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For an American doing a European tour package as a first trip abroad, London was like a trusty old pair of shoes; it may not be stylish and flashy, but it’s familiar, it fits comfortably and when you slip into it, you can move about with ease. I guess I should qualify this statement by saying that I had only dappled in Asian languages and never studied any of the European/romantic languages, so it seemed that I was more at easy in London that Paris, Cherborg, Koln or Dortmund in that I didn’t have to contend with phrase books and confusions resulting from mistranslations. The London Underground (subway) is both an efficient way of getting around the city and entertaining (especially when a street musician lets you sing Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here while he and his partner play guitars.)
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I thoroughly enjoyed the British Museum, although the section containing the Japanese antiquities was closed for remodeling at the time; the Egyptian antiquities and the South Asian artifacts exhibits there were outstanding (better than the Louvre’s collection in my opinion). The Tower of London is a must; I especially liked the armament museum and the Crown Jewels. The Tate Gallery has a nice exhibit of the works of Blake and Rossetti, in addition to a traveling exhibit of the works of Francis Bacon (some of his pieces appear in the opening credits of the film Last Tango in Paris). Also check out the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and (now for something completely different...) the London Dungeon.
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The Egyptian Antiquities Section of the British Museum.
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The British Museum & Tower of London were definitely my favorite stops on the city tour itinerary. The most (off-itinerary) fun had in London was when I met up with two Australian guys who were touring Europe by working their way through it (moving on only when they made enough money to afford to do so). They talked me into going to a club with them called Samantha’s that had a Tuesday night Five Quid Cover Charge/50 P Per Drink special. We proceeded to teach the locals how to shoot tequila with lemon and salt and managed to get a lovely Swedish cocktail waitress named Eva rather drunk. For some reason in my drunken stupor that night (perhaps it was her black fishnets and the cute rose tattoo on the thigh), I promised to bring her flowers the next day, and surprised her by actually keeping my word the next night with some yellow mums (the bouncer even let me in without charge for 5 minutes to make the delivery even though I was in gross violation of the dress code.)
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I stayed at the Regent Palace Hotel on Regent Street at Piccadilly Circus, which was a convenient location from which to tour the city via the London Underground's Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines. The place was decent but I would have preferred not to have to deal with the communal bathroom down the hall; the extra-large and deep bath tub did prove to be just the thing to remedy a bad hangover after a night of numerous tequila shots.
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Samantha's on Regent Street (a short early morning drunken stagger from the Regent Palace Hotel) is an option, though shabby dressers might be turned down at the door. The Soho district would no doubt be the place to go if one is looking for a night of bar-hopping.
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Marquis of Crandby at Regent Street and Charring Cross (Cambridge Circus).
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The Whimpy Burger at Piccadilly Circus was a stone's throw away from the Regent Palace Hotel and a convenient place for some quick fast food and tea before heading off to explore the city. A very good Indian restaurant was on the itinerary that was picked by the art professor leading the tour because of the quality of the food, but I neglected to get a business card and can't recall the name. I sampled a few small fish and chips shops and the shepard's pie at a couple of pubs chosen at random, and was quite pleased with the results.
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Published on Sunday July 14th, 2002
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6 votes
