Tube Accident, Canary Wharf & Greenwich

Sorry for the delay in posting but my studies have had to take my attention away from daily sightseeing! On Tuesday morning, I felt the need to escape the hostel on my own. When I got to the Bayswater tube station, it was all closed up with a sign that said ‘Circle and District line service suspended due to person under a train’. Now I wasn’t sure if this meant there were doing maintenance work under the train or if someone had gotten hit by a train – later I would find out that yes, in fact, someone did commit suicide by jumping in front of a train at Notting Hill Gate station. Londoners don’t bat an eye as this happens from time to time but it sounded horrific to me. Now when the Circle and District Line are both closed, it creates a bit of a problem because these are one of the two busiest lines of the Underground. I had planned on spending the day at the National Gallery but by the time I walked to Holland Park (which was the nearest place I could get on a Central line train) I didn’t think there’d be enough time to really enjoy this museum before I had to be back for a meeting at 3 so I went with plan B and went to Southwark instead.

One of my professors had mentioned that Southwark Cathedral was a hidden jewel and often overlooked so I spent an hour or so walking through it – its scale is definitely smaller than some of the other cathedrals I’ve seen but it’s really quite lovely. Its interior is very warm with lots of wood – not at all what I expected from the outside. Southwark Cathedral is London’s oldest gothic building but just became a cathedral in the early 1900s. I’ll have to make it back to evensong there one of these days – the staff of the building certainly were friendly.

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Southwark, walking along the Thames past Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate Modern, and across the very cool Millenium Bridge (no cars, just people) which deposits you directly at St. Paul’s doorstep. This is a popular running route (it seems a majority of Londoners run every day during their lunch breaks) so one must be careful when crossing this bridge for fear of literally getting run over. Again, this having to get out of everyone and everything else’s way is getting annoying! I enjoyed my brie and ham sandwich and crisps on a bench in the shadow of St. Paul’s and headed back to the hostel for my meeting.

In the evening, a few of us trekked to Islington for free wireless internet access and whipped out our laptops at a small Turkish restaurant with amazing Turkish apple tea and all-day breakfast (but alas, no pancakes). It’ll probably be a weekly journey there and we’ll have to try out some of the interesting restaurants around the Angel tube stop. Oh yes, my black wool coat came from home this day so I feel like a little less of a tourist now. Thanks, Mom!

On Wednesday, the sun was shining and it was a gloriously bright day. While I had work to do for studio, I procrastinated and went with two friends to Canary Wharf on our way to Greenwich. Canary Wharf was unexpected – soaring glass skyscrapers, everything impeccably clean, wonderful shopping… it felt more like New York City or Chicago than London, especially with the brilliant blue sky. This is an area of London that has been rebuilt very well.

After wandering around in awe of our surroundings for a while, we took the Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich and hiked to the top of a HUGE hill to the Royal Observatory. This is home to the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude) which separates the eastern and western hemispheres. It is marked by a very cool sculpture. We also synchronized our watches with the official Greenwich Mean Time so I will never be late for anything! Down the hill, we walked through Inigo Jones’s Queen’s House (designed in 1616 as a retreat for Queen Anne of Denmark) and the fascinating National Maritime Museum, which showcases Britain’s long standing naval traditions. And all of this was free!! On the way back to the train station, we saw Cutty Sark, the only surviving tea-and-wool clipper ship. Since we had to stop at Canary Wharf on our way back, we broke down and ate at a Chili’s we found in Canada Place (the closest thing we’ve found to Mexican food). Yummmmmmy. The evening was spent trying to do all the work I was supposed to have done during the day… but hey, when the sun is out, I refuse to sit inside!

Thursday I spent the entire day trying to get things done. I’m working on a very loose design for a banquet hall in Windsor – it’s right on the waterfront of the Thames so it lends itself to something cool using the water. We’re presenting our design ideas to some folks at Woods Bagot next Thursday. It is definitely hard to find the motivation to get work done around here with the city at our doorstep!

PS - Having found a faster internet cafe, I just added several new albums to My Photo Album at the right.