as Marks and Spencer Food, which takes a back seat to Morrison's. The Supermarket hierarchy here is quite amazing!) I happened to pass a man, about my age, with a proper waxed mustache... clearly he is hoping the 1850s will make a fashion come-back...

Cloudy and Damp, Manchester and Lambeth Walk

Shall we start with the weather...

"Cloudy and damp" is the forecast, and a quick peek out the window confirms it... I guess that the sunny weather could not continue indefinitely. It would have been nice to have had another week of it, but this is England and you take what you get.

It has been a week or so since I wrote here last, and most of that time was taken up with a side trip to Manchester and Liverpool. I don't start my new job until next Monday so I figured that I had a little time to kill and Manchester was only 2.5 hours away by train...

The trip up was novel and fun... Trains are definitely the only way to travel in the UK (and preferably 1st class). Virgin Trains operate the London Euston - Manchester Piccadilly service and they are fast and comfortable. I booked a Standard class seat up, but managed to upgrade, for next to nothing, to a 1st class seat on the return journey, and thankfully I did, as the train was overfull and people were sitting on their luggage back in the Standard class cars...

Manchester is a very nice city... that said, it really doesn't have any real tourist draw card. I had 2 full days to kill and spent the first on wandering about the city. It has great Christmas markets in the Albert Square outside the town hall which attracted the lunchtime work crowd for a few Friday drinks...

The city does have some rather interesting Architecture. The highlight was the Royal Exchange Theatre... a former Exchange/Trade building for the Linen industry it is now a theatre in-the-round. In order to preserve the original space of the hall, the theatre has been inserted as a freestanding structure and looks a tad like the Lunar Lander (see picture).

Saturday brought a day trip to Liverpool. At 8.50GBP return and 40 minutes by train it was hard to resist.

Manchester may not have a tourist drawer card... but Liverpool has the Beatles.

...and they don't let you forget it! Liverpool is the first place I have done the "open top bus tour". There is nothing that screams "tourist" as much as sitting on the top deck of a double decker bus while an overly loud PA system (in the voice of Ringo Starr) tells you about the sights and delights of Liverpool. but it is a good way to get to know a city in an hour...

Liverpool has some Architectural gems... the 3 Graces on the waterfront (the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Offices and the Shipping Office - see picture); the Anglican Cathedral - which is huge!; St George's Hall, and Albert Dock. Having just one day, I only had time for the bus tour and a walk around the city... must get back and have a more detailed look.

Arriving back in London came with the relief of moving into a flat. I now have a room to myself and share with 2 others, both school teachers. It appears teachers come with an interesting view of the world, I guess it comes from spending so much time with young children who are not yours...

The room is large by London standards (and by Brisbane standards actually).

I spent yesterday buying sheets, towels, a duvee and cover, a bedside lamp... all the fun stuff! Which has set me up reasonably well for the time being...

So... I now officially live in a flat above a church hall... a Methodist Mission Church Hall to be precise... at least there wont be drunken parties on a Saturday night... or dancing!

oh.... and I live on Lambeth Walk!

old things and a new coat

well... I have been slack in updating the blog for the past few days... I have been out and about seeing London and getting back rather tired, so here I am on a cold Monday morning (it is 5 degrees right now), with the last few days in review:

A day at the Museum...

...and a day is not nearly enough. The British Museum is a bit of a tourist trap on the weekends and full of loud school groups on weekdays, but whenever you go, you are fascinated, awed and basically run out of time to see everything...

The Egyptian Government calls the Museum the best advertisement for Egypt in the world, and as it has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside Egypt they are quite right!

There are halls and galleries full of granite statues and burial find (including dozens of mummies on display). To stop and read the information on every piece would take years. I chose to wander through and glance at everything, working on my current "travel principal" that I will return to the parts I liked in more detail at a later date (HA!)

...and of course the Museum has more than just Egyptian artifacts, there are displays from most for corners of the former British Empire, as well as huge collections from ancient Greece and Rome. Although the majority of the Greek galleries were closed for some unexplained reason (welcome to London) so that will give me a definite reason to return.

The architectural highlight was the relatively newly finished Great Court by Norman Foster. A huge faceted glass roof has been spun between the walls of the old museum and the circular reading room in the middle of the courtyard. The effect is amazing... a giant white space that provides perfect circulation to the various galleries, a meeting place, a place to rest for a few minutes and let your sore feet recover from pounding the stone floors and a place to sit and try to absorb what you have just spent the last 4 or 5 hours looking at...

The great walk...

When a day dawns with crystal clear blue skies and a slightly warm sun (although tempered by a cool breeze) the thing to do is to get outdoors... I had intended to visit the Tower but decided to do a more on-the-move bit of site seeing (plus I still hadn't bought a decent coat so I figured here was a good excuse to see some sights and find a coat at the same time. In short I walked from the East End to Southwark and then to the West End... quite a few miles! The sights seen?

- The remnants of the Old London Wall

- The Barbican Development (including 15 minutes of the London Symphony Orchestra playing in the Concert Hall thanks to a kind usherette on the door...)

- St Paul's, again... (and this time I established that it costs 9.50GBP to get in... when I eventually do the tour and the walk to the top of the dome)

- The Millennium (or Wobbly) Bridge (the pic of St Paul's is from this bridge - note the cranes - good for construction jobs!)

- The turbine hall of the Tate Modern with its infamous "crack" (the current installation... which is actually quite intriguing as it is at least 3 feet deep at some points and runs the complete length of the hall...)

- The Globe Theatre

- Borough Market (which will be about 10 minutes walk from my flat and has some superb cheeses, vegetables, antipasto and one of only 2 places in London you can get a Flat White Coffee...)

...and yes, the walk did result in a new coat, which has been very useful as the temperature has dropped and taken the pressure off my old leather one... which has performed admirably I might add.

Trainspotting... well the trains turn up later in the week...

St Pancras Station seems to have gotten some good publicity all around the world... and rightly so!

For us, here at the beginning of the 21st century, buildings of large size or structures of extraordinary span are seen every day in every city... they are every day things... unfortunately many of them lack grandeur, scale and the ability to awe.

This one has been doing it with ease since 1868.

Photos do not do it justice, the span of the pale blue vaulted iron and glass arch is beyond description... the structure is unbelievably delicate... and even in London's dull light the train shed bright. The contrast between the 19th Industrial Revolution architecture and the new steel and glass platforms is wonderful. That contrast will be complete once the sleek Eurostar trains start running from the station this week.

Sunday at zero time

The continuing sunny weather and warm(ish) days, made my mind up for me on Sunday to visit Greenwich. A convenient 30 minutes on the Tube and Docklands Light Rail, Greenwich has quite a few diversions for the sight see-er.

The high street is a rather charming place to stroll (well it would be if the crowds were not quite so numerous! ...something I am coming to terms with wherever I go in London). But beyond the high street is the Cutty Sark, currently undergoing substantial conservation and unfortunately wrapped in plastic, but the visitor centre fills you in on the progress of the works and the unfortunate fire earlier in the year.

Behind the Cutty Sark is the Greenwich Naval Hospital (see photo) a beautiful collection of buildings built by several monarchs before being given over to a hospital and home for pensioned seamen. These days it is open to the public and also the home of the Trinity College of Music.

I spent a little longer here than I intended, but I was well worth the time. The Painted Hall and the Chapel (pictured) are fascinating and built on a grand scale beyond any space I can think of in Australia. I was lucky enough to time my visit to the Chapel with an organ recital provided by the TCofM, and spent half an hour soaking up the strains of the organ and the intricate detail of the Neo-Greek interior.

I did not have the time to climb the hill through the park to the Observatory, or have anywhere near the time needed by the Maritime Museum across the road... oh well, a good excuse to go back!

scenes from Camden Town

The people walking the pavements of Camden Town were quite extraordinary... both in shear numbers and diversity... being from a quaint and conservative city like Brisbane, large numbers of people with Mohawks, safety pins in their faces and black jeans are a rarity...



...and here I was thinking "Punk" died with the 80s!



The Camden Lock Markets are amazing... they are huge, and sell a cheap version of just about anything (not that I bought anything but dodgy Chinese food for lunch - see picture!) and Saturday seems to be the day when every second Londoner turns up for a look around.

Built in old railway arches, catacombs, warehouses, sheds and even a former horse hospital the scenery alone is enough to keep you entertained.

Like everything else in London, I will have to go back and spend more time, explore more of the Market, the High Street and Camden Town. Beyond the busy pavements of the Market and the High Street the town itself looked a very interesting place, with some good restaurants, pubs and shopping. Although, like most of London, the everything need a damn good wash! The canal and Lock (see below) were floating with rubbish and general detrius...
but hey, I guess it all adds to the charm...

the prospect of a job ...and sore feet!

Well, I am here safe and sound...

Had the job interview today, which went rather well... I am hopeful of an offer mid next week which would probably see me start the following week.

The weather has been kind to be for my first 2 days here... I was sunny most of today as well as yesterday afternoon... Did a bit of sight seeing yesterday arvo. I walked for about 2 and a half hours around Westminster, the West End and the City. Walked past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral (both of which are vast!) and then up along the Strand to find my (hopefully) future office in Covent Garden. Covent Garden is a fantastic place... besides the proximity to Trafalgar Square, The Royal Opera House and the Covent Garden Market it is full of restaurants, cafes, and pubs and professional offices - the whole place is alive.

The walk up Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill to St Paul's (also vast!) is like walking along a building lined canyon... its just a shame that many of the grand Victorian facades now hide empty offices, no longer occupied by the Newspapers and Magazines that once made the street famous. The walk down into the city ended at Bank Station when, with sore feet, the prospect of a train ride home overcame the desire to explore further. I will have to get back to all these places and do proper tours eventually (as well as the other million places to see in this city!).

A start... at least

A McCafe in Singapore is an odd place to doubt my plans... but there it was.

Sitting, eating a cheeseburger, staring at bland advertising and wondering why I was turning my life upside down to this extent.

It had been a long day and, in my defence, I was tired and didn't have a lot to do before my flight to London later that night...

A tour guide earlier in the day had recommended the shopping centre, that housed said McCafe, for no other reason that the spectacular decoration of the gents toilets ...and I guess a full wall mural of the Running of the Bulls to entertain you while you wash your hands is worth a detour.


Besides, the detour provided that few minutes of rest and reflection over a cheeseburger.

London was a long way from Brisbane, from family, from friends...

London from a McCafe in Singapore looked like a vast, cold lonely place...

London without any confirmed prospect of a job or somewhere to live...

London, a city with cold grey skies, drizzle and misery.

...and most pressing of all, London was an overnight flight in economy with the prospect of little sleep...

But, now I am here, it's not nearly so bad... even the sun is shining!