Walk of the Month: Upper Teesdale London Telegraph Lapwings were flying above the Teesdale meadows, flapping against the stiff spring wind as they cried their names in creaking voices. Seeing the two humans approaching, they had become agitated on account of their newly hatched chicks crouching in the lee of sedge clumps.
Spring Means a Larder of Asparagus and Baby Lamb The Independent Spring has sprung and with it a whole new larder of fresh ingredients. Chef Christopher Wicks gives spring lamb an intriguing accompaniment of onion soubise, hotpot lamb offal, oyster and lavender jus.
From London to Rome on a Metrocard The New York Times A MetroCard costs a tiny fraction of what a Eurail pass does, but lets you visit major tourist destinations in Europe (O.K., places named after them) without leaving the city.
April 20, 2008
I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.
In the meantime, here's a little something that I found for you to read with your morning coffee.
See you on Monday.
36 Hours in London
The New York Times
There are many different Londons, and they appeal to people with many different passions: museum lovers, theatergoers, opera buffs, devotees of royalty, students of history, people who like to walk in the rain. But richest of all, perhaps, is the London for book lovers.
Because the city is the star and the backdrop of so much great literature, it is possible to believe you know it intimately - how it looks, how it feels - without ever leaving your home country, or indeed your home. But it is better to visit, if only for the joy of seeing the landscape of your imagination come to life. How thrilling to happen upon Pudding Lane, where a bakery mishap led to the Great Fire of 1666, after reading Pepys's account in his diaries. Or to wander along Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes once fictionally solved the unsolvable. Walk across London Bridge and gaze down, toward Southwark Bridge: this is the stretch of the Thames where Dickens's sinister characters dredged up corpses in "Our Mutual Friend."
Share the Eye:
221 Baker Street Sherlock Holmes Museum Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson lived at 221b Baker Street between 1881-1904, according to the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The famous 1st floor study overlooking Baker Street is still faithfully maintained as it was kept in Victorian Times.
Jack the Ripper Walks London Walks Our Ripper walk is guided on those nights** by Britain's most distinguished crime historian, Donald Rumbelow, who is, as the Jack the Ripper A to Z puts it, "internationally recognised as the leading authority on Jack the Ripper."
The Cabinet War Rooms cwr.iwm.org.uk Shortly after becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, Winston Churchill visited the Cabinet War Rooms to see for himself what preparations had been made to allow him and his War Cabinet to continue working throughout the expected air raids on London.
A little known treasure but a brief train ride out of London is Darwin's House. You can visit his...
Apr. 20, 2008 4:08 PM
I went to London a couple of times when I was very young (in the 1950's).
The sights and sounds of the capital of the "old empire" are still lingering memories. The photographs my parents took and later TV shows, (like The Avengers), help keep the memories alive. Or at least enhance the memories, in the case of the Avengers, into what they could have been. To have walked the streets of London with Mrs. Peel...... now that would have been a great memory. In a way, I suppose I did. Thanks Emma! Hey! that's what dreams are made of.
My oldest son recently went to London on business and leisure for a week. It was his first visit. Much had changed. And much was still the same.
That creates a connection between my family and the London of the the past the present and the future. The past because I was born in England and had ancestors and relatives who lived in London. The past because I've also been to London. The present because my son has just returned from London. The future? I'm sure I'll visit again. Won't we all?
My son's digital photographs have taken their place next to my old fading black and whites.
London: a once and future city. But it's the people who live, work, and visit (if only fleetingly), who give it life. The empire won't return but London will remain forever.
deltaw said...
A little known treasure but a brief train ride out of London is Darwin's House. You can visit his study where Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species", and walk his Sand Walk where he pondered ideas. Darwin set up a cairn of rocks equal to the problem and kicked one away on every lap. Local students got on to it and replaced the stones when the great thinker was out of sight.
Darwin's home in Downe is now a museum. I was lucky to explore this landscape with Stephen Jay Gould, the late Harvard professor and evolutionary biologist whose voice I miss whether watching baseball or wondering about the fate of biodiversity. Here's a link for Darwin's Downe House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_House
more on the honor rollTo: deltaw,
Thanks for the link. It's a great looking house. The page has a photo of Sand Walk.
ExPat
I would definitely go to experience Sherlock Holmes' London. Perhaps also to check out some of the Harry Potter locations too, like Platform 9 3/4 and the Leaky Cauldron.
Sure 36 hours would be enough... for each book you wanted to explore. Perhaps if you pushed it, you could explore two books-worth of London locations. There is no reason why you couldn't go back for more 36-hour adventures. That's the nice thing about time in the Universe, there is a lot of it. 36 hours is a drop in the bucket. :)