“I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.”
-John Cage
What’s changed since you were in London?
Hipsters everywhere.
Hipsters on bikes everywhere.
High quality food and food chains everywhere.
Construction everywhere. The official urban bird is the building crane.
London has become perhaps the world’s most cosmopolitan city – multiethnic, multinational.
Was London crowded?
Very crowed indeed, and it wasn’t yet high season. Lots of French, Spanish, and of course Americans. The city is a beehive of activity, and the Centre is packed. (post script: Paris is “empty”.)
Lots of new hip neighborhoods emerging where great food, technology, and very civil people abide.
How was the weather?
Frigid – it snowed one day!
Rainy – it’s London.
We liked it – we are from California and regard rain as a quaint novelty.
How was the food?
The tired reputation of London’s bad food is a relic.
Almost everything has changed since London’s former knock for food, eating, and service. Great homey restaurants, accessible chains of high-quality ethnic and “take-away” food, comfy coffee rooms, as well as a vast street market scene abound.
Some of our favorites were:
Fabulous fish and roasted meats at Wilmington Public House, our local hipster hangout.
Pre-theater saumon at Mon Plaisir on Monmouth Street. Still good after all these years.
Chicken hot pot and crispy Hong Kong style fried noodles at Little Four Seasons in Chinatown.
Tasty Indian sampling at well-run Masala Zone in Covent Garden.
Elegant Hanoi-style pho and good-bye kisses from the owner at Ngon Ngon on Clerkenwell.
Do people speak English?
Some. (See comments about multinational and multiethnic.)
Does Scottish count as speaking English?
Where did you stay?
We stayed at a modern residential hotel, the Rosebery. It is in Clerkenwell, a previously industrial area transitioning to Hipdom. It borders on Holborn/Bloomsbury just beyond my previous grazing range. Lots of restaurants, street markets, beard-trimming barbers, and …bikes.
Where did you get your provisions?
Bread: Gail’s – hearty rustic breads and crispy seeded crackers.
Cheese, yogurts, fruit, and jams: Marks and Spencer Local. (See “what’s changed”)
Toiletries: Boot’s
Electric plug convertor: Ironmonger on Exmouth St.
Is there good theatre in the West End?
Yes, but be careful.
We saw “People, Places, and Things” (Olivier Award for Best Actress). Our seats were on the stage. Intimate, passionate, well written, and engaging.
Buoyed by that success we ventured into English comedy – Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in “Painless.” It was painful – Benny Hill-ish, nonstop slap-schtick. The most egregious waste of talent since Moses was enslaved.
To add injury to the insult, I was commanded by an officious usher to delete photos I had taken of the actors receiving the audience’s wild appreciation. Then sent home without supper!
How about Opera?
Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera, Covent Gardens was spectacular. Voices, staging, acoustics, orchestra. While on the Underground on a rainy retreat from the performance, I sat next to a violinist who had played in the opera. She said the musicians and singers loved the eccentric conductor, Daniel Oren.
The real diva was the Royal Opera House at intermission – newly renovated and opening into a immense glass conservatory. Elegant patrons socialized amidst beautiful food, flowers, and drinks.
Did you get off the beaten path?
We ventured further into East London to discover the emerging boundaries of the New London. This proved to be a survey of civilization in the 21st century. Arising from the Underground at Bethnal Green into Whitechapel, we were suddenly cast into Bangladesh, or possibly Yemen. This formerly working-class, sporting-bar district was now a display of burkas, saris, shady characters who could “do you mischief”, and grubby store-fronts. It was a rich environment for the camera, and I was afraid to take pictures or even to look around too much.
Eventually we moved into more familiar retail fronts and a neighborhood that was either rising or descending, depending on your politics. Junkies and drunks mixed comfortably with local artists and designers, as well as fellow curiosity-tourists. I felt obligated to down a “salt beef” sandwich while standing at a filthy beigel bakery to make the experience real. We elected to pass on the all-breakfast-cereal restaurant down the street.
A bright exception was a 50’s-era bowling alley fronted by an enormous American diner featuring burgers and fries. Changes were afoot. Suddenly the graffiti gave way to Spitalfield’s Market, a portal to the expanded City financial district. Here, craft coffees and food trucks opened to vistas of the Gherkin Tower and the bustling Liverpool station jammed with commuters.
Another day we walked through Kensington and its enormous Whole Foods market, past Kensington Palace, and the guarded foreign consulates, into Notting Hill. While still a leafy residential area with uniformed kids skipping home from school with nannies, the area is no longer a secret escape. Portobello Road, with its antique shops and rocker-era clothing stores, is an unattractive tourist cliche.
Did you take any day trips?
A 90-minute train journey from Paddington delivered us to Trull, in Somerset. We visited old colleagues – fish pie, village church, Queen’s College school to see (grand) children at cricket, accounting for the too-many years that have passed.
Did anyone get a haircut?
After extensive research and field interviews, Lisa saw a restaurant hostess with “really cute hair.” This was the ticket: a referral to Cheryl at Daniel Galvin in posh Kensington. After 2 hours of artisanal colouring, cutting, and “zjuzing”, Lisa emerged pampered, pleased, and perky in her new “do”.
How did you get around?
An electronic weeklong “Oyster” pass was our carefree access to bus and underground!
Was there a Marathon when you were there?
38,000 runners from every corner of the realm triumphantly passed in front of Buckingham Palace at the finish. Remarkable logistics and security kept the runners and encouraging onlookers safe and processed without a hitch.
We had fun congratulating some of the participants as they limped toward their awaiting families and public houses after the campaign.
Didn’t Shakespeare die 400 years ago?
Yep, but he is not forgotten.
There are large monitors along the vitalized South Bank of the Thames showcasing classic plays and performances. Crowds gather and wonder at the power of the Bard’s insight into life and his command and invention of language.
An enthralling 2-hour RSC live production on the BBC from Stratford brought all of the legends of stage together: Dames Mirren and Dench, Sir Ian, and a host of “I know him/her” brought Willie to the appreciative masses.
Although we attempted to see an obscure early version of Hamlet on the fringe, alas we depart poorer for the missed opportunity.
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