Wet Waste of Time and a Haunted London Uncannily Disappointing

Alright, big delay, I know. Sorry about that. As it recently was my mother's birthday, I was back in Germany for just one night over the weekend, hence the neglect. Sure it was nice being home for a few hours - so to say - but I almost could not wait to be back in London again. Love it. Oh yeah. Try getting from Hamlet on the Street... erm. alright, the dump that is called STREATHAM to Liverpool Street Station and then to Stansted in the middle of the night. Good luck with that. I got up at 2:40 AM, walked up to Becmead Avenue hoping for the night bus to come who was supposed to take me there. I actually was assured that the night buses are just as reliable as the buses at daytime - but that might not mean a lot. I looked up the route on the tfl website. Two days prior I already went up to Becmean just to make sure that I know how to get there (not difficult - found the station right away). The bus came on time - it just did not serve Liverpool Street Station (which was to be the final destination). Awesome. For some reason it ended at Elephant and Castle. Nobody knows why. Nobody. I had the chance to enjoy that feeling that I might not make it to the airport on time and that I honestly don't know how to get to f*cking Liverpool Street in the middle of the night - for about 12 minutes. That's when the next bus arrived. To Liverpool Street Station. Thank. God. It was the second time now that the London transport page gave me the wrong information while it should actually be the most trustworthy source. It is always busy here. Never would you have believed that it was 3:00 am (despite the two foxes I saw). People. Cars. Streetlife. Open stores and restaurants. Once I arrived at the station, everything went smoothly. Although I was not aware that a ticket to Stansted costs 20 Pound one way, or 30 with return. Ridiculous. The bus only takes 8 Pound when you leave at the first station and 10 when you get off at - say - Bakerloo. It might take longer but it is cheaper in the end.


That was what is to say about my last weekend.

The Sunday before was supposed to be Regent Street Festival with "Fashion and Food" being the Motto. I was there, yes, but there was no festival. Well, there HAVE been a few stalls and a very sad looking merry-go-round - but it was literally ruined by the rain. It was beneath a tent with people trying to avoid the water rather than listening to the music where I heard the saddest rendition of Billie Holiday's 'Summertime' ever. The women that played the tune probably felt the same way - just look at their faces...

I just walked pretty much through Regent Street up to a suprisingly empty Piccadilly Circus straight to China Town for lunch. A decision I regretted afterwards. I settled for a newly opened all you can eat buffet restaurant with a 10 pound offer plus one free drink. Most restaurants - and there are plenty of them as china town pretty much consists of places to eat - offer buffets. I might have been the fact that I was alone, or that I might have looked like a gluttonous pig to them - who knows  - but they gave me the crappiest table in the restaurant which I only realised after sitting down after the first walk to the buffet with a hardly filled plate (that's the concept of all you can eat - you can come back to the buffet for more). I noticed that if all seats around me were taken, I would have been pretty much caged. It's not like the place was really full, they just always put you to the front so it looks like that from outside (many people = good food). It is rather awkward to always ask people to stand up for you while they are trying to eat (if I'd been that person, it would have bothered me as well), so I just got up once again, coming back with an embarressingly full plate. The food was okay, but I just wanted to finish ASAP and leave - what I did. That was that Sunday (26/09/10).

On Friday the 1st, I attended one of those many so called London Walks - guided walks through  areas of London based on a certain theme - together with Katja. I had high expectations. And was rather gutted. This walk's theme was "Haunted London" and I expected a creepy tour with well told, dreadful stories. The stories were dreadful at times, but the guide was a dislikable guy hastily telling them in a way that made it easy to realise that he did that way too often already. No atmosphere, no nothing, It was nice walking through Central London (it started at Monument) in the evening through the rain, sure, but it surely would have been nicer without the guide and without wasting the 6 pounds we paid (8 if you aren't a student). Not too much, but still.

The Gherkin and the Lloyd's building are impressive, nevertheless. Too bad we were in such a rush due to the guide that there was no good moment for taking decent pictures...

                                                           

Day 25: Kismet's Calling

Sometimes the best walks are the spontaneous ones.
I absolutely did not know what to do yesterday. I got up rather early for a Saturday (about 9 am), had the usual breakfast, took a shower, did the laundry, chatted on skype, did some blogging and so on. After checking the timeout London newsletter I considered seeing an expedition about experimental food for 5 pounds, but as it was afternoon already and it was about to end at 5 I abandoned the idea. Well, why not just go to Hyde Park, see what people at the Speaker's Corner had to say leave a little through my book.

That was the plan. I never got to Hyde Park. As they always try to only do construction works on the tube at the weekend, you need to be aware of that when being in London. While I am, the Northern Line always seemed to be very reliable so far and everything was roughly planned out (ok, rather in the "we'll see what happens" manner), so it was quite suprising when right before arriving Bank Station, an announcement was made that the station could not be serviced at his point. Fudge. So I got off at London Bridge Station for the hundredth time, seeing what I could do. Take the cruiser to Greenwich? Naaah, not in the mood. So I pretty much just kept on walking for a while, passing over Tower Bridge, walking in the sun along the waterside, eating an overpriced but luscious pistachio macaron from Paul's along with a mocha. As there was a Wagamama right around the corner I decided to have my late lunch/early breakfast there. No too good of an idea. The place was rather empty (maybe 5 more people inside) and the forcefully friendly waiter gave me one or too weird looks I could not really figure out. Dunno, hard to explain. I decided for the Wagamama Ramen along with duck dumplings as a side. Ramen: not really delicious (I did not feel like taking a picture, sorry). Watery miso soup, usual noodles with very little chicken, some half-assed fried tofu, one little slice of narutomaki with one sad little shrimp, nori and some undefinable fresh green stuff. Seemed like they just threw in the little rests they had. The duck dumplings really were tasty, especially that cherry-hoisin sauce that came long with it. I will definitely try to reproduce it at some point when I get back to Germany. Nevermind. I paid and walked further for a while until I reached Monument Station.

Monument Station is one of those stations you will come across more often than others as it is a junction for quite a few lines (along with Bank since they are interlinked) located directly in Central London. So I already changed lines a few times in the underground, but never actually got off there.

Although the station is called MONUMENT  - who would have thought... that there actually IS a MONUMENT right at the exit? Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I just never gave it a thought. I mean, there is a station called Angel, but would you actually expect a seraphic figure there? Or Elephant and Castle...

The actual monument (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Great_Fire_of_London) is quite impressive with a height of about 61,6 metres. That was the moment where I decided why not taking a walk through the City of London from the monument to St. Pauls Cathedral - so I did. You would be amazed of how deserted the area is at Saturday evening. Really peaceful and calm - you could almost pass the streets withought checking the sides (ALMOST). So I took my time exploring the area, not taking the direct way but rather passing small alleys looking what might be to be found there (frankly, I could not name most of the sights I've seen. Maybe I should go back with a guide or something next time). It's fascinating how there are still old, historical buildings  side by side with recent (or at least post-war) ones. One of the unforeseen sights I saw was St. Mary Abchurch - hardly noticable between all those tall buildings so close there is no way to actual have a good few of it. The reproduction of boys' heads you can find there will haunt your dreams.

Sleep tight - we're waiting for you...

Further along I came across a variety of sights nameless for me, until I finally reached St. Paul's. I don't know why, but it always had a certain allure to me. Such a characteristic view for London, being the city's Notre Dame in my humble opinion. And while it is nice being right at its feet, walking through its small garden with roses and other plants as well as a spring and sculptures, and being able to see all those ornamental details at close range - St. Paul's real fascination really evolves when viewed from quite a distance.

Oh the horror! Not again...

And while it cannot keep up with its romanticization in Mary Poppins, the tune still lingered in my head.

So, passing the former wobbly bridge, enjoying the honestly engaging view of London and the Thames at Dusk (and being terribly annoyed by these stupid joggers that where on some kind if treasure hunt through the are  - I encountered the first ones already at Monument- sort of disturbing the atmosphere. I could swear one of them called me names at a certain point on the bridge. They constantly tried to walk by the pedestrians on the bridge withough losing speed.) I slowly walked back to London Bridge Station, passing more attractions such as Shakespeare's Globe.

So, although starting with little motivation to really make something out of the day, I think I had one of the nicest walks I've had so far - thanks to unforeseen coincidences.