A Brand-New First Full Day in London Could Not Have Been Lovelier

 A Brand-New First Full Day in London Could Not Have Been Lovelier

London

Friday, May 6, 2022

First Full English Brekkie of this Trip:   

 I awoke to a brand-new day in my favorite city. What can be more gratifying than to know you have a whole day ahead of you to spend as you wish in the city of your fondest memories? So, I did not waste too much time on my phone. I got cracking right away--a shower in a very spacious, spotless bathroom, set me off for the day. I dressed in layers and carried my hoodie and made my way to the hotel's restaurant for brekkie. Needless to say, I would be treating myself to a Full English.

    The restaurant was almost empty when I arrived there at 7.15 am. The buffet was vast and substantial and I began with muesli with cold milk, a helping of berries and a cup of decaff coffee. Next, I ate a croissant and a pain au chocolate. And I finished with the hot buffet--scrambled eggs, 1 rasher of bacon, 1 sausage, baked beans, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomato, 1 hash brown. Yes, I was fueling up for the day and would probably not eat again until 4.00 pm. This has been my tried-and-tested strategy when in the UK and it always works for me like a dream.

Doing Basic First 'Chores':

    I returned to my room to pick up the items I needed for the day when I would, first of all, attend to all 'chores' I undertake as soon as I arrive in London. No sooner did I step out than I realized I had been blessed with a gorgeous day! London was brisk and sunny and offered a perfect day for exploration on my feet. I went straight across to Holborn Station to use the machine to top-up my Oyster card (which I did carry with me) with a week's unlimited use of Tube trains and buses. This weekly pass has also gone up in price from 27 pounds when I last bought it to 32 pounds. Still, it makes great value for me and I am a devoted fan. That done, I crossed the street to Sainsbury (which was almost empty) to buy a Lebara SIM card so that I could have online and phone service for the next one month. Sadly, they had run out of Lebara and directed me to the next block, past Southampton Street and Sicilian Avenue. There, I did indeed find a card that offered 10 GB, 100 international calling minutes, unlimited local UK texts and calls for just 10 pounds--the miracles of modern telecommunication. That new SIM card fitted into my I phone, I immediately called my Dad (I had texted his Man Friday earlier to inform him about my safe landing) and spoke to him and my brother for a few minutes, before I decided to get ahead with my day.

First Port of Call--The British Library:

    I hopped into a bus immediately that was headed to King's Cross and within ten minutes, I was at the imposing gates of the British Library--another second home in London. I did not have an appointment to renew my library membership which had expired in the lean years of Covid non-travel, but was accommodated anyway as there is almost no one renewing at this time. A few minutes later, I was in the room I know so well, getting logged on using my own username and password and presto, within a few minutes, I was seated with an assistant who checked out my two forms of picture ID (my passport and US driver's license), my picture was taken and I was presented with a brand-new membership card. If only everything in life were as trouble-free! 

    I did not lose any time getting to the third floor where the Africa and Asia section is located and where the records of the India Office from the 1600s till 1947 are now located. This has also been my second home and the space responsible for at least one book and many scholarly articles I have published. Using the computers there in that section, while gazed upon a clutch of splendidly-clad, oil-painted Indian maharajas, I identified the items I need to be brought out for me to facilitate the current research I am doing on Western Performing Arts in Bombay, particularly Drama in British colonial times. I am eager to find out which traveling theatre groups from London performed at the port of Bombay and what exactly their program offerings were. This material will be made available to me shortly and I an also access it online with my membership. Membership renewed and material requested, I used the restroom only to be charmed by the fact that, despite Covid, institutions such as the British Library are still using rolls of cloth towels. I suppose they are curtailing paper usage and aiding the environment.

Perusing the Treasures of the British Library:

    Next, I made my way to the first floor where I always go and take a peek at the permanent exhibition that is entitled "Treasures of the British Library". In fact, I rarely leave London without feasting my eyes on the incredible collection of this dimly-lit gallery as there are items that take my breath away and others that I see, for the first time, whenever I visit. This time, it was the personal diaries and notebooks of the late Black Atlantic novelist Andrea Levy who passed away in 2019 and whom I'd had the privilege of meeting in 2009.  This bequest is one of the latest in the Library and I almost teared up when I realized I was looking at museum pieces of someone I actually knew and whose work I deeply admire. Her Small Island is one of my favorite novels of all time. 

    Among the other Treasures of the British Library that caught my fancy this time round were:

1. Mozart's composition 'God Is My Refuge' composed in 1765 when he was 9 years old and living with his family in England for 3 years.

2. A letter from Jane Austen to her brother Frank placed on her own mobile writing desk.

3. An extract from Charles Dickens' first draft of The Pickwick Papers.

4. Lyrics from 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Michelle', hand written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a section entitled The Beatles.

5.  Le Corbusier's original plan for the design and construction of Chandigarh, capital of the Punjab, India.

6.  The Diamond Sutra in Chinese--the world's first-known novel created using text and images in the form of wood blocks.

7.  A page from a notebook maintained by Michelangelo with a rough sketch on it.

8. The First Folio of 1623 of the Complete Works of Shakespeare published by Hemmings and Condell.

9. A handwritten letter from M.K. Gandhi to Lord Irwin, then Viceroy of India, complaining about the British attitude towards non-violent protest among Indian peasants to the defiance of the ban on making salt privately. Brought tears to my eyes. 

10. Loads of terrific medieval manuscripts that were created and decorated my monks in their abbeys. They became the private prayer books of royalty. 

    On my way out of the Library, I stopped by to see the Samuel Tapling Collection of stamps that forms the bulks of the Philatelic permanent exhibition. I also browsed around the gift shop but did not find anything to grab my fancy.

In the Renaissance Hotel at King's Cross:

    Since I was close to King's Cross and would actually be passing by the Renaissance Hotel, I stopped inside to catch a glimpse of one of London's best-kept secrets: the gorgeous imposing staircase that winds around to the painted rooftop. This secret stairwell is papered in crimson that sports gold fleur de lys designs, has dark, black exposed beams, an utterly glorious Arts and Crafts-style patterned carpet (in the manner of William Morris' designs), lacy wrought-iron supports, a wrought-iron and wooden bannister and Gothic window-frames. This was the original St. Pancras Station which, if you can believe it, was almost razed to the ground and was only saved by the efforts of one of my favorite poets, Sir John Betjeman. It has been brilliantly re-designed to become a five-star hotel, but all the trappings of the erstwhile railway station such as the Ticketing Windows, the Waiting Room, etc, have been retained. As an architectural relic of 19th century London, this is simply one of my favorite buildings of which few people know and fewer still actually come to see. The stairwell and the winding staircase (reminiscent of the main winding staircase in the old Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay) is a masterpiece of neo-Gothic design.      

Surveying the Offerings at Waitrose: 

    As I knew that there was a large Waitrose just behind King's Cross Station, I walked towards it. I needed to cross Regent's Canal by the handy footbridge. Loads of folk were enjoying the glory of the first of the beautiful spring days in London. As it was almost lunch-time, most people were eating take-away lunches on the Canal's banks where canal boats were still moored, on the opposite side. I found Waitrose, past a sale of food and health-conscious beauty items and cosmetics in the lovely covered market that has been newly-created in the refurbishment of the King's Cross area. I decided to buy a few of my favorite things--yes, all terribly unhealthy for me--a big pack of tiramisu, packets of Ainsley Herriot's Wild Mushroom Soup and Thai Chicken and Lemongrass Soup and a tub of honey yogurt. I was not yet hungry, but part of this would become a lunch-time snack for me as I sat in the covered market and people-watched.  London is simply heaving and it is impossible to believe that we ever had a global pandemic.

I then entered the Underground and walked for quite a while below ground until I arrived at the Piccadilly Line where I decided to get off at Holborn. I needed to get back to my hotel by 2.45 pm as I had two online classes to teach that would take me until 5.00pm.

A Joy Ride on my Favorite London Bus Route--the Number 11:

    When I emerged into the sunlight of Holborn, I realized that I still had about 90 minutes before my first session began. So I crossed the street to Boots to buy myself a pair of clip-on sunglasses (as mine had lost their prongs in Bombay). No deal. I was directed to the big Boots at Tottenham Court Road (from where I had, actually, bought a pair, several years ago). 

Thames and its Bank-side Buildings:

    So I crossed the street, jumped into a bus going to Aldwych from where, as it crossed Westminster Bridge, I had the most magnificent glimpses of the Thames on a brilliant day when the light was just right for pictures. I saw St. Paul's Cathedral, the brutalist architecture of the National Theatre (on the south bank), Hungerford Bridge, The London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the Cheese-Grater, and was put in mind of Wordsworth's wonderful poem, 'On Crossing Westminster Bridge'. Surely, he would be stunned by the selection of skyscrapers that London can boast.

Free Sight-seeing of Bus No 11:

I would next catch the No 11 bus. This offers a free See-London tour and there can be no better perch than the upper deck, front and center. And so that's what I did and that's the route to which I treat all my visitor-friends to London. We sailed down Fleet Street, arrived at Trafalgar Square from where I caught my first glimpse of one of my favorite places on earth--the National Gallery--glided down Whitehall where I caught sight of the Horse Guards in front of the Parade Grounds, Inigo Jones' masterpiece of architecture at Banqueting Hall, the Cenotaph surrounded by poppy wreaths, the gated entrance of No. 10 Downing Street on a day when the UK went to the polls and Labor had a huge victory trouncing the Tories (I have always said that Kier Starmer--whom I really like--will, one day, be Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Then, we were on to Parliament Square where I caught my first glimpse of a newly-spiffied up Big Ben Tower, sailed around St. Margaret's Church where Henry VIII married Katherine of Aragon, his first wife, in a long line of six, and on to the front entrance of Westminster Abbey where so many contemporary monarchs have married. At Dean's Yard, on Victoria Road, I got off and crossed the road to get to the other side, so that I could begin my return bus journey home. The bus (24) took ages to come, much to my irritation, but when it did, I got off at Tottenham Court Road and switched to the Tube--only to discover that I walked for miles underground before connecting to the Central Line that took me to Holborn (just one stop away). I might have reached faster if I had walked on the road!

Teaching Two Classes from my Hotel Room:

    I made it in time to teach my first class only to discover that the wifi is terribly unstable in this hotel and I  had the worst reception. Not to be daunted, I coped (as did my students--the first in Lagos, Nigeria, the second in Bombay, India)--once again, I am struck by the miracles of modern technology. Despite the glitches, we ended up having really good, productive sessions and I closed the sessions assuring them assuring my students that I will see them again soon (on zoom).

 Time for a Nap:

    My next appointment was not until 6.30 pm and since I had finished at 5.00 pm I had the time to curl up for one of my legendary naps. I fell asleep promptly and awoke about a half hour later feeling fairly ravenous. I was able to use the kettle in my hotel room to heat water to make myself a cup of soup and consume a chicken sandwich and slice of cake (from my airline trays as they served too much on board) and then quickly got dressed for my next ride. I was going to meet my former student, Tanya, at Chandos Pub at Trafalgar Square at 6.30pm. Refreshed and provided with my second wind, I left my hotel. I took the No 38 bus from Theobald's Road which is just two minutes from the entrance of my hotel and was at Trafalgar Square in a very short time. I found the Chandos Pub (again, one of my regular landmarks when meeting friends) but by the time Tanya turned up, straight from work, about ten minutes later, I was ready for a hot drink--a satisfying decaff latte, not a glass of cider!

Catching up with Tanya in Ole and Steen, a new Danish coffee shop on Charing Cross Road, made time fly by. One of my favorite coffee shops, the Italian Cafe Verganamo has closed down and been taken over by another chain. Tanya had so much to share with me since the last time I met her--when I had taught her class just before the pandemic closed all in-person classes at NYU. I had, in fact, provided her with a reference to grad school and she had been admitted into the University of Cardiff in Wales to get her Master's Degree in Environmental Studies. It was not long before she found a job in London (as she is a Canadian citizen, she can work legally in the UK) and had arrived in London just four months ago when it was bitterly cold. Having grown up in Oman, it has taken her a while to get accustomed to winter in the Western Hemisphere (although she did spend four years getting her undergrad degree in icy New York at NYU). I brought her up to speed on my position and, over a coffee, to which she treated me, we chinwagged for about half an hour before deciding to move on to our next port of call.

Saying Hello to my Favorite Canvases at the National Gallery:

    So, since I know that the National Gallery has late-evening closing (until 9.00 pm) on Fridays, that is traditionally where I have spent my Friday evenings every time I am in London. Other folks were already thronging the pubs as the weekend beckoned, but I was entering the Sainsbury Wing with Tanya and hurrying to the second floor to give her my own personal Highlights Tour of the National Gallery. She had never been to the National Gallery and simply could not believe her good fortune that her introduction to its collection was with me. So here are the items we perused on a whirlwind tour that lasted 90 minutes:

1. The Wilton Diptych

2. Michelangelo's unfinished Entombment of Christ

3. Michelangelo's unfinished Manchester Madonna

4. Ghirlandaio's Virgin and Child

5. Robert Campin's Man and Woman

6. The Arnolfini Marriage by Jan van Eyck

7. Magdalen Reading by Rogier van der Weyden (one of my favorite medieval painters)

8.Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli

9. Every painting by Carlo Crivelli including his Demidoff Altarpiece (as he is my favorite Renaissance painter)--many of the canvasses have moved to a special exhibition of his work in Birmingham.      

10.The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccelo

11.Saint George and the Dragon by Paolo Uccelo

12. The Baptism of Christ by Piero della Francesca

13. The Family of Darius Meeting Alexander by Veronese

14. Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks

15. Leonardo da Vinci's Burlington House Cartoon

16. An Allegory of Venus and Cupid by Bronzino

17. The Origin of the Milky Way by Tintoretto

18. Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian

19. The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein The Younger

20. Erasmus by Hans Holbein The Younger

21. Christina of Denmark by Hans Holbein

22. The Cartoon of Henry VII and Henry VIII by Holbein

23. Allegory of Venus and Time by Giovanni Batista Tiepolo

24. Velasquez's Toilet of Venus

25. Willem Kalf's Still life with Drinking Horn (which should really be titled 'with Lobster' as it is the dominant, most stunning, item on the canvas)

26. Pieter de Hooch's Courtyard of a House in Delft (my very favorite painting in the National Gallery)

27. Young Woman Seated at a Virginal by Vermeer

28. Young Woman Standing at a Virginal by Vermeer

29. The Equestrian painting of Charles I by Van Dyck

30.  Mr and Mrs. Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough

31. Whistlejacket--the most arresting painting of a horse in the whole world, by George Stubbs

32. The Haywain by John Constable

33. The Fighting Temeraire by Turner

34. The Umbrellas by Renoir

35. Bathers at La Grenouilliere by Monet

36. Water Lillies by Monet

37. Bathers at Asnieres by Seurat (which inspired the musical A Sunday in the Park with George)

38. Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh

39.Wheat Field with Cypresses by Van Gogh

40.The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche

So there you have it! My Favorite Forty!!!! Tanya was just overwhelmed and lost for words! She has promised me that she will come back to the National, every Saturday she can, and begin to peruse the paintings with the care and time they deserve. 

 End to a Fabulous First Day:

    So, there was nothing more to do, as we were hustled out of the museum by tired guards at 9.00 pm, to wander out on Trafalgar Square and admire the gorgeous beauty of a spring twilight as the light faded on my first day in London. We took a last few pictures together against the lovely backdrop of the Church of St. Martin-in-the Fields and Nelson's Column, as we hugged and kissed and said goodbye. Tanya will be coming to my presentation at NYU on Monday evening when she will bring along another one of my former NYU students who is also working currently in London.

    I jumped into the 29 bus and got off at Tottenham Court Road from where, opposite, Centerpoint, I took a 38 that brought me directly to Theobald's Road, just a few minutes from the entrance to my hotel. 

    It was a day to remember and, believe me, with everything going according to plan, I could not have asked for a better one.

    I hope you will enjoy armchair-traveling with me through the coming month. 

    Until tomorrow, cheerio...