My first UK/Eurotrip started here in October 2006. A small girl in a big city with big dreams and even bigger luggage...and no it wasn't the makings of a Christina Aguilera movie ;)
"Sunday night in London as my whirlwind visit sadly draws to a close. In typical fashion, without a plan or any idea, armed with nothing but a free airport HSBC London guide, i have somehow managed to exceed all preconceived expectations (with a little help from my friend..or cousin..Trini- very accomplished London lawyer, and some unseasonally amazing weather). Forget the doom and gloom warnings of miserable rain and the initial pain of lugging 30 kilos up subway steps early friday morning. Still sleep-deprived but after a quick refresh at our base in Southwark, Central London, a 10 minute walk down to the Thames and London Bridge in glorious sunshine saw my first day dedicated to exploring the Tower of London and discovering a macarbe fascination for medieval torture devices and an eye for priceless jewels and orbes of the Crown variety. I fleetingly wondered whether the size of the royal guns and ancient artillery as well as ambitiously proportioned body armour was more reflective of the size of the ego, somehow detracting from inadequacies of another variety.. but enough musing. It was off to Jamie Oliver's favourite Borough Markets to indulge the senses and enrich the soul through the tastes and aromas of cheese, spices and belgium chocolate organic brownies. Then onto Shakespeare's Globe for a brief Gwyneth moment and to reminisce the yesteryear of year 12 syllabus before they could catch me to charge the 3 pound entry fee.
The Tate Modern Gallery later followed by the National Portrait Gallery made for a crash course in art history. I admired Picasso's monochromatic paintings and geometric fragmentation of form where, along with other Italian futurists, he begun a campaign against cultural and political stagnation in a rapidly industrialising society. I explored 'Idea and Object' of Minimalist: A new generation of artist in the 1960s whose work embodied ideas of obectivity and impersonality as a radical alternative to the highly subjective, expressionalistic styles of post-war painting. This groundwork for Constructivism and the Ready-Made art saw me admiring an airconditioning duct and make-shift urinal attached to the wall of the gallery. If nothing else it gave the opportunity to learn pretentious art snob dinner party conversation starters put into practise that evening at a swanky eatery in Piccadilly- so exclusive we couldn't even find it from the street and where one of the waif-like-severe-looking diners at our table ordered just a bowl of steamed rice- is that london mode de vie?! turns out everyone was still reeling from a week in Morocco and subsequent apparently unavoidable food poisoning leaving me desperately struggling to incorporate a week in the bathroom into my already jam-packed itinerary.
In between musing about neo-expressionalism and abstract surrealism I have engaged with the realities, poetry and chaos of contemporary city life exploring the tensions between the personal and the anonymous, between freedom and suppression...okay, enough reading the gallery guide... In actuality, i have managed to fit in a lot of sight-seeing and token (awkward self-shot) photo opportunities including the London Eye (and military-operation security), Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Kensington Palace and Diana's Memorial, Trafalgar Square not to mention mastering the art of catching red buses, black cabs and the Tube aka Underground. For you gals, lots of 'window' shopping opportunities along Oxford and Regent Streets and a visit to Harrods today to try on fascinators, fur and frills to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars...or a few quid. And then a more affordable wannabe WAGs/Eurotrash visit to Top Shop, Accessorize, Mango and ZAVA for faux fur couture!
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace was a must on Saturday morning where i captured a few funny fuzzy hat/moustache guard photos and heard the Big Band play the star wars theme?! Historical indeed. But aside from which my shots reflect more of a 'changing-of-the-masses of balding tourists holding cameras in front of mine' experience. My london adventure then culminated in a visit to China Town for the best Peking Duck around, sorry Ying Chow, but at 4pm on saturday afternoon it was an even stranger time to eat peking duck. Piccadilly Circus was a highlight due to last-minute tix to 'Footloose' the Musical in the West End on Saturday night (alas, Ashlee Simpson's Chigago was sold out =( Followed by a visit to Covent Garden and the experience of being stuck underground in a crowded subway and lift due to a track delay...the only minor setback of the whole weekend....but without which a hair-raising but exhilirating 'pedi-cab' ride home past Kevin Spacey's Old Vic Theatre would not have been possible!
In something of a Bridget Jones/Notting Hill moment on Sunday afternoon in 'Hyde Park', I found myself chauffering Trini around in a row boat on Serpentine Lake in perhaps a slightly less romantic but equally comical re-enactment (narrowly avoiding the overboard bit). Afternoon tea at the 'Woosley' adjacent but not-quite-the Ritz Hotel seemed a fitting end to a very British affair and i reflected over scones and tea on what has been an amazing start to my trip- and its only the third day! A telling sign of the amount of mileage may be the acute elephantitic-type syndrome that sees my ankles and knees painfully swollen by days end. This pooling of fluid in the peripheries may be a latent atmospheric effect of flying but is probably not helped by my fashion footless tights and flimsy ballet flats restricting venous return back to the heart. A small sacrifice towards my ultimate transition to euro-chic.
Booked on the Eurostar to Paris tomorrow where i meet up with my personal language assistant, conveniently also my mum. We then plan to travel gradually through the south of France, down to Barcelona, over to Morocco, back to Spain and wind up in Italy by the end of november. Will hope to keep you informed (perhaps in less detail until i can access free internet again from Canada!)
au re voir or asta manyana senoira... or something"
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