18 Jan 06 A full weekend of exploration
We covered so much ground on the weekend, it will be tough to recall the entirety of it to share with you, but I’ll do my best.
As I mentioned previously, we’re staying just around a corner from Trafalgar Square. On Saturday in the square was the Russian Winter Festival, and a highlight was to be a display/performance of the Kremlin Guard. We showed up before the gates opened, so made a decision to take a pass through part of the National Gallery instead of wait outside. We saw lots of paintings from 14th-17th century. I’m always surprised by how rich the colours in those religious works are, how could that paint survive so long and look so fresh today? There were so many paintings, after awhile of looking your brain just goes numb to the wonder of it. So we ventured back out to the Russian Festival.
Some booths were set up to sell Russian goodies, but with the throng of people crowded around, we couldn’t even get close enough to peek. On stage a teenage girl was belting out some songs with an incredible voice, which made for a wonderful backdrop to the mayhem in the crowd. After a few passes by the food concession stands, we decided to head out. Unfortunately we never saw the Kremlin Guard, but we did enough other stuff to make up for it.
Next we walked across the Golden Jubilee Bridge, over the Thames to the South Bank which offers good views of the city across the river, and has several galleries and theatres. On that side we spent a considerable amount of time poking through pages in the Foyles bookstore. Selection is quite amazing there, which I especially noticed in the design section. Further along the promenade was an outdoor bookmarket, some funky buskers playing great jazz (clarinet, double-bass, steel drum) and an outdoor exhibit of UK press photography from 2005. We walked across the Waterloo Bridge and down the Strand back to the hotel.
If that wasn’t enough adventure for a day, we set out to see the British Museum! On prominent display, we had a good look at the Rosetta Stone, saw one of the familiar statues from Easter Island, and walked through the African collection.
Sunday we took the tube to East London to have a look at our apartment building in the daylight. This area is a real mishmash of modern, gentrified buidings and shops, eastside arts and multiculturalism and derelict shells of businesses past. A few blocks-ish down is Spitalfields Market, setup with booths full of fashions, crafts, furniture and food. We wandered out toward Brick Lane, which is an insane market crowding a number of streets in all directions! All manner of junk is on offer there, some set on tables, other on blankets on the ground or spilling out of car boots. I can imagine that gems could be found here, but as a sensory experience it was unmatched in mayhem - good fun! For street art fans reading, this area is canvas for the likes of Banksy - we saw at least three of his pieces in our travels.
We then attempted to check out the Smithfield meat market, but it was all shut.
Later we took the tube over to Oxford Circus and did some shopping at John Lewis (department store) in the haberdashery department. What’s haberdashery, you ask? It’s the crafter’s fantasy, that’s what! There’s a large section there, with fabrics, yarn and sundry, and I bought some Noro yarn to make a new fancy scarf! Next up we visited Liberty, another department store, partly set in a Swiss chalet-style buiding. Liberty is known here for offering the ultimate in style, different from Harrod’s which is ostentatious, horrendously expensive and set in a tacky interior. We wound back to the hotel down Carnaby Street, and through Covent Garden.
So that’s what I remember from the weekend! Who’s coming for a visit?
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