Mimi's visit

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Mimi arrived on July 23, and stayed with me for almost two weeks. I had only arrived a week and a half before her, so we enjoyed exploring the city together. Mimi does not enjoy flying, so the trip over was a little rough, and I appreciated that she was willing to undergo a day of misery coming over and going back for an awesome week with me. I think she would heartily agree it was worth it.

The first day I let her get settled and we took a short walk around the city. We went to one of my favorite squares, Russell Square, to sit by the fountain. I love sitting there because there is a circle of ten benches, and often when I go I sit and listen to all of the different languages spoken. I was surprised the first day I sat there and listened to families from ten different countries talking. That was one of the first things that struck me about London- the population is diverse, and unlike New York City, where each ethnicity is sectioned off in its own enclave, the groups in London tend to be mashed together throughout the city. The countries with the largest populations, from largest to smallest, are: India, Ireland, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Cyprus, South Africa, United States, Australia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, France, Somalia, Uganda, and New Zealand. I was surprised by a couple of names on that list.

The second day we headed to Brick Lane. Brick Lane is in east London, which is where a lot of young artists and designers live. The market runs on Sundays, and ranges from the stolen goods section on the outskirts to the main road where up and coming designers and artists sell their work alongside some of the best curry restaurants in the world, thanks to a sizable Bangladeshi population in the neighborhood. When we first arrived, we had to walk through the initial section where people sold junk mixed with stolen bikes and electronics equipment and even used pornography, and I assured Mimi that this was not all Brick Lane had to offer. She was pleased once we reached the main market. We had some delicious chicken curry and poked around the vintage clothes shops and a record shop. We were surprised by how busy the record shop was and I later learned that Londoners are quite passionate about their music, and even though I don't always like their taste, its admirable they still support their bands and purchase records despite the temptation to download freely.

On day 3, we walked all over the city. We walked to St. Paul's, then across Millenium bridge to the southbank, and walked along the Thames to the London Eye. This gave us a great view of the city and we were able to locate some places we wanted to visit in the upcoming days: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Wimbledon. When we got off the ferris wheel, there was an ice cream truck and Mimi treated me to a Magnum. We had seen advertising all over the city for these Magnum ice cream bars, and I was eager to taste what all the fuss was about. The package was labled Magnum Gold ?!. After taking my first bite, I realized that a question mark and exclamation point together was the symbol for amazing. The coating was a mixture of caramel, coffee and chocolate with some mystery flavors and vanilla ice cream on the inside. It was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. Then we jogged through Regent's Park, one of the larger parks close to Goodnough College, to burn off the ice cream.

Day 4 took us to Big Ben, which I learned was the bell inside of the clock tower, not the clock tower itself. Westminster Abbey was beautiful, and in a smaller chapel adjacent to the Abbey, I saw the burial place of Olaudah Equiano, one of the most prominent members of the British abolitionist movement, which took me back to my African history days at the U of R. We then headed to the Tower of London. The first tower was built by William the Conqueror in 1066, and the compound served as a prison as well as a palace for many centuries. First we hit up all of the prison rooms. Many of the prisoners, especially the religious inmates, scrawled inscriptions of prayers, their names, and dates of imprisonment. That was a bit eerie. We eventually made our way to the main attraction, the crown jewels. The first display showed us the world's largest diamond, the Cullinan, which was cut into three separate diamonds and amazingly the largest piece was still the world's largest diamond, and the second piece was the world's fourth largest diamond. We then hopped onto a conveyor belt which took us by the most current crowns worn by the monarchs, including the dazzling Crown of India which was worn one time. Mimi liked a huge golden punch bowl and ladel which was shaped like a shell. Most of the diamonds were taken from British colonies, primarily India and South Africa, and we agreed that the Brits owned the world at the right time, when it was still acceptable to pillage your colonies of their greatest treasures and resources. The US was about 200 years too late, and there' not going to be anything left for China when it takes over.

That night we went to London's best fish and chips joint, the North Sea Fish Restaurant. The key to a great fish and chips is to have a tasty coating that isn't too greasy. They did it perfectly. The serving was huge, and I even had trouble eating my whole meal which has not happened since I was three years old.

Day 5 was fairly low key, as we woke up late and I had to meet with Dr. Gorsky, my mentor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We made our way over to the British Museum in the afternoon. One of the great perks in London is that all of the major museums are free to visit. We spent our time in the Egyptian and Greek areas. From Egypt, they have a lot of the pharoah's statues, as well as the Rosetta stone. As I watched all of the visitors rushing from statue to statue to take pictures of the crumbling stone figures without reading any of the explanatory plaques, I had to wonder what the pharoah's would think of being reduced to amusing photographic opportunities. In the Greek rooms, over half of the Parthenon is on display, which I find hilarious. They had cards explaining how they acquired the material, which amounted to one of their explorers paying off a Greek policeman to allow them to take as much as they could carry back to the U.K. Now, it is true that the Greeks did not take great care of the Parthenon for many years, and their use of it as an ammunition storehouse backfired when the explosives were accidentally set off and destroyed a major portion of the Parthenon. That being said, I'm not sure the British are still entitled to keep their stolen merchandise, but they do not appear to be returning it anytime soon. To their credit, they are allowing the Greeks to have the exhibit for a time on loan, but one would hope they would eventually return the items. It was further evidence to Mimi and I that the US ruled the world at the wrong time.

The next day we visited Buckingham Palace, one of the queen's main residences, and walked through Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery. We also walked through Oxford Street, the main shopping district, although we didn't spend a lot of time there as it was packed and Mimi hates crowds.

Towards the end of the week we decided to go to the beach. We picked Brighton beach, which was an hour train ride from London and highly recommended by Kit. It is a pebble beach with large pebbles that are pretty tough to walk over. One commentary I read by a local said that as a kid he used to enjoy sitting on the beach and watch all of the tourists struggling to walk barefoot over. Well he really would have enjoyed watching me walk around. It was a cloudy day and fairly cool, but it was still pleasant to sit by the water and walk along the beach. I love the sound the waves make as they crash on the shore and pull the pebbles back into the ocean with their current, resembling the melody of a rainstick. There was a large pier with an amusement park on it's deck, which was cool but I wasn't sure about taking a roller coaster ride held up by a few planks of wood. There was also the skeleton of a pier a few hundred yards down the beach, which I later learned was the former home of the amusement park before it was destroyed in a large fire a few years ago. For dinner, we managed to find an all-you-can-eat buffet which I really enjoyed, and Mimi tolerated for my sake.

On Mimi's last day, we went to Wimbledon. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to take the tour, but even from the outside we had a good view of the grounds. The flower boxes ringing Centre Court were still bursting with purple and white petunias, and the side courts were well maintained. Later we had dinner at a beautiful restaurant located inside of St. James' Park, the large park adjacent to Buckingham Palace. We had a beautiful spot right next to the pond filled with swans (all swans in the UK are owned by the queen), and the food was delicious. The menu consisted of traditional English dishes, which are usually game dishes with vegetables. I had salmon and haddock fishcakes and a poached egg with a special sauce, which all melted in my mouth.

Unfortunately, Mimi had to leave the following day, and her time in London went by too fast. I was glad she had a chance to see where I would be living for the next few months, and I was happy we could spend the time together here.

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