The Local Tourist

Sing Along Sound of Music

2011-01-29T17:09:00.004Z

Website: http://www.singalonga.net/soundofmusic/

Last night I finally got to attend the Singalong Sound of Music at the Prince Charles Cinema. It's been on my list for a long time but it's such an unusual thing to do that I've never got around to doing it. This week we finally organised ourselves and ABJ, VB and ML and I all turned up for the Friday night 7.30pm showing.

All I knew was that they showed the film, the audience sang along to the words on the screen and some people dressed up as nuns (and possibly nazis too). As it turns out there was more to it than that...

When we took our assigned seats in the packed cinema we found small "goodie bags" waiting for us that contained an assortment of things (small pieces of card, a party-popper, a small white plastic flower of edelweiss etc). Somewhat bemused by these we had no time to think before our host for the evening was introduced - a glamourous transvestite called Candy Floss. She came on stage and began to warm up the audience to get them in the mood for singing and being silly.

People celebrating their birthday were made to come on stage and be joked about, followed by people in fancy dress. The costumes (which included many Marias, nuns and a few goats - but no nazis) were then judged by Candy and prizes awarded.

We were then given a run-down of what to do with the goodies in our bags. At certain points in the film we had to hold up cards, or perform theatrical gestures, or shout, or hiss, or boo etc etc. At the time I felt that I wouldn't be able to remember the multitude of instructions but as the film unfolded it soon became second-nature.

After the audience was thoroughly warmed up the film began. In the opening aerial shots of Austria we were supposed to avoid boredom by making animal noises. The audience performed this task admirably. Soon enough, however, the film was underway and everybody began singing along.

The film was good fun and it was enjoyable to shout out silly things but every now and then I found myself wishing some of the audience would quieten down so I could follow the plot. The climatic moment where Maria and Captain von Trapp kiss was accompanied by the whole audience simultaneously firing off their party-poppers. This was a great spectacle in a dark room - seeing the fire from a hundred explosions all at once. Unfortunately it meant that the next minute or so saw the audience coughing from smoke inhalation.

By the end of the film everybody was singing along and had had a good time.

Summary: An unusual but fun way to spend an evening.

The Old Bailey

2010-10-14T16:00:00.005+01:00

Websites:
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/oldbailey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bailey

Today I visited the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey. I've long known that the public can attend court hearings by sitting in the public gallery but I've never got around to trying it out, until today...

In the morning I surfed the web trying to read up on the visiting protocol. First of all I was surprised to discover that the Old Bailey is not where I thought it was. I've often passed some grand-looking courts near Aldwych which I assumed were the Old Bailey but it turns out these are the Royal Courts of Justice. The actual Old Bailey is near St Paul's cathedral and, seeing it on the map, I decided I'd never been there during all my time in London.

On all the websites it was emphasised that no cameras or mobile phones (or radios, food, drink etc etc) were allowed into the public galleries and, in addition, there were no facilities to store such items at the courts. That being the case I left my phone and camera at home and set off.

The building is split into two parts - the old part and the new part. The old part has been there since 1902 while the new part was finished in 1972. I arrived at the public gallery entrance to the old courts on Newgate Lane at around 11am. After ringing a bell and patiently waiting the door was opened and I was told that the old court only had sittings from 2pm onwards and that I should try the new court. I went around the corner and found the new court entrance on Warwick Passage.

Soon I was scanned by security and allowed to go in. In what I write now I've decided to keep light on the specific details since I'm probably not supposed to write about them.

I came up to one of the courts and an usher outside asked if I wanted to go in. I asked what case it was and she said "Murder". After agreeing to stay for at least 30 minutes I went in and tried to silently take a seat in the packed gallery.

This public gallery overlooked a modern court room, recognisable from TV dramas. There was the judge sitting high up at the front and a number of barristers lower down speaking to him. The jury of 12 was on the far side of the room and the witness box was on the near side, at the front next to the judge. At the back of the room was a separated area which I assume held the defendant.

Having joined the hearing mid-way through a session it took me a while to understand what was being talked about.

While I was there the main barrister was questioning an expert witness about blood stains that had been found on the walls and furniture at the crime scene. They proceeded through the evidence very carefully, referring to labelled photos, diagrams of the room and typed-up accounts that the expert had given. The barristers and judge all wore ornate grey wigs which I came to like more and more as the time wore on.

Of all the barristers I saw, this first one was the best. He carefully proceeded through the evidence, clarifying the expert's statement and helping explain things in simpler terms. His tone wasn't patronising and he genuinely helped to clarify some of the jargon that the expert was using.

The judge in this court was good too. Although he looked old and senile - he wore glasses and had to use a magnifying glass to read some of his papers. But appearances were deceptive and his brain was sharp - he picked up an error / inconsistency in the experts report. The report talked about the Southern wall but the expert in the witness box was talking about the Northern wall. The judge pointed this out and asked which was correct. The barrister said "Ah... Yes, you're right, My Lord..." to which the judge replied "I know I'm right! But which is it? Northern or Southern?". After that I had more respect for him, despite his poor eyesight.

Eventually, after about half an hour, the court broke for a 15 minute break and everybody had to leave. When the judge stood up everybody had to "be upstanding" - including the public gallery! During all the time that I'd been there they'd just about established that something covered in blood had come down through the air and hit solidly against a piece of furniture, damaging the furniture and sending splashes of blood down to the wall. I'm almost glad I didn't have to hear the other parts of the case because even this small part sounded pretty gory.

After I left I switched floors and entered another court. This was another murder case and I quickly got a seat and tried to figure out what was going on. When I joined they were replaying a videoed interview with a teenage witness. This lasted around 20 minutes and then they turned off the video and brought up an image of the witness on the screens. The judge asked him "Can you hear me? Can you see me?" to test out the video link and then the judge told the witness that they were going to take a 10 minute break but then he'd be asked for his evidence.

We all left the court and I and hung around for the 10 minutes before re-entering the gallery. What I'd heard in the videoed interview was very interesting - an account of a stabbing that the teenager had witnessed from his bedroom window.

The barrister that questioned the teenager now was pretty patronising but proceeded in the same careful way that the first one had. He asked at length about the view from the teenager's window down to the street - was there a tree in the way? was he looking through his blinds? was there a van in the way? etc. He referred to photos of the street and diagrams of the area and really probed every aspect thoroughly. It ended up with the barrister repeating something back from the witness's sworn statement and then saying "Is that right?" to which he'd reply "Yes". I thought that this repetition this was pretty unnecessary but I suppose he was trying to highlight certain pieces of evidence. In being made to relive the memories of the event, at one point the witness, understandably, became upset and the barrister had to change his approach to be less intense.

In the end the court broke for lunch and we were again led out of the gallery. By this point I was hungry so went outside for lunch. When I returned I went to the old courts. The old building was quite different to the new one and the courts contained lots of carvings and ornate woodwork. The public galleries here were a lot higher-up than in the new courts which meant you only got a good view by sticking your head out from the front row.

The first court I visited here was only in session for about 5 minutes. There was no jury and the two barristers were just having words with the judge about whether evidence on the defendant's mental condition could or could not be used. I wasn't even sure what the charge was - there were a lot fewer ushers here which meant it was much harder to find one and ask about the cases.

After that session finished I tried my fourth and final court. This had three defendants looking moodily around, sometimes looking menacingly up at me in the public gallery! A barrister was questioning an expert witness about mobile phone records. They were all turning through pages and pages of annotated maps showing various phone calls that were made and which mobile phone exchange dealt with the call. From this they were trying to establish where the phones were at various times. Again this court broke for a break after about 30 minutes of this technical evidence.

At this point I decided I'd had my fill for the day and headed home. When I started I felt that I'd be too bored to stay for 30 minutes but with each case I became so engrossed that I only left when the courts told everyone to clear out of the gallery.

Summary: Very interesting, worth a visit.

Petticoat Lane Market

2010-10-03T14:22:00.007+01:00

Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petticoat_Lane_Market

Today I paid a quick visit to visit Petticoat Lane Market. This East-End market has been going for hundreds of years in some form or another and I've heard about its "1000s of stalls". Hoping to see the market is at its largest I'd saved up the visit until today - Sunday.

I arrived at Liverpool Street station and easily found signs pointing down Middlesex Street.
Middlesex Street was originally called Petticoat Lane and has been the home of the market since around the 1750s. Apparently the road was renamed by the Victorians in 1830 to the avoid referring to ladies undergarments!

In retrospect I'm not sure what I was expecting from the market. Perhaps the charm of market stall holders calling out to advertise their wares, perhaps the chance of finding a magical assortment of goods on offer... What I found was not very impressive. Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe it was the time of year, or the time of day, but what I found was a sad spectacle.

The stalls that I first encountered mainly sold clothes. There were cheap suits and shirts, cheap shoes, cheap dresses etc. I thought "OK, maybe this is the clothes section of this enormous market... I'll continue on to the other areas!". I carried on down the road and saw the same goods on sale at different stalls, the same layout being used, the same frowning stall holders either silently watching the passers-by or aggressively barking out prices.

I made it all the way to the other end of Middlesex Street and all I found were clothes stalls, but with the occasional cheap electronic accessories stall, one or two hot-food stalls. At this point I was quite disappointed. The market didn't seem as large as I'd read and the things on sale all looked like they'd come from one or two distributors. For example there were lots of stalls all selling identically packed shirts:
To give them the benefit of the doubt I went down the market's other street - Wentworth Street. This again was mainly clothes, with a CD stall and a household goods stall thrown in. Pretty quickly I reached the end of the market in that direction and realised I'd seen it all.

My anticipated images of colourful characters and wondrous goods on offer had evaporated away. I stood looking at the other market customers. As well as the poor locals there were a few richer-looking tourists / students / middle-class onlookers who looked just as disappointed as me - where was this amazing market they'd read about?

I worked my way back through the market towards Liverpool Street. On the upside, I had seen a few friendly stall-holders who were calling out their wares and having a joke with each other. On the whole, however, these were lost amongst the other stall holders who stood silently staring out, often somewhat menacingly.My experience is perhaps best summed up by an incident I witnessed just as I was leaving the market. A Spanish woman tourist had unzipped a coat that was hanging on display at a stall. She then walked away without zipping it back up - no big deal really. The local stall-holder's response was to call her back to the stall and shout at her about how "If you downt zip it up it'll fall on da floor!". She started to helpfully zip it back up but the stall-holder grabbed it off her saying "I'll do it!". Understandably the woman left the stall and continued down the street but as I passed the stall-holder I could hear him violently muttering about "The type of people you get nowadays! Oh Gawd!". On my visit I'd felt just about as welcome as that woman...

Summary: A pale shadow of its former glory.

The British Museum

2010-09-26T15:11:00.005+01:00

Website: http://www.britishmuseum.org

Yesterday, after my free Hare Krishna lunch, I visited the British Museum. I've visited the museum before but have never felt that I've seen very much of what's on display. This visit was an attempt to at least get an overview of its collections.

Part of the reason I wanted to visit the British Museum is that I've been listening to a Radio 4 series called The History of the World in 100 Objects. This is presented by the director of the British Museum and each 15 minute episode uses one object from the museum's collections to explain the history of some country or people or empire.

I felt the same sense of surprise as on my previous visits when I walked from the initial old-fashioned building into the modern geodesic-dome-covered courtyard:Even though I know this is what the inside of the museum looks like I always feel a shock - the courtyard and its roof look far too futuristic to be the 257 year old British Museum!

I quickly found a map and a guide to the 100 objects featured in the radio series. The 100 objects were spread all over the museum. This was both good and bad - good because it forced me to walk through displays I wasn't intending to see and bad because it made it very hard to see all 100 objects.

I set off to the first of the 100 objects - the Mummy of Hornedjitef - and found it in the midst of a busy room about the Ancient Egyptians. This was clearly a popular collection and lots of children were excitedly talking about the gory details of mummification.

My heart sank when I saw that the location for object 2 - a stone chopping tool - was a different floor at the opposite end of the building... At that point I decided I wouldn't be able to see all the objects and that perhaps I should just wander the galleries.

I took a detour to see a view of the courtyard and the roof from a high walkway:Dawdling through the galleries I came across some Babylonian clay tablets. I realised that, although I'd read about the Babylonian cuneiform writing system, I'd never actually seen any of it first hand. The first piece that caught my eye was a list of synonyms. I particularly liked the "ditto" marks that are used:Next to this was a piece which detailed the story of a huge flood with similar details to the Biblical flood story:
Pleased that I'd stumbled across something interesting I continued to wander aimlessly and found myself in a gallery about Roman Britain. This included an amazing "golden cape" that was found in a rich Roman's grave in Wales. There was also some very impressive metalwork from Roman times:
At this point I began to feel somewhat overwhelmed. More than that, I realised that this is what happens every time I visit the museum. I arrive in an optimistic mood, I see a few amazing and unique objects which trigger off all sorts of thoughts about the vastness of history, and then I start to feel overwhelmed and lose track of what era I'm looking at. Eventually I leave the museum feeling that I saw hardly any of the collection - I keep thinking about what other treasures I could have seen if I'd paid more attention.

Without following the dates I came across a pair of impressive drinking horns which I liked to imagine drinking from:I stopped taking photos at this point to concentrate on finding my way around. I passed through a whole room about the history of money, a glanced into a room all about clocks, a long gallery about the Ancient Greeks etc. At last I descended a grand staircase and saw that have items on display everywhere, even on the stairs:
When I emerged into a gallery again I was again in Ancient Egypt and saw giant stone sarcophagi, huge scarab statues etc.

By this point I decided to seek out a particular object I'd heard about on the radio show that sounded impressive. This was a double-headed serpent made by the Aztecs from around 2000 pieces of turquoise and shells! Having heard it described on the radio (e.g. how the red shells for the mouth were gathered by deep-sea divers) I felt I could appreciate it's beauty even more:After this I was completely done-in. I'd seen so many ancient and beautiful objects and each one had made me think about who had made it and how old it was and how they made it etc that I couldn't take in any more. I made one last dash through the "Age of Enlightenment" gallery back into the main courtyard. One last look at the postcards and I left.

Summary: A collection of historical artifacts that is exceptional in both quality and quantity. Definitely deserved several more visits.

Free Hare Krishna Food

2010-09-26T14:47:00.003+01:00

Website: http://www.matchlessgifts.org.uk/freefood.html

When I first came to London I heard about Hare Krishna stalls that give out free food to university students at SOAS and LSE. Ever since then the student in my has wanted to find one and be given some free food. Yesterday I finally did it!

After a quick internet search I found the above website which details when and where the Hare Krishna volunteers distribution their food. Outside of term-time I found the best option to be van distributing food between 1pm-1.45pm in Camden. Now, as far as I understand, the purpose to the free food scheme is to give "Food For All". At SOAS and LSE this essentially means poor students, whereas at other locations in the city it usually means homeless people.

I turned up to the Hare Krishna van at around 1.30pm and found a few men and women strung out on the pavement eating from paper plates. Most of the people looked hungry and homeless but a few looked like nearby office workers who had popped over for lunch. When I queued up at the serving hatch I felt that I probably looked more like the former than the latter.The woman inside asked if I'd like a plate and I happily agreed. She reached back and scooped up rice from a huge tub behind her and then ladled on some stewed vegetables. By the time she was done she was presenting me with a huge portion of rice and potatoes etc. I grabbed myself a paper cup of a purple soft drink and then stood off near the wall to eat my feast.The food was filling and hot and I wondered what I looked like shovelling it into my mouth next to the industrial curb-side bins. It was a bit of a struggle to finish everything but I didn't want to waste any so I ploughed through it like a machine. When I was done I threw away the plate and cup and went on my way calling "Thank yooou" through the serving hatch.

Summary: A very generous enterprise...

The list (number nine)

2010-09-21T17:05:00.002+01:00

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out:

~~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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, ~~big synagogue~~, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
~~Tour around Battersea power station~~
Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
~~Tour round Albert Hall and Albert Memorial~~
Tour round Chiswick's Fuller's brewery
Tour round Wandsworth's Young's Brewery
~~Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern~~
Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and ~~Kensington Olympia~~
~~Visit a city farm~~
~~Tour round Thames barrier~~
Visit a talk at the Royal Geographical Society
~~Buy some food from a roadside taxi cafe~~
Visit the London library at Piccadilly
View a trial at the Old Bailey
Visit Highgate cemetery

Tour around City Hall

2010-09-21T16:46:00.005+01:00

Website: http://www.london.gov.uk/city-hall

Last Saturday ABJ and I visited City Hall, the home of the Greater London Authority. The building was part of the OpenHouse weekend in which hundreds of buildings across London open their doors to the public.

We arrived to have a look around and waited in the queue for the security check. Everything was surprisingly well-organised and once we were through we dodged the queues at the lifts and walked up a slowly sloping ramp that wrapped around the edge of the building and led us up to a large discussion chamber:From here we could see the main architectural feature of the building - a spiral staircase which rises up through its centre:We tried to climb the staircase but were turned away and told that people could only follow it in one direction. We hopped in the lifts and went up to to the 9th floor to look at the views of London.

There were good views, including the nearby "Scoop":as well as views across the river:
as well as Tower Bridge:and the landscaping nearby:After seeing the views we walked down the spiral staircase and enjoyed seeing everybody taking arty photos of it, as well as looking into people's offices.

At the bottom of the building is a giant aerial photo of London. We joined the crowds in locating our house on the map and discovering any recognisable landmarks near to it.Summary: Interesting modern building.

Tour around the Albert Memorial

2010-09-06T10:09:00.006+01:00

Websites:
http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/tours
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial

Yesterday ABJ and I went on the a tour around the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. The tours are held on the first Sunday of each month from March to December and are £5 per adult.

We turned up for the 2pm tour and paid our money to the blue-badged tour woman who gave us a hand-written ticket from her ticket-book. There were around 20 people waiting for the tour - the group had an average age of around 60.

Unfortunately the start of the tour was a bit shambolic. The tour guide was in a panic because she had been unable to get through on the phone to the park security to tell them to turn off the alarm on the memorial. Her worry was that when she went to unlock the railings around the memorial a loud alarm would go off and chaos would ensue. She therefore spent the first 5-10 minutes on and off her mobile phone desperately trying to get through to the park security or find the correct number for them. This fiasco led one German man to lean to his wife and say "Ah, English administration..."

Anyway, at length the tour began and we were ushered in front of the memorial. This was built after the death of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, to honour his memory. The original plan was to build a giant obelisk on the site of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. As it turned out, however, nowhere in the British Empire could quarry a large enough piece of stone. When the planners told this to Queens Victoria she said "Oh, that's good - I didn't like that design anyway..." After that a competition was opened for designs for the memorial. Most of the designed entered were classical - lots of columns and pillars - but the design that was chosen was more "medieval", inspired by the Eleanor Crosses.

The memorial itself is extravagantly detailed and the tour spent a lot of its time explaining the meaning of the different statues, mosaics etc. The mosaics on each of the four sides represent Literature and Music, Painting, Architecture and Sculpture. The statues at the four corners of the base represent the continents Europe, Asia, Africa and America. There's also a host of other statues representing things like chemistry, agriculture, humility etc. The continents were illustrated with one animal (there were lots of arguments about which animal should represent Europe - in the end a cow was chosen).

There was elephant for Asia:a camel for Africa:and a bison for America:We heard that underneath the base of the memorial is lots of concrete as well as numerous supporting brick arches. The stone for the memorial came from all over the British Isles and we heard where the different coloured stone for the base came from (something I'd never thought about whenever I've walked across them):The group was led further around the base and shown more details on the statues and the mosaics. It was interesting to learn that the north face focusses on architecture and the mosaic shows someone holding up the plans to the memorial itself!The group were now allowed to go beyond the railings and up the steps of the memorial.
This was the best bit of the tour because it meant that we could have a close-up look at the detailed carvings. Around the base of the memorial there was an intricate series of carvings depicting famous artists, architects, sculptors, musicians and writers. This carving was performed on site over a period of 4 years! Here's an example of the series of famous architects:
Being closer also allowed us a closer look at the centrepiece - the statue of Albert himself. This was made of bronze and covered in gold-leaf. It was added to the monument years after the building work was completed because there was such a debate over what the statue should look like. It was chosen that he'd wear the uniform of the Order of the Garter which is why he has a prominent garter on his leg:
He is also holding a catalogue of the Great Exhibition which he organised (you can even read the title on the front):
After a few more explanations about statues etc our hour long tour ended. We all felt we had a much better appreciation of this amazing memorial.

Summary: Lots of detail to see if you know what you're looking at.

Bank of England Museum

2010-08-23T20:34:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/museum

Today I visited the Bank of England Museum on Threadneedle Street in the heart of the City of London. This museum is only open on weekdays so it's taken me a while to fit in a visit.

I didn't know where to go so ended up asking in the actual Bank of England. The doormen politely directed me around the corner to the actual museum. After a security check I picked up a guide pamphlet and set off.

The first stop was a surreal room that was made to look like the original Bank of England banking room from the 1800s. This included wooden counters and original decorations on the walls. The surreal thing was that in the centre of the room was a very modern exhibition about inflation called "The Pound in Your Pocket". Not sure where to start I read a few bits and pieces and tried to better understand inflation. Since 1992 one of the Bank of England's main jobs has been to keep inflation at 2%. They've had mixed success at this and the exhibition was heavily slanted towards explaining how difficult this task is.

At the side of the room were display cases exhibiting original, mint condition, coins from the last few hundred years. These included some from Queen Victoria:The exhibitions in the museum were arranged in chronological order but it was difficult to tell where to go to follow it in the right order. I took the next section in reverse. I learned all about the modern security measures in bank notes. I was impressed to use their testing equipment to see an ultra-violet "20" on the £20 note I had with me. From a computerised display I learned all about inflation and the difficulties it can cause if it's too high or too low. I also saw a printing press for bank notes: The next stop was a circular room which described the history of the Bank of England from the 1800s to the 20th century. I was lucky enough to follow it in the right order and found it all very interesting. I learned all about the Gold Standard (when the value of UK pounds was linked directly to a certain amount of gold in the Bank of England's vaults), as well as the financial turmoil caused by the first and second World Wars. Gradually it was explained how the current Bank of England emerged in the form it is today.

In the centre of the room was a collection of portraits of the Queen that have adorned bank notes over the past few decades. There was also a real bar of gold! This was in a plastic box and you could reach your hand in and lift it up. I have never held a bar of gold before and really had to struggle to lift it - it was very heavy! It was worth around £315,000.

After the round room I reached another room about the history of bank notes. This explained that they started as notes explaining how much gold you were entitled to from the vaults. If there were big disasters there'd be a run on gold - everyone would cash in their notes and get gold instead. The modern bank notes have evolved from those and no longer entitle the bearer to any gold unfortunately!After that I retraced my steps to the room I should have gone in first. This contained the early history of the Bank of England. I also came across the line-portraits that appear on current bank notes:
I emerged from the museum knowing a lot more about currency, money and central banks.

Summary: Interesting museum if you can make it on a weekday.

See some plays: Spring Storm

2010-07-17T18:03:00.004+01:00

Website: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Last night ABJ and I went to see the Tennessee Williams play Spring Storm at the National Theatre. The play was in the smaller Cottesloe Theatre which we had to hunt around to find.

Apparently the play was written when the young Tennessee Williams was in a writing class but the teachers and students were so negative about it that he put it away and it was only rediscovered after his death.

While I was waiting for ABJ I saw a "Watch This Space" performance by a troupe of jugglers in the area outside the theatre:
The play showed hints of Tennessee Williams' later works and was a story about a love triangle in the American South. The actors all spoke with a southern accent which made it fun to imagine what their real accents were.

The set and the set changes were very impressive - the set was a kind of squashed house and the set changers involved energetic people running in and restructuring the debris into a library or a living room.Summary: Good early Tennessee Williams.

See some plays: The Prisoner of Second Avenue

2010-07-14T08:19:00.003+01:00

Website:
http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whatson.php?id=65
http://www.vaudeville-theatre.co.uk

On Monday night ABJ and I went to see The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre. We both enjoyed it immensely.

The play starred Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl as Mel and Edna, a couple living on the 14th floor of an apartment block in New York City. Mel is anxious and neurotic about living in New York - the noise, the pollution, the faulty apartment - and during the play he has a nervous breakdown. In the end Edna and Mel realise what's important in life and end up somewhat happy again.

The play was laugh-out-loud funny and the performances were excellent. ABJ especially enjoyed the portrayal of Mel's Jewish New Yorker family.

Sometime during the first act Mel went berserk and threw things around the stage. A pillow he threw landed up on the lighting and during the interval someone had to come out with a grabbing arm and retrieve it:
After the show we wanted to find something to eat and as we walked around trying to find a restaurant we stumbled upon the theatre's stage door. There was a crowd of people waiting there for Jeff Goldblum's autograph. We decided to wait to see what would happen. After about 10 minutes the actors started to come out. When Jeff came out he was mobbed by the fans but he was a very nice guy - he took time to sign everyone's tickets/flyers/hands and even posed for photos with people. One person said "You inspired me to go to acting school!" to which he replied "Oh, acting school?... I think I'm still in acting school...". ABJ managed to get one of our tickets signed.
Summary: Great play with great performances...

See some plays: Dandy of the Underworld

2010-07-12T09:33:00.002+01:00

Website: http://www.sohotheatre.com

About a week and a half ago ABJ and I went to see a play called "Dandy in the Underworld" at the Soho Theatre. It was based on the memoir of Sebastian Horsley - a man who lived an extravagant life in the heart of Soho. The play had been in the news because a day after it opened Horsley was found dead at his home from a suspected drugs overdose. ABJ and I didn't know much about him when we booked into see the play but but the end we felt much more knowledgeable.

The play was a single-act that lasted something over an hour. The one actor played Horsley as he hung around his Soho flat getting ready to go out for lunch. He talked about his life, his past and his experiences with sex and drugs. The script was funny and poignant in turns.

The actor managed to keep everyone's attention for the whole play, whether he was getting dressed in a bright-red suit with bright-red top hat, or shouting out the window at noisy drug dealers or prostitutes...

We both enjoyed the show so much that when we left ABJ bought the book that's it's based on.Summary: An enjoyable night out...

Tate modern restaurant

2010-07-01T21:03:00.007+01:00

Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eatanddrink/restaurant.htm

Last Saturday ABJ and I ate lunch at the restaurant at the top of the Tate modern.

I'd heard that there were wonderful views from the top and I'd even heard rumours that there was a restaurant at the very top of the Tate modern tower. In reality the restaurant is on Level 7 of the art gallery. This was high enough to get good views as well as make it a lengthy procedure to get there in the lifts:We arrived and asked for a table for two near a window. This we promptly received although not on the river-side but on the opposite side with views over the modern architecture at the rear of the gallery. Unforunately the bright summer sun was reflecting off a glass roof outside and blinded anyone sitting at our table. We tried moving but the problem followed us as the sun moved in the sky. At last the waitress lowered the blinds to save our eyes...The food we ordered was very tasty and we were enjoying it so much we ordered dessert.Summary: Good views, tasty food.

The list (number eight)

2010-06-06T09:49:00.002+01:00

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out:

~~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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, ~~big synagogue~~, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
~~Tour around Battersea power station~~
Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
Tour round ~~Albert Hall~~ and Albert Memorial
Tour round Chiswick's Fuller's brewery
Tour round Wandsworth's Young's Brewery
Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern
Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and ~~Kensington Olympia~~
~~Visit a city farm~~
~~Tour round Thames barrier~~
Visit a talk at the Royal Geographical Society
~~Buy some food from a roadside taxi cafe~~
Visit the London library at Piccadilly

Exhibition at Olympia

2010-06-06T09:29:00.007+01:00

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

Yesterday ABJ and I went to visit the London Fine Art Fair at Olympia exhibition centre. ABJ had managed to secure a free day-pass for two people for the fair so we turned up and saved a total of £22 in ticket prices. The exhibition centre was built in 1885 as a dedicated exhibition centre. It is not, as I had thought, a transformed train station...

After getting our bags searched we entered the cavernous exhibition space. It was a breath-taking first-impression - the huge expanse of girders was painted white and extended high above us:We walked thoroughly around the ground floor looking at the hundreds of different stalls along the way. We've both been to similar exhibitions and we both felt that this was was very quiet. Despite it being mid-afternoon on a Saturday there were very few people around and every stall looked pretty deserted of customers.
We saw lots of interesting things, many of them not things I would classify as "fine art". We saw suites of armour:as well as stalls selling exquisite fossils, retro film posters, furniture, even cold-war era binoculars... There were also a few paintings and sculptures, the kind of thing I would expect.

After snooping around the ground floor we ascended a flight of stairs to "The Orangery" and did a circuit up there. After I was hit by a hay-fever sneezing fit we continued on our way and took in the birds-eye view:
By this time we'd decided that everything was way out of our price range, so we left. ABJ had to have her bag searched again, even though it's far too small to steal anything that was on sale...

We saw a cute car on the outside:
Summary: Good to finally see the interior of the Olympia exhibition centre.

See some plays: Sweet Charity

2010-05-30T17:33:00.005+01:00

Websites:
http://www.trh.co.uk
http://www.sweetcharitywestend.com

Last night ABJ and I went to see the musical Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. We bought our tickets around 6pm ready for the 7.30pm show time.

Our seats were in the gallery - the highest part of the theatre. As the musical started we found we had a whole row to ourselves. The people sitting in the gallery rows in front of us were packed shoulder to shoulder whereas we had plenty of room. During the interval the audience shuffled around and a few people came to join the empty rows around us. I enjoyed seeing the spot lights just behind us shining all the way down to the stage...The show itself was fun - I particular liked a scene in which the two characters are trapped in a lift. They did a good job at making you believe they really were trapped in this small space...Summary: Short and sweet charity

Watch the London marathon

2010-04-26T09:33:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com

Yesterday was the 2010 London Marathon. This 26.2 mile race has been held in London every year since the first one in 1981. Even though I've lived in London for almost 8 years I'd never made it down to the marathon on race day to cheer along the runners - that is, until yesterday...

Before setting off we looked up the race course on the website. It starts in Greenwich and follows a circuitous route through London before arriving along the Embankment, through Parliament Square and to the finish line on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. ABJ and I decided to visit the last part of the race.

We arrived at around 3.30pm and the race had already been going for over 6 hours. The best runner had finished in 2 hours 5 minutes but there were still plenty of people running along the Embankment when we arrived.

All along the running course there were members of the public cheering the runners or looking out for their friend/family member who was running the race. Many people get sponsored to run the race and along the route there were small teams from the many charities that were there to support the people running for them.

We saw quite a few people in fancy dress - there were people dressed as bears, mice, superheroes, Wizard of Oz characters, firemen, rhinos... There were also tough-looking men wearing a full army backpack marching along stridently.

Every mile was marked with a huge archway which had a digital clock showing your current time:The racers could also grab a free bottle of water as they went:but this led to lots of litter on the track:At last ABJ and I walked up to Parliament Square, intending to see the finish line. To get to St James Park we had to cross the running course - something that was achieved by a sophisticated system which involved a kind of queuing island in the middle of the race lane. The runners were diverted along one side of the island while the public were urged onto the island. When it was full the runners were diverted along the other side and the public could cross all the way. The whole thing ran very smoothly thanks to the multitude of volunteers on hand.

At last we made it to St James Park near Buckingham Palace. There we encouraging signs for the runners:
and at last the finish line:
Since we were seeing the runners that finished around 7 hours 20 minutes many of them looked injured and slow but we cheered them on all the louder.

The whole event was very inspiring - making me want to try to run a marathon one day!

Summary: "Come on! You can do it!"

See some plays: The Real Thing

2010-04-21T08:28:00.004+01:00

Website: http://www.oldvictheatre.com

Last night ABJ and I went to see a Tom Stoppard play called The Real Thing at the Old Vic. She had bought tickets which, although high up on the "Lilian Baylis Upper Circle", were exactly in the centre so offered a very good view of the stage.

The lobby of the theatre was packed full of people having a pre-theatre drink of expensive glasses of champagne:We got a drink downstairs in the Pit Bar and took them into our seats (this time we were experienced enough to ask for the drinks in plastic cups).

The theatre interior was ornately decorated with a huge chandelier in the centre: I managed to take one last photo of the stage before an usher told me off for taking pictures:
The play itself was very good. It dealt with love and tangled relationships. My favourite part involved a monologue comparing good use of words to a cricket bat and contrasting a coffee cup to the ideas of justice, honesty etc.

During the interval we has some tasty, but expensive Cornish ice cream.

Summary: Good play, nice venue, packed out audience.

Tour round BBC Television Centre

2010-04-18T13:27:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tours/televisioncentre.shtml

Yesterday ABJ and I went on a tour around the BBC Television Centre. The tour began at 4.30pm and I'd booked our £7.50 tickets earlier in the week by phone.

We arrived at the reception and waited with the rest of the tour group until our guide arrived. The group consisted of 6 teenage students on a school trip, their two teachers and a mother and young son Zack.

At last our tour guide Kevin arrived and took a roll-call to check everybody was there. He then led us out and to the main entrance where we were subjected to an airport-style security check before being given a "tour pass". We were then led closer to the building and given a short introduction to the tour.

We were shown a large anonymous wall and told that it was the side wall to Studio 1 - their biggest TV studio, about the size of half a football pitch.
We were then shown a TARDIS and encouraged to take photos. Kevin introduced our other tour guide and he showed us into the building and through to the news centre.

We arrived into a conference room which overlooked the news room. Since it was a Saturday the building wasn't fully-staffed and, of the few people we could see working ABJ spied one was on facebook... We were given a few facts and figures about the building. There are usually 8,000 people working on site and 2,000 of them in the news centre (which was a relatively new addition to the complex).

Some points of interest included the planning department, the BBC's own travel agency (which can get journalists anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat) and an area where there at two shifts, both 3 'til 3!

After the news area we were shown out to what used to be the main entrance when the centre was opening in the early 1960s. Since it was a nice sunny day we then left by the "stage door" and stood outside in the middle of the circular centre of the building. Apparently this was "hallowed ground" in the sense that no-one was allowed to drive there. Only 3 people have done do so: the Queen, Jeremy Clarkson and Jennifer Lopez.We heard all about the invention of TV and how the BBC was approached by John Logie Baird to do some test transmissions (since the BBC already broadcast radio). During World War II all TV was put on hold so the BBC could concentrate on radio. Apparently TV transmission stopped in the middle of a cartoon and restarted 6 years later with a woman announcing "We're sorry for the interruption". There were three pretty statues representing Light, Sound and Vision.

We also heard about the design of the television centre. This was to be the world's first dedicated TV centre. The architect was brought into design it was stuck for a while because his building had to fit onto an awkward triangular piece of land. At last he had a breakthrough and designed the building to be question-mark shaped...

The tour continued into a real live TV studio - Studio 4. This was a surreal experience. We walking into the large echoless space which had a dark black floor, immense lighting rig on the ceiling and plenty of control switches on the walls. This type of studio was designed by the architect to be a kind of "television factory". It was the first in the world and was so successful that all subsequent studios worldwide are based on it.The lighting rig had hundreds of lights each one of which could be individually positioned.
For shows with an audience there was seating that came out from the wall. The floor was divided into 2 foot squares with coordinates so that sets could be accurately planned and placed precisely in the right places.
Perhaps the most strange part of the whole place was the fact that for every single show they paint the entire floor, i.e. before a show starts they get huge brushes and paint the floor, they then set up the show, film it, pack away the show and then clean off the paint from the floor. This troublesome-sounding activity is done each time to ensure the floor is totally smooth so that as cameras glide around they don't bump up and down (apparently this would translate to a big wobble on screen even if the bump is small). I was initially shocked by the waste of all the paint and solvent but then they revealed that they convert it into fertiliser and sell it.

We left the studio and went upstairs to the BBC weather centre. Here we heard about how weather forecasters are each trained meteorologists who write there own scripts and have to make as many as 130 forecasts a day (for all all over the world)! It sounded like a lonely life - they film their forecasts in a small automated studio with no other humans around... There was a long corridor with photos of the presenters.While we stood in the corridor Kevin explained the use of green-screen special effects technology. We even had a chance to play with presenting the weather - Zack did a good job telling us about the rain in Hong Kong.

After the weather centre we were led to a celebrity green room - the fancy rooms that hold celebrities before they appear on a TV show. This was fairly plush with nice seating and subdued lighting. We heard all about the fantastic demands some celebrities make - e.g. Madonna wanted a portrait of the Pope. Apparently the stars themselves pay for this afterwards (ABJ and I speculated whether the stars are told they'll be charged before they make their big demands).

The tour finished off in an "interactive studio" where we could play at making a TV show. This was similar to the radio studio at the end of the Broadcasting House tour. Zack had a go at reading the news and three of the students took part in a kind of Weakest Link quiz show. This was a fun end to the tour and Zack and the quiz winners got BBC mugs for prizes.The final stop was the BBC shop where we could buy souvenirs. ABJ and I are now considering being in a TV show audience.

Summary: Good fun. The best bit was the TV studio.

Sotheby's auction

2010-04-14T17:58:00.007+01:00

Website: http://www.sothebys.com

Today I had a high-class adventure by sitting in on a Sotheby's auction. The auction was "Arts of The Islamic World" and started at 10am.

I arrived on my bike to the New Bond Street auction house after getting hopelessly lost in the one-way systems in Mayfair. Luckily I'd left plenty of time... I arrived in the plush entrance lobby and asked an usher where the auction was. He said "Up the stairs at the back and to the top".

When I followed his directions I'd arrived in a kind of art gallery full of modern Turkish art. I initially thought I'd gone to the wrong place but then spotted that there was a hidden entranceway which led into a large auction hall:
There were quite a few people and lots of rows of seats. I took a seat near the front and waited for the auction to start. While I waited I looked around and tried to size-up which of the rich-and-powerful-looking people had the most money. There were men in exquisite suits and coiffed hair, there were women bedazzled with jewellery and fancy clothes. Since the auction was selling Islamic art there a lot of middle-eastern people in the audience. I tried to size up which of them were rich oil tycoons.

At last, slightly after 10am, the auctioneer stood up on his well-worm podium and welcomed everyone. He said hello in a variety of languages and generally beamed a smile around the room.

Without further ado Lot 1 was presented and the bidding was under way. The types of things up for auction included paintings, old writings, beautiful wooden boxes, silk curtains, intricately decorated Korans etc etc. The auctioneer was very good and did his job in a playful manner.
Sometimes the auctioneer would have an absentee bid where he would bid up to a pre-defined limit on someone's behalf. Here's an example, all called out in a posh English accent:

"Lot 13 now open. Absentee bid at 3000. 3-2? 3-2? 3200, 3-5 me, 3-8? 3-8. 4000 me, 4-2? 4.2. 4-5 me, 4.8? 4-8? It's with me not you. 4-8? 4-8 at the back, 5000 me. 5-2? Anybody for 5-2? 5-2 the gentleman on my left. That's me out. 5-5? 5-5? any advance on 5-2? 5-5! with Roxanne on the phone. 5-8? 5-8. 6? 6. 6-5? 6-5? Roxanne has it... 6-5? Any more? Roxanne for 6500. That's fair warning, I'm selling to Roxanne for 6500. Selling... Sold! SLAM!"

When a sale was made he'd bang down his gavel and immediately move on to the next lot. Sometimes he's say "bad luck" if somebody was outbid or while everyone was bidding he might ask someone politely to "Say 7-2" if he was trying to push them to bid higher (this often worked!).

The current highest bid (in a variety of currencies) would appear along with a picture of the item on two enormous TV screens:
When making their first bid the bidder would do a big gesture like raising their hand or their bidding paddle to catch the auctioneers attention. After that the auctioneer would look at them directly so they only had to nod or raise their eyebrows to make the next bid. At one point a man was waving to his friend at the back of the room and almost bid £10,000 for a painting! (The auctioneer warned him to be careful!). This made me very wary about gesturing when the bidding was taking place - one wrong move and I'd have committed to buying small wooden box for £45,000! I would sit there dying to scratch my nose but knowing that it just wasn't worth it!

Along the right-hand side of the room was a long row of people on telephones relaying the bids from people elsewhere:
The auctioneer would refer to them by name (e.g. Roxanne in the example above) and they would be continually quietly muttering into their phones (echoing the auctioneer) to keep the bidders up-to-date. After only a few lots there was a bidding war between two telephone bidders and the price rocketed from about £20,000 to £200,000!

Each time a new lot was started a wooden turn-table would spin around to reveal the item:
The far side of the turn-table was then loaded up with the next lot so that the process could be smoothly repeated next time. Sometimes the items were very small so a man would stand there and hold it aloft with white-gloved hands: Other items were too big and were "Sold as seen". This meant you saw a picture of the item but you were expected to have looked at it beforehand if you intended to bid.

As time went on bidding process became a bit repetitive. I starting wanting to bid early on (and then be out-bid) just so I could tell people that I'd bid at Sotheby's. The low bids were usually around £3,000 but I realised that if I chose the wrong one to bid on I might not be saved by a higher bid - ugh! I'd be stuck with an over-priced piece of Islamic art. Indeed, some of the bids never got sold - the starting price was too high so no-one wanted it.

I left after about an hour and passed by the posh art-sellers chit-chatting at the back of the room.

Summary: Surprisingly exhilarating.

See some plays: Sweet Nothings

2010-04-05T17:54:00.005+01:00

Website: http://www.youngvic.org

A week ago last Friday ABJ and I took an evening out to visit the Young Vic Theatre. We were there to see Sweet Nothings - a play with the tagline "Four young people risk everything in a tragic game of love, lust and adultery"!

We arrived and picked up our cheap £10 student/"under 26" tickets at the front desk. We then went to have a drink in the crowded downstairs bar. In the hope of a place to sit we ventured upstairs to another bar but this was also packed out. While we stood there sipping out beers we wondered if all the trendy people we could see were there for the play or if the Young Vic was also a hip place to hang out.

At last we went into the theatre, awkwardly transferring out drinks to plastic cups. It was unreserved seating inside so we sat on the front row.

The play itself was really good and we couldn't have picked better seats - in some parts the actors were standing directly in front of us while they collected wine glasses or boiled coffee. The stage was round and slowly rotated during the performance. This was quite subtle and often you would have a double-take to realise that the piano that was 20 minutes ago on the far left was now at the back of the stage...

In the interval we overheard two men nearby discussing about how dreadful the play was "it's all style and no substance" etc. We discreetly made fun of them because we were enjoying the play. In the end they walked out and didn't stay for the second half.

All in all it was a good evening out.
Summary: Good play, funky venue.

Cabman's shelter

2010-03-19T18:16:00.003Z

Everyday I cycle past a green shed-like building on my way to work. It's one of a number of "Cabman's shelters" in London - road-side huts providing hot meals to taxi-drivers.

The one I go past is in South Kensington but I've seen others in Notting Hill, St John's Wood etc. When they're open there's usually a line of taxis parked nearby with gruff-looking taxi drivers queuing up to buy their lunch.

Today I joined them and bought my lunch at a Cabman's shelter.

I gingerly approached the hut and went around to the serving window. There was a taxi-driver chatting to the woman inside and I nervously hung back, acutely aware that I am not a taxi-driver...

At last the man was served his cup of tea and went off to his waiting cab. I stepped up to the window and ordered an egg roll from the woman inside. While she went about cooking it up another taxi-driver came up and eyed me suspiciously. He ordered his tuna baguette and we stood waiting in stony silence, both aware that I was trespassing on the cabman's turf.
At last my roll was ready and off I went, munching happily and trying not to squirt ketchup down my front!

Summary: A window into the cabman's world.

Bevis Marks Synagogue

2010-02-01T08:33:00.004Z

Website: http://bevismarks.org.uk

Yesterday ABJ and I visited the Bevis Marks synagogue, the oldest surviving synagogue in the UK. It's been operating for 308 years, ever since its completion in 1702.

We'd investigated visiting times on their fancy website but yesterday the site was down and was replaced with a very basic one with little information. We finally ended up phoning them and were told the opening hours were 10.30am-12.30pm on Sundays. We hurried across London and arrived at about 11am.

We were greeted by a tough-looking Polish bouncer. He charged us the student admission of £2 each before letting us in. Excitingly I had to cover my head with a yarmulke picked from a basket near the entrance. This was the first time I'd worn anything like this.

Entering the synagogue I found it was smaller than I'd expected. For a building with such an illustrious history I was expecting a huge cavernous interior. Instead it was the same size as a medium/small church.

Apparently there'd be a tour shortly so ABJ and I spent the time exploring. We examined the original English-oak furniture which has been used for hundreds of years. Unfortunately we exhausted the interior in about 5 minutes so sat down and watched the other visitors.

Eventually a walking tour group arrived and a man emerged from a side-door to give them the tour. We tagged along and all sat on the centre benches. The tour guide was a friendly man in his 50s who'd been associated to the synagogue for a long time (he said he'd been in the choir when he was 6!).

We heard how the synagogue was built by Spanish and Portuguese Jews who'd fled the Spanish inquisition to Amsterdam before travelling on to London. We heard about how the seven chandeliers represented the seven days of the week with the largest one for the Sabbath. The guide explained that a lot of the building and carpentry was done by people who built churches. He pointed out features of the synagogue which were identical to English churches of the same period and even, he suggested, completed in the same workshops!

The guide told us about some famous Jews associated with the synagogue including Prime Minster Benjamin Disraeli and rich philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore (who is so respected his seat is roped off as a memorial). When the guide had finished we left the synagogue, dropping of my yarmulke on the way. While waiting outside we heard the leader of the walking tour referring to the synagogue guide: "He's a very nice man and it's all very interesting but he doesn't half go on a bit...!"Summary: A small taste of London Jewish history.

Debates in Parliament

2010-01-26T17:15:00.005Z

Websites:
http://www.parliament.uk
http://www.writetothem.com
http://www.theyworkforyou.com

It's been a while since I've done anything for the Local Tourist but this came up by chance today...

The Government is going to cut millions of pounds of funding for universities and colleges. To try to stop this the University and College Union (UCU) had organised a national "lobby of parliament" to be held today. I'd be alerted to this by a friend's email a few days ago so decided to lend my support.

That's when the trouble began... You see, when they said "lobby of parliament" I'd understood "protest outside parliament" - a concept which I'm already familiar with. As it turned out I had misunderstood completely.

The lobby was scheduled from 2.30-4.30pm and I turned up outside the Houses of Parliament at 2.30pm expecting to see an army of annoyed students and lecturers with banners and placards. The only crowds I could see were groups of tourists taking photos.

There had been mention of a "feeder march" from Kings College starting at 1.30pm so I thought that perhaps that hadn't arrived yet. I saw a group of rowdy students joining a queue to enter the Houses of Parliament (they were chanting something like "No ifs! No buts! We don't want your budget cuts!"). I decided they must be the early ones and so went to look for the march that was heading our way. Only trouble is, there was no giant march!

Somewhat puzzled I went back to the queue and thought about what to do. I'd visited the inside of parliament before but never during a weekday - perhaps instead of a protest this was my chance to tick something off my local tourist list...

At this point I saw LB and WR queuing to go inside. LB was the friend who sent the email about the lobby. I called down to them from the pavement and asked what was going on. LB said they were queuing to get inside and were going to do some tourism. I said I'd see them inside and went to join the queue. From his response I'd decided there must have been such a small turn out that the protest was cancelled and they'd decided to visit parliament instead as a consolation.

The rowdy students had already gotten inside and at this point I thought that perhaps the protest was going to happen inside parliament. Although I was pretty sure that wouldn't be allowed by the numerous police I nevertheless wanted to be inside if there was something to see.

I asked a steward outside if I could queue to go inside. She sized me up as a rowdy student and asked why I was going inside. "Just visiting," I replied innocently and eventually, after trying to persuade me to come back in 1 or 2 hours, she let me in with a ticket to the public viewing gallery. As I passed her I heard a police radio announce that they should stop letting in any more students...

When I finally made it inside I thought I might see my friends waiting somewhere ready to protest. As it turns out they were nowhere to be seen. While wondering what to do a policeman made a bee-line for me and asked why I was there. Too scared of being kicked out if I said "I'm looking for a student protest" I said "I'm going to the public gallery!". He let me pass with no trouble.

I've been to the viewing gallery before. This time was just the same - you sign a little piece of paper saying you won't cause a disturbance, hand in your phone and bags and then are led into the hushed viewing gallery. From there you can look down on the MPs while they debate.

When I visited a few years ago it was late in the evening and there were only around 6 MPs present. This time there was about 80 MPs and they were discussing a varied selection of topics. The viewing gallery was stuffed full of a mix of tourists, elderly middle-class women and randoms like me.

I've never been particularly knowledgeable about politics so this was my chance to see the spectacle first-hand. I gazed around the green leather-upholstered seats and tried to size-up the MPs. I watched as MPs slouched in their seats and openly yawned, listened as they gabbled and stuttered their way through their prepared remarks and improvised answers.

I'd never watched parliament sitting for a well-attended debate before. The whole thing was ludicrous. The time-slot I saw was "Topical Questions to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government". The questions ranged over a variety of parochial topics but every single answer was identical - a knee-jerk rebuttal which ignored the main thrust of the question. And that was if they knew about the topic! If they didn't even know about the question they'd say "I'll write to you with the answer".

This was all mixed in with excessive etiquette about "My right honourable so-and-so" or "Mr Speaker, if I may..." which the MPs all flustered over so much it completely eclipsed what they were trying to say. Not to mention the opposition MPs who wanted to raise points (I think) so would stand up tentatively two or three at a time whenever there was a lull in the proceedings. As soon as the speaker called the next question they'd have to sit back down having said nothing. This was repeated periodically after every question.

There were MPs who obviously came from constituencies which have real problems and which some particular Government scheme was going to badly affect them. They would ask the front bench politicians to "guarantee this" or "wouldn't you agree with me that" but every response just steamrollered over the MPs worries and repeated their fixed answer.

At the end of these topical questions there were a few points of order raised which included one MP complaining that another MP had campaigned in their consituency without informing them beforehand. At this point I starting to despair.

Anyway, after I'd sat for about 20/30 minutes the next topic came up - a lengthy speech about ambulance response times. I left at this point to see if the UCU protest had warmed up.

As I was leaving the entrance to the viewing gallery a guard asked some elderly ladies in front of me if they were going to visit the House of Lords. They declined but I asked him about it and he showed me where to go (there was no sign of UCU by the way).

This was a whole different affair. There were around 20 Lords sitting around their red leather-upholstered chamber and they were talking about the Digital Economy Bill. The atmosphere in the House of Lords was quite different to the House of Commons. Practically every Lord had some kind of disability that meant they hobbled around or leant on furniture while speaking but my main impression was they had much more time to debate. Every sentence they pronounced was studded with long pauses while they found the right way to express their next idea. This was not rhetoric at its best but was much better than the MPs debate where it was a pleasant surprise to see someone form a single grammatically correct sentence.

They were debating the powers that should be given to the Government to try to stop illegal downloading of films/music etc on the internet. They were talking about the film Avatar and the music services Spotify and iTunes, even the website "Oink". This all constrasted sharply with the ancient stained-glass windows and the golden bejeweled throne sitting at the back wall. The best contribution was from Lord Lucas (I think) who said that rather than trying to ban illegal downloads (which, he said, would never really succeed) it was better to make copyrighted material available in other means for a fee. That way people would simply pay to download a film rather than watching a pirated copy.

After a while listening to this I gave up and went back to the main entrance. I was still on the look-out for protesters and was very happy to see WR. He was sitting quietly on a bench reading a book. At last! Someone who could tell me what was going on!

He explained the lobby of parliament was going ahead - it was in a committee room upstairs. He had been there earlier and listened to a few speeches and now he was waiting to meet his MP to talk about the funding cuts. I revealed shame-facedly that I didn't even know who my MP was (a situtation I have since rectified). I told him what I'd been doing and he was so interested he went off to the public viewing gallery. I set off to find the "UCU committee room" - room 19 as it turned out - and arrived at about 4.30pm. Unfortunately the lobby was only going on from 2.30-4.30pm so I arrived at precisely the moment that everybody was leaving...

Nevermind, I now know how little I know about parliament and will have to educate myself in the future. I left for home feeling a little bit wiser.

Summary: Parliamentary debates are an interesting spectacle to witness first hand.

Museums and Art Galleries (Second attempt)

2009-08-25T11:12:00.001+01:00

Looks like I'm doing well on the museums and art galleries front:

Museums:

~~London Transport Museum~~
~~Sherlock Holmes Museum~~
~~Dicken's House Museum~~
Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Cutty Sark and Golden Hind
Bank of England Museum
~~Guards Museum in London~~
~~HMS Belfast~~
Clockmakers' Museum
Dr. Johnson's House
Hogarth's House
~~Kensington Palace~~
The National Archives
~~Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising~~
Wellcome Collection
~~Madame Tussauds~~
~~Science Museum~~
~~Natural History Museum~~
~~Victoria and Albert Museum~~
~~Royal Observatory, Greenwich~~
~~Wellington Arch~~

Art Galleries:

~~Barbican~~
White Cube
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Guildhall Art Gallery
~~National Gallery~~
~~National Portrait Gallery~~
~~Tate Modern~~
~~Tate Britain~~

The list (number seven)

2009-08-25T11:09:00.002+01:00

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out:

~~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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, big synagogue, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
~~Tour around Battersea power station~~
Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
Tour round ~~Albert Hall~~ and Albert Memorial
Tour round Chiswick's Fuller's brewery
Tour round Wandsworth's Young's Brewery
Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern
Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and Kensington Olympia
~~Visit a city farm~~
~~Tour round Thames barrier~~
Visit a talk at the Royal Geographical Society
Buy some food from a roadside taxi cafe

Kensington Palace

2009-08-24T18:15:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace

Yesterday ABJ and I visited Kensington Palace. As I work nearby I've been past the place hundreds of times but I'd never actually been inside. It turned out that you got a discount of £1 if you booked your tickets online so I booked two £10 student tickets before we set out.

It was a sunny day and we arrived in the busy Kensington Gardens, entered the main approach to the palace and found the ticket desks around the back. We picked up our tickets smoothly and got out audio guide.

Unfortunately the audio guide hand-held wand was quite uncomfortable - there was a big nodule sticking out which you had to hold against your ear. It was just too big to fit inside your ear and just too small to rest your ear against, instead you continually bashed your ear lobe against it as it rattled in circles around your outer ear as you wandered the hallways. Not only that but when each audio entry finished there was no signal - just silence. This led to us holding the wands to our ears in humble uncertainty for 5-10 seconds after each entry. We set off and learned about the ceremonial costumes that young men and women used to wear. The costumes on display were original and some were very impressive - lots of gold embroidery. Some of the more ceremonial aspects seemed very pointless - the worst beinga flattened hat which couldn't even be worn but had to be carried tucked under the arm as a sign of respect to the monarch.

There was a mock-up of a upper-class tailor's showroom where you could inspect the fabrics they used and see colonial uniforms on display. A few more rooms showed original laces and a sewing workshop. It was interesting to learn how immense the effort was to make many of the garments on display - many young women working in terrible conditions to make the finery for the upper-class. ABJ did some arty photography: We were then treated to room after room of dresses that Princess Diana had worn. This seemingly never-ending parade of 80s and 90s dress styles is one of the main attractions to the palace but I found it fairly dull:From this point on, in fact, the exhibits became more and more strange. There was a focus on débutantes - the young upper-class women who were presented to the King and Queen. This included a series of video interviews with the "last debs" - the practise ended in March 1958 so many of the girls presented are still alive:There were lots of old photos of "debs" and "debs delights" (i.e. the men who dated/danced with the debs) but they didn't have very useful captions - no dates or other handy info. The structure of the exhibits became more unusual - the path became non-linear and poorly signposted and the displays of dresses looked more and more like they'd been dreamt up by a exhibition designer left to run wild. There were huge cardboard cutouts of women curtseying, dresses displayed in rooms with mirrors on the walls, a giant 10ft tall fabric wedding cake etc etc.

After a room where you could practice walking in a straight line with a book on your head, learn how to reply to a party invitation, how to curtsey etc, there was a room with authentic nik-nacks from the good old days (e.g. "I bought these bras in Paris" etc).

We then transitioned from debs to the history of the palace and were treated to a long series of dark wood-panelled rooms with lavish tapestries and paintings. One featured a "fat Venus" and was the cause of a dispute about displaying such a grotesque painting:
There was a chance to see the view over the gardens from inside (rather than my usual view from the gardens looking in): We toured the long line of similar rooms and marvelled at the fancy furniture. One room had a "wind dial" - a device that displayed the prevailing wind direction through a connection to a weather vane on the roof:
We were impressed by a "lantern" in the ceiling of one room/floor of another which we decided we should have in our house one day...At length our tour ended in the busy perfumed gift shop. We took a last look at the impressive but hidden gardens:and were then on our way.

Summary: To expensive for such a poorly put together tour.

Vauxhall City Farm

2009-08-10T21:43:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.vauxhallcityfarm.org

Yesterday ABJ and I visited Vauxhall City Farm. This was the nearest city farm to where we live but was still a long tube ride away. When we finally arrived at Vauxhall we were greeted by a corridor of vandalised bikes, a collection of "Murder" signs and a crowd of drunks wandering the streets. We picked our way through the decay and followed the signs to the farm.

The farm was tucked away on a side street and we were welcomed by the cockerel crowing. The first definite evidence that we'd arrived at the farm was the two cows in a field next to the local park:We then realised where to go and went in the main gate. Immediately we peered in the first room and saw some fat rabbits and cute guinea pigs.It was soon clear to me that this was going to be the main part of the visit - cooing over cute animals. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think I read somewhere that some city farms do pony rides...

The next sight was a pen filled with moulting chickens. These were running around trying to clear out their plumage. This led to some ridiculous looking birds with feathers all down their legs:We then found ourselves in the Eco-garden which had a pond and a hut built from old tyres.
When we returned to the chicken area we were alarmed to see a chicken lying on the floor looking like it was dead. It lay on its side, still and lifeless. Very concerned for its well-being I went to tell one of the farm helpers. I spoke to a man supervising the construction of some bird-houses for local children and was told to speak to another helper. This one also looked very grave and walked with me to the chicken. He picked it up carefully and placed it on a plank of wood. "Oh she's alrigh'. She were sunbathing that's all!" It was fine. How embarrassing.

We retreated back to the main gate area and continued to explore the rest of the farm. There were plenty of stables with guinea pigs, ferrets, ducks and chicks crawling through the straw bedding. In addition to these typical farm animals we were surprised by how many pigeons there were. In each room there were loads of pigeons pecking through the straw and feeding in the food bowls. I guess they put the "city" in "city farm".

Opposite these stables were some larger animals including sheep:pigs,and massive noisy ducks:
We also saw a llama that looked just as lifeless as the chicken we saw earlier. But we'd learnt our lesson. It looked dead but was really just sunbathing (don't worry - we saw it walking around later on):Beyond the larger animals and ducks (including some funny-looking tufted-head ducks) was the Community Garden which grew corn, tomatoes and lots of other things. ABJ tried to make friends with the local cat but we found it hard to get any acknowledgement from it:We peered into the private allotments nearby and then returned the way we had come back to the main gate. On the way we saw another llama that needed a hair-cut:and made a donation "down the cow's bum" to help them continue their good work:Summary: Good fun and inspiring to know there's people out there to help look after the variety of animals that end up in the farm (e.g. from "saved from the slaughter-house" to "left by the farm gates").

Chelsea Physic Garden

2009-08-02T21:36:00.007+01:00

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

Today ABJ and I visited the Chelsea Physic Garden. We'd tried to go once before but had ended up mistakenly in the "Royal Hospital Chelsea" down the road. This time we were successful.

The entry fee for students is a mere £5 for which you get two information sheets, a map, hand-held audio-guide and the opportunity to follow a guided tour around the gardens. We decided to skip the guided tour and rely on the audio-guide instead to aid our visit to the 3.8 acre site:We found a bench near the centre of the gardens, sat and read the information sheets and then keyed in "1" and "Play" on our audio wands. It turns out the garden was founded in 1673 by a group of apothecaries who wanted to grow plants for use in their medicines as well as teach their apprentices how to care for the plants they needed. In the course of history the site was acquired by Dr Hans Sloane (after whom Sloane Square is named) and the rent for the site was fixed forever at £5 (which is still paid to an Earl of Somewhere).

The long history means that many important plants were introduced to Britain first in the Chelsea Physic Garden. The garden went through lots of ups and downs and in 1983 was threatened with closure. This forced them to set up a charity to run it and open the gardens to the public.

We watched the mixture of local residents who were there for the tranquillity and tourists who were there for the history. All the tourists sat listening to their audio-guides (us included) while the locals reclined in their benches looking snooty - compare left and right here:We set off from our bench and walked to the Pond Rockery. This was the oldest rockery in Europe and a listed "building". Amongst the rocks were volcanic basalt brought back as ballast by explorers from Iceland as well as masonry from the Tower of London:
It was an excellent rockery.

We then wandered the planted beds and saw rare plants and vegetables. Apparently it's now no longer possible to by 90% of the seed varieties you could buy at the start of the 20th century. That doesn't sound good does it? This area of the garden was part of their attempt to preserve these unusual varieties of onions, potatoes etc.

In our walking we came across the oldest outdoor olive tree in Britain (which still gives a good harvest of green olives every year - these must be picked before the pigeons eat them):
We then entered the glasshouses to the north of the gardens. Here we saw lots of tropical plants:
including vanilla:and chillis:After passing the Poison Plot where they keep all the poisonous (but sometimes medicinally useful) plants we found ourselves at the cafe. It served tea and homemade cakes and was packed by posh Chelsea people:We had a quick look at some carnivourous plants:and some really impressive plants that have evolved to camouflage themselves like pebbles:
Next stop was the Cool Fernery (that's its actual name by the way):and some secluded walks through the undergrowth. We arrived at a big gate that led out to the Thames Embankment which is "used only for Royalty and manure":Next we saw the giant compost heaps: the study centre (complete with a "which plants grow best on roofs" experiment):
and the garden's beehives: They sell honey from the bees which is in such demand it's limited to 1 jar per person.

We stopped for a while at Fortune's Tank Pond and watched the wildlife (including the other visitors) before going out through the shop and buying a Purple Basil plant on the way.

Summary: A great day out in good weather.

Thames Flood Barrier

2009-04-14T19:42:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/38353.aspx

Yesterday I went on an adventure with ABJ to the Thames Flood Barrier. I visited Thames Barrier Park on the north of the river a few years ago and have always wanted to come back and find out more about it. Since I've mainly lived in west London and the barrier is in east London I've never got around to it. Until yesterday...

We got the train from Charing Cross to Charlton station and then, AtoZ in hand, headed for the river. We found the Thames Path and got out first glimpse of the futuristic looking barrier: We approached and arrived at an ominous tunnel that went underneath through the barrier before we found outselves next to a map of the Thames river. The map showed all the towns the river past through as well as all the bridges that cross it:We continued on through a pleasant picnic area/playground to the Information Centre. There was a nice view of the barrier and across the river to the Tate&Lyle sugar factory:
We bought our inexpensive tickets at the cafe and then went downstairs to learn about why the barrier was built and how it works. It turns out that under very specific (fairly rare) circumstances London is at risk of flooding due to a freakishly high water level on the Thames:To ensure that London is safe from flooding the Thames Barrier was built. Its construction lasted 8 years in the 1970s and 80s and we watched a retro documentary about how they built it. It was an impressively epic project that required precision engineering and complicated constructions. Each tower of the barrier is based on a deep foundation of concrete that was dug into man-made holes in the riverbed.

When the barrier is activated a curved barrier is raised from the riverbed and held up against the incoming tide:
This (impressively) keeps the normal tidal level upstream while keeping the unusually high tides "safely downstream". When the barrier is up the nice picnic area and playground outside becomes flooded.We learnt about how floods happen and how bad the flood was in 1953 which spurred people to build good flood defenses. There was a fun "Countdown to Closure" panel where you could listen to the kinds of conversations that go back and forth between the managers of the barrier and the MET office etc during the 48 hours prior to closing the barrier.

Somewhat disconcertingly the final information panels explained how climate change might still put London at risk of flooding over the next 100 years (despite the best efforts of the existing barrier!).

We eventually finished at the information centre and, since it was a nice sunny day, decided to walk to Thames Barrier Park on the north side. This involved following the Thames Path to the free Woolwich ferry and then continuing on the north side to the park. On the way there was lots of opportunity for arty photos:
We passed a Chinese cash'n'carry:
and came close to the imposingly massive Tate&Lyle sugar factory:before finally arriving at the excellent Barrier Park: This well-maintained park offered some more good views of the barrier from the other side and was full of people relaxing in the sun. After our hours of walking, however, we decided to head home on the DLR:
Summary: An interesting day out that finally taught me how the Thames Barrier works!

London Duck Tour

2009-04-11T21:25:00.006+01:00

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

Today I went on the London Duck Tour. Tickets have to be booked weeks in advance so, thanks to VB, we were booked in to go today. We turned up early at the official bus stop near Waterloo station:We were soon seated on the bright yellow duck bus. Although the seating was a bit cramped everyone was in high spirits - they were all excited about the unusual tour that awaited them.

The tour was due to start at 1pm so at the appointed time a man climbed on the bus, walked to the front and introduced himself: "Hello, I am Ivan, being your tour leader today. I from my Ukrainian republic. Thank you, please." We all looked disappointed that the tour guide was unable to speak English properly but then he sat down and said "Hi, I'm Nick!" in a fluent English accent.

After a few introductory "Where is everyone from!?" questions, we were on our way. We first learnt that the Borough of Lambeth was named after "the place where lambs birth". We then set off towards Westminster and passed a big protest: The tour guide cracked a lot of good jokes about Big Ben and Boudicca. I was impressed with his knowledge of the different statues on display in Parliament Square and Whitehall.

We passed up through Trafalgar Square: and then drove along Pall Mall (named, apparently, after an old-fashioned croquet-like game called Palle Maille). We were told about the weird things inside all the grand buildings we passed (e.g. a big swimming pool in one of them where the Queen would go swimming). Up next to Piccadilly we passed the Ritz hotel. Apparently Charlie Chaplin once worked here but was fired after sliding down a bannister...

Past Green Park we learnt it was built on a leper cemetery (which is why it's green - the gardeners didn't want to dig down to make any flower beds!). Past Wellington Arch:We went down past Buckingham Palace and through to the river again. We crossed Vauxhall Bridge and approached the imposing MI6 building. This was the unexpected river-entry point. We pulled into a little road just next to MI6 and our road driver got off and our "waterman" got on. Without further delay we were moving forward, speeding down the ramp to the Thames and SPLASH! we floated down into the water:Luckily the water didn't come in through the windows. We chugged along the Thames towards the Houses of Parliament and kept a pace with two canoers: While on the river our tour guide told us some facts and figures about the river (e.g. how many fish species are there, it's history, it's name (from an old Latin word for "dark" since it's so muddy)). It was fun to see the sights from waterlevel and the river-facing decorations:Unfortunately we didn't go any further down than the Houses of Parliament before turning around and leaving the river where we entered. We were soon back on the road and heading back towards where we started. We learnt that the Kinks song "Waterloo Sunset" was written while Ray Davies was recovering in St Thomas' Hospital.

During the ride we attracted a lot of attention from the general public due to our flamboyant vehicle:There was also a few opportunities for some arty photos:
Summary: It's fun to do a tour of the city you live in - even more so in a duck boat. I enjoyed the trip - especially because of the lively jokes from the tour guide.

The Barbican

2009-03-09T14:54:00.006Z

Website: http://www.barbican.org.uk

Last weekend I spent Saturday evening and Sunday day at the "Do Something Different..." weekend at the Barbican Centre.

I've been to the Barbican once before to see the play A Disappearing Number (well worth seeing) but it's a place that's intrigued me for a long time. It's a strange maze-like place that I've wanted to explore before but never had a chance to.

On Saturday night VB and LT met up after getting lost a few times in the Barbican surroundings. We were there for an evening of "playing games and other fun social events". Our first stop was the East London Cycling Machine:This involved peddaling on a tandem bike while watching a slide show of the creator's trips round east London. The trip I saw went past the Thames flood barrier to some marshes further east. The trip VB and LT did involved a watching the creators eat a full English breakfast... This machine served as a warm up in both body and mind: after it I was a bit exhausted but interested in what other activities there were.

We then went to make wire sculptures:before getting some pens and paper and settling down to play "Paper Telephone". This was a fun game although I think the 5 hours we spent playing it was a little too much...

We left the Barbican after all the events were over and returned at 10.30am on Sunday. This time we'd booked tickets for some of the events and, while we waited for the first one to start, we explored a little bit. We discovered an indoor jungle:The first event of the day was "Make it and race it" which involve creating a balloon-powered vehicle and trying to drive it the furthest distance possible. It was run by two enthusatic people - an artist and an architect. They mistook us for either architects or design students rather than the hodgepodge collection of people we were really. It was very fun making the cars and although my ambitious design for a trio of frictionless wheels didn't work (at all!) it was entertaining to use the glue guns and watch everyone else's designs take form.

After about 2 hours of this we were all exhausted and in need of some lunch. We went to the tasty but expensive cafe on the ground floor to refuel.

The next stop was a huge butterfly chandelier. Everywhere around the chandelier was a sea of babies, cardboard, glitter, pencils, glue sticks, scissors etc etc:
We found a quiet corner and made three butterflies before queuing for ages to get some string to hang them up. My butterfly had a net which contained a caught human:The next stop was a "Family Film Truck" - a lorry with its interior converted into a cinema:
Here we watched a hit-and-miss collection of 6 short children's films. The first one was the best - a silhouette film by Lotte Reiniger called "The Caliph Stork".

We finished the day by listening to "The Big Ukelele Bash" - a rabble of parents and children who had learnt to play "Singing in the Rain" on ukeleles. This was a little disappointing since almost all the children just held their instruments without playing them...After that we were so exhausted from playing all day that we left.

Things I learnt about the Barbican

It has cinemas and art galleries.
It was designed to be "like the future".
It's got a hidden "indoor jungle".
They hold events like this where they're very generous with their craft materials...

A selection of the architecture Summary: The weekend of (main free!) events was fun and I'll have to keep an eye on other things the Barbican has to offer.

Dickens House Museum

2009-02-22T17:11:00.008Z

Website: http://www.dickensmuseum.com

Today I visited the Dickens House Museum near Russell Square. I'd seen the signpost in Russell Square pointing to the mysterious Dickens House Museum for years before but only managed to visit it today.

The museum is at 48 Doughty Street, a house where famed author Charles Dickens lived. His career was just taking off when he lived here and it was here that he wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nichleby before moving house to a bigger place after he'd become rich.

To enter the museum you have to ring a doorbell and be buzzed in. I entered, walked through to the rear of the house and bought my £4 student ticket in the shop. I was told that the exhibition was in no particular order and I should just wander around.

First stop was the dining room at the front of the ground floor: This is apparently where Charles Dickens hosted hundreds of fun dinner parties with famous actors and writers of the day. There were lots of pieces of furniture he owned on display (including, for example, two monogrammed knife holders). I've only read two Dickens stories so I wasn't sure if I was under-prepared for a museum about him. As it turned out, the museum focussed fairly squarely on his life and not so much on his works.

The next room had a lot of portraits and photographs of Dickens and his family. He had 9 children and an affair - quite an eventful family life... There was an interesting sequence of about 20 photos showing Dickens from young to old. There was also an interesting stereographic image of him which I tried to view (unsuccessfully) in 3D:After this room I went to the first floor for a quick look around. Here I learnt that Dickens wrote so quickly that he didn't have time to plan the plots in detail - he just figured it out as he went. I also learnt that his books were first published in monthly instalments:These monthly instalments are prized by collectors and it sounded like the stories were written month-by-month, sometimes having reader's comments incorporated into the plots. Some "desk furniture" that he used was on display and included a china monkey which was one of Dickens's favourite pieces:I had a quick glance at the front study before rushing down to the basement to catch the start of a half hour long film about the life of Charles Dickens. I learnt that when he was about 10 years old his family fell into bad debt and were put in a debtor's prison. He got a job in a factory labelling boot dye and went to visit them in prison. It sounded pretty grim but, or so the film suggested, it was these bad experiences that enabled him to write such great stories.

He was first published under the pseudonym Boz before writing for a newspaper and then publishing the Pickwick Papers. These became a great success and he became famous. He kept up a high output of work and, by the time he died, was hailed as a national hero.

After the film I looked at the top floor but I was getting a little bit tired of the museum. All the information was written in little snippets around the walls - it was quite an effort to put the whole story together. Important pieces of information were just as prominent as dull/unimportant pieces (e.g. "This clock belonged to a friend of Charles Dickens" vs "Dickens campaigned for...").

One highlight I suppose was seeing his Reading Table. This was carefully preserved in a dimly lit room and was designed by Dickens himself. He used it in public readings of his work which he was paid enormous amounts of money for.I took a brief look outside at the nice garden before leaving.Summary: Interesting bits of history about the life and times of Charles Dickens. Could do with some more general introductory material. Makes you realise that people who achieve great success almost always work really really hard to do so.

The list (number six)

2009-02-22T17:10:00.002Z

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out and a few added:

~~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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, big synagogue, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
~~Tour around Battersea power station~~
Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
Tour round ~~Albert Hall~~ and Albert Memorial
Tour round Chiswick's Fuller's brewery
Tour round Wandsworth's Young's Brewery
Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern
Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and Kensington Olympia
Visit a city farm
Tour round Thames barrier
Visit a talk at the Royal Geographical Society

Tour round BBC Broadcasting House

2009-02-15T17:21:00.007Z

Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tours/details/details_bh.shtml

Today I went on a tour around BBC Broadcasting House. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me.

To go on a tour you have to book in advance so I already had my £4.40 student ticket with me when I set off. I arrived just before my 2.10pm tour and was told to take a seat with the other people in the group. I sat in the plush waiting area and started to look through the BBC in-house magazine: Ariel. One particularly interesting story was by a novelist trying to encourage the BBC to do more to promote science. He said "I know only a tiny bit of science and nobody holds it against me... Maybe they should". Well... I hold it against you. But anyway...

At the start time for the tour we were welcomed by our two tour guides: Sarah and Adrian. They checked us off a list and then got us to write our names on a sheet of paper "in case there is an evacuation". We were then taken back outside by Adrian and stood on the steps of All Souls Church to face the Broadcasting House building.

He ran through the history of the nice art-deco building from it's official opening in 1932 to the present redevelopment. Above the main entrance stands a prominent statue of Ariel and Prospero from the Shakespeare play the Tempest:This was sculpted by Eric Gill (who also made the typeface for the current BBC logo: Gill Sans) and there were suggestions that it was really depicting God and Son. The sculptor apparently told people that there was a secret in the work that would not be discovered until the building was knocked down. Well, too bad for him but during some restoration work they put a camera behind the statue of Prospero and found a hidden carving of a woman's face. Weird.The building has been likened to a top hat (with the rim being the pavement) or a ship sailing down Regent Street.

We finished looking at the outside and then went back to reception. Here we got to see the original octagonal BBC logo made as a mosaic in the floor. Originally the BBC stood for British Broadcasting Company before it became British Broadcasting Corporation. I'm not too clear on the difference. We then set off through security, to the toilets and then on our way...

First stop was the Radio Theatre. This sits in the centre of the building with offices wrapped around its outside. In the past few years it's been renovated to make it more accessible. This involved raising the floor by about 2 metres. We all sat in theatre-style seats and looked at the stage which had a few plain chairs on it. Everywhere microphones and speakers hung from the ceiling. We were told that most radio shows are pre-recorded now and a lot of them are recorded in the Radio Theatre. We saw a photo of the theatre being used as a bomb shelter during World War II - with men and women separated by a big curtain at night time. The building was actually hit by a bomb in WWII during a news announcement...

The next stop was by the (renovated but original) lifts. Here we saw a huge tapestry that had been given to the BBC by France to honour the BBC for it's help to the French resistance. We then visited the plush Council Chamber where all the BBC's decisions are made.

We then took the stairs up to some recording studios. This was my first time inside a recording studio and I was impressed. Although it wasn't as flashy as I'd imagined (if anything it was a bit cramped when all our group was in there) it looked like it was used by people who know how to do their job well. The walls were designed to avoid reverberating sounds and there were synchronised clocks everywhere you looked so people can announce the correct time-check on air. The studio we were in is where "Woman's Hour" and "You and Yours" are recorded. We visited another recording studio (where "Poetry Please" is recorded) before arriving at a bigger studio that had a piano and "enough space for a small orchestra".

We then went to the top of the building and out onto a little roof terrace. This was really nice and had a fantastic view. We were told about how the BBC was in Phase One of the redevelopment of the area. This included, for example, a Persian and Arabic broadcasting building next door. Unfortunately it began to rain so we went back inside and were told in more detail about the "Breathing Sculpture" on the roof:This was made as a memorial to all the journalists and crew that have been killed in war-reporting. The text that spirals down the cone says:

life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body

silence is a voice, our voice
silence is a body, our body

life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body

I invite you to breathe
I invite you to listen to the silence

We then went down to the most fun part of the tour. Our group got to record a mini radio drama. Six volunteers were chosen to either read parts of a script or do electronic or physical sound-effects (e.g. corks popping or gongs bonging). The story of the drama was about a couple breaking down on a dark country road and walking to a spooky country house for help. The butler ominously welcomes them in, gives them champagne and then says "It's time for dinner... and the dinner is YOU!".

We watched them perform it and then listened to it again. It sounded impressively professional on the played back version - apart from some mix-ups with the sound effects and some badly delivered lines. The star of the show was the "Annoucer/Butler" played by a deep-voiced German man. He sounded very professional and really delivered his lines well.

We then returned to the reception, returned our customer satisfaction forms and departed.

Summary: Very interesting - would recommend to anyone who's ever listened to the BBC radio stations.

The ice bar off Regent Street

2009-02-12T19:48:00.008Z

Website: http://www.belowzerolondon.com/icebar

Last night TF and I visited the Absolut Ice Bar on Heddon Street. We both tried to go there a few years ago but were turned away because we hadn't booked in advance. This time we were successful.

Our reserved timeslot was from 9.30pm to 10.10pm. We arrived at the chaotic queue just before 9.30pm and bought two tickets for £12.50 each. We joined a queue/holding area with our fellow drinkers and then - at 9.30 - the bouncers started letting people in.

Before entering you stand in front of a bouncer, they take a fur-lined insulating cape off a hook, raise it above your head and shove it down over you like you're a foot going into a sock. You're then ushered into the Ice Bar...

The "air-lock" is lined with fur and when you emerge into the bar it's like stepping into another world. The air is cold, the light is funky blue, the music throbs and everywhere you look the ice gleams.
Giddy with the novelty of the bar we didn't know what to do. We had a closer look at the ice. All the walls were made from ice, there were "tables" and "seats" made from huge blocks of clear ice (the seats had fur on top) and even the bar was made of ice. Apparently the ice is all transported from the Torne River in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. It certainly was nice to look at - with natural fissures and air-pockets:Slowly we realised the bar was getting busy. Our tickets entitled us to one drink so we shoved our way to the front and chose some cocktails from the menu:I had a Absolute Red Garnet which was quite nice. The drinks were served in an ice "glass" which became very cold to hold as the 40 minutes went on. Luckily our capes came with a pair of gloves attached on elastic.
As we drank our cocktails we walked around the room and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't as big as I'd imagined. I got the (accurate) impression that the room was just like a big freezer - like a meat locker turned drinking venue.

We took lots of photos of each other posing with the ice and watched everyone else taking lots of photos too. The other 20 or so people were all young and looked like they were out for a big night even though it was a Wednesday.

After a while of trying to look through the walls or chip the drinks glasses into pieces we got a bit bored and cold. We built the finished glasses up into a pyramid:
Extra drinks cost £6 each so we gave them a miss. It turned out that 40 minutes in the ice bar was about the right amount of time - any longer would have been a chore. At 10.10pm we were told to leave and, after having our capes quickly stripped off, we stepped out into the normal world again.

Summary: A magical but expensive experience.

Tour around the Royal Albert Hall

2009-02-08T15:03:00.009Z

Website: http://www.royalalberthall.com

Today I went on the 10.30am tour around the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington. There are multiple tours everyday but today there were only 2 in the morning because "Cirque du Soleil" was showing in the afternoon.

I've been to quite a few shows at the Albert Hall (including a Cream reunion concert, ballet, the proms, indoor tennis... even my graduation!) so I was looking forward to learning a bit of "insider information".

The tour started promptly at 10.30am. About 15 of us were hanging around Door 12 when we were greeted by Helen who's worked at the Albert Hall for 10 years. She asked everyone if we'd been to the venue before and where we were from. There were people form Australia, Sweden, Germany and, slightly less exotic, Bedford. Helen explained that we were not allowed to take photos and then led us away from the Box Office into the circular corridors on ground level.

Lining the corridors are photos of famous or unusual performances at the Albert Hall and, as she led us up to see the boxes, she explained that sport has been very big in the venue's history. They've had tennis (during the Masters Tennis)basketball, sumo wrestling and even a marathon (In 1909 two athletes tried to run 500 laps of the inner corridor on a bedding of coconut leaves. Neither made it!).

We were led upstairs to sit in the boxes overlooking the stage. Here we had a rest in the chairs and were taught some history of the hall. It was opened in 1871 and was designed to be an amphitheatre with a roof. The roof ended up causing enormous difficulties however because it echoed the sound around the performance space. This was good if a choir was singing but bad if there was a soloist or pianist. People would apparently say "It's good value for money at the Albert Hall - you hear the concert once and then again 2 or 3 seconds later...". The modern solution to these echoing difficulties was put in place in 1969. It involves a host of upsidedown "mushrooms" suspended from the roof: These scatter the sound waves all around the room before they can get to the roof. Any sounds that do get to the roof then bounce back into the mushrooms and are dampened down.

The hall hosts around 360 events every year and has a audience capacity of 4,500 to 6,000 depending on the event.

We then left the boxes we were in an took a sneak peak at the Queen's box. This was bought by Queen Victoria and has a prominent crown displayed above it. It is where royalty sit when they come to an event at the Albert Hall but, when there's no royals attending an event, the box is used by people that work for the Queen (e.g. stable hands at Windsor, secretaries at Buckingham Palace etc). It seems like it's a perk of the job.

This Queen's box (which is always called the Queen's box even when a king is monarch because it was Queen Victoria who bought it) opened up the whole issue of ownership of seats. To raise money to build the Albert Hall they sold a few hundred seats for £100 each. The lease for these was 999 years (!) and the seats were passed down through families. In the 137 years the Albert Hall's been around a lot of the seats have, however, ended up being bought as investments by companies and banks. They are occasionally sold by closed auction in the Times but prices are high. One couple on the tour said they saw 5 seats sell for £100,000 a few years ago. If you do own a seat you get to go to pretty much any event you like...

We then visited the Royal Retiring Room where royalty come to relax before and after a show. This has portraits of all the leading royals since Queen Victoria. Here we were told that the Albert Hall was built as a memorial to Prince Albert by his widow Queen Victoria. Albert had conceived of turning South Kensington into a centre of culture and science. After his death the plans were followed through and the Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Art, Imperial College, Royal College of Music, National Geographical Society, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum were built. This vast complex was nicknamed "Albertopolis".

We then climbed up to the "Gallery" - a standing-only viewing area that rings around the top of the auditorium. This is fairly plain now but used to be the social area with paintings on display (hence "the Gallery"). We took a quick look out at the closed-off balcony before descending the stairs again. We'd been asking so many questions we were in danger of making Helen late for her 11.30am tour. She led us back to Door 12 and said goodbye.

The hall used to be powered by steam and the chimney outside is the disused (but listed) steam vent:Summary: Interesting glimpse into the history of the place. Could do with some more "behind-the-scenes" restricted access.

The Guards Museum

2009-02-07T17:39:00.009Z

Website: http://www.theguardsmuseum.com

Today I visited the museum that inspired this blog. The museum is located next to St. James's Park and, as I arrived, I was expecting a museum about soldiers and warfare. I was partly right.

I bought my cheap £2 student ticket from a softly-spoken grey-haired gentleman who waved me into the museum. I was immediately confronted by huge displays of medals and uniforms:I tried to read the information cards to understand what I was looking at but they assumed a level of background knowledge that I didn't have (e.g. the technical meaning of battalions, colours, decorations etc). As I made my way around the museum I found longer information signs which gave the necessary background.

It turns out that the museum is all about a very particular type of soldier: the Royal Foot Guards. More specifically the five different types of Guards: Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards. I finally understood that these were the same guards as in the "changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace". I think of these as mainly a tourist attraction but the Guard's regiments are proper soldiers too and there are some currently in action in Afghanistan.

The Scots and Coldstream guards were founded in the English civil war (the Scots guards were first assembled in Scotland and then marched for over a month south to London!). These soldiers used pikes to spear enemy cavalry charges. The pikes were long wooden sticks with a metal point on the end which was used to pierce horses and their riders. Rather gruesome was the mention of a "blood rag" which was tied around the stick to "stop blood running down the shaft and making it slippy". Ugh! (The blood rag was later "formalised" to a tassel).

Over the centuries other regiments were added (Grenadier, Irish, Welsh - in that order I think) by various kings and queens. The museum charted the history of the regiments and the different battles they've fought in. The timeline reminded me of the bloody history of Europe - with countries declaring war on each ceaselessly. There were lots of paintings of battles and uniforms through the ages: even including the battles fought in Egypt: Eventually I made it through the extensive rooms to the 20th century where The Great War, World War II and beyond were discussed:I was interested to see their display about the current regiments in action in Afghanistan:This formed an striking contrast to the ceremonial aspects of the uniforms, the "colours", the drumming parades etc. After a quick look around at the photos of the stiff-upper-lipped military leaders, I left.
Summary: A bit too specific for a day out unless you know someone who was in the Guards.

Cycling in Richmond Park

2009-01-14T21:27:00.008Z

Website: http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond_park

Last Sunday I spent a fun afternoon cycling around Richmond Park with ML and VB. We had spent the morning and early afternoon cycling through suburbia and, after some tea at Morden Hall Park, we cycled to Richmond Park. We visited some very fancy neighbourhoods on the way and passed the mansion where Dwight Eisenhower lived during World War II!

I imagine that cycling around the park is not much fun in the pouring rain but luckily for us the weather was very pleasant. We plotted our route around the park on one of the maps and set off. We planned (like the polite cyclists we are) to stick to the cycling trails that criss-cross the park but, since we'd been cycling for over 2 hours, our first stop was a nice bench. It was there that I read out a letter from ABJ while VB and ML sat down in their matching bike helmets, bike trousers and fluorescent yellow jackets.

After we'd cooled off we hopped back on our bikes and set off again. We kept to the edge of the park and, according to ML at least, cycled right past Andrew Marr who was out jogging. We eventually turned towards the centre of the park and set off on a cycle trail. I was disappointed to see that the "true cyclists" (men who have thighs like tree trunks and ride carbon-fibre bikes) cycled on the road amongst the cars rather than on the paths amongst the toddlers.

We slowly made out way into the middle of the park and enjoyed the scenery. We saw people flying kites and riding horses (though not at the same time):
We saw a huge herd of young deer:We saw opportunities for arty photos:
After the exploration we were all really tired and free-wheeled down into Richmond for some beer, food and a film.

Summary: Worth a trip round on a bike even if you do have to stay away from the more exciting areas. Credit goes to ML for suggesting we go there and to VB for taking the photos.

London Wetland Centre

2008-11-16T18:38:00.008Z

Websites:
http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/wetlandcentre
http://www.londonwetlandcentre.co.uk

I've wanted to visit the London Wetland Centre for years. It's a massive expanse of "wetland" conservation area located next to the river Thames in west London. Today ABJ and I finally gave it a visit.

Arriving at about 2pm we bought our £6 student tickets at the entrance and set off into the courtyard. Immediately we were greeted by a friendly woman who orientated us on the map and explained the different areas of the wetland. There are two main sides to the site: one has endangered species and one does not.

We began with the endangered species side. This started with "World Wetlands" and was home to wetlands and birds from all around the world. The wetlands included Asian rice paddies, North American pine forests, Islands, Arctic Tundra etc. The different areas are fenced off from each other so the birds can't go between them (presumably the birds wings are clipped!).

The first stop, Artic Tundra, was one of the liveliest wetlands because there were so many different types of birds and no fence to keep them off the paths. The ducks and birds all squarked and flapped their wings at each other and at us. We watched different types of birds sticking together in close groups - each group trying to dominate the others.
Dotted throughout the center there were also lots of bird-photographers with enormous zoom lenses:The birds in the centre included an impressive variety of species. There were "red-breasted geese", "black swans", "chiloe wigeons" and hundreds of others I can't remember the names of:
I can identify this one... a Black Swan:Some "Red-crested Pochards":The wetlands certainly lived up to their name. There were paths passing between the rushes and lakes. The place was very well sign-posted and each area had a different name and welcoming illustrations:Dotted around the centre were also lots of hides. From inside you could watch the birds without them knowing:There were lots of signs saying "Please keep quiet in the hides. Birds have ears too." ABJ and I didn't have any binoculars so the hides unfortunately didn't offer us the chance to get spectacularly close to any of the birds.

We spent a long time enjoying the different areas, the hides and the birds before eventually returning to the courtyard where we began.

Here we tried out the "Discovery centre" which, along with an informative display in one of the hides, educated us about what a wetland is and why they're important. The definition of a wetland is very wide (e.g it includes the Thames estuary as well as coral reefs) but an important thing, apparently, is that the water is less than 6ft deep. The Discovery centre had a fun walk-through display in which you walked through different environments and had to decide if they counted as wetlands (e.g. a coral reef, a flooded forest etc). Unsurprisingly perhaps most of the environments were wetlands.

After the walk-through there was a very fun display about what wetlands do and why they're important. The display was set up like an old-fashioned fairground with games and shows. To give you an idea there was one game called "Shoot your poo":
The aim of the game was to get small plastic balls (i.e. your poo) into holes by firing them through air guns. This illustrated the powerful way in which wetlands can process waste.

Another game involves firing water guns into pipes to illustrate that life needs water. There was a game whose opening premise was "You're a planning officer". Not very inspiring but it made a good point. You had to decide how to build flood defences and where to build houses on a scaled down model. The model had a mountain at one end and a flood plain at the other and periodically the mountain would be heavily rained on and a wall of water would deluge the flood plains. There were lego bricks available to build defences to save the foam houses. Very eduational.

After ABJ thought I'd had enough of the games we continued on our way to the other side of the centre - the non-endangered species side. This was good although less spectacular - mainly because it seemed the birds on this side didn't have their wings clipped (since they were non-endangered). That meant the birds had flown away and a lot fewer were on display in the lakes and marshes.

We journeyed on and visited a few more hides, watched a few birds flying around, watched a few jumbo jets flying overhead towards Heathrow airport. Dusk fell and we were tired from all our walking. We visited the gift shop and bought a few things to support the centre. To get back home we decided to take the number 283 bus, a.k.a "the Duck Bus". This left conveniently from a stop at the centre and off we went.

Summary: Well worth a visit. The birds at the centre change at different times of the year so it's worth going again during a different season.

The list (number five)

2008-10-26T18:40:00.002Z

Here's an updated list with a few items crossed-out and a few added:

~~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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, big synagogue, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
~~Tour around Battersea power station~~
Explore Heathrow Terminal 5
Tour round Albert Hall and Albert Memorial
Tour round Chiswick Fuller's brewery
Eat at the restaurant at the top of Tate Modern
Visit an exhibition at Earls Court and Kensington Olympia
Visit a city farm
Tour round Thames barrier

The London Dungeon

2008-10-26T16:58:00.012Z

Website: http://www.thedungeons.com

Today I visited the London Dungeon, one of the most touristy places in London. Tucked away under London Bridge station the dungeons are always very busy with long queues of visitors waiting on the pavement outside.

I arrived at the start of the extraordinarily long "buy your ticket on the day" queue at about 12.30pm. I finally finished my visit to the dungeons at 3.40pm. It was quite a visit I'm sure you'll agree... until I tell you that out of that 3 hours 40 minutes I spent 2 hours queueing. That is, from the time I joined the back of the queue (out on the street, in the rain) to the time I joined a tour group that actually set off around the dungeons was 2 hours. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back...
In the queue I was sandwiched behind a large group of twenty-somethings and in front of a family. When the family joined the queue the father said "When we went to York dungeon the queue was this long and only took 20 minutes." I didn't realise dungeons were so universally popular.

The family consisted of two nice parents and four horrible savage children. The kids spent their time shaking wet umbrellas on each other, throwing food on the pavement, repeatedly spitting on the ground and, of course, shoving into me. Just great. I waited quietly in the rain and had so much time to fill that I managed to listen to the whole of the Dark Side of the Moon album. I watched as the family nipped off for hot drinks at Starbucks and the twenty-somethings nipped off to Pret for sandwiches and hot stinking croissants.

Given this hellish queuing I was looking forward to getting past the ticket desk and setting off on the trip. I guess I was naive. Before buying my ticket I had a photo of me taken posing in stocks. I then bought a student ticket for £18.95 and sped off into the dungeons. Or so I thought. First stop was an awkward misunderstanding with a few of the twenty-somethings ahead of me. They were waiting past the ticket desk for some friends who'd gone to the toilet and I stood in their midst for about thirty seconds. I finally figured out why they were waiting and set off to the dungeons. Or so I thought. Next stop was another queue that wound through a weirdly decorated corridor. There were rats on display, entrails, tinned rat etc. I heard two people separately comment "Oh I see! It's death by queuing!".

Finally we squirmed past an important door and were shuttered off into a tour group. An actor dressed in a cloak welcomed us to "The Crypt" and sent us off into "The Labyrinth of the Lost". During his introduction he would talk to one side of the group and then SUDDENLY spin round to the other side and shout his next piece of dialogue to the person he thought was most likely to have a heart attack.

The labyrinth was fun since it was a hall of mirrors and (at last!) we were free to wander (not in a queue) through it. We all made it through to the other side and were greated by a woman who told us we all had the plague and should go to the doctor. She led us through some more spooky corridors and into an "autopsy room". An actor dressed as a doctor was hiding behind the autopsy table and JUMPED OUT at us. He then plucked out a member of the group and analysed them in front of us all, telling us what he'd be like if he had the plague. We then left the doctor and visited "Newgate Gaol" where we were ushered into a court room. Three members of the group were made to stand in the dock and were accused of committing crimes. As they walked up to the dock we were encouraged to "booooooo".

The first was a 10 year old boy called Oliver accussed of running around Covent Garden pinching ladies bottoms.
Verdict: Innocent.

The second was a woman called Lucy who was accussed of urinating into water wells.
Verdict: Guilty.

The third was a man who said he was from Beligum.
Immediate Verdict: GUILTY.

We then left and went on the "Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell". This was billed as amazingly exciting. I joined a boat and we set off. I don't know what I was expecting but what we got was very disappointing. There were no people jumping out at us, no scary noises, no rapids... not much in fact. The whole trip was completed slowly, almost like a formal ballet, in complete darkness. When it was over we were ushered out and into Sweeney Todd's barber shop. We sat in barber's chairs and, once again, all the lights went out. A recorded voice of Sweeney Todd spoke in our ears and then we were jerked back in our chairs. Was that it!? Just compare that to the advertising poster:
We then left and went to the Jack the Ripper part of the dungeons. We saw a few dead, mutilated bodies of prostitutes (pretty odd entertainment really) and then a video about "Who was Jack the Ripper?". This lacked any explanatory power and was basically a series of photos of Victorian men with a voice-over saying "Or was it Colonel _____, or was it physician _____". We were then ushered out and into a mock pub. A woman behind the bar told us it was the ten year anniversary of the ripper murders. We were supposed to get more and more scared as items on the bar began to move of their own accord and then SUDDENLY the lights go OUT and a strobe light shows JACK THE RIPPER trying to slash a group member near the front of the bar! Now I have to admit that was pretty good. He appeared suddenly in a hat and cape with a blast of air and then suddenly was GONE!

We then "learnt" about the Great Fire of London before going on the ride "Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom". We sat in two rows of seats in a room. A restraining bar came down upon us, the lights went out and the seats were raised up. At the top we looked out upon a row of hangman nooses and a judge pronounced that we were due to be hanged. The hangman pulled the lever and SUDDENLY we DROPPED DOWN. And... err... well, that was it.

We were let out and sent into the photo preview room. As always the photos of me were terrible and I didn't want to spend the enormous fees to buy them. The tour ended in the gift shop: "The best Halloween shop in London". It did seem pretty good. There was a variety of Halloween costumes available:Overall I felt the London Dungeons were overpriced and disappointing. My desire to visit them, I reflected, was due to their extensive advertising that makes the rides look exciting. The rides were lacklustre and plain - not "scary" or "terrifying":
As an attraction they clearly save a lot of electricity money by keeping the lights out for most of the time. The high visitor turnover meant that visitors were ushered through each part too quickly. At various points the actors call the tour group "scum" and, worst of all, because I was visiting alone, I was variously called "a suicider" and "billy no-mates". And, to rub salt into the wound, I was paying loads of money for the experience!

Summary: Not worth it.

Tower Bridge

2008-10-18T21:17:00.007+01:00

Website: http://www.towerbridge.org.uk

I've tried twice to visit Tower Bridge but each time something has gone wrong. I finally managed it today.

At about 2pm I bought my £4.50 student ticket from the ticket office in the north tower. I passed through the security metal detector and x-ray machine and into the waiting lift. We waited for the lift to get full wall-to-wall and then ascended to the top of the tower. A woman gave us an informative welcome message which was timed to last exactly as long as the lift journey and then we all exited into a video room at the top of the tower. There were good views:I watched a short film about why the bridge was built and the competition for the best design. It was built to easy road traffic in the east of London but also had to allow ships to pass. There were loads of wild and wacky designs - including bridges that slid back and forth across the river, or bridges that snake around the ships in complicated shapes. After fierce scrutiny the current hinged design was chosen. It was built from Scottish steel with 2 million rivets and opened at last in 1894. It was deliberately designed to look old-fashioned to fit in with the Tower of London nearby.

After the video room we got to walk out on the walkway that connects the top of the towers. I didn't know this was a walkway until today (I'd thought it was just for decoration). This was great and I was impressed by the views over the river. The walkway was enclosed but there were windows that we could take photos through:
There were information boards too where I learnt a lot about the bridge. The bridge has appeared in a few adverts:
A plane flew through the bridge:
After World War II there was a suggestion to encase the bridge in glass to provide living space and offices etc:After the walkways I went down the south tower to watch another video about how the bridge was built. I learnt that in World War II the Germans deliberately tried not to bomb the bridge because it was a good landmark for their bombing approaches into London.

I got the lift down the tower and we were told to "Follow the blue line" to the engine rooms:
The engine rooms were the final stop of the tour but possibly the best bit. We learnt in detail about the machinery that powers the raising and lowering of the bridge. We got to walk around the steam-powered machines (which have now been replaced by electric power) and understand how all the stages fit together. I found it fascinating to see how complicated it all was and how clever the engineers must have been to design it.

The last part was the "Engineering gallery" with a number of hands-on demonstrations about physics and engineering principles applied to small models of the bridge. One young boy (who didn't work there but was just a visitor like me!) enthusiastically demonstrated one to me. He got me to sit on a chair which he raised off the ground by turning a geared wheel for a long time. Then, with my feet dangling, he pressed a button and my weight applied hydraulic pressure to an oily liquid which came shooting out of a pipe nearby. This is the same principle as the massive "accumulators" used to store power which is then used to work pistons that raise the bridge:
These demonstrations were much better than the hands-on stuff in science museums because you could see the ideas had been harnessed and applied to solve a problem. In museums the demonstations are often just pointless mechanisms that show the principle working in a sterile way. It was more interesting here because it was applied to something.

We ended in a gift shop with hundreds of little models of the bridge available to buy.

Summary: Surprisingly fun and interesting. The videos brought the issues to life and the demonstrations and information boards were clear and interesting.

A long absence

2008-10-18T21:09:00.002+01:00

For the last month or so I've been too busy to do any local tourist trips. Whether it was moving house, going to Italy, doing DIY or just doing fun non-touristy things on the weekends I've been neglecting the local tourist list. That is, until today...

See some plays: Rain Man

2008-09-07T11:24:00.005+01:00

Websites:
http://www.rainmanonstage.com
http://www.apollo-theatre.co.uk

Last night ABJ and I took a spur of the moment trip to the Apollo theatre to see Rain Man. We bought two £16 tickets for seats in the Balcony. They were so high up that we had to exit the theatre and enter a staircase leading up from the street! We ended up with a view all the way down through the theatre to the stage:
The play starred Josh Hartnett as Charlie (a slick car saleman who - at the start - is only after money) and Adam Godley as Raymond (Charlie's autistic older brother).
The story is already a Hollywood film but this version had been "reimagined for the stage". It was good. In fact, I'd forgotten how enjoyable theatre plays can be - much more enjoyable than musicals... There were jokes and thought-provoking moments. The interval curtain was pretty cool too:
Summary: I'll certainly be going to "see some plays" more often.

Battersea Power Station

2008-08-16T17:43:00.005+01:00

Website: http://www.batterseapowerstation.com

Today I went along with ML and VB to Battersea Power Station. This former coal-fired power station has been disused since 1983 and its iconic building has been slowly decaying ever since. Located next to Battersea park its four tall chimney stacks are a famous part of the London skyline. There's an urban regeneration project which plans to transform the site into a huge entertainment complex with cinemas, bars, restaurants etc. Before that happens, however, the site has been opened, by popular demand and for a limited time only, to the public.

We arrived at about 1pm on our bikes and a steward told us where to lock them - a green wire fence that seemed deliberately designed to ensure the bike frame was kept at an unlockable distance from it. Finally, with grunts and heaves and two locks between three bikes, we managed to cram them in securely.

Pausing for a quick look at the dominating architecture we then entered a small white building at the edge of the power station grounds. This was an exhibition about the regeneration project which we wandered around:There had been a regeneration project before funded by the then Alton Towers chairman which aimed to set up an indoor theme park. Unfortunately this ran out of money and left the building with no roof and no western wall.

The current regeneration project involves making an environmentally friendly greenhouse-like complex next to the power station:
The old building would be restored and would house restaurants and cafes etc. Judging from the scale model on display the new building (with a huge chimney roof) will dominate the site. It reminded us of the Millennium dome project.

After the exhibit we had to sign disclaimer forms before we could set off. These made the trip sound incredibly exciting - there was talk of machinery and rough terrain, dirt and dust everywhere, rubble etc. We happily signed away all liability and then set off for the site. We handed in our disclaimer forms at desk outside and were given a free bottle of water. Considering that the whole trip was free as well this made us all very happy.

We now got better views of the power station as we approached it from across the derelict site. Everyone had their cameras out and was snapping away. The people with zoom lenses and fancy cameras would labouriously set up their shots only to have someone else carelessly walk in front of them.

We arrived at the power station and followed the fenced-in route. All the time we were anticipating that we'd get to go inside and climb up and down ladders and gantries, pull levers, press buttons etc. Unfortunately the best we got to do was peer into the empty decaying power station halls from behind a fence at the outer wall. We peered into one hall and saw the chunks of wood and masonry scattered around:We then walked around the back and looked in at another hall. It looked like a sad ruin with its roof ripped off and pigeons living amongst the girders.Both VB and I spent a lot of time taking arty pictures:
One of the reasons Battersea power station is so famous is that it appeared on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals. During the photo shoot they tethered a huge inflatable pig to the power station which apparently broke loose and ended up crashing somewhere in Kent. (See here for more information and photos.)

Summary: Good free fun but a little disappointing we couldn't climb around inside.

Buckingham Palace

2008-08-10T16:43:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.royal.gov.uk

Today I went on a tour around the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace. The palace is only open at certain times of the year and have intended to visit it ever since I first moved to London over 5 years ago!

I'd booked my £14 student ticket a few days earlier for a slot at 2pm today. I arrived and had to work hard to navigate the hordes of tourists and find the Buckingham Palace Shop where I could pick up my ticket. I then took my ticket to the Visitor Entrance at 1.45pm in time for my 2pm slot. There were lots of young helpful "wardens" dressed in smart uniforms to help the clueless tourists. We were corralled in a holding area while we waited for the "airport style security area" to empty ahead.
We finally were let through and filed slowly through the metal detectors and bag scanners. After that we snaked through to a tent to pick up our complementary audio guide. I chose the English language one, slung it around my neck, pressed the green PLAY button and set off.

As the stirring introductory music played I stepped up the red carpet and entered the Palace. I usually hate audio guides but have to admit that the one used at Buckingham Palace was really good. It provided options to select what to hear about, the information was interesting and not too lengthy and it always said things like "If you would like to then you might consider moving to the next room..." rather than the usual "Next we have...".

We began by seeing the quadrangle which is a huge open square just behind the front of the Palace. It's used for parades and for greeting heads of state. They enter the vast quadrangle through a small archway at the front and, standing right in front of them, is the formal entrance to the Palace - an imposing multi-columned entranceway.

Just inside the formal entrance is the Entrance Hall which is a large impressive room with rich red carpets, immense columns and gold decoration everywhere. From here we climbed a staircase with an intricate bronze balustrade which was made a long time ago and, in modern day money, would cost £210,000 (that's just for the balustrade alone!).

We then entered the Guards Room and the Throne Room. All the interiors were designed by architect John Nash and he must have been good. The rooms are supposed to impress visiting heads of state and diplomats and they certainly meet that goal. Everywhere is rich wallpaper, carpets, silk, golden designs, complex mouldings, vast chandeliers etc etc. The Throne Room held the coronation thrones of the Queen and Prince Philip as well as a few coronation thrones from previous monarchs. During my visit I discovered that asking questions to the older "wardens" got a better answer to my question than asking the younger ones.

Next stop was the Picture Gallery - a narrow 50ft long room with huge paintings hanging on the walls. This led to another narrow room with curved, etched skylights in the roof. Apparently there was a small fire recently that led to three of these skylights being smashed. Although they could have been replaced by modern glass makers the original workers were thoughful enough to have made 4 spare windows. These were found in the Palace carefully crated up in a store room. They were installed after waiting 100 years.

We passed a display of photos of the Queen with visiting heads of state and were then led to the Ball Room. This was one of the most impressive rooms and is where the Queen hosts state dinners for visiting heads of state. It's apparently one of the largest rooms in London and luckily had a seating area where the tourists could rest. I took a seat there amongst the prostrate visitors. It was like sitting in a battle-field hospital surrounded by the dead and the dying.

In the center of the room is a huge U-shaped table that can seat around 200 people. The Queen sits at the centre of the U with her guests on either arm ahead of her. The chinaware and silverware are layed out days in advanced and carefully measured onto the tablecloth - to ensure they're all in a perfect line when you look down the table. Each place has a number of different glasses - for red wine, white wine, port, champagne etc. I've eaten in places where they put a lot of time into the presentation I've noticed that the food is always a bit of a let down. I hope the food they serve up in the state banquets is tasty! Next was a little video display about the behind-the-scenes preparation for the banquets. All the plates etc are washed by hand because they're too valuable to entrust to a dishwashing machine.

The next few rooms all overlook the gardens at the rear of the Palace. They were differently themed and contained a variety of very fancy furniture. There was a table which once belonged to Napolean and is made of one huge disc of porclein which, by firing and gilding, was decorated with very intricate artwork that took 6 years to complete! One of the most valuable pieces in the collection was a writing desk which had layer-upon-layer of inlayed wood.

We then travelled downstairs again and into a long corridor with marble statues on display. By far the most impressive was a huge 2 metre tall statue of the gods Mars and Venus sculpted from a single block of marble.

The tour finally finished at the rear of the Palace, exiting onto the Garden Terrace. Here we returned our audio guides and were allowed to take photos once again. Immediately all the tourists whipped out their cameras and began snapping the rear-end of the Palace:
The tourists also got to visit a gift shop which they thrived in:I should admit that I bought some chocolates there too... There was a nice walk out through the gardens:
Summary: An impressive place to visit. The rooms, the decoration and the expensive furniture are all well worth seeing.

The list (number four)

2008-08-05T09:16:00.001+01:00

Here's an updated list with a few more items crossed-out and one added:

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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a ~~big mosque~~, big synagogue, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses
Tour around Battersea power station.

London Central Mosque

2008-08-02T17:02:00.003+01:00

Website: http://www.iccuk.org

After a break from being a local tourist I got back into it today by visiting the London Central Mosque. The mosque is on the edge of Regent's park and I've cycled past it fairly often. It's an impressive building with a huge golden dome and a tall tower (called a minaret) to call people to prayer. Before I set off I did a little research into the mosque I was about to visit. There was talk of head scarves for women, removing shoes, stark architecture and there being not much to do. Nevertheless, there was also talk of welcoming security guards and friendly people.

I arrived at the mosque at about 3pm. Outside stood a family dressed very smartly. I stood there a moment, assessing the situation, trying to decide if I was about to crash a wedding. Finally, deciding it was OK, I walked in through the main gate, past the "No photography around the Mosque" sign, and to the security enquires desk. I meekly asked a man on duty there if I could look around and what there was to see and he gave me a helpful orientation. The main parts were the prayer hall, library (which holds around 20,000 books but was closed today) and bookshop. I later discovered a downstairs restaurant and some offices.

I left the desk and walked across the wide open square towards the main building. Inside there were lots of people milling about so I paused and, trying to look like I belonged, surveyed the area. Yes... there was the bookshop... Ah... that must be the prayer hall. I carefully watched a man pass the "no shoes" line and remove his shoes. I then did the same.

After putting my shoes in a rack I entered the cavernous prayer hall. This is aligned with Mecca and can hold 5,000 people. It's left and right walls have a few thin bookshelves on (presumably holding Qur'ans) and the centre of the ceiling lifts up into a huge dome. This is the same golden dome visible from outside and is deep blue on the inside with dazzling geometric tiling at the base. From the centre of the dome hangs a massive chandelier.

Dotted around the soft carpet were about 30 people praying and bowing towards Mecca. A few sat on chairs near the sides of the room. A few were lying on the ground. I sat on a chair at the left wall and listened to a nearby man quietly muttering from the Qur'an. There was a man lying on the floor near me who looked asleep.

After around 5 minutes of soaking up the quiet atmosphere I got up quietly and tiptoed back to the entrance again. On the way I read a poster about "Mosque etiquette" which was very interesting. For example women are not allowed to wear perfume in the mosque (to avoid arousing sexual excitement) but men are encouraged to wear scent. One should not enter the prayer hall with bad breath. There are also various Arabic phrases one is supposed to say when entering or leaving a prayer hall.

I left the hall and decided to explore downstairs. I put my shoes on and went down the stairs to a strange bathroom/shower-room/changing-room area. The men down here were not wearing shoes and there were various signs about not wearing shoes. I hastily took mine off, stowed them on a rack and went in to investigate. I later learned this was a wudu and a place where Muslims were supposed to wash themselves in an act of ablution (called wudu) before going up to pray. Near the room's entrance was a washing area where the user sits on a stone seat and water sprays from a tap in front of them. There are lots of these stone seats arranged in a line and the water pours into a gutter running in front of all the seats.

I left the wash room and decided to explore a bit more. To do so I put on my shoes by the wall. When I looked up there was an aged Muslim man with a long white beard looking despairingly at me. He told me I shouldn't wear my shoes in this part of the building. I apologised and said I was just leaving. As I walked towards the exit he said "No, no! You shouldn't say you're leaving and then walk with your shoes to go. You should take off your shoes first! People pray here." I apologised again and scuttled, shoeless, out the door. I was surprised to think that, at busy periods presumably, people pray in all available space including the stairwells.

I found myself now in front of a busy restaurant. I had a quick look around and then left the building by a side door. I walked up the stairs to ground-level and then back around the building to the main square again. I re-entered the main building and looked a notice board including "A Muslim shopper's guide" booklet by the Food Standards Agency and a poorly spelled notice about people misusing the mosque car park.

I left and tried, not very successfully, to take a few photos (through the trees) from outside the gates:Summary: Not that much to do as a tourist but interesting nonetheless.

The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

2008-07-20T17:54:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.museumofbrands.com
Location: 2 Colville Mews, off Lonsdale Road, Notting Hill.
Today I visited the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. This small museum is hidden away on a back-street mews in Notting Hill. I arrived by bike and was glad I'll looked up the directions earlier and that there were lots of signs pointing out which cobbled alley to go down.

The cheery ticket vendor asked how I found out about the museum and, when I replied "From Wikipedia", she looked astonished. She gave me my cheap £3.50 student ticket and off I went. The whole museum is an extensive collection of packaging, posters, toys, games, souvenirs and other "everyday items" that provide a window on life in the past.
First stop was the Victorians. At first I wasn't too impressed because, although there was an enormous amount of stuff on display, it was hard to find any information tags explaining what it was. Slowly I began to find the information pieces dotted throughout the display, camouflaged against the brightly coloured items. There were souvenirs from Queen Victoria's jubilee, toys etc.

The next room was the Edwardians (1901-1910). This time saw the introduction of the Gillette safety razor, milk chocolate and the postage stamp booklet. Piece by piece throughout the museum I was able to track the development and introduction of these kind of things that now make up modern day living...

The next stretch of the museum was done by decade from the 1910s to the 2000s. By far the most interesting and amusing items were the postcards from different periods. These cheap postcards became very popular in the 1900s (when they were allowed to have a picture on the front). The numerous examples on display indicated the fashions of the time and the domestic issues.

A few examples:

The "Harem skirt" in the 1910s:
Food rationing in World War I with high prices of eggs:
In the 1920s wireless became popular:
The BBC was set up in 1922 and radio became immensely popular in the 1920s. Things which feel like they've been around forever were being set up and founded at every step through the museum.

It was funny to see adverts from the 1930s for Monopoly - "The Rage of America":In World War II there were lots of war-related pieces. There were jigsaws of battle scenes and military leaders, board games about moving around in the blackout, ash-trays with Hitler drawn on (so you could stub your cigarette out on him). The postcards kept their topical take on things:
The coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952 led to a lot of souvenir plates etc. Many families apparently bought their first TV set to watch the coronation ceremony.

The space race started in the 1950s and the children's games often had a space-related theme. There were board games taking you around the solar system, games about satellites, aliens as well as Dan Dare:
I'd heard of Dan Dare because my Dad used to play with Dan Dare guns and games.

There was an explosion of breakfast cereals in the 1950s and 60s - even Noddy got involved:
(I think "Ricicles are twicicles as nicicles" counts as my favourite advertising slogan in the whole museum). As TV became more and more popular (apparently driven by the popularity of Coronation Street), the TV stars appeared in more and more advertisments. "So and so says..." was on all the posters - selling products from sausages to chocolate bars.

The 1960s saw the introduction of yoghurt into the British diet. The 1960s and 70s also saw TV-tie-in board games too:
I realised sadly that no-one plays board games anymore (apart from a few stock favourites like Monopoly and Scrabble). It seems there was a wealth of entertainment for bored evenings that people in the past enjoyed. Now people just watch films and play computer games. I would bet they've lost their ability to imagine. For example the 1950s board game that took you around the solar system requires you to imagine going to each place and fighting the aliens there. Now on a computer game you can actually do it! Is that better or worse?

Anyway, once it got into the 1980s I began to recognise toys that I'd played with... remember Roland Rat anyone? It suddenly got a lot less interesting when you were looking at things from your own lifetime. I finished up in the partially complete 2000s section.

The final part of the museum was a section on "Brands" and then on "Advertising". Unfortunatly these were either large collections of products by one brand with no extra information OR a very detailed corporate information section about a company that was major sponsor for the museum. I skipped these because I felt I was just being advertised at...

Finally the circuit of the museum finished at the ticket desk with a little cafe and a TV showing "a history of television advertising". I watched a few amusing adverts - the best ones were advertising cigarettes.

Concluding observation: The information pieces often had the annoying habit of saying things unrelated to the items in the case. They'd say something really interesting and you'd look at everything in the case to see an example of it but... there was nothing there that illustrated the interesting point.

Summary: Took a while to get going but a very interesting, accessible trip. The things on display gave a real feel for what life was like back then...

Fancy hotels

2008-07-12T17:07:00.016+01:00

Today I did something a bit unusual. I set myself the task of sneaking into a number of "fancy hotels" in London. To accomplish this I made a list of hotels to visit, dressed up in my smartest suit, charged my camera and set out.

1. Claridges
Website: http://www.claridges.co.uk

First stop was Claridges. I'd walked past this hotel a few times and it certainly looks very posh - the doormen wear top hats etc etc. I arrived at the street, looked across at the hotel, took a deep breath and walked towards the doors.

The doormen were welcoming a taxi. Would they stop me? I reached the revolving door, pushed it and was inside. So far so good... but... don't stop. Any real guest wouldn't hang around the lobby - they'd go straight up to their room. So I kept walking, taking a quick glance around at the marble lobby, the reception desk, the concierges in smart uniforms. I kept walking past it all hoping I'd find some stairs or some lifts. There! A flight of stairs was ahead and I confidently walked up it.

I stopped at the first landing. There was no one around - just the sound of some distant maids cleaning rooms. I did it! I was inside! So... erm... What next? I wandered the corridors looking for anything to do. I saw a few maids - one of which said "Good morning Sir". Ha.

I climbed to the top floor - always on the move in an attempt to avoid suspicion. I saw a few other guests - including one woman in a dressing gown who'd been woken by a maid entering her room!

Erm... What to do... I finally descended to the lobby once more, stopping briefly for a sit down on a sumptuous sofa to survey the scene:Finally, after 10 minutes snooping, I left by a side exit.

2. Connaughts
Website: http://www.the-connaught.co.uk

A short walk away was Connaughts - a 5-star hotel I hadn't heard about until this morning. It was a much quieter affair - there were none of the distractions that the Claridges doormen had. The street was empty except for the one doorman and me. Yep, I'd have to just... "Good afternoon Sir," said the doorman. "Afternoon," I replied with a nod. Then I was in. Here the lobby was a lot smaller - the reception desk on the left was busy and the information desk on the right was busy so I breezed between the two, up the stairs and past some rich looking Americans.

This was a much more swanky than Claridges - the staircases were lined with portraits and hunting paintings:
As I walked through the corridors - passing newspapers, linen trolleys and "Do Not Disturb" signs - I began to wonder why I was doing this. Obviously it was to see what these fancy hotels are like. I carefully tried to take it all in. The carpets were plush and the walls were decorated with different types of wood. I sat on a sofa and thought through what to do. I decided that perhaps the Connaught wasn't all that great to a visitor like me so I should push on to the Dorchester - now that's a hotel I could really get stuck into.

I left by the main entrance, was wished a pleasant afternoon by the inside doorman and saw a mildly puzzled look on the outside doorman - I'd been in and out of the hotel in about 10 minutes.

3. The Dorchester
Website: http://www.thedorchester.com

The Dorchester is where movie stars stay. It's where royalty have parties. It's on Park Lane and it's where I was going next. This one was fun.

Walking along the side of the building I saw a sign that said "CCTV in use for your safety" - gulp! Arriving at the front it looked so famous, posh and imposing that I almost chickened-out.

I took a deep breath, walked proudly past some autograph hunters (I guess someone famous must have been staying there), past a doorman and swirled through the revolving door and into the lobby. A quick glance round to figure out where to go... Onwards! I walked forwards into a seating area dotted with elderly guests. There was a bar on my right and what looked like a restaurant straight on. Is it a dead end? Where are the stairs and the lifts!?

Aha! There's some stairs on the left... I confidently strolled towards the stairs labelled "Park Suite" and began to feel uneasy. Where would they lead? They ended after one flight and opened onto a landing leading to two meeting rooms. It was a dead end. Hmmm... What to do? Going straight back down to the lobby might arouse suspicion. Are there any cameras looking at me? No.

After a lengthy pause I returned downstairs to the lobby, slowly walked across it, spotted some lifts and called one. I went up to the 6th floor and wandered the corridors. Again there wasn't anything new - just newspapers and cleaning maids - but the stair cases allowed some good views of the nearby buildings:

There was a staircase at the back of the hotel that I followed down, aiming to get back to the ground floor and approach the lobby through the hotel...

I arrived at the ground floor and exited into a different, completely empty lobby. I explored the direction I needed to go and, passing through two antechambers, found an enormous ballroom. It was empty except for me and I just strolled around it waiting to get caught. I looked at a few of the exit doors but from the sounds I could hear these led into the kitchens.

There was no through-route here back to the front so I got back to the stairs and decided to try the Lower Ground floor. Here I came across a store room full of old broken chairs and then, trying another route, a store room for food with an open cupboard filled with SunPat peanut butter.

Oh dear. I finally retraced my steps and used the 2nd floor to come back towards the lobby. Here I descended to the Mezzanine level, took a quick side step to use some executive toilet, and then back down to the lobby. I sat on one of the plush chairs and examined my watch as if I was waiting for someone. Finally, although the concierges didn't think I looked suspicious, I left. Outside, free once again, I walked past the expensive international cars and on towards the Hilton.

4. The Hilton Hyde Park
Website: http://www.hilton.co.uk/hydepark

I was now getting expert at sneaking into these hotels so I breezed straight into the Hilton. This was the tallest hotel on my list (it has 28 floors) so I was especially interested in seeing some good views. The lobby was filled with over-dressed women wearing extravagant hats - they were there for a wedding party.

I got in the lift with about 4 other people, pressed floor 25 and stood back. The doors closed, and two women in the lift started fretting about which floor to go to. They asked me what my room number was! I said "Err... erm... 2514". It was the closest I'd got to being discovered.

It turns out that I couldn't find the stairs on floor 25. As I waited for the lift to go up to floor 28 I saw there were stairs but they were hidden away out of sight. I got the lift anyway and went up to the Windows Bar and Restaurant.

It turns out that there was a marriage party (for Pirthipal and Amrita) being hosted at the hotel and the bride and groom were having photos taken up in the bar - great views of London all round. To justify my stay in the bar I bought an expensive lemonade. The views around were impressive - you could even see in to the back gardens of Buckingham Palace.After my lemonade I explored a little bit back down near the lobby - including an huge, empty, unlocked events room - and saw the marriage party decorations. Then I left.

5. The Ritz
Website: http://www.theritzlondon.com

I'd saved the Ritz for last because I knew it would be the most difficult hotel to waltz into. I was right. Earlier in the morning I'd studied a picture of the lobby so knew where the stairs were. I entered through the revolving doors, avoiding looking at the imposing bouncer ahead of me and strolled casually to the left towards the stairs.

"Excuse me Sir," he called out. I sheepishly looked around. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Earlier in the day I'd decided I couldn't stand lying about having a room and then being found out. I'd decided to stick to the truth...

"I was just going to have a look around..." I told him.

He was obviously very experienced with this kind of thing. Without missing a beat he replied: "That's fine here in the lobby but up the stairs is for guests only and through these doors formal dress is required - jacket, shirt and tie. If you speak to reception they'll be very happy to give you any information you require."

For appearances only I backtracked into the reception office but then left, defeated, out to the street.

Summary: Surprisingly exhilarating considering I wasn't breaking the law...

IMAX Waterloo

2008-07-07T22:28:00.006+01:00

Website: http://www.bfi.org.uk/imax

Today ABJ and I visited the BFI IMAX near Waterloo station. Situated at the centre of a huge roundabout this IMAX boasts the largest screen in the UK. To access it there are pedestrian tunnels running under the road and I've often walked past it on my way elsewhere. Overhanging vines give it a futuristic look as if civilisation has crumbled and the planet is being reclaimed by Nature:
We were there for the 4.45pm showing of Kung Fu Panda. I think there might be only one screen but... what a screen. As we sat munching our popcorn and slurping our sprite the spotlights whizzed around and focussed on a cinema usher standing nervously in the far right corner. He gave us a timid welcome and introduction. He delivered "Welcome to the BFI IMAX - the biggest screen in the UK!" with all the enthusiasm of a limpet.
The introduction finished and the usher nervously waited for the spotlight to turn off. When it did we were then treated to a thorough automated introduction to just how big the screen was, just how crystal clear the image was, just how amazing the sound system was etc etc. This was all delivered by a booming American voice.

At last the film began and... well... what can I say? An animated kids film about kung fu fighting animals... It was not exactly Tolstoy but it did have a few though-provoking lessons from the wise old master Oogway:

1. There are no accidents.
2. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift - that's why they call it the present.
3. Let go of the illusion of control...

Summary: The ticket prices were in proportion to the screen size.

HMS Belfast

2008-07-06T16:45:00.011+01:00

Website: http://hmsbelfast.iwm.org.uk

Today I visited HMS Belfast. This is a Royal Navy ship which has been moored near Tower Bridge since the 1970s. It saw active service in World War II and the Korean War and is now a floating museum about its naval history. I'm not much of a military buff but thought I'd give it a visit.

When I arrived I found the ship was so big it couldn't fit in one photo. Clearly a montage was required:
I bought a student ticket (£7.20), got a free English language audio-guide and set off along the jetty out to the moored ship. At the end of the jetty a uniformed Navy officer took my ticket and, calling me "Sir", gave me a map and a brief, official-sounding orientation. Then I was on my own.

I tried to figure out if there was a "tour start point" but the map was no help so I tried the audio guide. Holding the over-sized phone to my ear I felt like a genuine tourist. Although the guide was interesting (for example the ship's bell was also used as a christening font for the sailor's babies) and included excerpts from veterans who served on the ship it went a bit too slow for my liking so I slung it around my neck and set off without its aid.
My first stop was Gun Turret Y at the stern (i.e. back) of the ship. Here the awesome guns were on display. These were used to fire huge 6 inch shells out at the enemy and were manned by a crew which, when there was action, worked, slept and ate in the turret. A father and son were in the turret with me and I benefited from the father's explanation of how the guns worked.Next stop was inside the ship where a TV display explained all about torpedoes. The Belfast used to carry 6 torpedoes and there was a huge one on display. I watched a French tourist pose for a "ride the torpedo photo"...

I tried to follow the arrows around the ship but it turned out a new tour route was being trialled. This meant there were conflicting old and new arrows pointing in contradictory directions. I did my best and went down to the Boiler Room and the Engine Room. The complex and immense machinery was amazing. The boilers produced super-heated steam to power the turbine engines which powered the ship's propellers. It took 4 hours to get up enough steam for the ship to start off! These rooms were fun because you were allowed to climb up and down ladders and steep steps. There were narrow walkways suspended between pipes and dials. It was a cross between a museum and an agility course.

I got turned around with the ladders between decks and the confusing arrows and the occasional signs sometimes declaring "You are now below the water line". Rather than try to reconstruct my route around the ship I'll give you the highlights. The best one was the insight into the little things you don't think about but are essential to the running of such a massive ship. The Belfast had a bakery, a butchers, an immense galley to cook for everyone, a clothes store, a small shop selling sweets, a dentist, a sick bay, a post room, a music broadcasting room (to play music to entertain the men), a chapel etc etc. The galley ovens were enormous. One huge, deep "copper" was filled with hundreds of fake potatoes to give you a rough idea:Everywhere there were models of people acting out the relevant task: people having teeth pulled, baking, butchering, even a model of someone having an operation. I learnt that there were cats on board to catch mice and rats and that the soap and tobacco were stored separately from everything else (or else they'd taint the food). A reindeer given to the ship as a present by the Russians in WWII was so scared by the gunfire that they had to "put it out of its misery" a few days later. I believe it ended up as reindeer pie...

The ship turned out to be so huge that I began to tire of climbing between decks and reading the information boards. I saw the shell stores where the explosives were kept and learnt about how they were hauled up mechanically to the gun turrets above. I took a short break to have a snack in the Walrus Cafe before my final assault. The tour lead to the mess area were sailors used to sleep in hammocks and play cards. I saw the punishment cell where sailors were locked up by the captain for misdemeanors including falling asleep on watch. A quick look at the bow (i.e. front) and the impressively huge guns. They are capable of firing shells 14 miles away! Currently the guns are aimed at a service station on the M1...It was starting to rain now so I did a quick look through some parts I'd missed. These included a mechanical computer that calculated where to fire the guns in order to hit the targets:
It sounded very complicated - wind speed, wind pressure, how many shells had been fired by the guns, the targets speed and direction were all taken into account. I was also surprised to see that the ship was steered by an old-fashioned steering wheel:
(For some unexplained reason the sailors on the Belfast wore full head-covering white balaclavas...)

Summary: A surprisingly fun day out with lots to see. It's good fun to climb around the ship and pretend you're on a seafaring adventure.

Wimbledon Tennis Championships

2008-07-03T17:16:00.010+01:00

Website: http://www.wimbledon.org

A week ago last Thursday I went with ABJ to see the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2008. This world-famous tennis tournament takes place every summer for a few weeks and during all my time in London I'd never visited it.

Part of the reason for this is that the advanced sale tickets sell out many months earlier and to get in on the day involves queuing for hours. A large number of tickets are available to buy on the day but the good ones sell out quick. The really committed tennis fans camp out in tents for the night before to be able to get tickets for "Centre Court" where the tennis pros play.

Unsure what to expect ABJ and I arrived at Southfields tube station at about 4pm. Following the flow of people we were shocked to see a queue about 50 yards long. "Oh no! That's really long!" we thought. We followed directions to the back of the queue and saw it was actually 100 yards long. "Oh dear!"... No wait... We stood stock-still, our wide eyes following the queue along. It wrapped around the edge of a huge field used as a car park, round the corner, down the other edge and around another corner. The part we could now see was at least 500 yards long! It turns out that the full queue - including the part we couldn't even see from the car park - was over a mile long!We trekked across the vast car park, positioned ourselves at the end of the queue and discussed what to do. While we discussed we were handed a queue card noting our numbered position in the queue. My number was 11594. We were told we almost definitely get in but would have to queue for 2 and 1/2 hours. We decided that "we'd come that far" so might as well stay. ABJ went to Southfields to bring back food and by the time she returned I'd been given a "Guide to queueing at Wimbledon" and a "I've been in the queue to see the 2008 Wimbledon tennis championships" sticker. They really take the queueing seriously...

I don't want this account to feel like queueing for over 2 hours so I'll skip forward to the highlights. As we munched our houmous, bread, cheese, crisps, grapes and jaffa cakes we passed by people with tents, burger bars, ice cream vans and were eventually lead through an exhibition drawn by Gerard Scarfe showing famous tennis players from the past:
Finally the queue filtered through a thorough security search of bags and jackets etc and we arrived at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club. The time was 6.30pm (so the queue really did take about 2 and 1/2 hours!). We bought the cheapest (£14) ticket that allowed us entry to courts 3-19.

Once we were inside past the ticket barriers we stopped and wondered what to do. We'd been queuing for so long that I'd forgotten there was still tennis to come - I felt like the epic queue was the reason everyone was there.

We just wanted to see some tennis. We practically ran to the nearest court and, having watched a rally, breathed a sigh of relief. But who were these players? Where were all the famous tennis stars? We scuttled through the crowd to hungrily see another court but it wasn't that exciting. Was it all going to be like this?

Deciding to explore we climbed up the hill to watch "The Big Screen" at the Aorongi Terrace. People lounged about on the grassy slope watching a match between famous players on Centre Court on the huge screen. We watched for a little bit then felt restless and went to find some quality tennis. Studying the map we headed off to courts 2-11. There were some courts so busy that passers-by were peaking through the wooden slats around the court.

The paths were crammed with tennis fans trying to outmanoeuvre each other to get to the best court.We finally saw a few matches and tried to take cool photos of the players mid-serve:
We settled for a slow singles game between two people we didn't know. After watching for about 10 minutes there was a commotion behind us. Venus and Serena Williams were walking towards court 11 surrounded by a mob of autograph hunters. No sooner had I alerted ABJ to their presence than she was scrambling over spectators in an attempt to reach court 11. She ran ahead of me as we were swept up in a whirlwind of fans streaming forward, clawing at each other, hurrying to get a seat for the court 11 game. ABJ arrived first and saved one for me. We settled down to watch the match. It was between two Polish women and the American Williams sisters. Unfortnately the game wasn't very equal and the Williams' won easily. As they hurled their 120mph serves across the net the Americans in the audience whooped and cheered. The game was simply settled after half an hour.

We flowed out with the other fans, passed the "Cushions for hire" stall and wandered aimlessly to the food courts. We had discussed earlier buying strawberries and cream but, at 8pm, were not in the mood. There were television crews broadcasting the summary of the days tennis:
Dusk fell. The tennis was over. We felt tired and wandered slowly out and back to Southfields tube.

Summary: An unique experience but not one I want to repeat urgently.

The list (number three)

2008-06-28T09:13:00.002+01:00

Here's an updated list with a few items added:

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
Ride home in a rickshaw
Eat at some famous restaurants
~~Visit the hidden-away nature reserve behind St. Pancras station~~
Visit a big mosque, big synagogue, other big places of worship
Use an "isolation tank" near London Bridge
Get a free Hare Krishna vegetarian meal
Go to the the Jazz Cafe in Camden
Go to some jazz club I've heard about in Soho
Eat a meal in one of the touristy Leicester square steak houses

Pie 'n' Mash Shop

2008-06-25T10:35:00.005+01:00

Website: http://www.manze.co.uk
Address: 87 Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 4TW.

What a treat! Yesterday, being in South East London at around lunch time, I tried again to visit M. Manzes pie and mash shop. Established in 1902 this is the oldest continuously operating pie and mash shop in London.

I arrived at about noon and was glad to see the shop was open. A few people were queuing in front of me so I tried to size-up the shop. It looks very old-fashioned - white and green tiles on the walls and surfaces. There's a long serving counter on the right and a large seating area on the left dotted with people tucking into their hearty food. The pies behind the counter sit on huge baking trays and the mash is in a huge bowl, all ready to be served up.

The orders are phrased as "number of pies" + "number of mash". I ordered a simple "1 vegetarian pie" + "1 mash". The vegetarian pies are unusual so they said it'd take a few minutes. In the mean time I ordered a large sarsaparilla. I sat at the back and looked forward to my food.

The waitresses looked like local women who enjoyed working there. In fact, most of the customers looked like they were proper south Londoners. I felt I stood out a bit - especially after my order of a vegetarian pie. All the real men had ordered "2 pies" + "2 mash". In the end I was glad I didn't have my camera to take photos because I'd have looked even more out of place.

After a tormenting eternity my pie was ready. I went up and hungrily changed my order from "1 mash" to "2 mash and liquor". The waitress put the pie on a plate, used a spoon to smear a mash barricade on the opposite side of the plate and then poured a generous ladle of "liquor" into the centre. The carefully designed food layout ensured the pie and mash held the liquor in without spilling. I paid, raced to the back and tucked in.

Well, what can I say? It was heavenly. When I left I felt full and satisfied. Yum.

Summary: Go there. Eat some pie and mash. Smile. (Try the challenge not to look out-of-place though).