'Look Right'
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
70
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
London, England, United Kingdom
Monday, September 22, 2008
Welcome to London, the most expensive city in the world. Take a look at a menu from back home, remove the dollar sign and add a pound sign. Yep, that's right, about double. Ouch. As my friend Nalini, a Londoner for some time now says, the prices are 'extortionate.' The only things comparatively (and reasonably) priced, relatively speaking was the hostel and sometimes you could find pints for 2 pound 10. Palmer's Lodge had dorm beds for $32 on weeknights and $36 on weekends. Okay, that's enough about prices.
What happened to all the authentic English fish n chip places? It seems to me 29 years ago there was one on just about every block. Real fish. Real chips. Now the fries are of the frozen variety and the fish resembles something out of a Captain Highlander's box, you know, fish sticks and they're most often served up at the donar stands. Alas, London isn't really a food town. Not like New York. There's that joke about the shortest book in the world. And when will the Brits learn to serve beer properly chilled? There's just no excuse for warm beer, period. Let's face it, the warm beer thing is a throwback to the days before refrigeration and has little to do with what's proper.
London is big. 8.5 million big. It has the easiest to use subway system in the world, if not the most reliable (and expensive, although a day pass for zones one and two isn't terribly unreasonable at about 10 bucks-in comparison a seven day pass unlimited for NYC is only $25.). It is steeped in history. It is gorgeous, absolutely.
On Friday I took another, you guessed it, free tour and again, I learned lots of cool things. The current royal family isn't really English, they're German dating back a handful of centuries and changed their German name to 'Windsor'. There's a gate across from the Buckingham Palace called 'Canada Gate'. The queen only lives at Buckingham Palace for a couple of months a year. Piccadilly Circus was underwhelming. They have been feeding the pigeons contraceptives and that's why the numbers are pleasantly down now. You can't get anywhere near 10 Downing and either way it doesn't matter because the 60 room 10 Downing was too small for the Blair family so they moved to the larger 11 Downing next door. Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the tower or its clock. You can avoid the 12.50 pound admission to Westminster Abbey by entering through the attached free museum (but don't tell anyone, okay). Supposedly if you sit in Trafalgar Square for at least a half an hour you will see someone you know. The Canadian Embassy is on Trafalgar Square. Nearby is Chandos Pub where you can get a pint of Lager for 2 pound 10. I heard the story of Guy Faux. All the museums are free!!
Apart from enjoying a bit a site seeing, London was a very social time. On Friday after a tough day at work, I joined Nalini, a girl I met in Buenos Aires, for drinks on Fleet Street. Among us were many young bankers quaffing 10 pound martinis or 5 pound pints and the mood seemed light despite the state of current affairs. Maybe they are resigned.
On Saturday afternoon, I met up with Dave and Tiffany, two of the crew from the Laos days, for pints at the Oxford Arms in Camden Town.
On Sunday I rendezvoused with Fish a friend and former colleague from Edmonton who happened to be in town with his wife Dara who is attending a furniture trade fair. This would not have been possible without facebook. After a couple of Efes beers and some authentic fish and chips (found a place!), we were ready for the British Museum. About an hour later we were joined by Alex and Chris, another Canadian connection and went to the Maple Leaf Pub. You guessed it, a Canadian Pub. What does a Canadian pub in London look like you ask? Well, kinda like an Irish Pub in Canada. There, the homesick can drink Canadian beer is Moosehead (?)(I was hoping for a 'Pil'.), eat the classically Canadian dish, poutine, and see hockey memorabilia adorning the walls, including an autographed jersey of a Raffe Torres Oilers Jersey. What, no Flames Jersey? I like this place.
Soho has changed a lot in 29 years. Back then punk had just taken hold and the area was the epitome of alternative. Gritty. Seedy. Now it's filled with slick restos and bars and a well dressed and well heeled crowd. I wandered the streets of Camden Town on another night out. Think Whyte Ave. on a Saturday night. Hmmmm. Hardly European. I thought these guys would be a little more sophisticated than us colonists.
London is London, a multicultural Mecca, where things happen. It's a great, great city.
