The guide said this one popped up two days ago. It’s done by a well-known Australian (I think) artist (whose name I can’t find) and it’s about immigration.
There’s a Banksy piece under that plywood structure which they are protecting, to keep for the new construction when this building comes down.
The two on the bottom are Bansky works held in a private courtyard under Plexiglas. People are prying the Banksy pieces off their walls and selling them at auction for serious dough.
There’s just a peek of a Thierry Noir piece outside the gate.
This is Shepard Fairey’s work, the guy with the Andre the Giant OBEY series and the guy who did, to much acclaim and long-running law suits, the Obama Hope poster.
One of the artists Claude had just been talking about walked by and they greeted each other. You could tell Claude was thrown off his stride, but he recovered soon and went on with his tour.
Me reflected in a window in front of one of the colorful walls that might have been a commissioned piece. Check it out for all the body parts…
There seem to be three ways these works get up. 1) there are many many commission pieces around. 2) the building is set for demolition or the owners are absentee and work on these walls is overlooked by the authorities. 3) the gorilla strikers.
I like this whole wall.
Jimmy C did the head at the steps and doesn’t she belong just there and nowhere else.
And there Alo is again in the middle of this wall.
The larger figure is made by the same guy, Jimmy C, who did the head in the stairs two slides up.
One of the oldest of Stik’s work around. The building is a repair shop owned by two brothers who rarely share the same opinion on ‘things’. I love it!
September 3
Below we find a few representative scenes from the Hop On-Hop Off bus ride and a stop at the Tate.
Our guide was charming and entertaining, so charming and entertaining that Windy decided to go with her tomorrow to see the Changing of the Guard while I go for my tour of street art.
The Wellington Arch, (or Constitution Arch or (originally) the Green Park Arch in 1825). This is not the Arch’s original location nor is that the original sculpture on top.
What is there now arrived in 1912, by Adrian Jones, and depicts the angel of peace descending on the chariot of war. It’s a nice sentiment arriving as it did shortly before the outbreak of World War I.
The London Eye, no longer the tallest Ferris wheel, no longer the highest viewpoint in London, but still the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK.
Big Ben in the distance.
But Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the name of the tower. The tower is now called Elizabeth Tower, renamed from Clock Tower in 2012 in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.
“Horace Jones’ Temple Bar marker topped by Charles Bell Birch’s heraldic Dragon.”
The guide told some interesting stories as we circled this round-about. The pillar guards the spot that divides Fleet Street, London from Strand, Westminster. The name Temple Bar is relevant in the story somewhere, and there are traditions and ceremonies involved that I don’t remember. Bad tourist.
A street scene. It’s interesting to note how universally the inhabitants of London use public transportation.
The Underground is a massive system. What you see on the street are bicycles and plenty of them with rental stations plentiful, a huuuge number of double-decker buses, taxis of course, and a few private cars most of them in the luxury category with what seem like professional drivers.
We had another delicious meal this time at a Turkish place. Wow two for two.
Don’t worry! Windy had injured her knee several weeks before coming out to London so we are trying to save her steps whenever possible. I wheeled her round the Tate Museum and it was great.
Isn’t this something – the smallest Serra piece I’ve ever seen. I wonder if it’s the smallest thing he’s ever made?
The Tate Modern, located in the repurposed Bankside Power Station.
They have lots of pictures in here but .. “When the gallery opened in 2000, the collections were not displayed in chronological order but were rather arranged thematically into four broad groups .. ostensibly because a chronological survey of the story of modern art along the lines of the Museum of Modern Art in New York would expose the large gaps in the collections, the result of the Tate’s conservative acquisitions policy for the first half of the 20th century.”
They have done a couple of ‘rehangs’ since opening in 2000 but still in categories and not in any chronological sense.
Those pillars used to support a rail bridge. On the bridge to the right you can just see the solar panels that make up the cover and the largest solar array in London.
September 2
Windy’s coming around noon so I went out for a little morning stroll.
This is one building in the University College London in the Bloomsbury neighborhood 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The school is most well known for science and there were two very cool looking museums associated with UCL that were closed today, Sunday, the Grant Museum of Zoology and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.
On the campus.
Alexander Graham Bell attended here as did Mahatma Gandhi, Gustav Holst, and Ricky Gervais. Of course the list goes on and on for a prestigious London university established in 1826.
Adjacent to the campus is this handsome building called the Catholic Apostolic Church. I couldn’t find a way to get in. It looked really great from the outside.
Across the street from the church, you can see it in the background, was this lovely park.
Cynthia! LOOK! (When Cynthia and I were together in London 20 years ago we saw this play which had at that time been running for 40 years, and look, it’s still on.)
Windy! Welcome to London!
We went right out for a walk to see the sights. First, the hive that is Trafalgar Square.
We enjoyed a ‘pretty’ couple of hours looking at pictures in the National Gallery and in particular they had a massive collection of Windy’s favorite – the Impressionists…
Along with the statues of General Sir Charles James Napier, Major General Sir Henry Havelock, King George IV, we find to my great delight, “a bright blue cockerel symbolizing regeneration and strength… Titled Hahn/Cock, the 4.72m high piece is by German artist Katharina Fritsch and will be on display for 18 months.”
Since it’s only going to be here for 18 months you might miss it – but then they’ll put something else up there and it’ll be good too.
Here is one of the four legendary lions protecting Nelson’s Column with the National Gallery to the left and you can just see the spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields to the right.
…followed by a FABulous rehearsal of the choir here at St Martin-in-the-Fields and we stayed for a service because the sound in here is breathtaking.
I know it seems to me that whatever was the last of something was the best – but the 15 singers here doing their thing was utterly AWEsome aMAYzing. The music must have been written in 15 parts it was so huge and complex and so filled the room. Maybe it was the best ever…until next time.
We shared this dinner in an Italian restaurant and it was entirely yummy, better than it looks in this dumpy picture.
September 1
Starting the London leg of this trip, let’s review what we’ve seen so far:
Republic of Ireland (Dublin, Killarney)
Northern Ireland (mostly Belfast)
Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Rothesay) and Wales (Caernarfon, Conwy, Cardiff)
England (London, Salisbury, Stratford-Upon-Avon)
Rolling into London from Cardiff on the First Great Western Railway, and into Paddington Station.
LP: “The Great Court was restored and augmented by Norman Foster in 2000 and now has a spectacular glass-and-steel roof, making it one of the most impressive architectural spaces in the capital. In the center is the Reading Room, with its stunning blue-and-gold domed ceiling, where Karl Marx wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party.”
Unfortunately the Reading Room was closed while they readied a new installation. Pity for me!
It was a very crowded Saturday at the height of the tourist season and even though you can’t see them in this picture, they were swarming and especially inside you could hardly approach a display without sharp elbows. But it’s so close and free to just wander in. Maybe we’ll try again during the week if there’s time.
And we’re a few blocks from the British Museum.
I went today because after Windy gets here we have so many things to do in the next three days that she’ll like better we might not have made it here.
There are more than 8 million objects in the collection and controversy has surrounded many of them over recent years. Countries want their stuff back.
LP: “Begun in 1753 with a ‘cabinet of curiosities’ bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane to the nation on his death, the collection mushroomed over the ensuing years partly through plundering the empire.”
From Paddington Station I took the Underground to Tottenham Court Road Station and from there I made the five minute walk to the Rathbone Hotel.
It’s a nice place – the rooms are a bit small and the hotel is a bit expensive (not for London as it turns out) but we have a little table and two chairs on a great street in a neighborhood I know Windy is going to love when she gets here tomorrow.
Just a sample of the pubs. Windy was particularly looking forward to pub life and here are four in the traditional style within a block of the hotel. I ate a pretty not-very-good fish and chips lunch at one of these places today but there are many dozens of other restaurants from the world over.
The view from my room at the Maldron. You can see the Bay in the far distance.
I stayed at a Maldron back at the very beginning of this trip, in Dublin, and both experiences have been good. It costs some more than I like to spend but it’s a real hotel with decent amenities. You still have to bring your own shampoo.
Tomorrow: LONDON!
Farm buildings, cottages, chapels, a waterwheel and grainary, the castle, cider making, and many more. It was interesting. It needed something though. Like better signs or more demonstrations or people dressed up in costumes .. something to make it livelier and more engaging.
I went off first to the castle because I seem to be into castles here in Wales. Once I got to this place where the castle was supposed to be I kept looking for the castle until I found a sign that said they call this country estate the castle because it was built on the foundations of a castle…
August 30
I got out relatively early this morning to make it to St Fagan’s National History Museum when they opened. I knew it was outdoors, big, and there would be a lot of walking, and I wanted to give it my fresh attention.
Scattered through this very large property are many sections of buildings moved here from somewhere else that are set in context and fitted out from a particular time.
Another view of Cardiff Bay.
And pirates! Cardiff was the pirate capital of Europe for decades with the cooperation of all political types. When the government finally decided to crack down the pirates just set sail for the Caribbean and set up shop there.
It was a bit of a walk from the last bus stop and I passed through the newly developing Cardiff Bay.
Another one of Bill’s stories (and oh my goodness I have thousands. I hope to remember tens.) was about how all the older people still call this area The Docks. Cardiff and the docks were home to a raging economic boom back when Coal was King and then they fell upon very hard times.
Local beer! We drove past the brewery on the way to the Bay. I had become obsessed with finding a Brain beer since I couldn’t find one when I looked. Even though it’s made right in Cardiff not all the pubs carry it. And there it is, Brain in the window! It had a sharp taste and I liked it.
The guy at the pub gave me six fabulous Brain beer coasters for which I am overly excited.
St Fagan’s is quite a way out of town so I had to come back in on the bus and took a different bus out to Cardiff Bay to see The Dr Who Experience.
Cardiff is nuts for Dr Who since there’s a big BBC production facility here and they do most of the Dr Who filming around Cardiff. Bill, yesterday’s guide, said everyone fanatically watches every episode looking for themselves and people they know in the background.
That’s the Experience out there in the blue building.
Here we are, Dr Who.
What happens: they gather a group, and you might have to wait, to all go in together and you walk together through rooms where you are put in scenes from Dr Who. One of the rooms has a 3D component, one of the rooms is a Dalek attack, there’s the control room of the Tardis, something else I can’t remember.
The main character in The Experience was the 11th doctor, Matt Smith to whom I never entirely warmed since I am still carrying a torch for the 10th doctor, David Tennant.
After walking through the rooms there’s a large display area with models of all the villains, costumes and make-up, story boards, and all things Dr Who.
If you’re a hard-core Dr Who fan and find yourself within 100 miles of Cardiff you’ll definitely want to immerse yourself in all this Who-ville.
If Dr Who never made it onto your radar then this place is not for you.
Oh look, they have a castle.
This castle has been rebuilt any number of times and the last guy made basically a ‘fantasy’ or a ‘folly’ of a castle adding elements from many styles.
The train station by my hotel that says Great Western Railway. I really like the sound of that.
August 28 and 29
It was a five hour train ride across Wales, and lovely the whole way, to get from Conwy to Cardiff where I only have two full days and it rained all morning so now if I’m going to hit the highlights I have to pack a lot into the available day and a half.
Cardiff is nice. This is a modern patch surrounded by mostly Old Town.
Around the corner from my hotel, which is a block from the train station, which is in the center of town.
A shopping arcade. To tell this story I’d have to write for 10 minutes if I could even remember it all. I’m tired just thinking about it.
Cardiff Castle, inside the walls.
I took a walking tour around town and the guide said that Wales had the most castles per square foot than any country and there are good reasons why, and he told us all about it.
I had an astounding history lesson with this guide. He talked fast and totally non-stop for two hours.
The downtown is small and mostly pedestrianized. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow when I’ll get out more because it’s supposed to be nice all day, unless the computer is wrong again. This morning it was supposed to be nice too.
Here he is, Bill, the James Michener of tour guides. I had my mouth open half the time (‘I didn’t know that .. I didn’t know that ..’) just trying to absorb it all.
There’s a bigger cathedral further outside town but this one has plenty of stories.
The Wales National Museum of Art. It has an excellent reputation and I wanted to stroll through, but sorry not for me as they were closing in five minutes.
What I wanted to do in Cardiff: have a walking tour, see the National Museum, see the castle and the church, see the St Fagan’s National History Museum which is I think the most ‘important’ thing, and go to Cardiff Bay and catch the Dr Who Exposition. Let’s see how far I get.
…as I was walking a good distance on the walls. You can see how far the walls go by following along and looking toward the center, mid-right.
August 26 and 27
Today I took the very early long train ride from Glasgow, Scotland to the seaside castle town of Caernarfon (pronounced kaNARvn) in Wales.
It’s so cool. I’m standing in front of my hotel looking down the street through the tourist shops and restaurants right at the castle.
…and a view from the highest tower. The climb up to the top of this tower was something, the stairs were narrow and of uneven height, but steep and tight.
On the last step down which was extra steep I could feel a little pull in my thigh. Oh no! But I didn’t fall and I’ve been extra careful for the last two days. At this moment during the afternoon of the 28th all is back to normal.
It’s another Monday Bank Holiday, the second since I’ve been traveling, and many of the restaurants are closed. Look at those comfy chairs to sit in the window and watch the action. But not for me today.
(btw…The sign is from a museum and the menu is from a real restaurant.)
Check out that Welsh language sign. Yes.
And check out that menu of Welsh Classics. Yeah, I didn’t eat any of those. The specialties in Scotland of haggis and blood puddings, I skipped those too.
The fish has been overall the best choice including smoked cod and salmon preparations. I had fish and chips twice of uneven deliciousness.
Snacking off the street is great, my favorite but it’s also very pastry heavy so last night for dinner when I was in the restaurant with my computer because yet a-Gain the internet didn’t reach my room, I had two giant side orders of vegetables – cauliflower and cheese sauce, and broccoli with butter. Tomorrow I’m going to give fish and chips another try!
My cute little hotel of strange hallways and winding stairs and oddly shaped rooms.
I enjoyed this town.
Tomorrow I’m going to visit another castle town, Conwy. Both these towns and castles are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. I was hoping to make it to Beaumaris too but I couldn’t make it happen without a too crazy rush.
UNESCO: “The four castles of Beaumaris, Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and the attendant fortified towns at Conwy and Caernarfon are the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe, as demonstrated through their completeness, pristine state, evidence for organized domestic space, and extraordinary repertory of their medieval architectural form.”
August 27
Now it’s the next morning and I’m taking the bus to Conwy.
The girls: (they hear me talking to the bus driver) Are you from America?
me: Why, yes I am.
The girls: (teeheehee TeeHeeHee) You have such a cute accent!
me: I live in California.
The girls: (now you have to throw your hands up to your face like the guy in The Scream, and emit huge squeals of delight) OMG we want to LIVE there!
The girls moved to the back of the bus chattering away. Later I went back and asked if I could take their picture to show my family and friends that they thought my accent was cute. They said SURE and positioned themselves exactly like this without a single direction from me. Too adorable or What.
I think it’s natural, when I hear an American speaking the sound lifts above all others and I am always 100% sure that they are Americans. It’s just so obvious. We do have an accent and to my ears I can’t say it’s so cute. There have not been so many which means the ones I do hear stand out even more.
I hopped on a HOHO bus for a quick one hour around Conwy and out to the surrounding seaside resort town of Llandudno.
More of Llandudno where Very Important People have had vacation homes or come to take the waters at the grand hotels since the mid-1800s.
Back in town, here’s a statue of Llewelyn in Lancaster Square.
Conwy was another charming town and I’m very glad to have made this swing through the north-west coast of Wales although I should also note that I had a lot of travel time to make it happen. Usually people pass through in their cars and that does make more sense time wise.
That sign was fun leading into what looked like a block-sized warehouse converted into a Vegas style collection of themed restaurants .. Where it Never Rains.
I went in there because it started raining. Fortunately it stopped because I became interested in getting back since I wasn’t 100% sure of how to do it. It went very smoothly with plenty of help from my bus mates.
A view out one of the windows in the Gallery of Modern Art.
This is a good example of the feeling of downtown. This area is actually called Merchant City and seems more of a downtown than downtown.
Glaswegians, which is what they call themselves, like to say Glasgow is ‘The Second City of the British Empire’ which was true when there was a British Empire but now-a-days it’s pretty far down the list.
August 23
Arriving in Glasgow my new and very kind airbnb host came to the train station to pick up my bag so I could stay in town and do some touring. That was lovely of him and then he drove me into town the next three mornings too which was a good thing since his place was Far. I did get myself home in the evenings. (A reminder of what happens when I leave my arrangements for the last minute…)
The first thing I ran across was this Gallery of Modern Art and come to find out all the museums in Scotland are free so no reason not to have a look around.
Carlton Place Suspension Bridge by Alexander Kirkland in 1853 spanning the River Clyde.
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow.
The groomsmen were gathering for that afternoon’s wedding. I haven’t seen anyone using kilts as everyday street wear but they are definitely what ‘one does’ for special occasions.
I picked this Italian restaurant for a break and some food because it was just the right amount of crowded, it was light and friendly looking, and they had great chairs.
The food was ok, not great, but this guy, the Italian waiter, was in an exceptionally chatty mood. He could have been working in any Italian restaurant in LA.
August 24
Paul took me on a nice tour this morning including some driving around town and this museum, the European Museum of the Year 2013, Riverside Museum which absorbed all the items previously displayed at the Transport Museum of Glasgow.
Planes, trains, and automobiles .. and ships and bikes and all sorts of wheeled devices.
Glasgow is another big shipbuilding city from when Britannia Ruled the Waves.
And out back you can have a tour of an old cargo sailing vessel that used to travel around Cape Horn. That’s us enjoying a nice day.
Their website: “One of the old Museum of Transport’s most popular areas was Kelvin Street. At Riverside Museum there is a recreated street from 1895 – 1930, plus two additional display areas depicting shops from the 1930s, right through to the 1980s, giving visitors a fantastically detailed insight into Glasgow’s distant and more recent past. For the first time, visitors can access the shops and subways. These ‘shops’ include an Edwardian photography studio, a 1930s’ Italian Café and a 1960s’ garage.”
We had lunch and I ate Cullen skink. It’s made of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, thinner than a stew but thicker than a soup, and it was yum.
Then Paul dropped me off at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, is The Man around here. wiki: “Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main representative of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom. He had considerable influence on European design. He was born in Glasgow and he died in London.”
He had a whole room in the museum and I saw some of his buildings on the street.
Across from the museum, one of the fine buildings at the University of Glasgow.
