We were home! Well, kind of. Home with accents. After two
and a half months of travel we had reached our first English speaking country. We could
read the street signs, read the Tube instructions, ask for help and nearly understand the
answer.
We were fortunate enough to get an actual flat (studio
apartment) for a few days in the heart of London. There was a kitchen, a bathroom, a
hairdryer, and a television. With programs in English. The downfall of us. After being
removed from TV for so long, we hoped we might be immune to it. Not so. Bad habits die
hard.
We had been to London 5 years ago and visited most of the
"touristy" things, so we didn't feel obligated to run around madly. Plus we had
business to take care of: laundry, pharmacy, Pilates class, markets, and Dave wanted to
see his favorite musical, Rent, for a third time.
Back to the flat, the reason we got lucky with it was due to
Vija's (of Ben and Vija) sister Erin who was a student at the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama, and by pretending to be her cousins we were able to stay in the school's guest
flat. We couldn't have asked for a better location, place, or "cousin" to help
us get acclimated fast: we were serenaded by music floating from the practice rooms into
the courtyard and met several friends of hers. If we had been there a few years earlier,
we might have run into Joe Fiennes or Ewan McGregor who also studied there. Erin found us
a great curry restaurant with student prices, a nearby grocery so we could make full use
of our kitchen, and she directed us to the best spot to view the latest riot.
Yes, what would London be without a riot? A Riot Against
Capitalism (organized via the website j18.org) took place on our first full day there. We
figured being homeless and unemployed, we'd fit right in. The rioters were out in full
force, some simply paraded down the streets in faux business suits waving Take Back the
City signs, while others set out to kick in police vehicles and destroy storefront
windows. The police were there with their shields and clubs (no guns allowed), and would
try to form blockades to contain the rioters, without much success. In the end, a few
business windows were smashed, including a McDonalds and a Daimler-Benz dealer's showroom,
there was some graffiti in the business district, and a woman's leg was run over by a
reversing police van. According to the papers the next day, it was the most violent
protest since a demonstration back in 1990. We thought it a tiny bit ironic that it was
organized via the Internet and that the leaders coordinated the riot paths via their
mobile phones. Saw lots of typical British mohawked "punkers" and many had their
babies with them.
We did see a few other very "London" things
(besides the riot). We returned to Covent Garden, Portobello Road, Camden Lock Market,
Baker Street, Brixton Market, and the Tate Gallery (home to British paintings from the
16th century to the present, including some Matisse, Picasso, and Dali). And we finally
got to see the newly renovated Shakespeare's Globe Theatre--it was amazing. It should look
familiar to many people because a 3/4 size model of it was featured in the movie
"Shakespeare in Love." We caught "A Comedy of Errors," and yes, we
were standing with the peasants.
We were in London at a good time: Wimbledon was just
starting, the wedding of the Queen's youngest son Edward to a Diana-look-alike named
Sophie was taking place, and the Notting Hill area was all the rage because of the movie
with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. There was an article in the London Times by the owner
of the travel bookstore modeled in the movie, and I guess her life has been a living
nightmare since the movie was released and she became "Hugh Grant."
We were really lucky to have found a cybercafe sponsored by
an airline on it's grand opening week. They were charging a 1 Pound entry fee ($1.50) for
all you could surf, and they were open 24-hours. The clincher: no bathroom inside. It was
great and we could finally catch up on some of our email and business until nature called.
Our friends from home, Carrie and Eric, joined us in London
for a day before we all headed out towards Glastonbury. We went inside Westminster
Abbey and Parliament with them, saw Big Ben and Trafalgar Square, and navigated our way
out of London with Eric's impeccable sense of direction. And then we were off to the
country...
