From Alaska, Eschewing Sunny Hawaii for Grey London

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When tourists are in Alaska they may forget that Alaskans can go be tourists too. And while the British Isles reward rambling there are also rewards from remaining in Central London: 90 per cent of the London tourist attractions are in the centre. After meeting an Alaskan I found London travel advice, from Quora social media. (on e-mail)

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Joan Vredik Broadley

Lived in Europe for two years and travels back every third year or so

What are some must-do things in London, England if I’m there for a week?

Originally Answered: If I visited London for a week, what would be the best things to do there?

Ohh! A week in London. You are in for some huge treats. I’m not going to give you a schedule, but I will recommend a number of really fun and interesting things to do. Keep in mind that most public museums and galleries have free admission. Be sure to make use of the super easy Tube (subway system) and double decker buses. You can buy an Oyster Card online to pay for your daily trips.

Of course you have to read up on The British Museum before you go. There are so many iconic things to see there, you need to make yourself a list of what you want to focus on because you can’t possibly see them all. Cleoptra’s sarcophagus, the actual Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the interior of an Egyptian Pyramid, the Brazen Head; there are 4.5 million objects in the museum.

Then there are the street markets. Camden Market is bustling especially on Saturdays; see the tattoo shops, the bizarre shoe stores, the Camden Locks, and lots of yummy street food. Portobello Road Market open Tues to Sunday for vintage shopping; Petticoat Lane Market for high street fashions and shoes; Hammersmith Street Market open Wed to Sat for international street food; Columbia Road Flower Market open Sundays; Covent Garden, a 1830s replica market just to mention a few.

Of course you must try a day on the London Hop-on-Hop-off double decker buses that will provide you with a broad overview of the sites of London ending with a boat ride up the Thames River. You will be able to decide if you want to further explore things like Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Natural History Museum, The Tate Gallery, The National Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Then there is the theatre district in London’s West End. Consult the internet so you can find out which famous actors and actresses may be performing in a play when you are there. Most of London’s theatres are quite small and intimate, perhaps 500 seats, so you really feel like you are part of the performance. You could also look online for any concerts that may be on while you are there. Everyone who is anyone in the music world plays London at least once.

The shopping is, of course, fantastic. From the inexpensive items found at a street market stall to the middle class Oxford Street up to the uber-expensive shops of Regent Street and Bond Street, you will find many interesting stores. Don’t forget Harrod’s and Fortnum and Mason – both department stores are tourist attractions in themselves.

You will find restaurants of every ethnic persuasion in London. Many restaurants close on Sunday so you should plan ahead for your eating on that day. Pub food is wonderful as are fish and chip shops and curry cafes.

If London itself bores you after a few days, you could travel out of the city by bus or train to places like Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens, Oxford or Cambridge (you can rent a punt to float down the River Cam), and Greenwich.

Note: take lots of money. London can be quite expensive!

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A guest from Alaska

A lady tourist from Alaska showed up at our Free Fall Friday (writing) one spring morning. I remember I told her, “If we all seem so happy it’s because—hurray!—today the temperature has finally gone above freezing!” Sidewalks were producing joyful puddles! Turns out the snow in her back yard was a meter and a third high, or as she put it, “four feet.” 

My fellow nerd-writer was staying in a motel with a kitchen, but wouldn’t cook a single thing. Why not? Because she emerged out of the Alaska bush to do a Culture Tour—restaurants! Cinemas, stage plays, museums and galleries too! And yes, although not every local knows it, my city has a philharmonic orchestra, opera singers, a full time jazz dance troupe, and I once walked past an old railway station just when the Alberta Ballet was practising inside, standing at their bars. 

From her I had a realization: So that is why I do Central London, instead of Scotland’s green hills, (Tyrol song) England’s “pastures green” (William Blake song) or Continental Europe. Also important: London feels like the bitter-sweet years when I was a minor in grey Vancouver, dodging rain in the dark to go dry out alone at home. But today, in sweet contrast, I have some spending money. 

As for the continent, I already saw enough back when I was stationed in West Germany. But because of the Cold War I wasn’t granted leave to go see Eastern Europe, and now I guess I never will… Oh well, those foreign lands all look alike to me…

But hey, if you want a glimpse of an East European city, you may view the music video of Katy Perry singing Firework.

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Note: “Firework” does not mean you explode: From searching for Katy’s lyrics, because her video is on the same page, I learned that “There are some kinds of figurative language used in Katy Perry’s song entitled firework, such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, affiliation, symbolic, paradox, and personification.”

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Sean Crawford

Gearing up for another London adventure

(In less than a fortnight)

January

2023

Truck travel note: Trucks from Alaska come to town festooned with Jerry cans: Nobody wants to be caught in the bush short of gasoline.

Highway note: We still can’t afford a road to the oilfields by the Beaufort sea, but at least we have the Alaskan Highway (ne Alcan) from the war years when Japan occupied part of Alaska.

Beach Note: A fellow nerd went to compete in the Highland Games in Hawaii and then, like the title nerd lady in TV’s Bones, (anecdote in my essay Machine Passing Parthenon) found that he just couldn’t stand doing the “beach thing,”  not for very long. 

Incidentally, he attended my housewarming party, was inspired, and I even pointed out a nearby edge-of-the-city cheap condominium, but… although he was rich enough for Hawaii he couldn’t qualify for a mortgage because he was self employed. 

Blog note: I’ve just retired, hope and illusions dropped, so maybe next week I can try for the straight-up truth about being bent-over old.