Category: 2004-05: LHR & CDG

Aaack.
72 hours before I return to “the world”.
That means I have to write down everything that I’d like to do before I leave.
And run all the errands I promised friends I’d do (all shopping).
72 hours! And then a non stop UA flight back to SFO. EASTBOUND (it takes longer)! And in steerage (self explainatory). And it’s not that kind of fun steerage like in Titanic, the movie.
Ohhhh the horror

Well, I finally made it to the Tate Modern.
I got there about 1800. Left at 2200. Yes, 4 hours in a museum/power station.
Conceptual art. Not too crazy about it. Here’s some of the more “conceptual” exhibits:
Yoko Ono coughing (I am NOT making this up)
A big empty room with 20 coats of white paint and a dead sparrow between double paned glass
An old telephone with a lobster glued to the receiver with its genitals where the mouth goes to the mouthpiece.
That last exhibit was a Salvador Dali piece so in that context, it actually makes sense.
However, they did have some Monets, Matisses, Warhols and the like. Even some photography from Henri Cartier-Bresson.
And that building! The scale of it! The architect was said to have designed cathedrals. In its past life, the Tate Modern, according to the tour, was a cathedral of power.
The building itself is art. Beats an upside down toilet and a bicycle wheel.

If you have time to putter, take the Tube to Hampstead. It’s off the Northern Line in Zone 2. Budget about 4 hours for puttering.
It’s very old school village-like. Very small and very quaint. Whatever you see in your mind’s eye when you hear the words “small English town”, this is pretty much it.
It’s real nice and real quiet, unlike, saaay, the rest of London! And the Heath, which is open space and lawns and paths on the top of a hill.
I went looking for a pub at the top and found out it was closed for two years and the building has been converted into condos. Nice condos though.
Grimley says that Hampstead is hella expensive. Figures.
I’ll post the pix in a couple of days.

…and NOT that asanine movie.
When I had my bus adventure earlier in the week, the Greek Grad Student who knew her Night Buses recommended I visit Notting Hill’s street market on Saturday.
Grimley said the same thing and when I mentioned something about the Tube, he said “walk”. So I walked. Through Kensington Gardens to the end and down Bayside Street for a bit.
It was sunny and warm (23C) so the walk wasn’t too bad. Then I found the market.
It’s called the Portobello Market and it goes for about 20 blocks. The first thing you see is the antiques dealers. They go on for about 8 blocks. There’s all kinds of stuff. Silver. Old wood and old posters. Lots of stuff I’m sure I missed. Even old china serving dishes and silverware off Concorde. Antiques!
Then it decends into a common flea market, with the last few blocks resembling a market in mainland China. Kinda sad really.
There were a lot of people there. Mostly for the antiques because as soon as that and the food section ended, the crowd thinned considerably.
If I need old stuff for the house, I know where to go now…

my battery pack in my camera dies. So no pix. Still looking forward to art at the Tate.
I cross the Millennium Bridge, come down to ground level and see the gates are down.
Thought that was art.
Then I look through the gates and it says 2200. Closed.
I need to learn how to tell time. I’m coming back tomorrow night.

So there’s a part of London called Convent Garden. It’s a big shopping/touristy part of London.
According to the locals, it’s usually choked with tourists (usually American) during the high season. So it’s best I’m here now because there’s not quite so many.
Besides the two open air markets that sell questionable (taste-wise) souvenirs, there’s the London Transport Museum with a shop that sells all kinds of books relating to subways and books. They also sell a lot of logo merchandise.
Imagine people liking MUNI so much that they’d by a T-shirt or a door magnet with the MUNI logo on it. That’s how it is here except people actually like the Tube, in an odd way. It’s also big with tourists.
Remember, voice of God booming from above, “MIND THE GAP“. That’s the Tube.
I found a little part of Convent Garden called Neil’s Yard. It has a couple of cafes and a haircut place and some offices. Cute. But next to it is Neil’s Yard Dairy with all kinds of fancy fresh cheeses you can sample. Thanks Duker. You know I can’t bring any of this back, right? But I can eat it on the plane…(evil grin on face).
Found a place for black Kenyan coffee called Monmouth Coffee. It was on Monmouth Street. Imagine that! My first strong coffee since I left Paris. Deeeelish!
Found a MUJI here! I needed T-shirts so I got some. The markup here on some of the merchandise is ridicilous. Guess MUJI is trendy here as opposed to just a store to buy stuff from like it is in Japan. More on this later.
Watched the dismount and inspection of the Royal Horse Guards and got lost inside Harrod’s for 2 hours. Big store with a kids’ section AND a pet store in it. Sheesh.
And did I mention the 60% tobacco tax on cigars AND the 14% VAT? Sheesh. The lady there said that HK is a good place to purchase Habanos cuz of the current lack of tax. Yay! Ahead of the curve again…

It’s amazing how concentrated the major spots are in London. For example: Trafalgar Square borders Whitehall. You can walk from the Halls of Parliament to Trafalgar in 10 minutes.
I had lunch at a pub directly across the street from the Royal Horse Troops. One block up was that overpriced pizza buffet from the other day. Wah! Cod and chips and a pint of chilled Guinness. Neat. But �9.74? Sheesh.
Convent Garden and the Royal Opera House are also nearby. A 5 minute stroll. Why does it look so far on the map?
So I strolled over and checked out the Opera House. Nice. But sold out for tonight’s performance. Bummer. They even sell the standing room tix as regular assigned seating. So no rush. And the prices! �100 for a single seat? And that’s not even in the expensive section!!
No chance in catching these guys in rehearsal…

The Tube is pretty comprehensive; it covers most places in London that you’d like to visit.
After my Unplanned Art Day, I went to Greenwich which is in the SE corner of London.
It’s a small town that’s nautical in tradition but also has the Royal Observatory where the Prime Meridian is and a Maritime Museum which is pretty cool.
I arrived in Greenwich around 1600 or so. The Observatory was already closing down and the Maritime Museum was preparing to close at 1630. Bummer.
The town itself is cute. A little touristed out as a “waterfront town” but it was nice in a theme park kind of way. This is also drydocked in their waterfront area. Not much relation to this besides the logo and name though. I looked.
Then, in a refreshing change from constant Tube travel, I took a boat down the River Thames to the London Eye across from Westminster. It took about 40 minutes and was very leisurely.
A nice walk down the South Bank, looped up past St. Paul’s Cathedral and headed back to Lancaster Gate. I’m going to sample some local Indian food tonght.
Maybe even some pix of the food too!

Today was a day with no plan.
Holidays can’t be totally regimented and all planned out. OTW they become stressful. Let the unplanned vacation begin! =P
I went to the National Gallery (they have a lot of Monets and Manets there). Art is good. And Free!
Then after that, I went to the St. Martin’s in the Fields Church to check out the place and to purchase tickets for a performance tonight. Inside the church were the musicians practicing for the show. I stayed there for an hour or so and then left. Free! Saved �16 right there!
I should have continued the theme of “unplanned art day” by heading to Tate Modern but I was getting arted out already. So I jumped on the Tube.

After the visit to the Cabinet War Rooms and an overpriced lunch (at least it was a buffet), I wandered through St. James Park before heading over to Westminster Abbey and the Halls of Parliament.
Now if you know me, you know I hate queueing. Or waiting for that matter. However, the Parliament was in Session and there was a queue to watch from the “Strangers’ Gallery”.
So I waited with a bunch of other Americans (they stuck out, especially the lawyer couple who went to Hah-vahd) and other people for a hour to get inside.
The building is magnificient. It looks like a really fancy gothic church. It’s still considered a Royal Palace, but to find out why, you’ll have to google that on your own. Got to see both the Houses of Commons and Lords debate. Aside from some verbal jabs at each side, it seemed very similar to what happens in the Assembly or in the Congress. In other words, same BS, different building. I was inside for about an hour and a half and got outta there.
While we were waiting, someone collasped inside and required Paramedic services. Now this was really cool, the service delivery that is.
Traffic is really awful here so (this is what I figured out from what I saw) they have an ambulance and a rider on a BMW K1100RS bike that rides ahead. He goes in and stabilizes the patient. Then the ambulance finally shows up and assists and transports if necessary. The bike looks cool too (in the Int’l Travel/London section of the gallery). That seems soooo more efficient than what we have in San Fran, an ambulance AND an engine company. Yeah, like they can cut through traffic faster than a skillfully ridden motorcycle…