Day 30 – London
After yesterday’s culture, today was all about touristy stuff. I guess it’s one of those things, L and I don’t really see ourselves as tourists, as those are the folks on package tours who turn up in big buses and get led along and shown things and stuff like that. We’re visitors, we turn up, do our thing at our own pace, doing our own research and stuff. I think it’s a more internal, mental thing. (We did try to describe ourselves as travellers, but over here they’re gypsies.) We visit places, we don’t necessarily tour them.
Today’s visiting involved strolling through Green Park, finding that to be one of the least flattering approaches to Buckingham Palace (it just looks weird and squashed from that angle). Hung around for the start of the changing of the guard, in the throng of tourists clamouring to see. I guess there’s part of me that thinks that UK and ommonwealth visitors should get the front row at these things — afterall, it’s our monarchy customs we’re seeing. We haven’t been clumsy like some of thoose other European countries (I’m looking at you, France) in misplacing their monarchs, or the US who, after fighting a war not to be paying the British monarchy anything, now spend piles of cash to travel to the UK and buy souvenirs with the Queen’s picture all over them.
Changing the Guard was interesting, I find it cool to see the guards in traditional uniforms wielding modern weaponry. It appeals to my sense of anachronism. I also find it amusing that this modern weaponry still has fixtures for a bayonet.
Feeling a tad squished, we wandered around the palace down to Knightsbridge, so L could check out Harrod’s. It’s a big shop, with much cool stuff, interesting foods, snooty staff, overpriced bits, and just a bit too big. I tried to find a souvenir bottle opener, but there wasn’t one to be found (they did have souvenir cork screws, but that’s much more classy).
Needing a culture fix, we headed home via the British Library, a bit of a detour but worth the trip. They have some amazing historical documents, from the Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospels and Gutenberg Bible, to Shakespeare’s first folio, Scott’s diary, and handwritten Beatles lyrics. They’ve also just recived JG Ballard’s archives, so had part of the Crash ms on display. The souvenirs were a little bland and formal, they should do that the Globe does and be a bit irreverant, imho.
The evening was spent hiking out to Fleet to visit cousin E, where we were treated to magnificent home-cooked chicken risotto. The train system out to such places is impressive, if a little expensive. Impressive to be able to get home, via three trains with almost no waiting, after 10pm.