LONDON-Life around The Thames
The plan to spend a while in London was on my mind for quite some
time. When I finally decided to go there , I chose the month of December to
be there during the Christmas season. Though most tourists would like to be
there during spring and summer, I chose winter. I left Mumbai on 24th
December. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport was decorated beautifully for the
Christmas Season.There were bright lights, decorative stars,Santa Clause,
sledges and "Christmas Trees" decorated with bright colored balls and toys.
There was an atmosphere of festivity. I thought the public decorations in
London would be on a huge scale and I was looking forward to it. I was
disappointed to find Heathrow Airport almost devoid of any
decorations.Where was the gift carrying Santa Clause? I could not see
any "crib with baby Jesus", I could not find star or snowflake decorations. On the way to my
place of stay in central London I did spot holly wreaths hanging from
grilled balconies and entrance doors, but nothing eye catching. The next day
was 25th December and "Christmas Day". I went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Just
one LED decorated "Christmas Tree" on the outside. Inside the
cathedral there was a sculpted Nativity scene with statues of Mary and baby Jesus and
shepherds. This was a special day and a special mass was taking place. There
were many people there , tourists, believers and followers of the faith! I
spend two hours inside and then came out to explore the surroundings.
St.Paul's Cathedral is a magnificent building in the Baroque style of architecture. The
nearby buildings were also of the old type of architecture. It is a tourist
area and yet the shops had very little festival decorations. I moved around the Cathedral building and spotted a few small bushes decorated with
lights. Perhaps the British are a little conservative about the way they celebrate. Perhaps the display of light and color is more subtle. Perhaps they feel less is more elegant. Indians in contrast are boisterous about their display of festive spirit. By around 4 pm in the afternoon there was a serpentine queue outside the
cathedral for entry into the cathedral for the special services on this very
important day. I moved around the area for a while and went home . The days were short at this time of the year and the sun had set. The next day I went to the Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square areas . This is where the action was. The place was teeming with people, out to enjoy the Christmas time joys. The streets and shops were gorgeously decorated with colored lights and LEDs. This is what I was looking for! I walked around the streets and by-lanes along with the revelers. The sun had set and the decorative lights were glowing! It was cold but I was not complaining. After a few hours there shopping and eating I made my way home.
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St.Paul's Cathedral.
Front Entrance
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| St.Paul's Cathedral. The Dome |
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Inside St.Paul's Cathedral
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Baby Jesus, Mary & Shepherds.
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Sole decorated bush outside
a shop(Paternoster square)
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A few decorated bushes-Paternoster Square
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Decorated "Christmas Tree"on the pavement.
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LEDs(Light Emitting Diodes) patterns hanging across street.
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Light Decor on the streets.
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Santa & Sledge & Reindeer inside a shop.
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Like many other cities of the world London also thrives because of its lifeline river, The Thames. The city has grown on the North Bank and the South bank. A walk along the river bank was instinctively the first choice of my visit destination. I have walked along this embankment several times after that because it was close to my place of stay and I could easily walk from my temporary home. I was covered up adequately for the winter season and went on to explore. I had to of course brace myself for the chilly wind that hits your face. This area is very beautiful and very well structured and well maintained. The ornate ,iron, old styled lamp posts lining the bank was beautiful. One can see the Parliament Buildings across the river on the North Bank, the Golden Jubilee Bridge (a walk path or footbridge that connects the South Bank to the North Bank) and the London Eye. The place was full of tourists. Where there are tourists there are souvenir shops, restaurants and electronic gaming enclosures. There were quite a few "caravan" fast food outlets dishing out fish &chips, chicken fry, noodles, coffee, hot chocolate, tea and many more yummy snacks. The river itself had many large and small "slipper launches" that were plying along the river and there were small cruise ships too. The gulls added to the beauty of this place. The birds were looking for food near the green patches in the area. The green patch here is a small park (Jubilee Gardens) enclosed between tall buildings of the South Bank. When the cold wind became too much to bear, I walked into the warmth of the Aquarium, paid 30 pounds for a ticket and happily got lost in the watery world for a long time. Aquatic creatures , large and small, were on display. All types of insects, crustaceans, fishes ,mammals, and underwater plants, found in the island nation and the surrounding Atlantic ocean, was on display.This tour was quite fascinating because the display style is modern and interesting. Once out of the aquarium, I wished to take a ride in the "London Eye". I wanted to get a birds eye view of London and The Thames. Unfortunately the "Giant Wheel" was under a long period of service and was scheduled to open a month later. So I had to wait , but in the meanwhile I was treated to a fantastic aerial view of London from my next destination -- The Shard.
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The LONDON EYE.
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Ornate Lamp Posts along
The Thames bank. |
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View of North Bank from the South Bank-The Thames .
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An Artist / Actor dressed as a soldier
at the Jubilee Park.
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Bare trees and sea gulls at the Jubilee Park.
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Golden Jubilee Foot-Bridge.
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View of the North Bank from the South Bank at twilight.
Big Ben wrapped up for repair seen on the left side. |
The Shard is a fairly recent landmark of London. The name reflects the fact that it is supposed to look like broken glass stacked up against each other. In fact it is sometimes called Shard of Glass. Though I don't care much about the pointed steep pyramid shaped skyscraper with a glass facade, I do marvel at this architecture. It is in Southwark area that is slightly away from central London. Central London has all the old architecture type buildings which are low rise buildings and no high rise building is allowed there. The Shard is in an area where there are many tall skyscrapers but none as tall as the Shard which is 309.6 meters (1016 feet) in total height or equivalent to 95 floors.In fact it is the tallest building in the UK. At the base of the Shard is a huge sprawling shopping area or you could say a huge supermarket. At a lower level I could see tube/train connections and booking counters. The closest train station is the London Bridge tube station and many other trains connect to southern and southeastern trains. So the Shard is well connected and easy to reach. This skyscraper has 72 habitable floors that includes office blocks, hotel blocks , shopping blocks , viewing gallery and open air observation deck. I bought a 30 pound ticket for the viewing gallery ( from floor 69- 72). A high speed elevator transported me there and I stayed there for practically the complete daylight hours. One can get a 360 degree view of the city of London and beyond. I just did not feel like leaving. With a cup of coffee in one hand and camera on the other , I relaxed and clicked photos to my hearts content. This floor has a large area with one coffee shop and a few chairs. The floor is enclosed with glass of course and temperature controlled. With no chilly wind bothering me , I drifted into my own dream world. The view below looked like a toy world. The tiny buildings, redbrick houses, long organized roads, rail networks, iconic structures and the meandering Thames almost dividing the city in two. I got lost into my childhood days when I built tiny houses, bridges, roads , trees, planes, and windmills with LEGO blocks . This fantastic view of the city below triggered the drift into my fabulous childhood. Well I did come back to reality and then walked up to the top floor , to the open air viewing deck. There were large deck chairs and here one could see the idea of broken glass illusion. It was very windy and chilly out here and I was a bit scared to go close to the glass and steel boundary to see the scene below. I think this place is just to gaze up at the sky and breath the pure air. I took a few photographs and went back to the viewing gallery below and then to the ground floor via the elevator.
Another iconic building of recent times is The Gherkin. This is not very far from The Shard. One can walk over The London Bridge and cross over to the North Bank. Then walking through a crisscross of roads one arrives at The Gherkin at St. Mary Axe. This is the financial district. I was told that there are offices inside the building and that I could not go in there as a tourist. So I walked around the pleasant surrounding areas . This skyscraper has a nice shape and color. It is covered with blue shades of glass in a swirling pattern and the total structure is like a standing bullet. Though the term " Gherkin" means pickled cucumber.
Most people in London like to walk or use a bicycle to see around. Walking or cycling is very pleasant on a sunny day. For tourists the "the hop -in-hop - out" double decker buses are also good to get a feel of the city. I found the public transport system very good and convenient. An "oyester -card" is a one time buy for many days of travel in trains as well as buses. One can type one's destination on "Google Map" and you are directed to the best possible route , along with bus route number and "tube/train" route number. After a few "tries " of this I got used to the method and I could reach any destination independently. Being from a country that was part of the former British Empire, I was familiar with the names of many cities of UK as well as many street names of London. All this is from history books and novels during my student days. Then later on a lot of information about London was picked up from TV channels, Newspapers,and various other media. Therefore I was very excited to visit many of these places whose picture I had in my mind's eye. It was nice to compare reality with imagination. My tours in the city was generally relaxed in nature with not more than one destination a day. This is because my stay there was for a fairly long period. I preferred to travel by the red double decker bus because I got to experience and feel the city better. I would occupy the front seat on the top deck to get the panoramic view as the bus made its way through.
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THE SHARD
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Close Up of the top illustrating shards of glass.
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Open air viewing deck.
Illusion of shards of glass. |
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London Eye from The Shard
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View from the top of The Shard. Tube stations & trains along railway
tracks cutting through the city.
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SHADOW OF THE SHARD on the THAMES and North bank.
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GHERKIN. Man cleaning
the blue tinted glass
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Standing Bullet
Pickled Cucumber |
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THE GHERKIN.
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Some of the Bridges across the Thames. From The Shard.
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There are many bridges across the Thames within the city of London. But the most famous bridge is the London Bridge. Not because it looks different from the other bridges but because it has been made famous by the nursery rhyme --"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down , my fair lady.............Build it up with wood and clay , wood and clay.............". So obviously I was interested and took the red bus one day to the London Bridge. I walked over from the South Bank to the North Bank and took a few photographs of the "river scenery". The iconic Tower Bridge is best photographed from here because one gets a frontal view right from the center of the London Bridge. The London bridge has been constructed, deconstructed (dismantled), and reconstructed quite a few times over the centuries, until the present one, that stands since 1972. Once at the North bank, I walked along the embankment, enjoying the cool river breeze , and headed towards the Tower of London. This is a big tourist attraction. It is a very very ancient building and a historic castle and officially Her Majesty's royal palace. Though it looks more like a fortress , complete with a moat and drawbridge. The moat is dry now and filled up with soil for a green lawn. The first signs of daffodils was showing up indicating the onset of early spring. I was excited to see the flowers. The flowers are not very big and not as beautiful as a rose, but in a cluster they do look nice. They had formed into a nice yellow patch on the green grass background. Again I was thrilled to see these flowers because William Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils" was floating about in my mind. Again back to reality. I was debating whether I should go inside the Tower of London or not. The structure does look a bit ominous. After all a few royal executions have taken place inside these walls during the bygone era and this place was also used as a prison. My mind had been conditioned to these facts. So should I pay 30 pounds to walk inside a prison? On the other hand I also knew that "The Kohinoor" was kept here. I did want to see that and the other crown jewels. The castle still looked gloomy and foreboding to me , in spite of having plenty of tourists laughing, chattering and having fun around this place. I walked towards the Tower Bridge.
The entrance to the Tower Bridge & the "tower" of the bridge.
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Short documentary film at the entrance to the higher level of the bridge.
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(i)Corridor connecting the two "towers" of the bridge. Seen from inside (ii) The river and the traffic on the lower portion of the bridge. Seen through the glass floor. (iii) The external view of the corridor connecting the two "towers".
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THAMES VIEW - From the Tower Bridge's upper level
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I think all those who visit London cannot skip visiting Madame Tussaud's Waxworks. I am no exception. I took the red bus again and reached my destination at Marylebone Road. I had to walk for about five minutes from the bus stop. The dome shape of the museum was visible and I walked towards it. On the way I bumped into a statue of Sherlock Holmes. I knew I was not far from Baker Street ( the street made famous in the "detective"novels). Madame Tussauds is in the vicinity of Baker Street and Marylebone Road. I bought an entry ticket and got fully immersed into Madame Tussaud's world. The world of life size replicas of celebrities, famous historical figures and other historic icons, all inside themed galleries. The first few, life size,wax statues that greet you are the stars from " Hollywood" and " Bollywood". Everybody was photographing themselves with their favorite stars. I did the same and then ambled along to find the various personalities from all over the world ,and from various walks of life. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was standing with folded hands (in a "Namaste") next to President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Donald Trump. All of them were in the vicinity of the famous 10 Downing Street door. In another corner was The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. In another part of the hall was the wax statue of Queen Elizabeth-II , with her husband and grand sons. Princess Diana was a solitary figure , standing in a corner. This whole place is a labyrinth of passageways, exhibition halls and exhibition rooms. This is not very apparent from the outside dome structure. Then there were "cartoon" characters like "Shrek", imaginary characters like "Spider Man", "Yoda" from "Star Wars" and also a few others from the movies . Famous singers and musicians like "The Beatles", Michael Jackson , Freddie Mercury adorned the exhibition rooms. Tennis Players and Cricket players too occupied a pride of place. Then there is a cute restaurant corner where one can have tea with The Queen. That is tea with a wax statue of The Queen sitting at a table. The "Queen" occupies one chair and the vacant chair is for the visitor. At the end of all these exhibition halls, one can get a feel of London as it evolved over the centuries from the Middle ages to the present. All I did was hop on to a mini car (one of the many cars on rail) and observe the surroundings. The "car" transports one through the decades and gives the visitor a glimpse of the Spirit of London. Somewhere along the tour through the exhibits , a practical demonstration of the making of the wax statues is given. Towards the end of this fabulous tour one arrives at a special area devoted to the historical times of this extraordinary lady. Madame Tussaud was born as Anne Maria Grosholtz in Strasbourg. Her training in this craft was from Dr. Phillipe Curtius a brilliant anatomical wax modeler, based in Switzerland. Anne Maria later moved with Phillepe to Paris and found herself caught up in the French Revolution. In this exhibition area , most of the statues are from the 18th century and early 19th century. The dresses were long , up to the toes for women. The clothes for both men and women included a lot of lace and frills. Going back to her life history- Anne Maria married Francois Tussaud and had two sons. She looked for opportunities in England. She toured with her wax works all over England, Scotland and Ireland. She made a self portrait at the age of 81. Later the exhibits found a permanent place somewhere near Baker Street. Her sons and her grandson were responsible for looking after this legacy and placing the works in this present place at Marylebone Road.
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The Dome of Madame Tussaud's wax works.
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Self Portrait at age 81.- Madame Tussaud.
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Entry point of museum.
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SHERLOCK HOLMES - The great detective.
Commissioned by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London,
to commemorate its 150th anniversary in 1999. |
In London there are quite a few museums and art galleries. These are great places to spend a gloomy, cloudy or a rainy day. They are huge sprawling places and there is no entry fee. One can comfortably spend a whole day there. Inside, there are cafe corners and food corners, catering to peoples' hunger, tea addiction, coffee addiction or simply a craze for cake, muffin or chocolate. I could visit The British Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Imperial War Museum and The National Gallery. The British Museum is well organized, with a complete wing dedicated to the European Region, a wing dedicated to Ancient Egypt, a huge section dedicated to China and a big space dedicated to the Indian Sub-Continent and so on. I think one day is not enough to see the complete collection of "loot" (As Shashi Tharoor puts it) from all over the world. The Victoria and Albert Museum has a collection of decorative arts and design, sculptures, ceramics and even a collection of traditional iron grill and gates . The British I suppose are great collectors and they have preserved everything very well. One must admire them for this. I was surprised to see a rare stone carved statue of Buddha with a crown on his head. The exhibits feature furniture styles over the ages, pottery evolution over the ages and so on. Quite fascinating! The National Gallery is an art museum , standing next to Trafalgar Square in central London. It has over two thousand paintings from the mid thirteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century.Many of the European masterpieces are here. It was really a pleasure gazing at these paintings for the whole day.
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The British Museum.
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Entrance of the Victoria & Albert Museum
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Artistic Hanging inside
Victoria & Albert museum |
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Sculpture Gallery inside
Victoria & Albert Museum |
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Durga art and a background of Indian Textiles.
Victoria & Albert Museum
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Crowned Buddha-This is the
Buddha Shakyamuni at the moment
of his enlightenment. He wears the
crown and ornaments of a king
together with the simple robes of
a monk. (at Victoria & Albert
Museum) |
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| The Death of Buddha - Ancient Gandhara- He passes into Mahaparinirvana, the final release from the cycle of rebirth. |
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Buckingham Palace
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Queen Victoria Memorial in front of
Buckingham Palace. |
Parliament Square is a small, square, open area on the North bank , close to the Westminster Palace. It is a small and cozy square next to a very busy street. It has trees and flower beds , but most of the area is paved with stone slabs and wide stone steps. There are statues of notable statesmen placed around the "square". These include Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. I sat on the steps and looked around. I could see The Westminster Palace , the iconic Neo-Gothic structure and the seat of the U.K parliament. The buildings across the street had an old style of architecture, perhaps a Roman style. There were no high rise buildings seen in the near vicinity. The tallest structure that I could see was The Big Ben (the old clock tower) and it was wrapped up in scaffolding for repair. Westminster Abbey was seen in another direction.I could see its imposing arches from where I was sitting.I decided to see Westminster Abbey from close quarters. I walked towards the Cathedral to see the copious carvings around the entrance. I bought an entry ticket for 23 pounds and wandered around inside for about three hours. I took a pair of headphones that worked as an audio guide and moved around quietly . This is after all a working church! Westminster Abbey was founded as a Benedictine monastery and to this day Saint Benedict style of prayers is followed. There were plenty of carvings on the walls and woodwork to be admired. The elaborate arches overhead and the stained glass windows panes were beautiful. This place has been a burial site for the British Monarchy and royalty. Even other prominent personalities were buried here , including prime ministers, poets, scientists and military leaders. Small, elaborately decorated enclosures hold many of the royal burial structures. The Coronations take place here and even some of the Royal marriages have been conducted here. So the place is seeped in history. Even "The Magna Carta " is preserved here and is there for all to see. The Magna Carta is the cornerstone of the idea of liberty of citizens. It is a celebrated and respected document throughout the history of England.
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Westminster Palace & The Thames
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One view of Westminster
Abbey |
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Carvings above the entrance
to the Abbey |
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Another view of the Abbey
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Arches inside the Abbey
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Inner courtyard of the Abbey
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THE BIG BEN
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London has many parks, small and large. Not only are they the lungs of the city but they are lovely picnic spots. Though nowadays picnics are not fashionable any more.One of the biggest park is Hyde Park and I did visit that park. Though I must have seen only one tenth of the total area. I also visited Battersea Park in another part of the city. This too is spread out in a very large area. Spring was already in full swing and the grass and flowers were coming back to life.The days were less gloomy and one could see sunshine more often.It was very very nice to walk in the park I enjoyed the ducks and swans and the bushy tailed squirrels and of course the fresh air.
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At Hyde Park
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White Daffodils
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Spring time flowers.
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The parks in spring
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All these wanderings in the city came to an abrupt end when the British government shut down museums, parks and other public places, bringing about a complete lock-down, in order to tackle the global pandemic of COVID19. I was confined to my house and had to be satisfied with the view from the window. I watched leaves spring out on the bare tree branches. The trees slowly turned from sap green to a deep green.The weather was increasingly becoming more sunny and I had to be satisfied with watching the moods of the sky. I photographed the sunrise, sunset, cirrus cloud sky and clear blue sky. Then one day I was treated to a rainbow across the sky . Every evening I watched The Shard top light up with a blue light and sometimes I could see the blue hue on the passing clouds.The days grew longer and longer until it was sunset at 9:30pm. Soon it was time to return to Mumbai. So many places remained to be visited!
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Sunrise
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Sunset
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Pink Moon & blue light on The Shard top.
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THE RAINBOW
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Late winter bare
branches along the
Thames embankment
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Spring Flowers
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