Since my "trip reports" tend to be long winded recountings of days events past and seem more list like, and in my mind boring. I though instead I'll share the random thoughts cross posted from my live journal.
Is it really all that foreign? – After finally making it to London, we were amazed by how many Americans were here. Granted we were doing a lot of the touristy things, which generally means a lack of locals, but still it seems the Brits were in the minority. I suppose next time we ought to leave the city limits, or at least spend more time outside the tourist zones. Perhaps Welsh is just the challenge we need.
Hair Styles – Tousled is the look of London. Blame it on the weather, the movement from indoors to out, the necessity of hats, etc. but by the end of the day everyone’s hair is a mess. So inevitably, those styles made for that look, look best.
Camden Market – What a treat this was, streets full of all kinds of punk and goth paraphernalia. Ah to be 20 years younger and living some 20 years ago – how cool I could be. In a way I’m surprised the style lives on, and poseur or not, it brought a smile to my face seeing the kids decked out in such finery. Truth is, they can pull it off better than I can as the creepy old guy.
Theater – London is definitely a theater town. I’ve been to New York, seen Braodway, but still London seems to own theater in it’s blood. Stages everywhere, productions new, old, big, small, main stream avant garde – there is something for everyone. And beyond that the whole vibe of 20:00 when all the theaters let out and Piccadilly is swarming with people anxious to talk about the performance they’ve just seen.
Globalization – I roll my eyes with every Starbucks, Macdonald’s TGIF, or KFC I see. I’m amused and then saddened recognizing furniture pieces from Ikea. It’s inevitable I suppose, cheap, reproducible, services and products will always do well. But I was also encouraged to see a multitude of small shops, and restaurants – not to mention the creative abundance to be found in the markets of Camden or Spittlefields. There’s hope for the unique and original. Still I recoil when I hear Europeans speak about wanting to go to Wal-Mart in America.
Where are the British designers? – Tokyo was full of Vivian Westwood, but the only reference I saw to her was in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Likewise, we passed Mary Quant’s shop and wondered at it’s emptiness. With all the retro-revivals you’d think people would be clamoring for her designs. It seems the stores preferred designers from across the channel, or even overseas, to their own.
Europeans and Travel – It never fails to make me jealous to talk of travel with Europeans. At home I appear well traveled and adventurous as so many people here seldom cross the border and seem to fear venturing to a place where English might not be spoken. But talk to people in the UK and Europe and they seem to have all been round the world a few times at half my age. To add insult to injury they ask how we can possibly see a place in a week or two, the usual American vacation time. They are right of course. I’d love to spend a month somewhere to really know it. These people do that and for that I am deeply jealous
Minis – Mini’s look so sexy in America, but in London they look commonplace, the styling a bit too similar to that of the traditional London Cab
A Few Favorite Moments:
- After seeing Mary Poppins we watched an usher teaching another usher how to do the elaborate Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious “Hand Jive” routine from the play. I wish we had taken a video.
- Exiting the British Museum and discovering that it wasn’t raining at all – it was snowing.
- Taking a random walk and coming upon the Black swans and their cygnets in St. James Park, watching the father chase down two intruding geese, and his family’s victory dance and call at it’s conclusion
- Being surprised by the actual size of: The British Museum, The Tate Modern, Nelson’s Column, and the Rosetta Stone.
- The music of Camden Market, including the woman DJ spinning a mix in a booth of her own next to other’s selling food and other goods.
- Brother and sister challenging each other to “surfing” on the tube and the smiles of the tube passengers pretending not to notice.
- Emerging from Equus to join the throng of other theater goers, filling the streets on their way to a pub, club, or café to play on till
the last tube leaves Piccadilly
- Flying home over the arctic, seeing icebergs in the water, cracking ice sheets, the craggy mountains of Greenland, and miles and miles of icy wilderness.
