It’s 4 a.m., the birds are chirping out my window as my first full day in London dawns, and I already feel remarkably well set up. I also marvel at how quickly a traveler can settle into the learning and stimulating wonder of being far from home.
My flight was slick. I love a nonstop Seattle-to-London trip. Just under nine hours (four hours of work, one hour for dinner, then pop a quarter-tab of Ambien to get four hours of sleep, happy to wake learning I missed breakfast, eat my clean-the-cupboard peanut butter sandwich from home as we touch down)…and I’m at Heathrow.
On the flight, I met Tim Dearborn from World Vision. He appreciated that, in our radio program on the subject, we addressed the generally overlooked foundations of structural poverty in what he calls “the majority world.” Getting engulfed in a great conversation with Tim and his family reminded me how many inspirational movers and shakers in the area of developmental aid call Seattle home. They invited me to share their cab into town, and I wanted to join them — but I needed to get into researcher mode, so I declined.
Heathrow’s Terminal Five is Space Age. I just love it. I made a point to get as set up as possible here. First up: Get my cheap little Nokia phone I bought seven years ago in Italy working today in London. There was a vending machine selling SIM cards, but I went upstairs to the Vodafone shop and saved a third by getting my card there — £25 and I have my local British number, I can text home for virtually free, and I can talk (at 20p a minute) to anywhere in Britain for 125 minutes.
Rather than pay £45 for a taxi ride into town, I bought my seven-day Oyster Card transit pass, which will get me into town and give me unlimited Tube and bus rides for a week for £30. I updated my material on Heathrow, swiped my black Moleskine notebook (with the Oyster Card tucked into its back cover pouch) against the pad to open the turnstile, and stepped onto the Tube train. For an hour, the mellow recorded voice reminded me I was bound for Cockfosters. Then I was on the street in South Kensington, marveling at the people-friendly changes to one of my favorite London neighborhoods. Someone told me the new pedestrian plaza around the Tube station is part of London’s spirit of getting the city sorted out and spiffed up for the 2012 Olympics.
After dropping my bag at my hotel, I had three hours of museum time left. Wanting to hit the ground running, I dashed to the Natural History Museum. Since this is the Easter week holiday, there was a 20-minute line of families queuing to see the dinosaurs. I talked myself in with a guard to do my research blitz without the wait, and loved the place. Charles Darwin sat on his throne below a giant slice of Sequoia. Rooms were closed not “for renovation,” but because “we are evolving.” Things were put in perspective: The elephant was big, but it looked like it could be a dangling charm on the sperm whale’s charm bracelet. In the mineral vault, exhibits were great — such as a chunk of Mars (with an explanation of how it got here) and the Aurora Diamond Pyramid of Hope (showing, with 296 radiant diamonds, the entire spectrum of colors nature makes them in).
Popping into the always-thrilling Victoria & Albert Museum, I got up-to-date on its collection. It seems to give life to other collections whose museums close. The old Theatre Museum from Covent Garden is no more, but the best of its collection now resides smartly at the V&A. The dazzling Gilbert Collection from Somerset House (one of my favorites in London) was closed for years. Now its masterpieces (jeweled snuff boxes of Peter the Great and the exquisite Grand Tour-era micro-mosaics of Rome) are well-displayed here. And the big buzz about the new Medieval and Renaissance Europe wing is truly buzz-worthy.
I spent my evening reviewing South Ken restaurants, and was pleased to see that prices here are no longer brutal. In fact, they felt much the same as in Seattle. The pound is almost on par these days with the euro. That’s why so many Europeans are enjoying London. And our dollar isn’t that bad against the pound, either (at about $1.50 — rather than close to $2, as it was for years). There are plenty of thriving little restaurants serving £10 meals. And now I see why bad English cuisine is a blessing. The “local” cuisine here is perfectly global — I visited Indian, Polish, Italian, French, Turkish, and a “gastro-pub” before finally sitting down to a great Lebanese meal.
London feels like an Obama commercial. I’m white, and I think I’m getting it. As a casual visitor, I don’t sense any majority/minority tension. Someone shook everything up. Maybe it’s like confetti falling on a colonial capital after its greedy empire blows apart. Maybe like a bag of M&Ms, there’s no particular flavor. You can’t say what color the world is. It seems nearly everyone speaks English as a second language and is respectful of the obligation for all to be good neighbors to live closely together in this great city.
Picking up my ritual package of chocolate-covered digestive biscuits at Tesco, I returned to my hotel thinking that to be in London and to enjoy it — either as a tourist or as a resident — is a blessing, not an entitlement.
RICK, It’s great to hear that you’re once again back in Europe! It will be wonderful to follow your travels through the Blog and of course I’ll be eagerly anticipating the new PBS shows. Your description of arrival at Heathrow, your trip into London and your first day’s activities has really piqued my anticipation for the European travel adventure I’ll be having this year. I’ll be leaving in about a month for Italy and after reading your Blog, I could imagine myself once again riding the Leonardo Express into Rome, checking into the Hotel and getting re-acquainted with the neighborhood on that first day (while trying to recover from jet lag). I’m sure the exhilaration of just “going somewhere” will help to minimize the fatigue of jet lag. I can readily visualize what the atmosphere will be like at Roma Termini when I arrive – the sound of the trains coming and going, the “hiss” as the electric terminals are raised to bring the trains to life, and the “hustle & bustle” of people on their way to a myriad of destinations. I’m especially looking forward to your “Athens & The Heart of Greece” tour in May, as that’s a part of Europe that is totally new to me. I know your Guide will provide an outstanding tour experience, and I’m really looking forward to exploring a part of Europe I haven’t seen yet. I didn’t have time to convey this properly when I was speaking to you in Edmonds at the Tour Alumini reunion, but thanks for the great work you’re doing – it has really enriched my life! Happy travels!
Rick your suggestion of Sommerset House was a great find. I watch alot of british tv -like Spooks, Midnight Man, Murphy’s Law, Waking the Dead, Wire in the Blood, Prime Suspect etc. These TV shows deal with alot of polictical unrest centered around the Muslim community. Just doing your observation and travel as a political act are you seeing more hostility toward Muslims over there which is being reflected, as an outsiders observation of the tv reflecting their culture? I as well love the Victoria and Albert.
Your observations about london as your observations about most places are spot on. However, I reached a different conclusion. I found London to be too multicultural and have very little desire to ever visit the city again. If I want to go and eat polish food or lebanese food or spend time around muslims or hindus.. I’ll visit some where other than England.. where I mostly am going to see English Culture (or if I’m visiting Britain in general, Scottish, Welsh or Cornish culture). But then, I am most decidedly not a multi-cultist.
Oooh, lovely London – my favorite big city – jealousy! And a pedestrian zone in South Ken – cool. Did you catch the new jewelry exhibit on the top floor of the V&A (possibly my favorite museum)? And you should recommend the “cafeteria” there – if you’re lucky you get to eat in one of the period rooms (see http://tinyurl.com/y6ma7fq), and their scone and clotted cream is a cheap way to get an English cream tea (if the weather’s good the Orangery in Kensington Gardens is even better).
I really like England and the English. I miss seeing my friends over there and their puckish sense of humor. Here is an example from one of my English friends who now lives in sunny Johannesburg, South Africa: The newly elected Margaret Thatcher took her all male cabinet to dinner. The waiter asks her what she would like to order. “I’ll have the beef,” says she. “What about the vegetables?” asks the waiter. “They’ll have the same.”
Thank for sharing this with us. As an ex-Londoner, it really makes me feel like I’m right there, seeing all those things you write about. I do agree with you on the fact that there bad English cuisine has never been so enjoyable – for some authentic curry, I always loved Curry 4U on Camden Road, right off Camden Road Overground station. FYI, there is also a quick train service from Heathrow to Paddington, in case you don’t feel like riding the tube back to Heathrow again (because let’s be honest, it’s fun for a couple of minutes but a whole 40-min ride is pretty dull). Enjoy your trip and please post back asap! :)
The colonizer is changed more than the colonized in the long run.
Does World Vision work closely with Bread For the World? It would seem like a logical partnership. We contribute to Compassion International which is another organization that does great things and optimizes their contributions with as little bereaucracy as possible. I have enjoyed your shows for many years but enjoy them all the more knowing your conviction to feeding the hungry and helping the poor. My travel has been fairly extensive but limited to first world coutries for the most part and the amount of abject poverty surrounding every major city in Europe and within every major city in America is staggering. Matthew 25 always comes to mind as I take the train from Fiumicino to Trastevere through the shanty towns on the outskirts of Rome. Are we “goats” for traveling amongst this and not lending a hand? I suppose no more than we are “goats” for living amongst it and failing to lend a hand. Travel has made me more keenly aware of the vast need that exists in our world, but once armed with that knowledge is it not our obligation to act on it. Is not our soul in peril for failing to? Ironically the word I am being asked to input to verify if I am a human before I can post this comment is “shamefaced”.
oops. “Bureaucracy”
Central London is totally international and multicultural but still definitely British. You couldn’t mistake it for anywhere else – you always know you are in London not Mumbai or Krakow or Jamaica or Moscow even though you would easily be able to find people from these places and a hundred others. More than half or all ‘black’ people in the uk under 18 have one white parent. We have the highest rate of marriage between races of any county in the world here. I think it is because class is more important here than skin colour. That I think is strange for American visitors.
Nice post. Interesting observations, but that second-to-last paragraph (“like confetti falling on a colonial capital after its greedy empire falls apart”) is total gibberish disguised as pointed social commentary, wrapped in strained metaphor and simile, and unworthy of a high school sophomore. I’m not sure why the intrusion of American culture into Europe and the third world is excoriated (at least by some), while the intrusion of Europe and the third world into London is celebrated (at least by some).
Excellent post, Joe. I wonder how long it will last. But, give Rick a break. He’s gotten very popular in the last few years, largely due to his army of followers, of which I am one, and this blog. Haste sometimes makes for less well-considered writings. It also makes one stretch for an exciting way to put things forward, thus making for an occasional embarrassing flub.
Good post, Rick. After reading that next to last paragraph, I would like to make a suggestion. Try a half tab of ambien and get a little more sleep.
I was amazed it only took 9 hours from Seattle to London. That’s roughly what it takes from Houston and you are two time zones further west, so I looked it up. Seattle is 1872 miles from Houston but it is about 37 miles closer to London than Houston is, and about 14 miles closer to Paris. I sure would not have bet that way. Thanks for the insight.
Wish I was there too! Which digestive biscuits do you like? You aren’t by any chance talking about Border’s dark chocolate covered Ginger Snaps? YUM! Those are my favs!
Rick– Definitely see a football (soccer) match while you’re there. If you’re staying in South Kensington, Chelsea is the team, but hard to get tickets for. Fulham, only two tube stops away or the 211 bus to Hammersmith, is a delightful team, easy to get tickets for their premier league games for the rest of the season. Quite an English experience!
Digestive biscuits – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuit
Rick , for kicks you should visit the LOWEST rated nastiest hotel in the world. Queen’s Park in Bayswater. Horrible. I had the dis-pleasure of staying there trying to save a few quid. You can see the reviews of it online just google Queen’s Park Hotel. Now on the other hand London is one of my favourite cities and I ran into Simon Cowell of Americal Idol fame there a few years back in South Ken.
Welcome back!! Two weeks ago we saw you in Cincinnati and this week you’re starting your Spring ritual!! Safe and happy travels. We look forward, as always, to following along.
Great high energy post! Love those galleries and to hear the new Medieval and Renaissance Europe wing at the V & A was worth a look. I can taste those chocolate digestives–makes me quite homesick, although I’m partial to Hob Nobs! You should try smarties instead of M&Ms while in the UK :)