BITSofBRITAIN: London Town

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BITSofBRITAIN: London Town

Postby Gary » 24 Jan 2010, 19:05

I've posted this here because..well..In my mind London Town is a Theme Park in itself!

My thoughts only :-)

The following is an excerpt for a trip report I wrote on Trip Advisor.

It's actually from Day 6 of a 7 Day holiday Ann, Isabel and I took in August 2009 and hopefully portrays some of London's "more diverse and off the beaten track attractions"....

Anyone with the time or stamina can read the original (AND LONG) report here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g186338-i17-k3020417-l19779064-London_Town_Trip_Report-London_England.html

..er..Good Luck with that!

************************************************************

..I began leafing through several pages of an interesting book called " Secret London: An Unusual Guide" as I lay on the hotel bed waiting for wife and daughter to get ready that morning.

Daughter gave me a long stare when I suggested a few places because by all accounts had already made our minds up for us anyway.

Maybe I could dissuade her?

"What about the Traffic light tree at Canary Wharf? ...No?..Well then what about The Holy Trinity Church in Dalston?..It's been London's Clowns' Church since 1959 don't you know?"

Maybe not.

I had to try harder.

"Crossbones Graveyard sounds good"..(It sounded good but I hadn't read at that point that it was a tiny piece of wasteland, currently used by London Transport as a storage yard that contains the bodies of over 15,000 people. Apparently there is no evidence of their passing because it was unhallowed ground, first for prostitutes and then for paupers..)

The book was full of curious places to visit.."The Handlebar Club at The Windsor Castle pub that meet up on the first Friday of the month (Think moustaches)..The Mummy of Jimmy Garlick at Garlick Hill..The Golden Boy of Pye Corner..The Dead House..Camel Benches..The Ice Rink in the heart of the City..The British Film Institute Mediatheque that is "overlooked by most visitors because it is hidden behind the former National Film Theatre's cafe and cinemas on the South Bank..There are 14 flatscreen viewing stations there where anyone can access hundreds of hours of footage from the British Film Institutes archives for free!..The Giant Scribble on the Ben Pimlott Building at Goldsmith's College..The Roman Bath at 5 Strand Lane..(The book advises you to ignore the sign that says 'Private Property Keep Out' and walk up the alley and at the end on your right is a Roman Bath that may date from the C18)..Giro's Grave (I would have loved to 'cheque' that one out)..and hidden in one of London's biggest Tourist Traps is Britain's Smallest Police Station: It's actually situated in Trafalgar Square and was installed by Scotland Yard in 1926 so the police (1 policeman) could keep a look out for demonstrators, agitators and the like.."

...So we set out for London Zoo that morning..

I couldn't believe the queues when we arrived..

..I had forgotten how annoying tourist places were!!!

Luckily daughter had a change of mind when she saw the queues and instead of an amble around a place that Londoners have fallen in and out of love with over the years we headed towards Primrose Hill (15 minute walk from Zoo entrance to top of hill for us once we had been pointed in the right direction by a woman walking her dog)

On Primrose Hill we learnt that "one can graze one's own sheep there because it's common ground."

Greater writers than I would no doubt have a field day juxtaposing the feelings of freedom we had (on top of the hill) with the big swooping nets keeping the birds from flying away (in the zoo in the below.)

All I'm going to say is that the 40 minutes we spent on top of Primrose Hill provided us with an oasis of calm from the city.

It was literally a breath of fresh air on a lovely breezy day.

The Silence.

The breeze.

The sun.

A jogger in the distance.

A man walking and wishing to share interesting information with total strangers like us about sheep and grazing and common land. Mechanical cranes in the distance. That woman below walking her dog. Silence. A girl reading from a book half way down the hill. Us.

We like Primrose Hill.

It isn't big.

But it's nice.

A walk through Regent's Park was next (Sorry..The Regent's Park as is written on a board there)

There's a cafe in the park called The Honest Sausage. I just had to throw that in because its name made us laugh. We didn't eat there -We weren't hungry but we were ready to eat by the time we got to Pret A Manger situated on the Marlrybone Road.

Boy was that road busy!

We walked and walked and walked taking in the sights and sounds.

Great Portland Street. Regent's Street. Tired legs. Carnaby Street. Stress on the old ankles. Soho. Ended up in Berwick Street. Why have I got back ache now?

Wife and daughter sat in a cafe called Beatroot (Spelling correct as on sign) drinking a "Flamingo Smoothie" and "A Reviving Green Tea."

I went to search out some vinyl from one of the record shops dotted around there and leant against the boxes as I flicked through the records to help take the strain off my legs.

Metal, Punk, Rap, Jazz, Acid Jazz, Hip Hop, Pop, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Alternative, Experimental, Latin, Country, Disco, Funk, Classical, Blues, R&B, Thrash, Progressive, Techno, Ska, Reggae, Soul, Andy Williams, Power Pop, Rock..

..Yep it was all there.

I didn't buy anything - I just like looking.

The market on Berwick street was near closing up when I met up with wife and daughter again and then we eventually found ourselves drifting towards Foyle's bookshop. (Our second visit of the holiday)

Wife, daughter and I could spend many hours in the bookshops on Charing Cross.

To be fair we could spend many hours just wandering in tourist London anywhere.

Gary :)
Please pass through the turnstiles if you are riding again.
Gary
 
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Joined: 26 Jan 2003, 21:45
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