Conveniently off the London Bridge underground station, the Borough Market lives and breathes on Borough High Street with it's neighbor Southwark Cathedral. Features an array of produce and a capital selection of artisan meats, breads, and dairy arranged throughout it's three sections: Green Market, Three Crown Square, and Jubilee Place. Everything from wild boar meat pies, to ale and cheese pairings; lobster to bratwurst. Food stuffs aplenty, packed in the cracks between the swarms of people. Recommend the sausage butty; the brown sauce is quite delicious, though I have no idea what it is.
The Queen's Walk is a promenade along the South Bank of the River Thames. While the shops along this stroll can be a little beyond the budget traveler, there are cafe's a plenty and usually a busker or two playing live music around the right tunnels. Stretching from London Bridge to the London Eye, the Queen's Walk offers an enjoyable stroll filled with sights like the Globe Theatre, the HMS Belfast, with views of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral across the Thames. An enjoyable lengthy stroll with plenty to see while spending next to nothing (as a general rule; if you stop to listen and enjoy a buskers music, give them as much as you can and/or they deserve) Recommend starting at Tower Hill on the North Bank, which allows you to cross the impressive Tower Bridge and wander the swanky business section before the cultural/geological shift into the Queen's Walk. Promenade if you can.
Roses, Globes, Swans, and Fortunes
Our Shakespeare class has begun with the wonderful and charming Charles Duffs. The class convenes at the Swedenborg Society bookstore at 20 Bloomsbury Way, a short stroll across the park from the Pickwick. Through the back of the bookstore and down the stairs, the Gardiner Room is lined with old volumes, and convening in such a room in the basement of a quaint but grand bookstore fulfills some subconscious dream I was not aware I possessed. After our first class covering the early history of the first London Theatres (the Theatre, the Rose, the Globe, the Swan, and the Fortune), we met with Liz Carlin-Metz (our program leader) for a discussion of the rest of term, and a musing on aesthetics.
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty -that is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."
-Keats
The National Theatre; Our Country's Good
The National Theatre is located on the South Bank across the Waterloo bridge. Crafted in the brutalist style of architecture, this impressive mass of garnish concrete is lit beautifully was different colors on different nights. This lighting makes the theatre far more aesthetic at night, and helps makes Waterloo Bridge one of the best views of the Thames/North/South Bank nightlights from street-view.
A delightful and provoking piece, Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker (adapted from the novel The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally) chronicles a British prison colony in Australia as Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark organizes a performance of The Recruiting Officer with a cast of inmates. The play features rich drama on prisons and colonization, combined with hilarious melodrama on the theatre. The National's production featured mesmerizing music (featuring the essential didgeridoo) and make full use of song. Full credit to the cast and crew, as the design and direction came together seamlessly for a marvelous performance.
The Misadventure of the Door and the Locksmith
When returning to your room at the Pickwick and your key doesn't work, knock at your door even if your roommates asleep.
When your roommate can't unlock the door from the inside, check with the late night maid.
When the late night maid can't unlock the door either, wait patiently while she calls her boss.
When Patrick (manager of the Pickwick) arrives, explain what the problem is.
When Patrick attempts to break into the room by any means necessary with a screwdriver, rubber mallet, plastic wallet card, etc, grab a butter-knife in case that helps.
When the butter knife does not help, try everything again desperately before calling a locksmith.
When the second attempt fails, call that locksmith. This is London, there are locksmiths at 11:30 pm.
When the locksmith arrives and replaces the lock mechanism, thank him profusely.
When the locksmith leaves and your door has a new lock, pass out immediately; that's enough misadventure for one evening.
When you wake in the morning and Patrick illustrates that the old lock was not broken as everyone thought, but that there is a small knob that locks the bolt in place and your roommate had essentially locked himself in said room accidentally and only needed to adjust said knob: summon the courage to not be rude to anyone involved.*
*Especial thanks to Patrick for his patience and manners throughout this fiasco. He is a Saint among nomads and the epitome of British politeness.
Thank you Patrick.
Well, if it occasionally writes, then it writes very well. Your misadventures are enthralling - keep them coming, sir, keep them coming.
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