The Museum of London

Today I learned a valuable lesson about how be to a local tourist - check the opening times. My initial plan was to eat tasty pie 'n' mash at Manze's - London's oldest pie 'n' mash shop - near Tower Bridge. Unfortunately, arriving after a hearty cycle across London, it was closed:
I was hungry, tired, disappointed and it was starting to rain. Nevertheless I still wanted to do something from the list. I decided upon the Museum of London - something I'd passed on my way to Tower Bridge.

Website: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk
Entrance fee: Free

The museum is located atop a hidden-away roundabout in the middle of the City. Although giant white letters clearly label the museum itself I had to walk all the way around the central island looking for a way in until before I spotted the correct entrance on the roundabout's edge. An escalator ride up and a futuristic bridge across and I was outside at the museum.

The museum's galleries cover the history of London from the far past through to the year 1666 AD. Another gallery covering 1666 to the present day is due for completion in 2009 - presumably they're waiting to fill the "London in 2008" display case...
My first stop was London before London, a paradoxically titled exhibition about the history of London from the end of the last ice age through to the Roman invasion in AD43. The exhibition was so thorough - with model settlements, flint axes, faces reconstructed from excavated skulls - that I was surprised it didn't start all the way back with the Big Bang: "First there was nothing. Then there was London."The next gallery was all about the Great Fire of London but, keen to do the exhibits in chronological order, I rushed through it with my eyes half-closed, heading for the Roman Gallery. There were a lot of archaeological pieces on display here - coins, hunks of masonry etc - and even a viewing gallery to see the last remains of the "London Wall" - a sad crumbling ruin.
Next stop was the Medieval gallery covering AD 410-1558. There was a life-sized walk-in replica of a thatched dwelling which looked - and even smelt - very authentic. There was also a detailed model of how St Paul's Cathedral used to look before the Great Fire. The most starling piece was about the Black Death in the 14th century: a video room showed a film about the devastating effects of the mysterious disease - not pleasant at all!
I skimmed over the reformation of the monasteries and made it through to "London 1558-1666". By this time London was having a bit more fun and there were pieces on theatre, antiquities collectors and fancy furniture.
Finally I arrived back at the main exhibition - London's burning - all about the Great Fire of London in 1666. This was daunting stuff - after just 5 days, 4/5ths of the city had burnt down in the fire which, as everybody knows, started in a bakery in Pudding Lane. The eye-witness reports still felt fresh and vivid as they described the disaster - people carting their belongings away, the fierce heat on the wind from the fire, the thieves ransacking abandoned buildings. The fire was eventually stopped by "soldiers and sailors using gunpowder to blow-up houses - thereby making a gap across which the fire couldn't spread". Crickey! In the fire's aftermath architects presented designs to the King for rebuilding the city. As far as I could tell, the designs were never used - the city was rebuilt essentially on the same layout - but, of the designs on display, I was very impressed by Sir Christopher Wren's. It's a shame his didn't make it.

After the Great Fire exhibit I spent an obligatory 5 minutes in the shop - logoed pens, postcards, history books for kids - but nothing really grabbed me.

Summary: Gripping fire exhibition, worth a look back in 2009 when the modern gallery opens.

The Electric Cinema

Website: http://www.electriccinema.co.uk

The Electric Cinema sits at number 191 on Notting Hill's Portobello Road. Proclaiming it's presence with a big blue electric "Electric" sign it was something I'd often walked by. I'd heard stories too of what lay inside: "Sofa seats!" and "There's balconies... and a bar!". Well last night I went with my girlfriend ABJ to find out all about it.

The cinema is popular and the films get fully booked sometimes weeks in advance. It's hard to see how this is possible since their on-line booking system doesn't work and it was difficult to get the box office on the phone - obviously this is a Notting Hill cinema for Notting Hill locals. After finally getting the box office to call me back I booked two tickets for Mike Leigh's latest film: "Happy-Go-Lucky".
We turned up for the 9.15pm film time and collected the tickets. The cinema has only one screen but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality. Elaborately decorated with Art Nouveau curlicues and golden twirls the cinema hall takes you back to a time when seeing a film was an exclusive affair not for the hoi polloi. The audience's seats are individual plush brown leather armchairs all of which, apart from the front 3 rows, have their own individual brown leather "footstool cube" in front. At the back of the hall on the right is a bar serving beers, wines, spirits and ice cream. At the back on the left are two-seater love-sofas. So the rumours were partially true: there's sofa seats, a bar but no balcony...

ABJ and I were sitting on the front row (the love-seats were all booked up) and, after sinking into our luscious seats, I went off to try to buy a beer. The cinema hall was almost empty but the bar was very busy - mainly with people buying ice cream - so I stood limply at the back of the crowd and wondered if I should bother. There were other people at the bar - the ones getting served beer and ice cream - who looked like they owned half of Notting Hill and, if given the chance, would run you down in their Land Rover.

In the end I decided to switch from beer to ice cream and saw, from the corner of my eye, a uniformed ice cream vendor... I cut away from the crowd and strolled confidently up to the lady with the tray laden with little pots of ice cream. But wait! Is that ice cream? There's a pot of... chips? salad? fried fish? Oh my God! I had to follow through with my actions so I asked the lady (now clearly a hot food vendor) "Do you... sell... ice cream?", "No. That's at the bar..." Well that's that. Not only can you buy alcohol and ice cream but also hot food too. Wow.

I retreated empty-handed to my seat and sat with ABJ spying on the rest of the audience. The hall was starting to fill up now - foppish locals easing themselves into their seats. The lights dimmed. The trailers started. In most cinemas now there's a short film encouraging you to turn off your mobile phone. In the Electric Cinema this short film was star-studded with TV celebrity cameos. Obviously the cinema is popular amongst the rich and famous.

By the time the film started the hall was full. It seemed the regulars were more canny than us - knowing to arrive not at 9.15pm but rather half and hour later. The film was good and the audience, boozed up to the eyeballs, laughed in all the right places.

Summary: Luxurious place for a film, would consider again.

The O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome)

Website: www.theo2.co.uk

Wow! What a day! There was snowfall, ancient Egyptian mummies and Olympic torches. But we'll come to that...

I decided yesterday to visit "The O2" - a giant arena and entertainment complex in what used to be the Millennium Dome. Waking up to thick snowfall this morning I was informed, before I set out, that the Beijing Olympic torch was going to be touring through London. Looking into it I found that the tour's finale was to be held at the O2 at 6pm - what a bonus! Off I set.


Arriving on the Jubilee tube line at North Greenwich I was outside the giant white dome at about 1pm. I went to explore. Inside the giant entrance foyer there was a line of "Customer Helpers" who looked ready to pounce on anyone that looked a bit confused. Past them I walked down "Entertainment Avenue". Not sure what to expect I merged into the dawdling crowd and walked past rows and rows of sushi bars, Brazilian all-you-can-eat buffets, American bar and grills, Pizzerias, Starbucks etc. In the centre of the dome was the O2 Arena - a bit auditorium where they have big shows in the evenings. Circling that are the lines of eateries and bars. Half-way around there was a cinema and further along a few vast empty open spaces. Due to the snow melting on the roof the whole place was freezing cold and people shivered as they walked arm in arm around it.

I kept walking - passed the "Tutankhamen exhibition" - until I arrived at an exit. A cheery security guard then told me that, unless I had tickets for "Afrika! Afrika!" I'd have to go back. So I did. As I retraced my steps I wondered what the hell I was going to do for the next few hours - did I really want to see Afrika! Afrika! or Tutankhamen's trinkets? I decided it depended on the price. If it was cheap then "Sure why not!"... It wasn't cheap. The Tutankhamen tickets were £20 for adults, £15 for children and the cheapest Afrika! Afrika! ticket was £29! Why were so many people queuing up for them!

There was always the free option of what to do - go for a walk around. Outside I explored down by the "Thames Clipper" boat dock but it got so cold that snow started to fall again and I retreated back inside for some lunch. I chose to go to the "S&M (sausage and mash) Cafe" which was reassuringly heated. Unfortunately it was one of those places the puts a lot of effort into the restaurant's decoration but not much into the food. My vegetarian sausage sandwich was pretty horrible but at least my cup of tea warmed me up. As I ate I came up with a plan - walk then cinema then Olympic finale.

Outside the snow had stopped so I set off along the Thames Path that circles the dome. I was on the look out for the Greenwich meridian (i.e. the line of 0 degrees longitude) which cuts across the site but there was only a little mile-post to mark it. It was pretty deserted outside so as I walked I sang along to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. There were nice views of Canary Wharf and I got a better look at the Afrika! Afrika! circus tents. There were signs about the environmental projects happening there but the bit round the back of the dome seemed neglected with a lot of rubbish washed up from the Thames. I'd thought I could follow the path all the way round to the entrance but saw the way was going to be a long one. The path lead round to some industrial estates and busy roads with a big blue fence separating me from the O2 car park. Eventually I found a hole in a concrete fence and climbed through some abandoned mouldy blankets and, emerging from the undergrowth, burst out at the car park junction.

The build up of people, police and organisers was getting more noticeable during the afternoon. Now some roads were closed and police were diverting people. I tried to find out what route the Olympic torch would take but the hundreds of orange-coated security workers were all pretty uninformed. I got to see the huge hangars of the "David Beckham (Football) Academy" before heading back to the O2's cinema.

My plan was to see the film "Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs 3D" at 4.15pm. I had some time to kill so I went into the "O2 Chill" - an inflated modern-day igloo-like bubble where people could sit on bean-bags and listen to relaxed music. I sat there shivering, back against the hard wall, territorially sitting on my bean-bag for about 15 minutes. Finally, my teeth chattering, I went to the film.

Sitting in the pre-film darkness listening to the odd cinema music I felt like we were all there to worship the huge cinema screen in front of us. The film started a few minutes early and everyone scrambled to put on their 3D glasses. The 40 minute film was fun and relit my desire to travel to Egypt. The gist of it was "Ancient Egypt is very mysterious but thanks to these American researchers we've learnt a lot about it...".

After the film I went out to see the Olympic torch preparations. The torch was due to arrive on a boat from Canary Wharf at 5.50pm. It was so cold outside I bought a hot cup of tea and huddled around it like a camp-fire. The torch relay had run into controversy earlier in the day with some anti-China, pro-Tibet protesters trying to extinguish the flame. Now, in the crowd at the O2, there were a lot of (mainly non-Chinese looking) protesters carrying banners against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). There were also a lot of Chinese-looking people waving Chinese flags and shouting things like "China we're so proud of you!". When the boat arrived with the torch on it the torch was taken in relay from the dock to the stage in front of the O2 dome. At each leg of the relay the torch holder was surrounded by 6 blue-suited Chinese guards. These were in turn surrounded by 20 yellow fluorescent-jacketed police officers. These were then surrounded by about 30 black-uniformed police officers. Quite a sight!

As the torch was brought in the crowd cheered and the Olympic cauldron was lit. There were fireworks and Olympic-coloured banners released from top of the dome! A few speeches from the stage - from e.g. Princess Margaret and Ken Livingston - and then it seemed like it was all over. The crowd filtered out down to the tube station - all discussing the pros and cons of a possible Olympic games boycott. What a day!

First reactions

Looking at the list I see that there is a lot to do in London. The list represents my repressed intentions from 6 years in London. It's the "One day I'll..." list, the "I'd like to but it's too expensive..." list, a reaction against the "I'm bored today but can't think of what to do. I'm sure there's something out there in London..." mentality.

Looking through the items I see there's a wide range of activities. Simple-to-do through to book-in-advance, from epic to humble, free to expensive, daytime to night-time, from things-you-can-do-anywhere through to London-only-experiences. Writing the list out has revealed to me how many things I have been putting off doing. When I have a free day to do whatever I want I suppose there's always been too many things to choose from. How do you wake up on that particular day and say "Yes! TODAY I will visit the Chelsea Physic Garden"? Things like that always had the status of "That'd be nice to do... but, err, not right now - the laundry won't do itself.".

But now here is the list. I'm sure I've left a load of things out and that they'll be lists upon lists to come but, be sure, one by one, these activities will be done. And, for your benefit, this blog will let you know how they go.

The List (first attempt)

Things I'd like to do in London but haven't got around to yet:
(in no particular order)

• Tour round Buckingham Palace
• Go up the BT Tower for the view
  
• Cycle around Richmond park
• Sneak into the fancy hotels - Hilton, Savoy etc
• Go to all the museums in London
• Go to all the major art museums in London
  
• Have a drink in the ice-bar off Regent Street
• Do the sing-along sound of music at the Prince Charles cinema
  
• Watch a film at the Electric cinema in Notting Hill
• Watch a film at a Leicester Square cinema
• Watch an IMAX film near Waterloo
• Go to a casino
• Explore the new O2 centre at the Millennium Dome
• Tour round the BBC TV centre and BBC Broadcasting House
• Watch a live, well-attended debate in Parliament (e.g. Prime Ministers questions)
• Go out for an artsy night out in the east-end.
• Shop at Petticoat Lane market
• Go on the rides at the London dungeons
• Sit in on a Sotheby's auction
• Eat at a traditional pie 'n' mash shop
• Tour round Lord's cricket ground
• Tour round Wembley stadium
• Go to the London wetland centre
• Visit Chelsea Physic Garden
• Get into London fashion week
• Tour around City Hall
• Tour around Tower Bridge
• Go to the tennis at Wimbledon
• See some plays

That's enough to be getting on with...