Work Holiday in London

In case you weren't aware, my wife Chrissy is a big deal.

In early October work sent her for a conference and some meetings in Munich, Vienna and London. The interesting thing about her trip though was that for most of it she would be travelling with my boss and my bosses boss. It works out this way as she works in a complementary position in another organization....Big Deal!

The London portion of her work trip wasn't as directly related to her work as it was to my bosses so Chrissy and I schemed up a scenario where I would meet her in London and 'tag along' on my own dime to some of the meetings to see what I could learn and then jump off from there for another holiday.  With no-one batting an eyelash to the proposed plan we set it all in motion.

As I have stated before, I love London. It is probably my favourite city in the world. Getting the opportunity to join in on Chrissy's itinerary was awesome as I got to learn so much more about the City. I ended up getting to visit the Alberta/UK International Trade Offices, the Stratford Boroughs London Olympics Legacy area, London and Partners, and what is billed as "One of the Worlds Most Sustainable Buildings", The Crystal by Siemens.

All of the 'official work locations' were great but the Crystal really stood out for me based on the sheer audacity of its intent, the gross commercialization of 'green' as a commodity and for the interesting experience of the back of house tour we received. It definitely is a cool building and I don't want to really express any negatives towards it in this forum as I respect it's intent - but buy me a beer and I will be happy to tell you of the absurdity of LEED and a building of this type.

Canary Wharf view among the solar panels of The Crystal

We used London as our beginning and end point of our eventual vacation and in between work and travel tried to enjoy some of it's many obvious charms including:

Hitting the Highlights along the Thames

Sphinxes and the Eye

Rapidly changing skyline

The Eye at night

Westminster Abbey

Rodin's The Burghers of Calais

Pubs

A little less pub action from the last time we visited but a respectable showing.

By far our favourite was the Princess Louise. The interior was a beautifully tiled and mirrored maze like structure where at one time we couldn't actually find our way to the other side of the bar without going outside. That's reason enough for me to bend an elbow at the bar. Plus, the Princess is the namesake of Lake Louise Alberta so while on a semi-work trip it just seemed like a patriotic place to frequent.

Tower of London - Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

We were lucky enough to be visiting the City while the renowned and moving Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red art installation was being displayed at the Tower of London. 

The major art installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red at the Tower of London, marked one hundred years since the first full day of Britain's involvement in the First World War. Created by artists Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, 888,246 ceramic poppies progressively filled the Tower's famous moat between 17 July and 11 November 2014. Each poppy represented a British military fatality during the war.

Saying that the installation was displayed is a bit of an understatement. The installation completely overtook the area around the Tower and the masses of people in concentric circles around the installation were an overwhelming (albeit very respectful) mass of humanity. 

No matter what Chrissy says about my maniacal power-walking navigation to get there it was definitely worth it. And in recognition of her sore feet we even took the boat back towards Westminster.

Rehberger's Dazzle Ship London Exhibit

Family Visit in Sittingbourne

Since we had last visited Chrissy's cousins in England there had been a new addition to their family: Anthony (Antosh). With a quick train and bus ride (track repairs to direct train) we arrived in Sittingbourne to see the baby. 

Like any good acclimatized Brit we all piled into Chrissy's cousin Kalinka's car and headed to the pub. After our last visit I think they were looking to show us around a bit and take us somewhere special. They certainly succeeded. 

We ended up at the George Inn.

The George, as it is affectionately known, started life as a farm building in the 1500s and became a pub in 1718. 

 The whole place was just awesome. From the rustic but well maintained exterior,

to the most well kept and true to its name beer garden I have ever seen,

to its giant decorated hearth that dominated the interior...it was just perfect!

Plus I always just get a kick out of seeing a baby in a bar.

Thanks for being such fantastic hosts! Next time we visit we will have to stay for a few days. 

Other Highlights

Beautiful buildings around every corner

Putzing around Camden Market

New and exciting flavors of chips

The Sherlock Holmes exhibit at the Museum of London

Notes:

• We actually ended up staying in 3 different hotels while there. In Holborn for work, near Stansted airport before flying off for Croatia at 6am and just off of Vincent Square in Westminster for our last night before flying back to Edmonton. It was actually pretty cool being able to explore around each home location.
• Chrissy really does not like the crowds in Piccadilly Square. Where I can stay there all day and people watch all it does it make her super tense.
• For the first time ever Chrissy sat in the very first row of the top of the double decker bus. Going around corners it looked like we were going to ram into everything. We giggled like schoolgirls. 
• For our last nights supper we went back to the same restaurant where we had our previous trips last supper. Do yourself a favor and check out Tas Restaurant located in The Cut. 

Next Stop Croatia.

Honeymoon in Europe: London

Continuing on from Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest.

Chrissy and I chose London to be our final stop in our Europe tour for a couple of reasons:

• Christina has never been there before,
• It gave Christina the chance to visit family, 
• As an English speaking city it was a good transition on our journey home, and
• I view London as the most influential and cosmopolitan city of the modern era 

There was a time not long ago that "the sun never set on the English empire" and London as it's centre certainly enjoyed the splendour of the empire. Quite simply it has everything. 

For a couple of weary travellers we gave it our best go in seeing the highlights.

Walking the Thames

I love walking along the water and for me nothing really beats walking through the heart of London along the Thames. This ancient river that rises with the tides yet remains constant has been the literal and figurative source of so much history. My own musings would invariably fail in attempting to express its significance. Instead I will present a couple of my favorite takes on the river. The first as expressed to English school children by Rudyard Kipling;

And another more cantankerous take from Warren Ellis:

I’ve spent my entire life within ten miles of this river. I navigate through a full quarter of the country by the direction of this river. I will spend half of 2014 thousands of miles from it, for work and for life. It’s a river that forgives us for that, because for millennia it’s done nothing but spit shabby Englishmen out into the world. River salt in our blood.

From our hotel just off off of Blackbriars Bridge we would often walk to the banks and just wander. This post chronicles a late morning walk along the South Bank towards the Tower of London.

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Popping out through a bit of a pedestrian path maze we came out near the Tate Modern to see the great dichotomy of the Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Progressing in an Eastern direction we passed by the old ruins of Winchester Palace and into the Borough Market.

 

After buying a samosa, a sausage on a stick, and some artisan truffle honey we evaluated the podium of London Bridge to ensure it would not fall down.

The bridge seemed structurally sound but we still thought it best to register our concern at City Hall. 

Continuing on past City Hall and the HMS Belfast we paused to look back and admire the glass civic center and the tallest building in Western Europe.  

Finally we came to the coolest bridge of London: The Tower Bridge. Aside from being a real beauty the bridge is an absolute engineering marvel. As a significant gateway along the river the structure is a working drawbridge allowing access for tall masted and larger carrier ships. Almost unbelievably its pressurized water hydraulic lift system installed in 1894 was used until 1974 when the systems were overhauled. 

I have never seen the bridge retract to allow a ship through, which is all the reason that I need to come back to the City....

From the bridge Chrissy and I paused to look out on the Tower of London and the many new skyscrapers transforming the skyline. Seemingly not to long ago, on my only other visit to the city, the Gherkin was the new high point of the City. It's amazing how much things have changed in so short of time.

BTW - I sincerely dislike the two new skyscrapers, they are just ugly!

From the Tower we jumped on a commuter boat to enjoy the city from the river and arrived at Parliament to continue our journey deeper into the city.

Greenwich 

Continuing on down the Thames, another highlight for Chrissy and I was our boat ride and self guided tour of Greenwich.

We came in pretty ignorant to what Greenwich had to offer so with really no expectations we were pleasantly surprised by it's attractions including the Old Naval Royal College and it's gorgeous Painted Hall.

Really all we knew about Greenwich was the Prime Meridian and the designation of  Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). So of course we had to go set our watches, straddle hemispheres, and stand at 0'0'0 Latitude.

Atop a large hill behind the Old Royal Naval College is the Royal Observatory (where I got to touch a meteor) and a great lookout spot of Canary Wharf.

Descending back down the hill we visited the National Maritime Museum before finishing our own naval journey with a boat ride (not in a jar) to Central London.

British Museum

After starting our honeymoon in Paris and the Louvre it seemed quite fitting to bookend our trip with a visit to London and the British Museum. If London was the seat of a world spanning empire then the British Museum is the showroom of that empire.

On top of all the great exhibits, the building itself is a work of art. The transition of exterior to interior just blows me away.

The exterior of the museum

Interior - The Great Court

The layout of the exhibits, the breadth of world history it represents and the scope of the museum is simply outstanding. During our walkthrough, we noticed multiple school elementary school groups actively learning at the museum. As an adult I love the place so much I almost can't fathom how cool and overwhelming it would be to see it as a kid.

Some of my favourites include: My buddy Pericles, The Portland Vase, The Rosetta Stone, and the Currency of Zimbabwe.

Sittingbourne

In the build up to our wedding last year Chrissy would often affectionately tell me the story of her cousin Kalinka's wedding in Poland. I have heard magical stories of horse drawn carriages, beautiful tents, the gracious groom Meho, and of vodka that seemingly flowed for days on end.

Unfortunately we never got the chance to host Kalinka and Meho at our wedding. So sensing a bit of a gap in our celebration we endeavoured to connect with them, now in England, for our honeymoon. Communicating via email we arranged to visit them at their new home in Sittingbourne Kent, which is about an hour South East of London.  We were both excited as we boarded our commuter train to see, or in my case meet, 'the cousins' and to view the England countryside.

Even though it was January the rolling landscape was mostly green. We gawked out the windows passing through small towns and large farms as we snaked our way to the final stop. As the amount of stops to our destination decreased I noticed Chrissy checking her makeup and hair. A sure sign of her nervousness.

At the station we began to look around until an instantaneous moment of recognition occurred and Kalinka and Chrissy found each other. The familiarity of it all seemed to melt all of Christina's nerves away.

Meho met us at the car and we dashed off to their home. This is where my nerves started to act up.  I am not a good car passenger on most days and being in the 'wrong' lane made me grab my seat a bit.

Arriving safely we walked to their main door where we were pleasantly surpised by Chrissy's Uncle Ed.

Our hosts spoiled us with a fantastic breakfast and we casually chatted for a bit before everyone acquiesced on my request to relocate to the pub. Meho led our group down the High Street to the nearby local. Coming from a small town I instantly felt at home on Sittingbourne's High Street. Other than the obvious age of the buildings and streets the feel was similar to many Main Streets of  Canadian prairie towns/cities.

Our pub of choice was The Red Lion which can trace it's lineage to the 15th Century:  The Red Lion, it is said, has been the sign of an inn on one and the same spot for over six hundred years. It is here, that in November, 1415, king Henry V was entertained on his return from the battle of Agincourt by Squire Northwode, of Milton. How can you go wrong with a place like that?

Extended Family at The Red Lion

After drowning a few pints we headed back to the house for a fantastic supper. We were treated to Kalinka's pork tenderloin specialty. Let it be known that I have cooked a similar dish on multiple occasions to an appreciative but generally 'meh' reaction from Chrissy. Now that I have eaten what Chrissy has been comparing mine to I fully understand. Everything was cooked to perfection and her cream sauce was outstanding. I have a lot of room for improvement to match that meal.

Our tour continued to Meho's sisters place where a birthday party was going on. Once again our hosts treated us like royalty. Soon though it was time to say our goodbye and catch our return train. After being the guests of honor and being spoiled so well all day it was almost hard to go back being regular folks.

I look forward to someday hosting Kalinka and Meho in Canada or at the very least spoiling them in our next visit.

The Royal Tour

Over the course of the short week we were in the City we passed by Buckingham Palace multiple times and even managed to watch a Changing of the Guard.

Fearing our inevitable return to frozen Edmonton we often took long walks through the Royal Parks aimlessly wandering around and taking in the sights. 

Cottage in St. James Park

Eventually in our wanderings we came upon Kensington Palace which is apparently where Princess Diana used to live and where her two sons now live in the Apartments. They were not fortunate enough to see us on our journey.

My final Palace Lounging picture of the Honeymoon

London Pubs

What's that Chrissy? You look like you have an idea?

Is it to goto the Pub? OK! How about we try a few? A couple of ground rules though. They must have a cool bar sign that we can take a picture of to commemorate the occasion....

One of the things I was looking forward to on my return to London was visiting the Pubs. I love the old school names, the placards/signs, and of course the large selection of beer. A couple of highlights included:

• The Mitre Hotel Freehouse - A pub within a World Heritage Site.
• Tom Cribb - The pub is named after British champion bare-knuckle boxer Tom Cribb and has a bunch of cool old school boxing prints on the wall. 
• The Three Crowns - Where we met up with a friend of Christina's for way too much fun.

Chrissy being the great wife that she is fully supported (or is it enabled?) all of these daily respites...I think I will keep her.

Other Highlights:

Navigating the Tube

Theatre District Shows

Blue Rooster in Trafalgar Square

English Breakfast

Horsing Around in Camden Market

221B Baker Street - Sherlock Holmes Residence

Canadian Embassy

Attending Mass At Westminster Abbey

Notes:

• We spent a lot of time in the Picaddily area before and after shows. Each night we would take the Tube back to Waterloo Station and walk down a street referred to as The Cut. This is potentially the coolest name for a street ever.
• We accidentally found ourselves at The Wolf of Wall Street premier in Liecester Square. I got a good view of Margot Robbie, who is pretty damn impressive, and a far away view of Leonardo DiCaprio. Unfortunately for Chrissy she couldn't see them over the throngs of people.
• The National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square has has no admission fee and it is fantastic. So many priceless works of art. Highly recommended!
• I really lucked out. I spent a full month touring through Europe in tight quarters with a wonderful woman who I only wanted to spend more time with when we arrived home.