London (post-trip)

I actually wrote this within a week of my trip last November but didn't get around to posting it for mood... reasons. And now I'm in the mood again. Anyways.

People were asking me what my favorite experience in London was... and unlike usual, I actually can’t think of a favorite this time because there were too many things I liked. So I’ll settle for a list (like usual) of highlights, in random order:

Oxford:
Is it bad that I want to make the 1.5-2 trek to Oxford again just for the bookstore? (Well okay, that and the Ashmolean and Natural History museums, but still).

Seriously, the moment I walked into Blackwell’s, I realized that it was one of those bookstores that I could spend an entire day in just book browsing, and I felt sad that I had only an hour (which was already pushing it) to wander at the expense of seeing the rest of Oxford. But ugh, such good shelf arrangement. And that basement, full of book-snob quotes and maze-like walkways through books I would probably never buy but still, I was in awe the moment I saw it all. I want to go back already.

I also did a literary tour of Christ Church and the surroundings, but I have to say the real meat of what I saw related to Alice in Wonderland (which was fine since out of the authors connected to Oxford, Carroll’s works are probably my favorite of the bunch anyway). Got to see the church that C.S. Lewis preached The Weight of Glory at, which felt quite inspiring since I’d read it a while back.

The Bodleian Libraries Tour was great as well, in part due to the British humor of the guide we had that day.

(“The men lost. The women lost. Even the goat lost.”)

(“I told my son I had a smoke with Sir Ian McKellen. He handed the phone over to his wife and said ‘Mom’s been smoking again.’”)

(“They filmed X-men here [at the library]. X-men. Can you believe it? And not only that, but Transformers, too. [to two boys:] Do you like Transformers?”)

And lastly, fish and chips done right, from the pub that Bill Clinton famously “didn’t inhale” at. Possibly among the best chips I’ve ever had in my life. Apparently the secret is to triple fry them. Who knew.

Company:
Never would I have imagined that a gender-bent version of a musical would turn out to be my favorite rendition of it. And I may be gender-biased here, but particularly for the male renditions of “You Could Drive A Person Crazy” (I feel bad saying this but I finally get this song now) and “Not Getting Married Today.” What made the latter stand out for me was its examination of pre-marriage anxiety from a gay person’s perspective, which was completely new to me, and really funny to watch to boot; Jonathan Bailey practically stole the show for me with his frenetic spazzing... and his character’s deep vulnerability.

Greenwich:
Lived up to my personal hype-o-meter, even though it’s quite a bit far out from central London.

For a subject that seems kind of niche to probably anyone else, the Maritime Museum does a great job at making Britain’s maritime past interesting, accessible, and not overwhelming, with a great combination of British paintings (for the art enthusiasts), authentic relics (for the history enthusiasts), natural history exhibits (for the science enthusiasts), and technologically up-to-date and interactive experiences (for the educational technology enthusiasts— shut up I own this fully).

Pacific Encounters was probably the highlight of the main galleries, but I also really liked the animations of the explorer journeys in Tudor & Stuart Seafarers, and the art of Polar Worlds eerily reminded me of the horror works inspired by them— the likes of Shelley’s Frankenstein, Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness, and The Thing.

The Royal Observatory was also awesome, although the path to it is practically pitch black at night, with a treacherous uphill climb that made me wonder why I thought coming here was worth it (but it turned out I could’ve taken a shuttle from the park entrance instead >_>).

But once inside, I was wowed by the astronomy galleries and their technical, not to mention really accessible presentation—it never occurred to me how mind-blowing astronomy words appear when conveyed in sign language. That female interpreter has an awesome job. So many hand explosions.

The planetarium show made up for the sky being obscured by London clouds and light pollution; it actually was the first time I feel like I’ve seen an accessible and animated layman’s explanation of how to look for objects in the night sky: from the distinction between planets, stars, and galaxies in the sky, to the identification and placement of the Zodiac constellations, to the movement of objects in the sky throughout the night, to the zoomed-in shots of Saturn’s rings, the Moon, the rest of the solar system, and I forget what else because (I’m ashamed to admit) I was so tired from being out from 7 AM - 11 PM everyday this week that I actually fell asleep during parts of the presentation -_-“. And I had to leave early to get to my cousin’s dinner party anyway. But I definitely want to come back again when I have more time to appreciate it.

Cream tea:
I don’t care who invented it first (although I have to say I prefer the Devon over the Cornish method of preparing this), but cream tea was probably my favorite meal, so much so that I had it a second time at the British museum. Clotted cream with strawberry jam atop a plain scone served with English breakfast or Earl Grey tea, mixed with milk. Why did I not discover this combo sooner. Ugh.

English breakfast:
The ingredients for this are incredibly basic, but also comforting af. Baked beans on hash browns. Two things I hardly ever eat, but when combined together GAH I want to eat it again! Plus regular toast with butter and milk tea. Like rediscovering a long-lost friend.

Agatha Christie plays:
Witness for the Prosecution with its crazy ending.
The Mousetrap with its classic Christie setup (literally felt like watching one of her novels come to life) and amusing characters. I love Christopher Wren (obviously not the architect) especially.

Westminster Abbey:
Maybe one of the closest things I’ve had to a genuine religious experience in a long while, a bit moreso than St. Paul’s for me actually (though if you’re really into architecture, you can’t go wrong with St. Paul’s). So much history buried in between the cracks, perhaps literally given all the tombs here. The tomb of the unknown soldier. I almost cried on the spot.

The Globe:
Lady Macbeth sob-screaming into a pitch black theater was probably the most horrifying sound I’ve ever heard in a performance. This is how you do Shakespeare right.

They weren’t doing performances in the actual Globe proper, but during our tour of the outdoor theater we saw a bunch of theater students practicing on stage, though I can’t really explain what exactly it was they we rehearsing for aside from enunciating gibberish vowel sounds and practicing interpretive line dancing. Or something.

The tour itself was also great. Shakespeare apparently burned down the original Globe theater during a production of Henry VIII because he thought it was a good idea to fire a cannon into the theater from the top of the stage. And apparently there were no casualties apart from a man whose pants caught on fire, only for him to be so drunk that he attempted to put it out with beer.

Also it was perfectly normal to heckle/yell at the actors during a performance and sometimes the actors fought back, which meant that it was also perfectly normal for audience members to randomly die from fighting during the middle of a performance.

The Tintin shop:
Not super special or anything, but I’m [surprisingly late in discovering that I'm] a sucker for Tintin merchandise and this was pretty much heaven for me. I didn’t have room to fit the 37cm Snowy plushie in my suitcase, but I did buy a miniature Haddock and Thomson bust and a Marlinspike Hall notebook and I’m probably just going to order the rest online because they have a Black Friday sale this weekend...

British museum:
The I am Ashurbanipal exhibit was great as expected. My favorite part was where they took a giant relief that had a ton of not-actually-simultaneous events going on at once (this being before the age of comics) and broke down each scene by flashing lights on the reliefs themselves to highlight key characters and actions. Some of the actions that I wasn’t clear on at first glance turned out to be surprisingly brutal. But such was the ancient Middle East.

Also I like how the exhibition gift shop thought it was a good idea to sell these cute lion plushies after going through a whole exhibit about ancient Assyrians torture-killing lions for sport. Too soon.

Victoria and Albert:
The Video Games exhibit was also great as expected, though a little more sparse in content than I’m accustomed to for a museum exhibit. But I understand that even showcasing this stuff is new for museum curators and I have to commend them for even trying to document what modern-day video game culture is like.

The first set of exhibits showcased notes, concept art, and videos documenting the design process for notable games like Journey, The Last of Us, Bloodborne, Splatoon, and Kentucky Route Zero, highlighting the ways in which the process of designing a game itself is an artistic experience. The next section brought up examples from some of the more difficult subjects in the gaming community at large: violence, censorship, cultural homogeneity, racism, misogyny, and sex, although these were displayed more as a starting place for discussion than anything else.

And lastly, a video collage of social phenomenons sparked by some of the biggest games in recent memory: Minecraft, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Eve Online. As someone who enjoys games but often feels out of touch with the latest trends (since I don't have the attention span to keep up with things on twitch/discord regularly), this was nice to watch.

As for the actual museum, so many objects to look at. The presentation is eye-catching and in some ways meant to force you to really pay attention to the design and culture underlying everyday things, not just in the past (though much of the collection is indeed from the past) but even in how these objects are ordered and displayed to you now. It’s a different experience from a jack of all trades museum like the Met or a pure history museum like the British museum or a pure art museum like most other big museums. It feels special. And of course I wish I had more time to actually pay attention to the little things I was seeing because I honestly didn’t have time to pay attention to everything.

Tate Britain:
Was here mainly for two things, both of which I LOVED:
The Edmund Burke Jones exhibition: which made me realize how much I really like the art of the Romantic era, and particularly the pre-Raphaelites and their refreshing treatment (after all those Medieval and Renaissance rooms, anyway) of classic art subjects like the Bible and Greek mythology. Plus a dose of Arthurian legends and fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty. I’m just glad that actually let us take pictures for most of the exhibit.

Other Romantic era British painters, or namely Turner, Constable, and Blake: I’ve had a thing for Turner’s paintings ever since being introduced to him from a DeYoung exhibition a few years back, and Tate Britain happens to have the largest single collection of his paintings in a museum which was great, some of which I actually remembered seeing at the DeYoung exhibit previously. The other artists don’t have as many paintings there per say, but what they did have was good as it is. I need me some more Blake in particular, cause I really like his stylistic (and sometimes morbid) approach to the Bible and related subjects.

The Tower of London:
So much gruesome (and silver linings) history in one place. The twilight tour was nice in that the campus itself is closed to the public so your group has exclusive access to the area, although you don’t really get to see inside most of the buildings like you would during the day. But this gives a pretty good overview/introduction to all of the important parts of the Tower, with enough historical coverage to understand what happened here and who/what else to look up later (note: Guy Fawkes, Sir Walter Raleigh). Our yeoman tour guides were pretty funny too.

The British Library:
I love looking at old books. The main collection here covers an extensive overview of how mankind has kept knowledge since at least the Dark Ages, with some bonus showings from Michael Palin/Monty Python and the Beatles-- two British pop culture groups that were foundational for me growing up. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms exhibition basically educated me on how British history actually does exist before William the Conqueror (woops), and of course, Beowulf!

St. John’s Bread and Wine:
Duck foie gras toast. omg.
Unfortunately they didn’t have the bone marrow on the day I finally went for this, so I have to come back again.

Afternoon tea at Fort Mason’s:
The $70 high tea experience was worth it if only for the truffle mushroom bread I had at the very beginning of this. Oh my god I wanted to cry.
Also, after having just had shitty airline tea, the tea here was amazing. I don’t usually like black tea without milk, but the raw English breakfast tea alone here was just on point. I feel like I could never find this anywhere else but in London.

John Soane museum:
This guy was clearly trying to make a statement with the way he arranged his house. That painting room trying to show off how better he was at showcasing art than the National Gallery, with hidden secret compartments that made me feel all giddy the moment they were revealed. And the model room with its huge diorama of the Pompeii archeological site at the time it was being excavated almost 200 years ago. Madman or Renaissance man, who can say.

St. Paul’s Cathedral:
I traded getting to eat pies for seeing the inside of St. Paul’s Cathedral instead, and I don’t regret it. That dome is the closest thing you’ll see to the church architecture in Italy, but it still is quite amazing in its own right. It’s crazy how well the building survived after being bombed on during WWII, having been built back on the 17th century. Christopher Wren (obviously not the Mousetrap character) was a genius.

National Portrait Gallery:
I was foolish enough to think I could combine this and the National Gallery in a single afternoon and wound up having to do this alone on a separate day. Luckily I had enough time to cover most of it.
It was nice to finally put a face to names I’d only read about before like John Donne.

Favorite portraits: Richard III, young Queen Elizabeth I, JMW Turner, Sir Walter Scott’s bust, Emily Bronte, George Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, Beatrix Potter, Robert Scott, George V and his family, Rudyard Kipling, and I have to say, I think Charles Darwin probably had the most epic looking portrait in the museum.

Millennium Bridge:
I walked back and forth on this bridge on multiple days like the mad tourist I am.

Other notes:
I basically visited or saw a different part of London everyday on this trip, and it was kind of cool to realize how expansive and vast this city actually is.

Clerkenwell, Westminster, Covent Garden, Soho, Notting Hill, South Kensington, South Bank, Millbank, Bankside, Victoria, Bloomsbury, The City of London, King’s Cross, Spitalfields, Canary Wharf, Greenwich