Two Weeks in London

So I had it in mind to involve people in my trip; those who couldn't come with me would still have some sense of where I was going and what I'd be able to experience. I thought it would be a great idea to blog for each day that I was gone, but soon after I decided it just doesn't make sense to spend time on the computer while I'm in London. I may have time once or twice to type a few words, but for the most part, I just won't want to waste the time.

The alternative has been to post my itinerary online. A few directions for you: Where possible, I've hyperlinked the time of each planned event to an official website. If you want to know more than what I've stated in each time slot, just click on the posted time and explore the website.

You'll notice that I say "we" and "us" a lot. I seem to have a Gollum complex because I'm simply referring to myself singularly. Yep, I'm going alone. It's quite alluring. I get to see what I want, I get to do what I want, I don't have to wait on or hurry for anyone, and if I get kidnapped by terrorists, why then I don't have to worry about it ruining anyone's trip but my own. Just curious--I wonder if I did get kidnapped by terrorists, would they take kindly to my asking for a copy of the ransom photos so that I could scrapbook them later? After all, that would be quite an experience, and you'd want evidence of it to show all your friends back home (assuming you would make it back with your head).

What do I want most to take from this trip? I'm not very good with "quick." I never have been. I like to take my time because if things go by too quickly, I can't think. I can't process. I'm so interested in getting a small taste of how other people live or have lived, and I've planned almost all of my trip around that idea. And on previous trips, I've simply been so overbooked that I never get a chance to really feel or experience. I get too eager to go back to the hotel and sleep. So, this time, I'm drinkin' it in. I really want it to become a part of me, however small.

I'm not too fussed about food, really. There are other priorities for me, and I feel like food is one of the bits of the trip that should largely be spontaneous. I have a few restaurants I would like to hit, and those are mentioned. But I mostly don't have exact times or places planned for meals.

For those of you that stumble upon my blog and have been to London, for heavens sake, tell me if I'm missing anything particularly grand on my itinerary. For everyone else, check back here in the days following my trip for stories, photos, musings, etc.

Enjoy!

London Itinerary: Tuesday, 6 May 2008

6:35a I fly into London Heathrow. It’s rather early in the morning—I hope the jetlag doesn’t kill me. On top of that, I can’t check into my hostel until 2:00p, so I’ll have to cart my luggage around with me. Most places don’t open until 9:00a or 10:00a, so I’ll have some time to kill. After I catch the tube into the city, I’ll find some place to have breakfast.

9:00a The Royal Academy of Music. I’m going to go to school here, you know; it’s just a matter of time. It’s not just because it’s the Royal Academy. I really like the way their harp department is set up. You’ve got one professor (among many) for your personal instruction, then you’ve got separate teachers for orchestral, opera/ballet, and jazz studies. On top of that, they have many big-name professionals that come in to do masterclasses many times a year. If you’re going to learn something in the arts, you might as well have exposure to as many ideas and people as possible. That’s why I want to go here.

So, I’m taking the oppor-tunafish to look over the facilities, walk through the area, look at the international student house, talk to the admissions counselors, etc. There’s really no sense in spending all the time and money to come back for auditions if I just have a really bad feeling about the place. Better to check it out before hand. Let’s hope that they’re kind enough to let me stick my bag in the office while I look around. If not, I’ll pop over to the British Museum; their webpage says I can check oversized bags in the cloakroom for £1.

2:00p I’m ready to check into the Ace Hotel in West Kensington and shed this heavy and awkward bag. Then it’s back out on the street A.S.A.P.

3:00p Handel lived in London for the last twenty or so years of his life. Did you know that? They’ve since restored his house and opened it to the public as a museum. Every so often they even hold concerts in the recital hall. Handel isn’t my top favorite. That place belongs to Bach. My cello teacher used to say, “If you’re a Christian, you read the New Testament. If you’re a musician, you play Bach.” But oh my goodness! Handel is an oh-so-close second. Rock stars just go crazy with their guitar solos. Playing Handel on the harp is just like that, if you can believe it. I move my hands in patterns that are just so different than with anything else I play. He lived in London, and I have to stop by to pay homage. For everyone who doesn’t like classical, the house still holds some interest—Jimi Hendrix lived on the top floor in the 1970s.

8:00p Every so often, you hear about such-and-such actor playing in such-and-such play on the West End theatre district (the London equivalent of Broadway). So, I wondered if anything like that would be playing while I was in London. My first choice was to see Vanessa Redgrave playing in The Year of Magical Thinking in the National Theatre. But wouldn’t you know it—they’re sold out until June. It’s a bloody shame. I rather prefer Vanessa Redgrave as an actress. But the next best that I could find is Ralph Fiennes playing in God of Carnage at the Gielgud Theatre. It’s a bit of a stretch for me just to go see a play just because it has a celebrity in it; I would rather go see a play simply because of its story. But this is part of the London flavor that I wanted to sample while over there.

London Itinerary: Wednesday, 7 May 2008

9:00a First few through the gate at the Tower of London. I don’t want to have to fight the huge crowds that could accumulate later in the day, so I’ll jump in on one of the free tours given by the yeoman warders right when I walk in. I'm not sure if they let people just roam freely if they're not on a tour, but I'd like to do that afterward. There's only so much that one can soak in while they're on a half-hour tour, so I'll take the time to revisit some of the places within the compound. Plus, I promised Kaitlin (most willingly) from work that I'd lay a rose for Anne Boleyn.

Very normal people with huge names have been inside these walls on less pleasant terms: Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth I… I’d be stupid not to visit a place so thick with history. Let’s hope the tour group is small enough and that the guide goes slowly enough for me to picture how I might react to spending my last few hours here. That’s a piece of life I want to take with me.

1:30p After eating, we’ll stop by the Museum of London. They’ve collected hundreds of years of history—all about England’s capital city. They even have a simulation of The Great Fire. I’m in London, so I must learn about what it must be like to live in one of the worlds oldest and largest cities through its many faces. I'd like to have this time to sample those little slices of life.

5:18p My train leaves for Oxford. I decided not to make a day trip out of Oxford. There’s not really anything there that I want to make a priority out of seeing, except…

7:30p The highlight of my trip! Before I saw this show advertised, I had it in my mind that I was going to save money on the trip and not go to any shows. I can't keep such resolve in the face of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. This is their first live show since 2000. I can't tell you how much I love these ladies. If they weren't married, why then I would marry both of them so that I could always have the pleasure of their company and wit. If you haven't watched British television at all, then you probably don't know who or what I'm talking about. If you find yourself excessively bored with life one day, check out Absolutely Fabulous or any of the French & Saunders specials or The Vicar of Dibley. I can't say that any of you will, but that's okay. Just trust me--they're hilarious. Some of you might recognize Dawn as The Fat Lady on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or as the voice of Mrs. Beaver on The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. Others might recognize Jennifer from Muppet Treasure Island or as the voice of the Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2. Other than that, they don't cross over much.

Anytime I get tired of anything or everything, I can watch Absolutely Fabulous and somehow, metaphysically, I just feel so good about life. I feel comfortable in my own skin. These ladies have a knack for creating characters and stories and jokes that just fit "me" so incredibly well. I couldn't be more excited that I get to see them.

10:30p Time to catch the train back into town. I have to make sure to sleep on the way back so that I'm not zapped for Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow.

Stratford-Upon-Avon Itinerary: Thursday, 8 May 2008

7:20a Unless you want to leave the night before, 7:20 arriving at 9:37 is the best you can do for getting to Stratford-upon-Avon (almost typed "Stratford-upon-Acorn"). It's not too much of a problem but for the fact that I wanted to walk around a little before things open. We make do.

10:00a Shakespeare's Birthplace, along with the attached Shakespeare Center, opens. My travel guide says: "You can visit the bedroom where Shakespeare was born, the living room, the fully restored Tudor-style kitchen." I'm inclined to insert on the end (knowing the disposition of hard-core Shakespeare scholars and fans): "...the bed that Shakespeare was conceived on, the place where Mary Arden's water broke, the pot that Shakespeare was toilet-trained on..." Shakespeare is revered as a god to some; there's bound to be bronze plaques everywhere, commemorating where he took a piss.

I'll dispense with the negativity. I give the impression that I don't want to see any of this, and I do. Who doesn't love Shakespeare?

11:30a I've had an early day. I'll have myself an early lunch. But get this: to make it quite unique, let's get the meal a-la-carte and rent a boat. Rather than take one of the half-hour cruises on the river Avon, I'll rent a row boat (I have it on good authority that there are at least a few rental places nearby) and paddle to some secluded part of the river where I can eat and think away from the crowds.

1:00p Most everyone is still thinking about lunch, so I'll walk on over to Anne Hathaway's Cottage. This is Anne Hathaway the wife of Shakespeare we're talking about, not the Anne Hathaway that felt like she had to show her boobies in an Ang Lee film (Brokeback Mountain) just to have a serious acting career. Here, Anne lived for her early years until she married Shakespeare at age 25 (he was 18, folks).

3:00p It's a mile walk back to the remains of New Place, Shakespeare's retirement dwelling for the last six years of his life. Some nut tore the place down in the 1700s in order to avoid property taxes and the crowds that showed up at his door to see "Shakespeare's House." Yep, he's now on more than a few dirt lists. It's a good thing he's dead because someone would kill him, no doubt.

4:00p I must end the Stratford trip with a walk over to Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. Who that spends a day all about Shakespeare can avoid looking at his famous gravestone: "Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones." (No, those aren't typos. That's how the bloke wrote it).

5:42p Catch the train back into town. I might get there in time to go by some shop, as all the museums and historical sites will have closed.

Side note: You ever wonder why we can call Shakespeare "The Bard," but nobody else seems to have a similar kind of pop-star name. Why don't we call Jane Austen "The Dame" or Charlotte Bronte "The Wench" or Oscar Wilde "The Queen"?

London Itinerary: Friday, 9 May 2008

10:00a I always hear everyone come back from London and say, "Oh, that British Museum! You could spend a whole day in there!" Why the hell not? "The sun never sets on the British Empire": you can see evidence of this archaic saying in the British Museum. Having had a white-knuckled grip on almost every land of ancient peoples and artifacts at one time or another, they've chipped off a piece here and there and carted it back to the island with them. We can roll our eyes, thinking "how unfair," but we probably owe a lot to them. Look at the Parthenon in its current state. Years of warfare and exposure to the elements/pollution have made the ancient temple an absolute wreck. So, if the British hadn't had the sense or nonsense to remove the friezes and sculptures of deity from it, we'd have so much less than we do now. So no need to complain. They may have been imperialistic culture-thieves at one time, but now we have the marvelous convenience of seeing so much of the world's history in one place.


The British Museum has some 3 or 4 cafes and restaurants located within its walls. You have no reason to leave before the museum closes at 8:30p. I can get there right at 10a, look at exhibits. When I feel peckish (I'm going to London, so now I have license to use those Britishisms without seeming pretentious), I can just go to the eating facility appropriate to my price bracket. When I feel intellectually drained, I can go browse the gift shop until I feel like hitting the exhibits again. I can always leave and see something else in town if I get bored, but it's much harder to add a whole day that I haven't planned for the museum. But I don't think I'll have that problem.

London Itinerary: Saturday, 10 May 2008

8:00a They say that you have to be there when the market opens at 7a in order to find all the deals and not have to fight the ridiculous crowds. I'm just there for the local color. We used to watch Bedknobs & Broomsticks all the time when I was little. So, how could I not stop by the Portobello Road Market? It opens every Saturday at 7a and stretches almost the full length of the road through Notting Hill. With the exchange rate from pounds sterling to U.S. dollars being as high as it is, I don't think I'll buy anything of note. They do, however, have a fruit and veg market in addition to the antiques, so I'll pick up a little something to tide me over until lunch. By the way, I'll be so disappointed if there aren't people in turbans and others in kilts waiting to sing and dance for me.

12:00p Madame Tussaud's is always crowded, from what I hear. So, we've put that off for today when the weekend crowds won't make much of a difference. It's just a bunch of wax figures, so I don't think I'll get too perturbed if people get in my way. How weird to stand beside something that looks so much like a real person, but they don't breathe or move. Don't get me wrong--I want to go even though it sounds like I'm complaining. This is the closest that I'll get to seeing the relative height and likeness of most of these celebrities or historical figures. And it's art, for kripes sake. People make people out of wax. That has to be interesting. I wonder if anyone will notice if I leave my teeth marks in Oprah's forehead.


2:30p I wanted most of the afternoon to do this. St. Martin-in-the-Fields has a brass-rubbing center. "What is a brass-rubbing," you ask? I had the same question when I first read about it. It's quite the novel medieval art form. One uses all shades of soft metals and other color pigments to produce a figure (lady, lord, knight, etc.) on heavy paper. It's just unique enough that I've made this a priority on my trip. I love to create, and this is one of those activities that I want to fully experience while I have the opportunity. No hurry. No other place to be. Nothing on the mind but appreciating the originality within myself.


7:30p I'll have finished at the brass-rubbing center at 6p and found a place nearby to eat. I'm still in Trafalgar Square, so I go back to St. Martin-in-the-Fields for an evening concert. I've never heard of the Festive Orchestra of London, but take a look at their program! It's all famous works. You almost never get that lucky with concerts. I have recordings of my favorite concertos, sonatas, etc., but I want to hear that stuff performed live. And nobody does that. It's the music that everyone knows, but in order to be musically diverse and interesting, the orchestras choose something obscure. Now, I get to hear some of my favorites performed live. And I just love them for this: it's a candlelight concert. That's all you need, isn't it?! If they're performing such lovely music, they have to add such a delicious ambiance through candlelight. Great music, candlelight, a beautiful and old church--it's a feast for the senses. I can't wait.

London Itinerary: Sunday, 11 May 2008

9:00a The Hyde Park Ward meets at 64 Exhibition Rd. in South Kensington. I never really had the benefit of a mission when people get to see that "the church is the same, everywhere you go." I'll be a bit disappointed if I go, and it is the same. How can it be the same? People are different, everywhere you go. The doctrine, I'm sure, stays the same, but it just doesn't feel the exact same to everyone. People have different needs, different pieces of the church that comfort and inspire. So, I want to see that part--the part that these people in this particular ward carry in their hearts.

12:00p The Dickens House Museum opens. Even though Dickens was a man of his time (he had a mistress for years), I consider him a deeply moral and spiritual man. So, we go to look at his London house on Sunday. Apparently his house is filled with literary allusions--windows, objects, rooms that appear in the books he wrote or finished while living in St. Pancras (I want to type "St. Pancreas"). One of my favorite books is A Christmas Carol, and though he didn't write that one here, I have to stop by and look at the life of such a famous and favored author.

3:00p Two hours until the British Library closes--just enough time to catch all the good stuff. They have a line of noteworthy items on display: the Magna Carta (1 of 4 created), a Gutenberg Bible, Jane Austen's writings, Shakespeare's First Folio, and musical manuscripts by Handel. History is all about artifacts, for me. To look over a letter and think about who touched it. To walk around in a house and imagine who's feet walked the halls. So, the perfect activity for this Sunday afternoon: a few hours of quiet contemplation and consideration.


7:30p Where did I hear about them? I can't remember. I think I was just browsing different versions of "I Vow to Thee, My Country" on iTunes one day years ago, and I came across a boys choir called Libera. Now, unlike the usual boys choir, this one is made up of a collection of kiddies from South London that might otherwise be without opportunity. It's not like they're destitute, but they do live in an urban area and could be filling their time with less than legal and productive activities (sounds extremely dramatic and presumptuous of me to talk as though I assume that most of them would be involved in such things if they weren't involved in this choir). Tonight, they're performing at the South Bank Center, and I'm eager to hear them perform live. Check out a little sample of their music.