I love London. I just think it is the most wonderful city. It is undeniably exhausting as a tourist, because there are just so many things to choose from to fill your day!
I stayed with one
of my greatest friends, Milly, who is one of the most beautiful people you will
ever meet. She took me into her home for three weeks and spent all of her free
time with me. It was pretty amazing.
I have been to
London many times, so had ticked most of the big ‘must do’s’ off of my list
already. So during my three weeks in London this time I tried to do things that
were a little different that I hadn’t done before.
Borough Market
During my first
week in London I accidentally stumbled upon Borough Market. I do not know how
it is possible that I had never been to London’s most famous food market –
there is nothing I love more than a good food market, so this visit was well
overdue. Borough Market, which has been operating since 1755, officially has
everything I could ever want; coffee, ice tea, wine, cider, champagne, baked
goods, fudge, bread, ice cream, fresh fruit and veg, Turkish delight, baklava,
Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, German, vegetarian and vegan cuisine! And the cheese.
Mountains and mountains of cheese! The market instantly became one of my
favourite places in London.
As I had made the
rookie error that day of visiting the market with a full stomach, I made a
return visit that weekend with Milly and some of my other friends; Tom, Gus,
Myra and Matt. Finding each other and trying to keep six people together on a
Saturday at the Borough was a task and a half – but it was great fun all the
same. Ethiopian won my vote for lunch, and we then stocked up on a supplies for
a picnic the next day. We got our cheese from ‘Drunk Cheeses’, a company who
sell only cheeses matured in various wines. What a fabulous idea! £8 of fudge,
some pâté, and several baked goods later we finally departed.
Borough Market is
foodie heaven. It’s wonderful. If you’re coming ton London – put it right at
the top of your list!
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
I’ve never felt
able to do The Globe justice through writing or photographs. Anyone who has
heard me talk about things I love in London has undoubtedly had to listen to me
go on and on about this theatre.
It is an amazing
theatre with a lovely story behind it. Forgive me if I’ve told this one before…
In 1949 American actor Sam Wanamaker (father of Zoë Wanamaker) made his first
visit to London and fell in love. He had a great love of Shakespeare, and a
dream to build an accurate reconstruction of the 1599 Globe. In 1970 he founded
the Shakespeare Globe Trust and spent the next 23 years fundraising and
finalising plans to build the theatre. Against all odds, he succeeded in both
securing land on the banks of The Thames, a short distance from the site of the
original Globe, and securing permission to build a theatre almost entirely out
of wood. With a thatched roof. Can anyone say ‘fire hazard’?
In 1993, in
recognition to the amazing contribution he had made to British theatre, the
Queen made him an Honorary Commander of the British Empire. He died later that
year, just a couple of years before construction was completed. It breaks my
heart that he never got to see him dream realised, but I love the story.
The Globe was
opened by the Queen in 1997 and has been going strong ever since.
There are many
things to love about The Globe; the £5 groundling tickets, queuing outside with
fellow enthusiasts to get a spot near the stage, the fact that you’re right in
the thick of the performance having to dodge swords and try to avoid spit and
spurts of fake blood, the wonderful volunteers and the pub that fills up with
cast members after each show. Above all though, what I love about The Globe is
this – it is a tourist attraction. They could put on shoddy productions and
still sell out each and every show, it would be so easy, but they don’t. I have
never seen a play at The Globe that I wouldn’t give five stars – and I have
seen quite a few.
The Globe attracts
acting legends such as Mark Rylance, Eileen Atkins, Roger Allam, William Gaunt and
Stephen Fry. That simply would not happen if they produced anything less than
outstanding shows.
I went to see
Julius Caesar and it was fantastic. As a general rule, I’m more of a fan of
Shakespeare’s comedies, but really I love anything that is done well. It was
really very gory, though that’s not exactly surprising considering the story.
At one point, the guy next to me and I got our faces all covered in fake blood
(hence the above reference) – it was gross – but it’s all part of the
experience!
The Old Vic Theatre – The Crucible
I also managed to
get a ticket for The Crucible starring Richard Armitage and William Gaunt at
The Old Vic Theatre. The Old Vic reserves 100 £12 tickets for each performance to
encourage under 25s to be involved with theatre, which I think is wonderful of
them. I was lucky enough to get the last £12 ticket of the season – but there
was only one so I had to be very rude and leave Milly at home!
I had never seen or
read The Crucible, but having seen and read a couple of Miller’s other plays, I
expected something depressing.
For those of you
who don’t know, The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials of the 1690s (oh
the outrage!). The play was just. so. good. It was mind blowingly brilliant.
Richard Armitage, who I want to love but who hasn’t played a nice character
since North and South, was
incredible. William Gaunt, I know I keep going on about him but I love him, was
adorable as Giles, getting a lot of laughs, which is quite the achievement in
such a dark story. Samantha Colley, who was playing Abigail, was making her
professional stage debut – which made her performance all the more impressive.
I wanted to slap her for the whole time, meaning she was playing her part
perfectly!
The Crucible was
performed in the round, which I always love. I find it really interesting to
see how directors choose to set their shows up in the round and I think you get
a lot more from the actors by allowing them to move around in a way that is
much more natural.
If I were a theatre
critic, I would have given it five stars - just like every other critic in
London. It was amazing.
The only negative I
have to comment on, is not a comment on the show itself but, as per usual, a
comment on the audience. I have a bit of an issue with people who just go to
plays because ‘famous’ people are in them. Don’t get me wrong, Richard Armitage
was a drawcard for me, and I have seen plays before because I love the actors
in them. But I also love going to the theatre. There were three girls next to
me at The Crucible who shuffled around during the performance, checked their
phones, took photos, complained for the duration of the intermission about how
boring it was, then left the second the lights went down. Then I saw
them waiting at the stage door. Crazy fan girls are what they were. And I found
them very rude. If you’re going to go to the theatre to see an actor you
supposedly like, at least pretend to enjoy what they’re doing!
The State Rooms, Buckingham Palace
I had never been to
Buckingham Palace before going one rainy afternoon with Milly. As you’ve
perhaps picked up already, I love the Royal Family. Don’t ask me why, I just
do. It is not surprising then that Milly and I had an absolutely wonderful time
wandering around their home (in a strictly non-creepy way).
We did the free
audio tour, and had a great time synchronising them as we entered each new room
so that we could ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ in unison. Buckingham Palace is both a working
palace and a residence and has 775 rooms. The 19 State Rooms are open to the
public and are completely gorgeous, but there are no photos allowed so you’ll
just have to take my word for that.
We went to the
State Rooms to see the exhibition Royal Childhood – a collection of toys,
gifts, clothes, photographs and video belonging to the nine generations of
royal children who were raised at the palace. It was a wonderful exhibition.
Everything was adorable.
This was one of our favourite photographs – always needing the caption ‘what up bitches!’
We also took a
wander through the Palace gardens, which were lovely. I would very much like to
have a garden like that but only if, like The Queen, I had a team of gardeners
to do it for me.
The London Transport Museum
I find the Tube
really fascinating. It’s quite amazing when you think about it, all of those
trains and all of those people whizzing around beneath your feet without you
even knowing. So I went along to the London Transport Museum to find out some
more about it.
Rather than go on
and on about the museum itself, I thought I would share some of the most
interesting things I learnt with you.
- 200 years ago, you
could walk for half an hour, in any direction from St Pauls or Westminster and
be in the country
- When the
underground first opened, you could smoke in the carriages
- The tunnels vary
from 6 to 59 (!!!) meters below ground. That’s the equivalent of a 17-ish story
building
- A journey on the
underground was once just 2 pence (it is now £2.20)
- When London’s first
escalator opened at Earl’s Court, a man with a wooden leg was employed to ride
up and down all day to show people it was safe
- As the underground
became more popular, there was a marked drop in umbrella sales
- In 1950, 350,000
items were handed in to lost property. In 2013, 150, 000 items were handed in.
Are we less forgetful or less honest?
- The Tube carries 3
million passengers every day
- Harry Beck designed
the Tube map that is still in use today in 1933. Beck thought that by
“abandoning strict geographical accuracy” he could make the map clearer for the
public. True. But thanks to that map it took me about 3 years to figure out the
actual location of things above ground!
There is also a
section of the museum dedicated to the role of the Tube and transport workers
during war. If you ever go to the Transport Museum, don’t miss this section,
slightly apart from the main exhibition, it’s very interesting and moving.
- It is estimated
that during the air raids of 1915, 4.25 million Londoners took refuge in Tube
stations
- From the start of
The Blitz in 1940, Londoners used the Tubes for shelter every night until the end of the war
- Only 198 people
died in Tube bombings. I say ‘only’, 198 is obviously terrible, but knowing
that 15,000 people died in The Blitz puts it into perspective somewhat
- Disused Tube
tunnels were also used to store artefacts from the British Museum
There is also a
great focus on the role of women in war, which I really liked.
- With the men at
war, women were allowed to work in transport jobs for the first time, but only
on a strictly temporary basis
- After WWI, the
20,000 women who worked for the rail, Tube, and bus service were almost all
dismissed – some after years of service
- When Maida Vale
Tube station opened in 1915 it did so with an entirely female staff
- Women conductors were known as ‘conductorettes’
I hope you found some
of those facts as interesting as I did!
Now for my final
fact – London’s iconic red buses carry an astronomical 6 million passengers
every day, using a network of 19,500 bus stops!
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| London's first conductorettes, taken during WWI |
So, those were the
major things I did. Other than that, I spent a lot of time wandering and hanging
out with Milly in various cafés around town. A very talented friend of mine, Will, created a website dedicated to his favourite spots in
London after living here for two years. So I spent a lot of time stalking my
way through his list, and that is how I plan to spend all future trips to
London too!
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| The cinnamon bun from Nordic Bakery that will ensure I never try to make them myself again |
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| This, right here, is why people love M&S |
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| South Bank pub hop |
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| Millennium Bridge |
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| The Churchill Arms, Notting Hill |
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| 'A bear! Bear's are sweet!' Life sized bear statue on Oxford Street |
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| I didn't quite make it to the actual TARDIS, but this mini one will do |
