The final tidbits

I don't want to write about the Tower of London. It is such a dull, bleak and depressive place. The only kind of stories you'd hear there are about deaths. Could be by treason, execution, various forms of death. If there are things called bad spirits or if I can explain it clearly, negative thoughts that hang around a place, then this should be one such. I felt so horrible in this tower, the ambiance would make you feel so.

The Tower Bridge was a great thing though. It is a marvelous piece of engineering and should make architects proud of their profession. The majestic columns that are so unique of this bridge are actually just for show. Inside are the iron columns and beams that actually bear the weight of the bridge and can draw the bridge up, but just those iron pillars would have looked so horrible. That is why the architect designed the facade.

Stupidly enough, I didn't know that this was a draw bridge! Well, now I know. And to everyone out there who think that this is the "London bridge", no it is not. The London bridge is a separate bridge and that one is old. This is the London Tower Bridge and FYI, this never fell down!

St. Paul's Cathedral... I expected the dome to be huge, but not THIS HUGE! Wow! I have never imagined such a big cathedral can ever exist! So now I can really understand the analogy of the dome and our fist comparing the sizes of atom and it's nucleus!! I read that in 1999 and in 2013 could really get the point :D Better late than never! the best part of visiting St. Paul's was that we got to say the Lord's prayer sitting in the cathedral! Lord's prayer.. the one I said everyday from 1989 to 1996 in my school that followed the Church of England. Amazing!

Lansdowne Road... that takes me home. We walked over there around late afternoon when the
neighborhood was quiet. It was just so much like home, the warm late afternoons, calm and cozy. Maybe I should walk a few more steps to get a glimpse of the familiar yellow building? 

A taste of home in a faraway land

We found an Indian restaurant at South Kensington and I looked at the menu and said, "these people must be from Bangladesh!" By no means could a non-Bengali cook fish curry like that, and I was right. They were all from the place called Sylhet in eastern Bangladesh. They heard us speaking in Bengali and came over to talk to us. From them I heard that there is a Bangladeshi town near Aldgate East so the next day we went to find that.

The grand Bengali feast!

That was unlike anything I ever saw so far in my life. We took a bus #14 to Oxford Circus and changed to #25 for Aldgate East. It was awarm and sunny day, so perfect for a bus ride. We found that township and my heart leapt when I saw written in Bengali - "swadeshi khabar, kheye jaan ekbar" (Come, taste food from your homeland). I had a mixed feeling... happy to find something that reminds me of home but sad for ripping away a part of Bengal to be made into Bangladesh. We had rice, daal, aloo bhaja, rui machher jhol and ilisher dim for lunch. On finding out that we are Bengali too they took such a great care of us. Well, may not be us, but only Arnab. They called him as "bhai" (brother) and asked him over and over if he was comfortable, if the food was to his liking, they served him some more rice, turned the fan towards him... but they never asked me!

The shops on both sides of the streets were just like Calcutta, the names were in Bengali, even the street names were in Bengali! There were tons of jackfruit piled up on the street side at one place, a replica of the shaheed minar of Dhaka at another street crossing!

Hampton Court and following the foot steps of some of my favorite people

Another train ride from Waterloo took us to Hampton Court palace. This was Henry VIII's old stomping ground. I personally don't like the person Henry VIII was but I liked a tour of his palace. The kitchen was very impressive, big chunks of meat were grilled is humongous ovens like what Robin Hood's story mentions. With it big loaves of bread and barrels of wine. Walking down the dark rooms where those barrels are still kept, it would not be much of a surprise if any person from the time of Henry VIII pops out. I also got to wear a robe and talk to Queen Catherine's lady in waiting. But after a while I got tired of the stories of politics and constant bickering and execution for the eternal struggle for power. Then we went to the maze.

That was the one where Harris got lost but we did much better than that and came out in like twenty minutes. Harris' cousin should come with us the next time he plans to go there! The maze, even though famous really looked tiny and cramped compared to our local corn maze at Bob's Farm where we go every fall :P

We also went to the rose garden. I have never seen just a rose garden
before and as I love roses, this garden is something I will always remember. It was just filled with a sweet scent, I mean of course, what else can you expect in a rose garden? But I just loved it! I think they had something similar in Manderley that Mrs. de Winter wrote about in Rebecca.

A trip down Thames was a much needed part of our visit to London. We took a boat down to Kingston almost like what Jerome, Harris and Montmorency did in the 1890s. The same Thames, towns and places that Jerome talked about, even the swans are still there. We saw flocks of them swimming, must be descendants of those ones which tried to drown Harris and Montmorency!

My old friends

The hallowed turf of Lord's cricket ground

Most of the things that I grew up with in Calcutta has a connection to London, but probably none of them is greater than the link cricket has. Cricket has always been the sport I loved to watch and play and I have many fond memories associated with that game as my entire family consists of multiple cricket lovers and players. So it is quite natural that I was just plain overwhelmed when I took the tour of Lord's Cricket Ground.

The walk in the pavilion, view from the two balconies - host side and touring side, the long room (for banquet) all took me to a stage where I could easily visualize the white clad cricketers with the typical V-necked sweaters and colorful cricket caps. I am glad that the county matches are still held regularly there and however much the game may have got commercialized in the other countries (especially in India), Lords is still maintaining it in the way I like it.

We also saw a South African team practicing in the small field next to the stadium. We got to learn the actual story behind Ashes but the guide's anti-Aussie sentiment came out when he called them the "colonials"!

In the reporters' box

PS: I saw a young man on a bike stopped at traffic light. What caught my eyes was his white cricketing clothes and then I saw a cricket bat strapped to his back...little things that make me happy :) 

Edward VIII's Windsor

Waterloo station

Before I talk about Windsor, I must say about Waterloo station. We went there to get on our train to Windsor. Good for us, now big signs display which train is going where, so we didn't have to end op like Jerome and Harris running from one platform to the other. The only thing is, if the man at the ticket counter specifically asked us if we are going to Windsor or to Windsor castle, that would have solved the hassle of coming back to the counter for a refund. Thankfully we had a very helpful lady who made us get the refund. The train tracks and everything beyond it reminded me of a local train ride from Howrah station. If we can call Vauxhall as Liluah it would be exactly the same! We got glimpses of Thames all along the ride.

Windsor castle was amazing! The British Royal family always interests me and here I could actually feel it. The ambiance of this castle doesn't seem to have changed and everything here dates back to the 1600s quite easily. The knights of the garter, Charles I and II (remember the Musgrave Ritual?) and Henry VIII's stories are so extremely intriguing. Those carved walls, frescoed ceilings and gilded frames are all parts of a time travel. I liked the story of the knights a lot so I bought a stained glass sun catcher with the shield of St. George (patron saint of England) for myself.

Traditional tea

At the station we had traditional afternoon tea with crumpets and Devonshire clotted cream!

Meeting the royal ladies at Kensington Palace

Our next stop was to visit the Royal ladies at Kensington Palace. That is the women's quarters of the Royal family. Built in 1689, the house is still lived in. Princess Diana's residence was here too. Of the wings that are accessible to public, they have separated it into three parts - Victoria's quarters, King's chamber and Queen's chamber.

Victoria and Albert

I loved Victoria's quarters very much. Her early days in the nursery, meeting Albert, those were very nice. She was one of those very few monarchs who had a happy marriage. It is a pleasure to see her write about how happy Albert had made her. I admire Albert a lot too. It is not easy on a man to have an Empress as a wife but he still maintained his stand in the family very well. We probably liked this more because just before the trip, we watched a movie on Victoria and Albert.

"The fairest of them all"

The King's and Queen's chambers were extremely spooky though! I very much believe that the "whispers" they were simulating turn out to be real at night. The "librarian" and "courtiers" were fun though. I think they were playing cards together because the King was not there in the palace!

Regal London - Buckingham palace tour

At St. James' Park

From Westminster Abbey we had to cross St. James' Park and arrived at the Horse Guards. There, with billions of people from everywhere in the world, we watched the guards parade down to Buckingham Palace. Then I almost climbed up the railings of the palace (literally hanging on to those) and did finally see the change of guards. The old ones stood there and the fresh ones came then with drum roll two of them would walk and take position to leave. Then the entire group went out marching. Circled round the Victoria Memorial in front of the palace and went towards the Horse Guards. The Bobbies looked like wooden dolls to me. They are very handsome but so incongruent with the 21st century! Can you believe it takes them an hour everyday just to change guards! Huh! I laughed out so loud that one guard did actually frown at me. Arnab was like, "wow, you finally got some expression out of them!"

Bobbies

The thing I liked in London was that how history is preserved. I think I have already mentioned it a number of times, but to think that this is the same change of guards that little princes Edward and Albert would watch from their school rooms does really make me happy... how nice of humans to keep the traditions.

Buckingham Palace

The Victoria Memorial has the same angel as the one in Calcutta...

Angel, Muse and me

We had a picnic lunch at Hyde Park (no I did not stand up on a packing case and start an oration) where we saw a bunch of school kids on an excursion. Just like us, they were wearing school uniforms which are not like the "uniforms" Aeropostale sells. After lunch we walked over to the Wellington Arch which has been copied into India Gate. There we saw two girls who are mounted police! 

Meeting some old friends at Westminster Abbey

Today the weather was very pleasant. It was not as hot as yesterday, quite cool with a bright sun and a lovely breeze. Right at the time when Big Ben was chiming half past nine e stood at line to enter Westminster Abbey. We took an audio guided tour which I think is a great concept. You can customize it according to what you want to know and not have to follow a human guide in a crowd.

Westminster Abbey was stunning. It's not just how grand and majestic the place is, not even that from 1066 AD onwards all the monarchs have been crowned here, but the thing that blew me off is that probably every British that I ever got acquainted with - Darwin, Newton, Maxwell, Bell, Thompson, Livingstone, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Browning, Chaucer, Longfellow are ALL there!!! To let Sukumar Ray know, yes I did visit Livingstone's grave when I were in London.

The grave of the unknown soldier is like our Amar Jawan Jyoti and that is the *only* grave where you are not supposed to step on. Not even the Queen would walk over it. I actually felt a little awkward walking over people's graves, I mean that too people like Darwin and such. But it is so crowded, you don't really have any other option.

A thing that was very funny is Queen Elizabeth I and her half sister Queen Mary are buried on top of one another. While alive, the two half sisters bickered over religion (one was Catholic and the other Protestant) and Mary had Elizabeth imprisoned too. Now on death they are together! Mary, queen of Scotts is also buried nearby. I hope they don't turn in their graves...

Big Ben and the River

There was a clock in our house which was broken. It has been there from the early 1940s and from when I can remember, I knew that it didn't work. When I was in high school, I tried to find out why it didn't work and started poking around. As the clock was anyway sitting on a pile of junk, no one really told me not to disturb it. I could do whatever. That clock was gifted to my great grandfather by the company he worked at when he retired. When I opened and tore apart the back, I found it is supposed to play two chimes - one was Westminster and the other Whittington. I had no clue what they were. I don't remember if I already started Googling at that time or I read about it somewhere but I knew that the Westminster chime was that of Big Ben. Also, my dad said they knew it from listening to BBC radio, that chimed played every half hour (as GMT lags IST by five and half hours). That is the reason I am so familiar with the Westminster chime, the quarter, half, three quarter and full hour with the gongs! I have turned the keys and watched the automation in my clock hundreds of times, I could never be wrong in recognizing it!

When we heard Big Ben chiming from the bus, Arnab said - we must be very close to the river and should just walk there. So we got off the bus and he was right, the river was within 5 minutes of walk. We walked past by some grand buildings, one I remember was Sommerset House and came to see the Thames.

The first glimpse of the river was beautiful. That stream was not just of water, but of history. The skyline seemed to be seeped in history. That one river has seen everything from before the Tudors to this day...generations of rulers, politics, fights for power, expansion of the Empire, World Wars, till the 2012 Olympics! Isn't that fascinating? And all through time, St. Stephen's Clock Tower kept on chiming every quarter...

As we walked across Waterloo Bridge, we could see Westminster Abbey's spiky towers poking from behind the Parliament.

We came back to South Kensington via underground and I had jacket potatoes for the first time. Now I understand why the kids in Enid Blyton's stories would go crazy for it! Oh man, that was heavenly with chicken filling!

Idle ramblings

Covent Garden

Nelson's Trafalgar

I don't like to travel with big groups of people. I have seen that from my very little travel experience so far, that if you travel with a group of non-like minded people you end up sacrificing your wishes. If you go to a book fair with someone who hates books and just want to be at the fair to eat popcorn then the sooner you part ways, the better. Same for the London trip, if Arnab hated Sherlock Holmes or wanted to go to nightclubs then it would have been very difficult for both of us. Luckily for us, our tastes are very similar when it comes to travelling (and most other things too, excepting movies and some hobbies). During this tour, as we were just two adults travelling together, we had a lot of flexibility. If we wanted to go somewhere particular, we'd look it up on the map and go. If not, we'd just walk around. One of my friends, who has almost become a globe trotter now emphasized on the benefits of walking around in London. "You'd see many interesting things which are never mentioned in the guide books", he told me.

Charing Cross Station

From the British Museum, we boarded a red double decker (#13 to Aldwych) to go to Covent Gardens where in front of the Royal Opera House Eliza Doolittle first met Prof. Henry Higgins. It was, as I had already imagined, exactly like our dear old New Market. Just a tad cleaner. We wandered about and saw a couple street performers there. One performer was mimicking Charlie Chaplin to which I thought one day Charlie Chaplin roamed about in this city as a penniless boy, and after so many decades someone is earning his bread by Chaplin's imitation in the very same city!

Of the idle ramblings, here is another one I should add. The visit to East

You should recognize the coat of arms if you are from Bengal

India Company's store. All the other things we saw are historical with technically no real connection to my physical being, but this shop bridged the gap between time and place. From "the mid day halt" of Job Charnock to Arnab and I buying tea and chocolates, the thread that runs through is East India Company. We can choose to dislike them from conquering our country, but we cannot disregard them from history and from building Calcutta, the city I have always loved. And like I told Arnab, they haven't changed. They came to Emperor Jahangir as merchants, they were selling us chocolate covered raspberries exactly as the same merchant!

While riding on a bus through Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square we got a great view of the city and suddenly could hear the very famous and very recognizable Westminster Chime. It was so unexpected and amazing at the same time. But before I talk about Big Ben, I will have to write a few lines about "my clock".

Waterloo Bridge

British Museum - a time travel around the world

From the tube station of Russel Square (to which Arnab kept on saying, "Russel Street, yes, that was where I had to get down to go to Dad's office in Calcutta") we walked over across a park to go to the British Museum. We spent like a couple hours (again, a grave injustice to the exhibits) and the thing that came to my mind after the tour was that I traveled around the world, that too in a time machine. You would understand from the collection why it was once said that the Sun never sets in the British Empire, and they made great use of that. The place is a treasure trove!


What can I say about the collection? A blog article is not the right place for this task. Egyptian galleries always impress me. Here too were an assortment of mummies, even mummified cats (creepy!), Egyptian sandals, etc. Then there were Greek vases, Helen's golden belt (very pretty), a part of Parthenon with the marble columns all picked up and placed here. Then another impressive thing was one statue brought from the Easter Islands (dragged and dropped, again). The African gallery was nice too. Then here and there were the very famous chess pieces of which I have forgotten the details now, Arnab saw them on TV a while back and was exclaiming - "yeah, we saw them!" There were coins minted in Calcutta, a model of probably Ben Hur's chariot. I very much liked an automated model of a ship. It was nice to see the handiwork of some of my ancient colleagues, all proficient in automation :)

The best one thing was the Enlightenment room. That has a collection of things from the Renaissance and as always these kind of stuff impress me. Knowledge...Wisdom...the sole thing that makes us superior to all other creatures and which guides our own thoughts, words, behavior and actions.