Thursday Thirteen (V42) : trackback?

Gherkin, Tower 42 and a mad digger. They say the Cucumber and Pickled Onion will be the next two new London buildings.

About time for another Thursday Thirteen and this week I thought I'd try a recap of a few places I've visited in the last few months.

1) We can start with New York, which I always enjoy. This time I stayed right on Broadway, in the rather splendid W.
2) A visit on the Eurostar, to Brugges, in Belgium. A city of canals and pretty streets.
3) A somewhat longer journey to Las Vegas. I'm told what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. So maybe I should delete my blog entry.
4) A brief visit to the lovely canals of Amsterdam.
5) A friendly re-fuel in the Italian in Battersea Park Road.

6) A long weekend in and around China Town in Manchester.
7) I was also found aboard a ship of fools
8) I started a walk around the tourist parts of London including by the Houses of Parliament
9) Then back to Amsterdam to admire the bicycles.
10) A decompression morning around Sloane Square

11) Before a more in Seine moment on the river in Paris.
12) Then a re-grounding in the City of London.
13) I seem to have missed out a couple of trips to Frankfurt where I didn't really take any pictures at all.

I must have been in a hurry.

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Tourist London Part 5

Back to the City of London walk, leaving Leadenhall Market and turning towards Lloyds of London, which gives a good view of 'the gherkin' as well. We are now in the area where buildings show the latest architectural thinking.

The Lloyds Building was designed by Richard Rogers and built bewteen 1978 to 1986 on the site of Edward Lloyd's coffee house (founded in 1688). All its services are on the outside, leaving a clean uncluttered space inside. The 12 glass lifts were the first of their kind in the UK. There is a huge Insurance Underwriting Room on the ground floor, which houses the famous Lutine Bell. The 11th floor houses the Committee Room, an 18th century dining-room originally designed by Robert Adam in 1763 and transferred from its prior location across the road.

And I suppose to keep that the architectural theme running, the Gherkin across the road was designed by Sir Norman Foster and is already something of an instant icon for modern London. More correctly called 30 St Mary Axe, or Swiss Re, it could be something from another world, looking here as if it has set itself down next to the adjacent church.

neverland

I'd planned to describe the next part of my City of London wanderings this evening, moving to a few shiny happy buildings after the majestic old ones in the last couple of posts.

Instead, I was diverted to the television, where 2004's "Finding Neverland" was playing. A most enjoyable story of Sir James Matthew (J.M.) Barrie, the author of "Peter Pan", with Barrie played by Johnny Depp.

Although adapted from Barrie's real-life story, this tightly edited yet magical film brings imagination and emotion to the story including Peter being played as a very serious mini-adult.

The storyline revolves around Barrie's meeting with Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies (Kate Blanchett) and her four boys then becoming the inspiration for Barrie's most famous story. There's plenty of good sub-plot and because we all know the real Peter Pan story, we can feel real involvement as the story unfolds. And of course, we see Depp as a fledgling pirate of the Carribbean.

In the meantime, like a good city should, London has a fine statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Clap if you believe.

Tourist London Part 4

Continuing the walk from the Royal Exchange, past the Cuban cigar shop with its "Havana Cigars at Pleasing Prices", towards the area used in the Bridget Jones movie. I was quite impressed how quickly Bridget walked, in snow, from the area behind Borough Market to the middle of the City, in the closing moments of the first movie.

We'll continue along the road past a few of the alleys and courtyards where all is not always what it seems. Many of the facades have been preseved and the interiors modernised. Here's a modern snack bar chain lurking in an old building.

And to the side of the restaurant, theres one of the typical alleys of this area. It is possible to take all manner of shortcuts around the City, through alleys and courtyards to get from A to B quickly. Unlike the grids and zones of many cities, London and the City has an organic charm about the way the often narrow roads have grown and developed.

Here's Sun Court, which in this case also offers an FCUK right there in the courtyard.

Not all of the shops are completely modernised, however; as an example, here's a tailor's which was first established in 1689 and is still going strong.

Of course. being situated across the road from a covered market will have guarenteed a certain amout of trade and in this case Leadenhall Market is still very much a going concern, situated in the midst of the City and close to the Fenchurch Street railway terminus.

And of course, where there's a market, theres a pub or two. This time a Young's tavern from 1780. Young's is one of the two main traditional London breweries (the other one is Fullers). Time to pause awhile, methinks.


tags technorati : rashbre london city urban

Tourist London Part 3

So this time we'll hop on a bus to the Guildhall. That puts us into the heart of the City of London, by the Bank, which is the area where the Bank of England resides.

Adjacent to the Guildhall is the Mansion House, which is a Palladian stucture where the Lord Mayor of London will hold receptions.

There's great names for the roads and alleys around here. For example, the roadside by the bus stop and the building opposite is part of Poultry and leads into Cheapside.

Here's my snap of the Mansion House itself. The road system outside it would normally be filled with buses and taxis and there would usually be huge quantities of streetwise business folk here between Monday morning and Friday evening, but at the weekend, the City shuts down.

Not all of the buildings around here are old; here's the adjacent magistrates court and next to it a more modern confection. Again, the lack of traffic in this normally manic area is noteworthy. The yellow box junctions here are some of the first ever and designed to keep traffic at busy intersections moving.

A crumbs throw away is the Royal Exchange, adjacent to Threadneedle Street, which is where the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street lives. Thats slang for the Bank of England. Most people will recognise the Exchange more from Mary Poppin; although most of Mary Poppins was shot on Soundstage Two in Burbank, this is the area it evokes and would have been one of the places to buy breadcrumbs to feed the birds.

Here is the reason the area is named "Bank"; the Bank of England takes an entire block, but surprisingly is less noticeable than either the Royal Exchange or the Mansion House.

Other buildings in the area (like the ones in my snapshot) are somewhat prominent, but before I investigate, I suggest a look along a few alleys and into a few shops. But that can wait until tomorrow.

tags technorati : rashbre london city urban

City Lights

Out and about with camera today, but I won't have time to post until later in the week. This picture is of a cluster of lights in the City of London, which is where I have wandered.

The lights around the city look orange from the air, but the ones in the city are more of a white colour. I'm not sure if this is deliberate, traditional or just coincidence, but the Square Mile does stand out well.

tags technorati : rashbre london city urban

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the world is our oyster

Getting about around London requires an oystercard and I use its little plastic wallet for my credit cards.

I see the Arts Council has commissioned ten artists to create artwork on these wallets, including Tracey Emin, Jeanette Winterson, Michael Clark and Ty.

Their idea is to bring art into daily lives and so the artists have considered how people use travel wallets – as an everyday part of life, but with the potential to be interesting, provocative and even beautiful. So the wallets tackle current issues from identity, environmentalism to rural affairs.

Others offer an invitation to enjoy a personal art experience, or write a story. There's even a 'knitted' wallet!

At the moment I have an 'original' blue wallet, but I shall look out for the new give-aways, when I'm next near a ticket office.

tags technorati : rashbre london city urban

garage full of nails

Trent Reznor and the other Nine Inch Nails have music that depends on tension between vast impersonal crunchy distortion and sudden moments of vulnerability. Gnashing stomp mets self doubt. With riffs.

So what about adding a few emo moments? A tinkling bell? Violins maybe? Now its time to tinker with the sound. Apple have arranged a free download of a track session in Garageband format to allow for remix. And I gather other tracks will be added later.

So time put on your black clothes and get mixing!

Unless you'd rather checkout US wiretaps or another version of the truth.

2p or not 2p?

Tonight, three of us had planned to meet in the Winter Gardens, which is a tranquil oasis at Marylebone. As I entered the building, there was the buzz and hubbub of London's post budgeteers getting ready to huddle in discussions about whether Gordon Brown had done anything significant or not in what is actually his eleventh budget. Some would say its a case of giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

Mr Brown wants to be liked by the public and to dispel the stories of a long sulk related to his relationship to Tony Blair. The current manouvres are pitched towards his possible transition to the leader's role in the Labour party as Tony steps down.

So we can expect to hear all about Mr Brown the family man mixed with his own comment that personality politics are not important to the British electorate.

And then we moved on to other topics, including finding a hotel room for one of us at short notice on a night when London was particularly full.

in seine moment

The evening plan was to head into Paris and onto a Bateaux Mouche for a river trip. To get from la Defence, we took a metro to Franklin D Roosevelt and then changed to another line. We arrived at the plush reception by the Pont d'Alma and then mad our way onto one of the bateaux, which was set out for dining.

We enjoyed the tour, which was accompanied with violin and piano playing and viewed many famous landmarks, including the Tour Eiffel, for which I show a couple of impressions.

(oh and yes, I'm experimenting with making digital photos look like film!)

tags technorati : rashbre paris city urban

la defence

France today, just outside of Paris in the area known as la defence.

Just about all the big companies have offices here and there is a combination of glossy big buildings and some labyrinthine road systems, which also seem to operate on multiple levels, with frequent twists and turns.

The smooth looking walkways actually have quite a lot of bumps and make my wheely bag sound like an armoured division as I trundle it around the streets on the way to the office.

tags technorati : rashbre paris city urban