Dates: 2001-05-16 to 2001-05-23
This was an independent trip I did on my own. I didn't sign up with any tour group in advance or join up with one when I got to London. I did have the advantage of having a good friend (Carol) who was working in London at the time, and was able to stay at her flat. I must say, that really helped out on keeping the costs down, because life in London is not cheap by any standards. The flat was nice enough, but definitely small. Just something to further reinforce how expensive life in the city is. I missed a few key areas like the East End, but on the whole, I managed to cover a lot of the city and its surrounding area in the time I was there. I didn't have much opportunity to see things outside of the city, like Dover, but find time for Stonehenge and Salisbury.
Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - depart Toronto
I am taking the overnight flight from Montreal to London Heathrow. Since I'm in St. Catharines, I need to get from Toronto to Montreal. This is the standard commuter flight lasting about an hour without any significant problems. I got this ticket on my Aeroplan points, and the ticket to London was a last minute deal, so this is a relatively inexpensive trip. I neglected to fully check out the costs of flying out of Montreal as it turns out I need to pay a $10 airport improvement fee to depart, as I couldn't check all the way through to London in Toronto, but had to check in again in Montreal.
The flight to London is relatively empty, hence the great deal I got on my ticket at the last minute. I have a pair of seats together to myself as my seatmate opts for the row of four in the middle. I manage to get a bit of sleep on the flight thankfully, but not too much.
Thursday, May 17, 2001 - Arrival, Westminster
I arrive in London about as refreshed as one would expect after the overnight. On the approach to Heathrow, the clouds break enough as we are over Westminster for me to get my first glimpse of London, including the Eye (a destination for later in the day) and Westminster Palace, or the Houses of Parliament. I make my way into the city on the Tube and get off at Victoria Station. I stash my luggage in a locker and head out into Westminster. Its an overcast, rainy day today, and a bit cold, typically English weather according to some, which doesn't make for much fun, but I make the best of the day.
My first stop is the British Airways London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel on the banks of the Thames across from the Houses of Parliament. I have already done some reading of my chosen guide book (Rough Guides London) and so have a reasonable idea of the layout of the city already. However, the view from the top of the Eye is spectacular and this gives me a really great opportunity to see the city that is my playground for the coming week. This was well worth the price of admission, and I can imagine is even more spectacular on a sunny day, but also much more crowded. The rain does have a way of keeping the crowds down thankfully. It is also out of high season, another reason there are fewer crowds.
After this I make my way to Buckingham Palace where I find that the changing of the guard has been cancelled for the day due to the weather. I snap a few shots of the Queen Victoria monument and the palace before making my way down the Mall to Trafalgar Square. I find the cafe in the basement of the Cathedral of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (although its definitely not "in the fields") and grab a welcome hot lunch of soup and an apple cobler. The rain has stopped after lunch, and I wander back to Westminster Abbey for a look around inside. The Abbey is quite impressive, and there is a lot of ground to explore there.
I also stop at the Queen's Guards grounds near Trafalgar Square to try to see the changing of the guard there. This hasn't been canceled due to the weather, and I watch this with the few others who are out on the damp and rainy day.
After visiting the Abbey, I make my way back to Victoria Station to retrieve my bags. I make my way from here to Earl's Court, the Tube station nearest to my friend's flat and wait for her to return from work. We then go to the birthday dinner of a friend of her's in London. The restaurant we go to has a neat concept, and I have a good time despite my exhaustion.
Friday, May 18, 2001 - Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Pauls Cathedral, London Museum
Today is a step back into a darker time in London as I visit the Tower and the Tower Bridge. I arrive at the Tower on a somewhat overcast morning, and join up with one of the guided tours. All of the guides, or Beefeater Guards are former members of the military, typically from the Queen's Own Guards. Our guide is an exceptional story teller, and regails us with the stories of the Tower's dark past, and the people who occupied it, and lost their lives there. We are given opportunity to see the Tower ravens, and while many of the buildings are closed to the public, it does give a good insight into the past life of the city of London.
After the competion of this tour, it is time to go to Waterloo Barracks and see the crown jewels. As this isn't a high tourism period, the lines are relatively short, and it is easily possible to view the items multiple times, as your are placed on a conveyor belt to whisk you past the jewels at a relatively quick pace. This is certainly important during busier periods, but as things are quieter now, multiple goes round are easily made.
After my visit to the Tower, I check out the Tower Bridge. This is probably most often misidentified as London Bridge of the famous nursery rhyme/song, which is a rather unremarkable structure instead of the more ostentatious Tower Bridge. The bridge was built in this design in order to closely match the neighbouring castle. The presentations on the bridge and its construction are a bit hokey, but the bridge itself and the view down the river are interesting enough. Of interest to this runner is the fact that the Sporting Life Marathon trophy for the London Marathon is housed at the Tower Bridge.
Since I have some time after the visiting the Tower Bridge, I make my way to St. Pauls. Unfortunately its growing later in the day, and the Cathedral itself is closing, so I do not spend much time here. Nonetheless, it is an impressive structure and certainly on a very different scale from Westminster Abeey. Instead I make my way into The City to try to visit Guildhall. Again, I am too late as it has closed and I am unable to enter. From here I make my way to the London Museum near the Barbican, a somewhat odd, perhaps ugly, planned development in the heart of London.
This, thankfully, is open. I enter the museum and spend some time learning about the history of London, particularly the infamous fire. I also view the Mayor's carriage, a conveyance nearly as spectacular as some of the Queen's carriages. Closing time approaches so I make my way back to my friend's flat to rest after a long day of touristing.
Saturday, May 19, 2001 - Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral
This is the one big excursion out of the city. My friend Carol hasn't been to Stonehenge yet, so we pick this is our Saturday destination. We make our way to Waterloo station, buy our train tickets, and board the train for Salisbury. Upon our arrival here, we board the Guide Friday tour of Salisbury, which includes admission to Stonehenge, and go for a drive around both the city and out to Stonehenge. The city is quite nice, and we pass by the old outdoor market, in full Saturday swing, before heading out into the countryside. The surrounding country is quite nice, and the yellow rolling hills must be a beautiful area to live in.
Stonehenge itself is somewhat disappointing. The photos that you see in many books are taken at a time of day, and from an angle meant to increase the sense of the place and its scale. While the structure is certainly impressive, and the work required to create such a thing must have been incredible, it does leave you feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Regardless, we make our way back into Salisbury, and get off in the city centre to find a pub and enjoy a late lunch.
After lunch we make our way to the Cathedral. We enjoy the tour given by the local clergy member and have the added bonus of listening to the organist practice for Sunday service during our tour. The Cathedral also houses one of the last remaining copies of the Magna Carta and so we avail ourselves of the opportunity to see such an important document.
The return train trip to Waterloo station is uneventful as we nap the trip away.
Sunday, May 20, 2001 - Hampton Court Palace
This Sunday is a beautiful day, and my friend and I decide that we'll go to Hampton Court Palace. The trip starts by going to Waterloo station where we buy train tickets to get to Hampton Court. After a relatively short train ride, we take the walk to the entrance to Hampton Court Palace. We start with the guided tour that gives a very good introduction into the palace, and provides us with plenty of information.
After the tour, we spend some time wandering around the palace grounds, visiting the various gardens that are found there. We also stop at the tennis court where there is a match between members of the club. However, this is the older game that preceeded lawn tennis. It is definitely a different game, and is interesting to watch this different style.
In the evening, we call my friend's friend and go to a traditional pub in Richmond for a drink. The pub is located right on the Thames where it is much narrower, and has a beautiful balcony by the water's edge. It is an enjoyable way to spend some time in the evening.
Monday, May 21, 2001 - Kew Gardens, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Convent Garden, Oxford Street
Today is my day to explore Kew Gardens, the famous botanical gardens in London. This requires a tube ride out of the centre, in contrast to much of my exploration thus far. This is also the longest tube ride I will take other than the trip to and from the airport.
From the tube, the gardens are a short walk. Upon arriving I start with the one hot greenhouse at the gardens housing the palm trees. I spent some time walking around amongst the palms, and then take a short break from the heat outside. As I am re-entering the greenhouse, I encounter some English school girls leaving the greenhouse. They are complaining somewhat vocally about how hot it is in the greenhouse. While it is admittedly hot and humid, this weather is pretty normal in the area I live in from June to mid-September, and other parts of the world are much worse. However, the climactic conditions in the greenhouse are unusual for England.
I spend some time wandering the grounds visiting the different greenhouses. The gardens are spectacular, although it is early in the season, so many of the outdoor gardens are not as spectacular as they may be. One of the interesting items to see here is the large Japanese pagoda, and also the new Japanese gate at one of the outdoor gardens.
After Kew, I take the tube back into central London. I make my way up to Knightsbridge, one of the main shopping streets in London. Here I walk around and visit the famous shops of Harvey Nichols and Harrods Department Store. My wanderings range far and wide this day as I ride the double decker bus, wander through Covent Garden and also walk up Oxford Street past all of the different shops there.
Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - British Museum, St. Pauls Cathedral
My first stop today is the British Museum. Like the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum is so large, it is important to select some key areas to visit as viewing the collections of the entire museum would be impossible, especially in just one day. I decided in advance that the key things i wanted to see were the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, the collection of mummies and the money exhibit. I am amazed that it is possible to take flash photographs in the museum, even of artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone, but it is in a display, and this may not even be the original stone but a replica. I also make my way through some of the Roman and Egyptian galleries during my time at the museum.
The museum itself houses one of the largest collections of antiquities in the world (or the plundered treasure of other nations if you want). The building itself is beautiful, and the central atrium is bright, spacious and a wonderful central area for the museum.
Since I missed the opportunity to visit the Cathedral on the previous Friday, I decided that it would be a good idea to visit the St. Pauls today. Once I arrive at the Cathedral, I spend some time looking around inside the main building.
I also take a walk up the many stairs to the upper levels of the church. The first stop is the so called Whispering Gallery. Here the dome is shaped in a way to reflect sounds around the balcony so that it is possible to hear someone speaking in a normal voice on the opposite side of the balcony. There is a large central opening that looks down into the main floor of the church, but voices are still easily and claerly heard from the other side of the gallery.
From here, there are a number of other levels to climb up to including the roof of the Cathedral. Here is is possible to walk around outside on the roof and get a good look at the surrounding city.
By far the best view of the city can be had at the very top of the Cathedral however. There is a narrow balcony that runs around the entire circumference of the circular tower. While the height and the relatively narrow width of the balcony does give me the willies a bit, I do take advantage of the perspective to make a panoramic picture of the view from the top, as it were.
I spend the rest of the day wandering around the city a bit revisiting some of the areas I have already seen before returning to my friend's flat.
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 - Globe Theatre, return to Toronto
Not much time to do anything this morning, but I make a quick trip downtown to see the Globe Theatre near Tate Modern. On the whole, I find this a rather disappointing experience, but at least I can say that I saw it. I grab lunch, and make my way back to my friend's flat to collect my bags and head to Heathrow to catch my flight home.
I check in pretty smoothly in Heathrow, and things appear to be going well. However, because the return flight is full, it takes too long to board, and we are miss our takeoff window. Because Heathrow is such a busy airport, missing our takeoff window means we have to wait for an available slot, nearly an hour later. So, an hour of time spent sitting in the airplane. The flight to Montreal is uneventful after that, although late. I make my way through customs without any trouble, and discover that my return flight to Toronto is even later, so thats a comforting thought. Because there is a constant flow of commuter flights from Montreal to Toronto, I switch my ticket onto the next return to Toronto, a later departure time that leaves the gate as the flight I was originally to take to Toronto is arriving!! In the end, I make it back to Toronto without any further problems and return home to St. Catharines.
Notes and Recommendatsions
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