Arrival in London

It's hard to know where to start after two jam-packed weeks.  I suppose where and why would be the best place: I was taking part in a graduate seminar in London hosted by the University of North Carolina and University College London.  In the course of the seminar we visited many cultural institutions, but also had enough free time to pursue our own interests.  A bank holiday Monday helped in that regard by giving us a three-day weekend in the middle of the trip.  Even so, I hadn't run out of things to look at by the time I had to leave, and the only reason I needed to come back to the US was because my knees were suffering.  Given better shoes, I could easily spend a year or more exploring the UK.

The other problem is that I don't feel up to the task.  It doesn't seem possible that I could really convey what it was like--I could easily relate where I went and what I saw, but that wouldn't help anyone understand the giddiness of walking out of a Tube station to see the Tower of London opposite bathed in afternoon sunlight, or the tranquility of a garden built in the ruins of a medieval church, tucked away on a back street not far from City workers enjoying their after-work pints.  And I'm afraid that if I try my hardest to describe everything it will sound soppy and foolish (and will take so long that I'll run out of steam).

I arrived at Heathrow on Sunday morning and encountered no major problems with immigration or my luggage, though several of my classmates said later that they'd been grilled by the immigration agent over the length of their stay in the UK.  I figured since I'd said I was there for a seminar, rather than summer school, that that allayed any of my agent's suspicions that I might be trying to stay for an extended amount of time.  The Piccadilly Tube line runs from Heathrow all the way into London, and even with a large suitcase it's a fairly easy journey, at least provided you don't need to change lines; it's also reasonable price-wise, and almost certainly cheaper than any other transportation into the city.  My stop was Russell Square, where I hauled my things up a short flight of stairs before getting on one of three large lifts to street level.  Then it was a few blocks' walk to the hotel, with a few more stairs to the entrance.  Because it was around 11 when I got there and check-in wasn't open until 1 I stowed my bag with several of my classmates' things.  One of them happened to be there at the time and joined me on a quick trip to the British Museum.

Like many museums in London, the British Museum is free to enter, and huge.  (I would later learn that the cylindrical structure, at right in the picture above, in the middle of the Great Court is the former reading room, which was emptied when the British Library was established.  Though the room is currently only being used as a temporary exhibition space, the museum is trying to come up with a better use for it.)  It was a short walk in the opposite direction from the Russell Square station, which meant that it was pretty easy to find, though finding our way once inside was a bit more difficult.  Still, we managed to see the Rosetta Stone and items from the Sutton Hoo hoard, though I realised later that I missed the Lewis chessmen.  Since the Museum was so close to the hotel, I thought maybe I'd get a chance to return later and explore some more.  Spoiler alert: I did not.  It's okay, though; I am content with what I saw.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped into the Tesco Express opposite the station for some sustenance.  Several supermarket chains have smaller shops around the city in places that can't accommodate full-size stores; the three I remember seeing were the Tesco Express, Sainsbury's Local, and Little Waitrose.  I learned later that there was a full-size Waitrose in a shopping center near the station, though you could hardly tell that there were any stores inside, since from the outside it just looks like a modern block of flats.  When we returned to the hotel and got our keys I found that my room was on the top floor.  It was bad enough getting my suitcase up the first few flights of stairs, but the last was narrow and steep and curved at both the bottom and the top.  The room itself was unremarkable, with two beds, a wardrobe and chest of drawers, a TV, and a small bathroom; it was at the back of the hotel, which meant that the view was not of the park opposite the entrance but of other buildings.  I liked it, though, and there was construction going on in the park anyway.  After I'd caught my breath I enjoyed my sandwich, or rather three half sandwiches of cheese and onion, cheese and tomato, and cheese and pickle.  I love cheese sandwiches.

At around 2 everyone who'd arrived met up for introductions and a walking tour of Bloomsbury.  Our guide was a PhD student at nearby Goodenough College and an Australian who's lived in London for the past five years.  She pointed out more things than I can remember, but one of them included the blue plaques on buildings that note what famous people hung about them in the past.  True to its reputation, Bloomsbury has been host to loads of famous writers over the years (and the Waterstones pictured at right is a great bookshop that sells everything from new bestsellers to used Penguin paperbacks to signed Terry Pratchett first editions; I was very tempted).  One of the public parks in the neighbourhood is on land that used to be a foundling hospital; nowadays adults are not allowed in some of its playing fields without child supervision.  I can't say that the tour was terribly successful in orienting me to the area on a geographical level, but I'm sure I absorbed some of its history, and it did help acclimate us to the time zone (a mere five hours ahead for me).  At the end of the tour our guide left us at the Marlborough Arms, a pub near UCL's campus.  Some people ordered food, but having eaten my Tesco sandwich earlier I wasn't hungry, so I got a pint of cider.  After chatting with my new classmates for a while several of us headed back to the hotel, where I settled in and got ready for the coming days.

To be honest, I don't remember what this building is; I think it belongs to UCL.  But I wanted to include it as a counterpoint to the older architecture that is the usual fare on this blog.