Lahndahn, Dahling!

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My first blog!

It has been a fairly hectic but very enjoyable five initial days in Ye Old-e London. I've seen the sights, inhaled the pollution, navigated the public transport and drank the... a lot. I have just arrived in Paris, have found myself in a fairly boring part of town at the hostel and oddly I feel like I miss London quite a bit. The Parisians might as well call me an Eengleesh Peeg Dog. Ah well. Until September. Meanwhile, what have I been up to in London?

Saturday, July 7
Up early(ish) for a decent browse around Portobello Markets, a mere stone's throw from my cousin Nicola's place in North Kensington. Loads of very pretty and tempting wares on offer, from prints of painted movie stills for £12 (I bargained mine down to £10!) to pretty vintage brooches to your bog standard 'Prada' etc bags. Portobello Market stretches right into the heart of Notting Hill, the clothes and gimmicky things moving into delicious food, and further on, antiques. I loved the atmosphere - really chilled out, and really multicultural. I also may have visited The Travel Bookshop from Notting Hill (the film). Unfortunately Hugh Grant wasn't working there at the time.

Onto a different kind of shopping - Knightsbridge, home of Harrods. Stores seem to be incomprehensibly large in London - the Gap store we visited was two floors, most stores are at least that if not more. The larger chain stores, anyway. Largest and most opulent of them all: Harrods. Ridiculous is the only word I have for this place. The building itself looks like it should be housing a royal family, or at least some royal favourites. The escalator areas are decked out with fibreglass gold Egyptian regalia, and I believe there was an opera singer at the top of the stairs. The Dodi and Diana shrine is the most ridiculous thing about the place. Perhaps equally ridiculous was a bag on 'sale' price for £349 - half of my monthly allowance while I'm at Nottingham.

After a packed Harrods lunch picnic in Hyde Park (mostly foiled by the bevy of spandex-clad men about for the Tour de France), we attempted to reach Oxford Street but were foiled again by the Tour de France, as several tube stations and bus lines were shut down. We headed back to Notting Hill for dinner and I said goodbye to my parents until February. Sniff.

Sunday, July 8
My very first independent day of exploration. I hopped on the 52 bus down the road from my cousin's and headed toward Notting Hill Gate, to check out the vintage stores I had seen before. The clothing and accessory stores proved rather fruitless but I did pick up some paper copies of Sandman and Sin City comics in the fantastic Notting Hill Book Exchange. Great condition and well cheap. Amusingly, outside the vintage stores (all connected into a Notting Hill Books, Music and Clothing Exchange network) was a scene rag called Dummy, featuring multiple pages of scenesters posing their best pose, with their myspace address as a caption. After having been to Camden (more on that later) I can confirm that scenesters in London and scenesters in Auckland are exactly the same.

After Notting Hill Gate it was off to Primrose Hill to meet up with some friends. I met up with Lily at Notting Hill Gate and we took the tube to Swiss Cottage where, with a bit of local assistance, we eventually found Primrose Hill, which is a really lovely spot. It's also a popular spot for Londoners from all walks of life to hang out and relax. A sizeable sprawl of grass rolling down a gentle hill, tidy but not too pruned, a generous sprinkling of SHRUBBERRAY, and the best view I've had of London so far.

From Primrose Hill it was a short walk to Camden Town, London's alternative culture hub, and possibly my favourite part of London so far. We only walked through it really, despite Lily and myself making numerous attempts to scuttle the walking mission by beelining for pretty vintage dresses. There are two actual market centres and then a street packed with people - some blowing huge bubbles, some selling strange food, some just milling around, some making music. Everyone from goths to rastas is catered for - culturally diverse in a totally different sense to Portobello. One particularly interesting spot was Cyberdog, a store whose target clientele can only be described as raver space goth. I don't have enough time to fully describe it but I will say that it reminded me of some kind of ultraviolet space goth Batcave, playing very loud and sometimes scary trance music. A sight not to forget. Lily and I plan to overhaul our entire wardrobes in Camden (perhaps not Cyberdog) before we head up to Nottingham. In fact we may even forego eating for some time to achieve this.

Monday, July 8
My most touristy day thus far. I took the Central Line to Holborn and hopped off at Tottenham Court Road, to find tourists scattered about with their noses in their London A-Zs. I also had absolutely no idea where I was and I was thrilled about it. I eventually found my way to the National Portrait Gallery. I know its a bit silly but I was surprised that one art form could yield so many pieces of artwork. It was particularly cool for me to see the Coronation Portrait of Elizabeth I, and the exhibition of photos depicting Blair at War as also very interesting. It was emptier than both the Tate Modern and the National Gallery, so I strolled about at my leisure without crowds breathing down my neck - it was very enjoyable. Recommended to any visitor to London.

Covent Garden was a bit underwhelming. I enjoyed seeing the cobbled street and the worn flagstones but it is not so much as a market anymore, in the Portobello/Camden sense, as much as it is a tourist trap. From there I made my way to the National Gallery, not realising that it was smack bang in front of Trafalgar Square - it was nice to finally see something that I had seen on a postcard! Took the obligatory tourist photos and decided to continue down to Whitehall, my tourist mojo in full swing now. Passing Old Scotland Yard and Downing St, I finally got a glimpse of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. As I stood on the opposite corner I was a bit surprised to see a fellow student from my European 211 paper standing next to me! The world is so large and yet so small.

Crossed Westminster Bridge, from the other end of which is an amazing view of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and sat down in front of the London Aquarium, a few metres down from the London Eye. It was still a delightfully sunny day and I decided this would be a great time to listen to the Kinks - what more of a London location could you get? It wasnt quite a Waterloo Sunset but the closest I've had so far. I felt like one of my silly little ambitions that I had planned for this trip had been fulfilled.

Confusion as to where Anna and I were to meet led to me walking all the way from Westminster Bridge to the Tower Bridge, a good hour's walk away, and then coming about half of the way back. By the time Anna and I found each other I felt like I'd been walking for about ten years but I had actually seen a lot of London - passed the slightly dodgy bits of Southwark, the Clink dungeon museum, Blackfriar's bridge and the Tate Modern. Also got a great view of the skyline on the otherside of the bank - St Pauls Cathedral, Westminster and the Gherkin Building (its actual name escapes me currently). I also survived my first London rain!

As I made my way home (Northern line from London Bridge, change at Moorgate, Hammersmith and City from there all the way to Ladbroke Grove - I am SUCH a pro on the tube now!) I was tired from my walking but satisfied. I don't have too much more of tourist London to see now.

Tuesday, July 10
Made my way to the Tate Modern nice and early, and had a decent look around the Global Cities exhibition. The Tate is probably the best gallery to hold such an exhibition; in the heart of a thriving city, in a building that used to power a large part of it. It's a huge, echoing industrial space, dwarfing everyone who enters. The Dali exhibition looked exciting but it was £9, far over my student budget, so I enjoyed the free exhibitions instead. Being a gallery for modern art, a third of the art is amazing, another third incomprehensible, the other third looks like it's been made by a three year old's feet. I managed to see some Rothko, Pollock and Monet so although brief, was a worthwhile visit. Will definitely be coming back next time I'm in the hood.

St Pauls is a straight line across the Millennium Bridge from the Tate, and the view down to the Tower Bridge is quite something. St Pauls is a strange cathedral in that it looks more like a town hall from the outside, and isn't built like a traditional cathedral. Lily and I didn't pay the £7.50 to take the full tour - again, student budget! - but the inside was as magnificent as expected. I have probably seen more interesting buildings in my time though.

From there, and after a sandwich and salad lunch, we hit the National Gallery, where we met up with my friend Dan who I saw on Sunday. As it was teeming with people, the atmosphere of quiet grandeur that I love so much about art galleries was noticeably absent. Quite fitting then that the three of us were more in the mood to imagine how subjects of paintings would work it out in Jesus' Disco, to laugh at the Pile of Dead Babies (Massacre of the Innocents) and to wonder where the non-Jesus art was. I managed to see a few Turners, Vermeers and, notably, van Gogh's sunflowers but ideally I'd like to do the gallery properly when it's a little more quiet.

From the Gallery we decided we wanted a drink, and settled down at the Round House in Covent Garden. Dan bought us pints of Bulmer's cider - very tasty, and after a few more rounds (including a couple of Pimms, a traditional English summer tipple) and bidding Lily goodbye, we decided we wanted to see the River. Dan and I managed to walk past Leicester Square tube station several times, but we eventually found it and somehow made our way to Embankment station. Crossing the bridge was an interesting experience, possibly due to my lack of balance, and we hung out by the London Eye, across from Big Ben, until the sun started going down. It was a really lovely evening to round off my first stay in London.

I do like London - I'm not sure if it's as I dreamed as a Spice Girls-obsessed child but it certainly is thriving, and also very aware of its history, something which I really appreciate and feed off. I love the energy of London, as well as its multitude of quiet spaces, and I think I'll be spending a lot of time there throughout my life.

Next blog will probably be from Barcelona. Ole! But for the moment, I shall don my beret and wield a baguette - it's great to be back in Paris. Miss and love you all!

Bisous,

Fern
xxxx

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures - no USB port on this computer :o(

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Comments

[Yo]

My dear Ferny there is only one word that encapsulates what I want to say. JEALOUS. You sound like you are having the most fantastic of times in all the places I want to go. I resent that you imply that the Tate Modern is dodgey! Maybe if you had of dragged me along I could have protected you from the dodginess. I could have been very handy with the incomprehensibility that is modern art! Don't worry about Dali anyway, I think he is overrated but you might enjoy some of his collaborative films which I think they are screening too. Very controversal in their day. Suprised you didn't get an invite round to Sienna's, Sadie's or Jude's while in Primrose. I should have organised it for you, they are a hoot! Maybe if Hugh had of been working that day might have happened... Forgoing food is the student way, the alternative is 2 minute noodles. And I figure you would remember and enjoy a fabulous wardrobe more than any meal. Rambled more than I intended. Have a magical Paris trip. I appreciate how thorough you are being with your entries, enjoyable to read. Lots of love from home, miss you. Yo PS. Maybe the Tate Modern is dodgey, I would know. Haven't been there have I?