London - Day 3

Day 3 (Monday 23rd Aug 04’):
Woke up at 9: 30, bid goodbye to D & A who left for work and then after a while, left for my first day of official London sight-seeing, all by myself. Decided to cover East London all day. So set off by bus no. 243 to Waterloo Station. Was a beautiful bus ride especially when the bus goes over the bridge across the Thames. Got off at Waterloo and decided to walk along the embankment, parallel to the Thames.
First stop was the Tate Modern Museum (of particular interest to me, as the only international museum where my undergraduate school had been invited to exhibit some of their work on Bombay). Spent a whole 4 hours of the mildly wet afternoon there, closely touring all the exhibitions and genuinely reading up about most of the work on display there. Strengthened my aspiration to take up Modern Art Criticism course in NYU or Columbia on return to NYC. The tours were reminiscent of classes I took as an undergrad in Architecture, in Bombay. Also was reminded of Kaushik Mukhopadhyay, an excellent artist and a teacher who I knew in school and who has also had the honour of exhibiting his work at the Tate gallery. Visited the Tate Shop and bought myself a Van Gogh planner for 2005 ( my most expensive planner, yet) and of course my favourite one too, as it features some of my favourite artists, best works.
Next Stop was the Shakespeare Globe Museum & Theatre to catch glimpses of Shakespeare’s life and works. Could’nt spend much time there as it was not on my list of priority stops for the day. Instead spent a lot of time standing by the Thames and taking a lot of pictures, penning down some lines and of course crossing the Millenium Bridge to the other side and back.
Moved onto the Southwark Cathedral and spent some time inside. Lit a candle and prayed to the English lord for a bit. Also saw the Southwark bridge and passed the Vinopolis, though skipped the tour of the world’s best wines and free wine-tasting. Thought I could always do that in California, don’t know when thoughJ
Next stop was to be the famous London Bridge (which most of us confuse to be the Tower Bridge, or was it only me?). Stopped by the London Bridge Pier, which houses the Hay’s Galleria, for lunch. Skipped the London Dungeon, London Fire Brigade Museum, Britain at War en route to the HMS Belfast (England’s war ship from WW 2 which makes you experience some of the naval battles of that time). Presumed it to be similar to INS Vikrant that I’ve visited before and decided to skip the experience and move on to the Tower Bridge.
One of the most famous bridges in the world, an excellent example of Victorian engineering built in 1894. An iconic image of the city, which most of us have seen on typical postcards from Britain. Visited the upper part of the bridge which houses the Tower Bridge Experience and details the history and working of the bridge. Came back to the embankment and spent some time photographing the City Hall, another modern heavily-glassed Foster creation, that converges into a narrow point at the top. A told me later that it’s the only other phallic building in London, the first one being the Swiss Re Headquarters; jokingly called as Foster’s ‘thing’ (when you see the image, you will know what I am talking about). Quite an eye sore among all the Victorian structures around, but a reminder that London is about the past and the future. The constant collage of modernist structures with Elizabethan and Victorian ones, makes one constantly wonder and sometimes marvel at the city which seems to not just want to retain its glorious past, but also builds a future that iconises modern and post-modern architecture. Slight divergence there from my tour, but an interesting observation all the same, quite reflective also, as you walk along the Thames and look at the various bridges spanning across it.
The last stop along this bank of the Thames was to be the Design Museum, which A had highly recommended. Reached there just 45 minutes before it was closing for the day and so luckily got the last tour. Saw on display some of the best Jaguar’s on exhibition, including the history of the jumping cat that you see on each Jag. Modern day products and their evolution including the Apple Mac’s and the iPod were on display in their chronological sequences. The museum had definitely kept itself abreast of every-day product designs and evolutions, upto as recent as yesterday. Quite reminiscent of the MOMA Design Store in NYC in a way, as I walked through the four storeys of the building. This last stop marked the end of my Thames Embankment tour as was planned earlier in the day. I left the museum and stopped by for some high tea in the museum café and looked across the river to London on the other side. Foster’s ‘thing’ stared back at me, another eye-sore from across and the Tower Bridge stood between the two banks on the left. The sun shone down on the Thames and I sipped on my cup of English Tea, staring into the water, thinking to myself, it’s a beautiful English day.
After leaving the Design Museum, I decided to cap off the tour with a cruise on the Thames. So got on the 6:45 pm Thames’ cruise and took a 45 minute ride on the deck, over the river. It was a thrilling experience to zip past all the sights I had just toured and from under the bridges. Passed by the London Eye (A British Airways’ sponsored ferris wheel that stands 443 feet tall and offers a vertical tour of the city.)
A fantastic cruise and a full memory card later, I found myself at Westminster Pier. Even though it was’nt part of my agenda for the day, I decided to explore the Parliamentary side of the capital city. Walked through the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (was lucky to be there when the bell on the tower, one of London’s most famous landmarks, that stands 336 ft tall, announced the day’s closure of events), Parliament Square and Cabinet War Rooms. Went into St. James’ Park and walked along the pond to emerge outside Buckingham Palace. Felt sorry for the Queen to see so many people standing outside the gates trying to peek through to see the activities inside. Was in time to see a change of guard outside the gate (not the same as the grander change-of-guard that one sees at 11:00 am). Walked along to The Royal Mews and passed a guard, that could almost be mistaken for a statue. It was funny to see him stand there, as royal as they can get, with his posture erect and looking straight up, even though he had boisterous kids all around him trying to poke him to move. Was hilarious and I could’nt help but wonder, does the sense of duty or royal loyalty really drive you to be so stiffly upper-lipped? A true British royalty experience; Splendid!
Finally I walked to Victoria Station and took the bus no. 38 from there to get back to Farringdon where D & A work. Met them at the mutually decided meeting point of ours, and went to this Italian place for dinner with their Lebanese co-worker Salim. Concluded all Lebanese men are the same, wherever in the world you go. Had a good time and came back home to watch T.V till late. Saw a new program called NY-LON (short for NYC-LONDON), heard Atrey’s trivia-of-the-day on how the material Nylon got it’s name (By the end of the tour, I had reaffirmed he was one of those kids we grew up with, who knew all the capital cities of the world:) and called it a day on lot’s of laughter and some good blue WKD.