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How we got to London |
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London is well known for its five international airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted - and London City. London City Airport is situated just about 10km from the City of London, the financial district. It is perfect if you go to the East End. Directly from the airport Dockland Light Railway (DLR) offers frequent connections into the City (“Bank”), the trip taking about 25 minutes. Changing at Bank to continue on Underground was less convenient, but it is part of the life with London public transportation...
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Imperial College and South Kensington area |
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The Black Friar Pub |
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What do you do on your first night in London?
Right, you visit a pub!
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In this regard, the book of Arne Cremer, Rainer’s school band mate from old times, was very helpful (see left picture. Unfortunately, only available in German so far).
It offers a tour through many of London’s most interesting and historic pubs, each of them presented with a nice and neat background story so that you can feel its history when entering a certain pub.
Today’s Black Friar Pub building was built in 1875 at the place of an old monastery originally founded in 1279 -
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Given the fact that monks were wearing
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black coats, the pub’s name is quite clear. Read the book in order to find out why the monastery played an evident role in the founding of the Anglican Church!
To get to this pub, take the tube and get off at Blackfriars. You will immediately find the peculiar narrow building when coming out from the exit.
We had very good beer and the food was also really tasty. Thus, it was a perfect experience, especially as Chiko quickly realised that the pub is smoke free!
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Brick Lane |
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Being in Brick Lane is like taking a little trip to India... A long street, where Indian, Muslim, and Bangladeshi cultures meet creative designers. It is one of the examples of London culture which is hard to describe and unique in the world. From here, passing Spitalfields Market, it is only 15 min. to Liverpool Street, one of London’s busiest stations, but walking around in Brick Lane sets you into a different world of unique smells and shops full of knickknacks. And we had a superb lunch at “Le Taj”, a Bangladeshi restaurant in Number 134.
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Marylebone |
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What do you think when hearing “Oxford Street”? Probably shopping, noise, plenty of red buses, Selfridges, tourists.
However, just a few minutes walk north of Bond Street tube station, life suddenly becomes much less noisy. And you are right in the middle of a mixture of little furniture shops, boutiques, florists, grocers, cafes or restaurants - very attractive and enjoyable.
Here you can also find “Daunt Books” which has the reputation of being London’s most beautiful book shop. It has a unique architecture and furniture just like in the old times.
Unfortunately, our travel guide book was outdated and we found out that a nice cafe, which was recommended in the book, did not exist anymore. So we ended up in another one, and later - at Oxford Street...
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Portobello Road Market |
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Portobello Road Market is situated in Portobello Road, of course, and takes place every Saturday. You can get all kinds of accessories, antiques and decoration stuff, but also some groceries. It has become really touristic (the main language heard are actually Spanish, Italian, and German), but still it is very interesting to walk through.
Portobello Road is located in Notting Hill. A walk through this part of London shows you how wealthy people are living in refurbished old houses. So pretty to live in, but also extremely expensive!
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Richmond and Eel Pie Island |
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Richmond is a quiet suburb (besides the airplanes landing and taking off at Heathrow) in the South West of London. The view from Richmond Hill (see picture below) over the River
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Thames is absolutely beautiful. We visited the Feldman’s, Chiko’s former host family during her first stay in the UK. We had a great afternoon at their new home on Eel Pie Island, an island which can only be reached on foot from the main street across the river. It has an interesting background of (music) history and you can hear the tour guides on the passing sight-seing boats talking about legendary jazz and rock concerts there. The island is full of nature with a shipyard, and home to many artists.
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“Jack the Ripper” Walk |
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There are many guided walks through the East End telling us about the legendary “Jack the Ripper”, all of which, of course, claim to be “the original one”. We got the tip from one of
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Chiko’s colleagues to do such a walking tour. The one we chose was the one by London Walks. The tour is lead by Donald Rumbelow, who, as it turned out, is the expert in the “Jack the Ripper” story. He actually did and still does lots of research on the subject. Having wrote books about it, he seems to be the leading reference to the subject. Well, at least the other tours we met on our way counted much less people. The tour is 6 Pounds and it is fun to follow it, taking about 2 hours.
We did not have any clue about the “Jack the Ripper” story before joining the tour - in contrast to some other visitors in the group who obviously came to deepen their already profound knowledge. It is a very amazing story, and the murderer was never caught. Not surprising. As you also learn a lot about life in London in 1888, when the five murders happened, you will soon realise that the police’s tools were very restricted at that time.
The tour will lead you to the places of those two months of the murders in 1888. These are
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the sites of the crimes, possible places where the murderer met his victims or where the police found specific clues. A truly chilling experience!
All victims were guests at the Ten Bells Pub near Spitalfields Market. The pub is also described in the pub guide of Arne Cremer together with an introduction to the “Jack the Ripper” story.
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