London 3
Trip Start
Nov 14, 2008
1
4
102
Trip End
Feb 26, 2009
London,
England,
United Kingdom
Monday, November 17, 2008
Having only experienced half this tour on Saturday, I decided to give it another shot with Deutsch. With a group of 30 or so, we were taken to a number of famous sights, incl. Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Downing St, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and Big Ben. And plenty of Monopoly squares like Whitehall and Pall Mall, where I can tell you prices are far in excess of 140 pounds. Even for hotels. The Changing of the Guards was a bit of a disappointment, not because I saw it on Saturday but because all they really do is march, with the odd guard mounting a horse to look imposing.
At the Royal Horseguards, a large area where horses parade I think on the Queen's birthday, we were told that the venue will host a sport in the 2012 Olympics, and the guide asked us to guess which. Deutsch naturally said equestrian, another said archery, but the answer was ... BEACH VOLLEYBALL! The Brits really are that lacking.
There's so much history in these places, we were given a great rundown of what had happened here. While Sydney seems to name everything after Governor Macquarie (a university, investment bank, city street and even a chair), London does the same with 2 figures ... the Duke of Wellington, for defeating Napoleon; and Horatio Nelson, for defeating Napoleon. The number of monuments, statues and squares in tribute to these two astounds me (eg. Trafalgar Square for Lord Nelson).
Not far behind these two is Winston Churchill, voted the Greatest Ever Briton. When we passed the Churchill Museum and Imperial War Rooms, our guide Phil told us how much Churchill inspired the British people with his speeches during the dark days of 1940, when Britain was the ONLY nation standing between Hitler and the Nazis' total victory, and Londoners had to endure 40 nights of bombing and sleeping in Tube stations during the Blitz. Two quotes we thought were hilarious:
* When Lady Astor told him "Mr. Churchill, if I were your wife, I'd poison your tea", Churchill replied "And if I were your husband, I'd drink it"
* During one of his drinking sessions, someone said to him "Sir, you are drunk". His reply: "Yes madam, and you are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning"
I've decided these walking tours are my favourite way to experience a city. This same company has tours in several other cities we're visiting, including Amsterdam next, and we'll definitely be doing them. As this one worked on a tips basis, I wanted to give him about 7 pounds for the 2.5 hours, but all I had was a 10-pound note and felt rude asking for change, so I gave him the equivalent of $25. I still think it was worth it at this price.
Imperial War Rooms and Churchill Museum
As you can probably guess, I'm quite a fan of Winston Churchill, and I recently read a biography of the Noble Prize recipient (for Literature!). Deutsch and I went to the Imperial War Rooms, the bunker where he and his staff were based during the Blitz / Battle of Britain, designed to protect him from bombs. But we were informed that were the building on top of the bunker hit by a bomb, the weight of the building would completely destroy the bunker, defeating its entire purpose! We were allowed to take pictures in here, where wax models were put in places where his staff would have been, making it look like we were actually in the rooms during WWII.
After this we checked out the Churchill Museum, which explained his life and 60+ years in politics, and was pretty interactive. I was impressed how a man in his late 60's could have worked 18 hour days under the pressure of co-ordinating a war effort! On top of this, his paintings were actually phenomenal for a casual painter, as was his ability to write so many books, not least a 6-volume history of the Second World War (prob a bit like the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being written by Yasser Arafat). Deutsch wasn't as keen as me on the museum, but he enjoyed the war rooms as much as I did.
We headed next to St Paul's, but it had shut early today and we decided to go back tomorrow. Once again, Mich was out shopping. This time she bought some stuff, I think it was from Zara, Leila's been going on about that place even tho I tell her if they're that good they would have opened in Australia by now.
Les Miserables
I have four major passions, and London is fulfilling all 4 of them: History, live sport, concerts (I'm seeing one on Thursday night), and musicals. In the last 2 and a half years, I've watched no fewer than NINE musicals and equivalents, needless to say London's West End is to me what Amsterdam's coffeeshops will be to Deutsch and Tow. Mich, Deutsch and I booked discounted 30-pound Category B tickets to tonight's performance of the most performed musical ever, Les Miserables.
We went first for dinner at Walkabout, the Australian bar in Leicester Square. The meal was taking far too long though, and by the time we made it to the theatre after running, we were literally 1 minute late. The anal ushers refused to let us in until 15 minutes into the show, so we were forced to watch the first few moments of the show on a video screen. That Jean Valjean is quite the hero.
Deutsch had never been to a musical before, and thought the show was over when the lights turned on for the intermission. He said he'd never seen anything like it before, and all 3 of us really liked it. It was extremely dramatic, a bit like Phantom of the Opera, but even more like Miss Saigon in its style, I could tell right away it was by the same people. I still prefer Phantom tho Les Mis also had its share of spine-tingling moments.
Back home
When we came back home, we chatted for a while with Lise's roommates. Even though they've lived here for 3 years, you'd have no more idea they'd lived in London than you'd know a South African Moriah graduate has ever left Jo'burg. Needless to say, I was paying them out about their South African-ness. I could do this cos I know South Africans can take it, they tend to have big egos.
Deutsch and I are planning a big day tomorrow, it's the last day our London Pass is valid and we have a fair bit of tourist cramming to do. The weather's been typically miserable so far, hopefully it will pick up a bit tomorrow cos we're gonna experience some great views.
