TFC: London life

two [Fri, 11-Dec]

Lauren, John and I began our day at the Geffrye Museum to learn about the history of the British middle class through their interiors.  It was a very interesting and approachable museum.  Displaying rooms as a guide to presenting lifestyle was a great approach, especially during their “Christmas Past” exhibition where all of the period rooms are decorated with traditional festivity.  Obviously I loved learning about the history of Christmas and its celebration!

From Old Street we headed south across the London Bridge to Southwark for a evening of pub/bar hopping.  We began at The Anchor, a riverside multi-room pub recommended by our teacher Giles.  Lauren and I had our first and last pint of London Gold while John savored a Guinness.  With that coating over our stomachs, we sought dinner and the easiest/quickest solution was Gourmet Burger Kitchen, a chain in London voted as having the best burgers in town.  We walked it off along the Thames Path to Waterloo Bridge and The Riverfront bar/restaurant at the BFI Southbank Centre.  I always love spending time Thames-side and looking out onto a twinkling London was precisely where I wanted to be on my final Friday night.  I’m so glad I got to catch a few final glimpses at the breathtakingly lit Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, etc…

Before catching the Tube at Waterloo, we stopped for a final pint at Hole in the Wall, a pub located next to the station and under a train overpass; the sounds of passing trains could be heard and felt, a very cool feature.  We then embarked on my last late-night, just-before-it-closes Tube ride, and I savored every second of it.

Walk London: Autumn Amble

What better way to kick off a Saturday than with an Autumn Amble sponsored by Walk London and entitled “Print, Power, and Democracy”?  Well, when you’re me, that option is pretty phenomenal.

Here is the description from the Walk London website:

Description: Special Walk: led by official City of London Guide. Find out about the history of the book trade near St Paul’s cathedral; discover Stationers Hall; see the plaque commemorating Wynken de Word and the early print industry; St.Bride’s Print Museum; Fleet Street and the history of journalism; Dr Johnson’s house and the history of the first English Dictionary; ending at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and the wonderful quirky SirJohn Soane Museum. Many opportunities for refreshment and toilet breaks along the route.

Section: City Walk 2

Category: Urban Amble – Special walk – Under 5 Miles

Meet At: 11:00

Meeting Point:St Paul’s Station – exit 2 – click here to view route planner

Nearest Tube Station: St Paul’s

Finish: Lincolns Inn Fields, 1.3 miles, approx 2 hours

I discovered it during the week and forwarded it along to my Vassar cohorts — Mike, John, and Chenxi decided to join and it was great to have similar minds along for the walk with me.  Once again, it proved the perfect pairing of pleasure and academia, especially since the themes are so in line with my media and urban studies tracks.  The guides did an excellent job of explaining the history and pointing out the sites along the way, and I loved how the same topics we have been discussing in our City as Material course came up again.

The walk ended at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a spot we already visited on one of our City as Material walks, and directly across from the Sir John Soane’s Museum.  We decided to seize the opportunity and head on in!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was the most amazing house ever, containing one of the most amazing collections of paintings and artifacts I even had the privilege of viewing.

Walk London group & guide Paul

Paternoster Square

London Stock Exchange

Noon Dial

Paternoster Square – Fleet Street Exit

Stationner’s Hall

Ye Olde London

Bride’s Passage

The Bridewell

The Press House Wine Bar

St. Bride’s

St. Bride’s

St. Bride’s Church

St. Bride’s Church

The Daily Express Building

The Reuters Building

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Living Wall

Living Wall

Living Wall

French’s Dairy

Seven Stars

Seven Stars

The Wig Box

Sir Thomas Moore

Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Lincoln’s Inn Fields

Sir John Soane Museum

Sir John Soane Museum

Sir John Soane Museum

22-Sept: City as Material

Tuesday was another amazing session of City as Material!

We began the morning at Proboscis by watching Films of Charles and Ray Eams, Volume 4, the work of two American designers that combine the sensibility of the artist/architect with concern for everyday life, its functionality, and its beauty in simplicity.  We then watched a much more experimental piece: Klipperty Klop by Andrew Kotting, a parody of land art that highlights mad, eccentric, British humor.  The closing title pretty much said it all: “He was in one of those queer moods.”  The two greatly contrasted each other, but were also complimentary in seeing how differently appreciation for the everyday can be expressed.

Bearing these in mind, we sat for a brainstorming session on how we are going to intervene into the everyday life of London for our project.  The common point of interest that emerged was abandoned/lost space within the city.  In the end, we divided initial research into two realms: above ground and under ground; our first step in the process is to discover spaces, such as underground tunnels and rivers, abandoned buildings, and hidden alleyways.  Although the rest of the class seemed most intrigued by exploring above ground, I gravitated towards below.  Comparing the underground structure of London to NYC has already captured my interest and is a topic I was planning to explore on my own; the fact that I can incorporate that investigation into my academics while here is amazing, and further proof that I am exactly where I should be doing exactly what I’m doing this semester.

It was time to mobilize, and Giles lead us on a new route from Farringdon Station north (a famous Italian enclave) through Holborn, Islington, and Finsbury with a stop for lunch at Exmouth Market — although I packed lunch, the others indulged in delicious ethnic cuisines that filled the street with an alluring aroma.  We picnicked in a nearby park and reflected on the themes that emerged from our excursion: the varying topographies of the city and the functioning of reused and mixed-use city space.  Hopefully the following photos will communicate the nature of this and why those themes were so relevant during the walk:

Commissioners of Sewage

Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Postal Sorting Office

Ecmouth Market

Exmouth Market

Bone House and Graveyard

Picnic Spot

Pinic

Three Corners Adventure Playground

Three Corners Adventure Playground

Clerks’ Well

Clerks’ Well

Clerks’ Well inscription

Criminal Court

St. Paul’s

St. Paul’s

Memorial

Piccadilly Whip

Piccadilly Whip

Upon returning to Proboscis, we set up a blog for the course that we will be using to document our research and our experiences!  We haven’t implemented a design for the page yet, but stay tuned for a fabulous piece of online documentation.

Giles also put together another post-session route for us.  I embarked on the first portion, past St. Paul’s and over the Millennium Bridge, but left the group once I got a call from Annie Black.  That’s right, my freshman year roommate and Texan counterpart is in London for the semester as well!  She is studying at University College London in Bloomsbury, and I immediately headed there to help her settle in.  We scouted out her campus and walked down Oxford St. to Primark to get towels and hangers (nice job being out, Argos), and obviously stopped for her first London pub experience (in true student style, she went with Strongbow, I with London Pride).  We headed back to her flat and I made sure to tuck her in with some Gilmore Girls–the only thing that made me leaving okay.  I’m so glad she’s here…welcome, girl!