Well, I am now back in Canada, and for those of you following my trip you will know what a great variety of experiences I enjoyed in 2 weeks.
This just seemed like a good time to share a few more general observations and helpful hints about travel in the British Isles. So here are my useful info bites, in no particular order.
[1] Driving on the left is not difficult. Driving down very narrow streets with cars parked on both sides and a bus or truck coming at you the other way is difficult.
[2] British hotels have small rooms. I mean small. Deal with it. Beds are firmer than in North America and pillows are thinner.
[3] British bathtubs stand much higher above the floor than North American tubs. Practise your leg raises before you go.
[4] Breakfast: grilled tomatoes (pronounced "to-MAH-toes") and mushrooms are standard. Black pudding is frequent. Fried bread appears once in a while. It's just a slice of bread fried crisp in the pan after the bacon is done to soak up the bacon grease. And the bacon looks and tastes different. Some places now also offer "streaky bacon" -- that's the regular kind eaten in Canada and the USA.
[5] Britain is expensive. Prices for most items are double the Canadian prices, give or take a bit. In London the prices are much higher again, especially for hotels.
[6] Pubs: a "pub" is now almost any restaurant which the owners choose to call a pub. It may be a traditional oak-lined local pub, or it may be a glossy modern gourmet palace. In a traditional pub you order drinks and food at the bar. You are then given your drinks, and your food is brought to you when ready.
[7] When travelling by bus, train, or air, a "single" isn't a person travelling alone. It's a one-way fare.
[8] When parking, take a good look around to see if there are any "Pay-and-Display" machines nearby. This is an alien species that is rapidly taking over the British Isles and all its car parks.
[9] Parking "stalls" (spaces) are all designed for cars the size of an obese skateboard. Most cars are now much bigger than that and so there isn't a lot of room to spare. Deal with it.
[10] Watch out for rogue bricks sticking up out of brick sidewalks and roadways to trip you. Some of the more aggressive bricks may jump at you. Ditto for cobblestones.
[11] The population of Britain divides equally into 2 groups: those who walk on the left side of a sidewalk and those who walk on the right side of the sidewalk. Members of both groups will give you an ugly stare as you walk directly into their path. You can't win.
[12] "Queueing" is mandatory. It means lining up for something or some place. Do not, repeat NOT, ever try to jump a queue. You will be politely but coldly reduced to quivering shreds of shame and remorse on the ground.
[13] British coinage is heavy -- especially the pound coin. Try to spend it as quickly as possible so you don't walk around with a 10 degree list to starboard. But do keep one pound coin on hand (see below)
[14] If going to a "leisure centre" (translation: public pool and/or gym), the lockers in the locker room require a pound coin to lock the door and release the key. You get it back when you open the locker again. Remember to take it with you, that's nearly $2 we're talking about!
[15] Old British towns and cities have terribly narrow and twisty streets. Some are restricted to pedestrians only. Parking is rare and expensive, and parking fines are common and much more expensive. If there is a Park-and-Ride on the outskirts, use it! Many towns and cities have them.
[16] Coffee placed in hotel and B&B guest rooms is instant coffee -- together with a kettle for boiling the water. Not to worry, it tastes much more like the real thing than North American instant coffee (for my tastebuds, anyway). And the little milk tubs hold real milk, not the liquid chemical slop so often seen here.
[17] If your hotel or B&B is in an older house (many of them are), be prepared for sloping and irregular floors, slanting walls, and creaking boards. Maybe even a resident ghost or two....
[18] Familiar brand names and logos abound in food and drink. Just expect that they will taste different from the versions you are accustomed to. Especially true of Starbucks.
[19] In a restaurant or breakfast room, if asked "Black or White?", this is not a declaration of racial segregation. It means "Do you want your coffee straight up or with milk?" If with milk, you may be offered a choice of warm or cold milk. Starbucks does this in the UK. Don't expect cream. Learn to like milk in your coffee or do without.
[20] A "bap" is a bread roll with fillings. Usually called this when bought at a take-away shop.
[21] "Chips" are french fries. "Crisps" are potato chips. Keep that straight.
[22] If going to a theatre or concert, the "stalls" are the ground floor seats.
[23] On the "motorway" (freeway) you are not allowed to fill up the fast lane by driving all the way in that one, and you are not allowed to pass on the left (which would be the same as passing on the right in North America). Apologies to all Ontarians who think the fast lane is the only one you are supposed to drive in.
[24] On all other highways, you may not get anywhere very fast at all. Don't plan long distance drives off the motorways. It doesn't work. Get very used to these narrow, twisty roads before you even dream of trying to pass someone.
[25] Especially in towns and cities, do not expect to drive in a straight line to where you are going. Be prepared for lots of twists and turns due to one-way streets, pedestrian-only streets, and so on. British towns mainly predate the invention of "town planning".
[26] "Lifts" are elevators. Everywhere you go, the lifts now talk to you. The voice is the same everywhere too -- female, cultivated, slow-spoken and bland. Evidently the lifts are a species of cloned alien beings, perhaps remotely akin to the Pay-and-Display parking machines.
[27] Also in lifts: the ground floor is often labelled "0". In such cases, the floor above the ground floor is "1", and so on up. The basement may well be called "-1".
[28] Many, but not all restaurants, now add a service charge to the bill. Where this is done, the standard amount seems to be 10%. Use that as a guideline in places where the charge is not added.
[29] If, God forbid, you need a pharmacy for any reason, what you really need is a "Chemist". The chain of Boots Chemist shops is ubiquitous and numerous.
[30] Many stores sell pre-made sandwiches, individually packaged. These are much, much better than their distant North American poor cousins. Whole grain bread is common, cheese is real cheese, not processed slices, and meat is usually better too. If the sandwich label mentions "pickle" don't expect sliced dills. It's the short term for "Branston pickle", a kind of sweet relish with a rich nutty taste that's hard to describe.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Austere Majesty
One final half day left before returning my rented car, and what to do? A quick look at the map reveals all kinds of interesting possibilities within reasonable distance from Maidenhead (my starting point) and Heathrow Airport (where I had to end up). I was up and packed and fed in good time this morning, which broadened the field even more. My final choice was a great location for a half-day getaway, and I did stick to the half-day frame as I had returned my car at Heathrow by 2:30 pm.
In the end, I opted for a day trip to Salisbury. According to both tradition and law, Salisbury is ranked as a "City" because it is the home of a Cathedral of the Church of England, and the seat of a Bishop. But by geographic standards, it's better described as a comfortably medium-sized town, with a central district chock-full of old buildings -- far more of them per hectare than most British cities can boast.
At the end of one shopping street you find this ancient gate, and passing through it you find yourself in the middle of a very large open green space, surrounded by buildings of many time periods.
This is the Cathedral Close, an area of land belonging to the Cathedral and under control of the Bishop. This is the largest Cathedral Close in the United Kingdom, and by quite a wide margin. And in the middle is the crown jewel of Salisbury, the Cathedral.
This particular Cathedral pushes to the limits in several interesting and somewhat contradictory directions. It was built in the 1100s, uncommonly quickly (a matter of less than forty years, and for a hand-crafted stone church on this scale that's FAST!). Thus, the entire structure displays uncommon unity of design and appearance. That also brings up the second key fact, namely that the Early English Gothic style exemplified by this particular Cathedral was very plain and unornamented. Indeed, windows were not often filled with coloured glass but with a palette of assorted greys. The interior is dominated by the light grey limestone of the walls and the polished dark Purbeck marble used in some of the supporting columns.
One of the few notes of colour is struck by the vivid contemporary Gabriel Loire window in the chapel behind the main altar.
The result, compared to some of the later cathedrals, is rather austere and even plain in appearance, yet still has undoubted majesty and beauty of form. The open nave running the full length of the church, uninterrupted, is among the tallest in England, and also somewhat narrower than many others, creating an impression of even more lofty heights.
The immense spire is the tallest in England and, at 123 metres, is one of the tallest stone spires in the world. It was added two centuries later, but definitely signals a more outgoing, even vaunting approach to the Cathedral's development. It has also caused a great deal of difficulty, due to the immense extra weight it imposes on the building (calculated at 6500 tonnes). Special measures have had to be taken to prevent the weight of the spire bringing about its own collapse. If you stand next to one of the four columns that form the main crossing and support the tower, and look straight up along the column, you can see it bending inwards. Extra stone and metal supports in a number of key places have been used to stabilize the spire. Even so, it leans out of a true vertical alignment.
Next to the Cathedral on its southern side is the Cloister, again the largest one in the British Isles. This would have served as a place of meditation for the priests and canons of the Cathedral, and in warmer weather could also have been used for eating, reading, or working.
Off the east side of the Cloister is the Chapter House (photographs, alas, are not allowed). Here is displayed one of the real treasures: one of only four authentic copies of Magna Carta, the Great Charter signed by King John in 1215 which stands at the root of most of the legal system of the U.K. and Canada, among others. It's been carefully preserved, and it's amazing to look at this vellum document and reflect that next year it will be 800 years old!
I first came to Salisbury in 1979, and that's 35 years ago now! I was 25 at the time. Even at that young-ish age, I took one look at the exterior and interior and realized that this Cathedral's design had a huge influence on the architect of St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto. Although executed on a much smaller scale, the design of St. James echoes many features of Salisbury, not least the groups of three pointed windows, the centre one taller than the two others. It's also not hard to see that the spire of St. James, and its height relative to the rest of the structure, find a precedent at Salisbury.
By the way, any of you familiar with Salisbury Plain may be wondering if I also visited the other famous historical monument of the region, Stonehenge. The answer is "No". I have been to Stonehenge twice in the past, and both times have found it disappointing. Due to the size of crowds, there have to be extensive parking lots and walking trails around the site, while access to the interior of the stone circles is normally forbidden. It's impossible to come to grips with any kind of mystical quality when surrounded by clamouring tourists all getting in each other's way with cameras. Even the size of the stones doesn't make a noticeable impact on me when I have to be content to look at them from so many metres' distance.
(Not only that, but I never saw any armadillos, either singly or in pairs.)
By contrast, at Salisbury an hourly prayer is offered for a few minutes at the top of the hour throughout the day. When the voice came over the PA system announcing the prayer, silence fell throughout almost all of that vast church. Silence takes on an extra weight and perhaps meaning when experienced in a very large space like this. The quality missing at Stonehenge came through very clearly indeed for me during that short prayer time.
In the end, I opted for a day trip to Salisbury. According to both tradition and law, Salisbury is ranked as a "City" because it is the home of a Cathedral of the Church of England, and the seat of a Bishop. But by geographic standards, it's better described as a comfortably medium-sized town, with a central district chock-full of old buildings -- far more of them per hectare than most British cities can boast.
At the end of one shopping street you find this ancient gate, and passing through it you find yourself in the middle of a very large open green space, surrounded by buildings of many time periods.
This is the Cathedral Close, an area of land belonging to the Cathedral and under control of the Bishop. This is the largest Cathedral Close in the United Kingdom, and by quite a wide margin. And in the middle is the crown jewel of Salisbury, the Cathedral.
This particular Cathedral pushes to the limits in several interesting and somewhat contradictory directions. It was built in the 1100s, uncommonly quickly (a matter of less than forty years, and for a hand-crafted stone church on this scale that's FAST!). Thus, the entire structure displays uncommon unity of design and appearance. That also brings up the second key fact, namely that the Early English Gothic style exemplified by this particular Cathedral was very plain and unornamented. Indeed, windows were not often filled with coloured glass but with a palette of assorted greys. The interior is dominated by the light grey limestone of the walls and the polished dark Purbeck marble used in some of the supporting columns.
One of the few notes of colour is struck by the vivid contemporary Gabriel Loire window in the chapel behind the main altar.
The result, compared to some of the later cathedrals, is rather austere and even plain in appearance, yet still has undoubted majesty and beauty of form. The open nave running the full length of the church, uninterrupted, is among the tallest in England, and also somewhat narrower than many others, creating an impression of even more lofty heights.
The immense spire is the tallest in England and, at 123 metres, is one of the tallest stone spires in the world. It was added two centuries later, but definitely signals a more outgoing, even vaunting approach to the Cathedral's development. It has also caused a great deal of difficulty, due to the immense extra weight it imposes on the building (calculated at 6500 tonnes). Special measures have had to be taken to prevent the weight of the spire bringing about its own collapse. If you stand next to one of the four columns that form the main crossing and support the tower, and look straight up along the column, you can see it bending inwards. Extra stone and metal supports in a number of key places have been used to stabilize the spire. Even so, it leans out of a true vertical alignment.
Next to the Cathedral on its southern side is the Cloister, again the largest one in the British Isles. This would have served as a place of meditation for the priests and canons of the Cathedral, and in warmer weather could also have been used for eating, reading, or working.
Off the east side of the Cloister is the Chapter House (photographs, alas, are not allowed). Here is displayed one of the real treasures: one of only four authentic copies of Magna Carta, the Great Charter signed by King John in 1215 which stands at the root of most of the legal system of the U.K. and Canada, among others. It's been carefully preserved, and it's amazing to look at this vellum document and reflect that next year it will be 800 years old!
I first came to Salisbury in 1979, and that's 35 years ago now! I was 25 at the time. Even at that young-ish age, I took one look at the exterior and interior and realized that this Cathedral's design had a huge influence on the architect of St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto. Although executed on a much smaller scale, the design of St. James echoes many features of Salisbury, not least the groups of three pointed windows, the centre one taller than the two others. It's also not hard to see that the spire of St. James, and its height relative to the rest of the structure, find a precedent at Salisbury.
By the way, any of you familiar with Salisbury Plain may be wondering if I also visited the other famous historical monument of the region, Stonehenge. The answer is "No". I have been to Stonehenge twice in the past, and both times have found it disappointing. Due to the size of crowds, there have to be extensive parking lots and walking trails around the site, while access to the interior of the stone circles is normally forbidden. It's impossible to come to grips with any kind of mystical quality when surrounded by clamouring tourists all getting in each other's way with cameras. Even the size of the stones doesn't make a noticeable impact on me when I have to be content to look at them from so many metres' distance.
(Not only that, but I never saw any armadillos, either singly or in pairs.)
By contrast, at Salisbury an hourly prayer is offered for a few minutes at the top of the hour throughout the day. When the voice came over the PA system announcing the prayer, silence fell throughout almost all of that vast church. Silence takes on an extra weight and perhaps meaning when experienced in a very large space like this. The quality missing at Stonehenge came through very clearly indeed for me during that short prayer time.
Monday, October 13, 2014
The Ultimate Royal Castle
To anyone who knows the exact location of Maidenhead, where I am currently based, it will come as no surprise that I took advantage of a cloudy day with misty drizzle to visit Windsor Castle.
Windsor Castle is a remarkable amalgam of many different things. It is one of the state residences of the Queen. It houses a remarkable chapel, bigger than many cathedrals, whose services are attended by both residents of the area and visitors. It's a mediaeval fortress and a royal palace. As a museum, it houses an extensive displays of artworks, furniture, fine china, historic weapons and armour, and many other artifacts from the state collections and the Queen's personal collections. There are also changing exhibitions from time to time. It's a historic monument of great significance, as well as encompassing a capsule view of much of British history. And the architecture of this massive complex is memorable in its own right.
The Castle's website advises visiting before 9:30 or after 11:30. To me that sounded like the perfect excuse to start with lunch! Just outside the gates of the Castle are a few very old buildings, one of which is the so-called "Crooked House", now a restaurant. Just beyond it lies the "Carpenter's Arms", a traditional pub, and that's where I headed.
I was a little surprised when the menu was identical (or nearly so) to the "Crown" in Oxford, but then I remembered having heard that many of the traditional pubs have been bought up and standardized by one or two major companies -- this one being Nicholson's. It doesn't bother me. The pub looks like a pub ought to look, they have cider on tap, and the fish and chips tasted very authentic! On the way out, I stopped to admire the etched-glass window which I had faced in reverse from inside while I was eating.
I then walked around the corner to the Castle entrance, purchased my ticket, passed through security check with no trouble, and headed into the sprawling complex. I had to borrow a rather grainy aerial photo from online to show the true scope of the Castle. The whole area to the right of the central Round Tower is the palace section.
And it is near the Round Tower that you enter the Castle. You walk around the semi-circular walkway between the two walls on the left of the Tower. On the way around you get great views of the military architecture (this is definitely the "fortress" section) as well as the beautiful gardens in the moat at the foot of the hill where the Round Tower stands.
You then proceed out onto the North Terrace, with beautiful views across the town towards the famous and elegant chapel of Eton College across the river.
From the North Terrace you enter the ceremonial wing of the palace, known as the State Apartments. At this point, you are forbidden to take any pictures. It's not hard to understand why. Many of the textiles, paintings, and the like could easily be damaged by repeated exposure to flash photography. A little searching online will soon help you find pictures taken by authorized photographers that will give you the idea.
The lavishness of the room decoration reflects the centuries of work that went into creating these enormous rooms. Painted and carven ceilings, window frames, mirror frames and fireplaces are everywhere. So is gold and gold leaf. The furniture pieces include many that have been brought here from elsewhere for display. So too with the hundreds of paintings. Somehow, I doubt that the king's dressing room was really decorated to the last inch with twice-life-sized portraits of his ancestors!
The enormous collections of historic weapons and armour are all creatively displayed. One corridor is completely lined with glass cases housing numerous china services from many of the world's greatest makers. Marble tables with gilded legs and chairs with gilded frames and velvet cushions abound, as do gilded lampstands and crystal chandeliers. Along the route, there are several photo and video displays which allow you to see the Castle as it appears when being used as the venue for a state banquet or other similar event.
Before touring the State Apartments, you may if you wish visit the display of Queen Mary's Doll House. I have not bothered on either of my two visits, but I have no doubt it is as remarkable as anything else to be seen at Windsor.
You emerge into the courtyard surrounded by the palace complex, and this lets you appreciate its true and full size (the State Apartments occupy only the north side of the palace wings).
You then exit into the Lower Ward of the Castle via the gatehouse beside the Round Tower, and begin walking downhill towards the lower gate and exit. Here I paused to take a selfie (that's an interesting challenge with a SLR camera!) just to prove that I really was there!
And then I took a picture looking down the entire length of the Lower Ward.
Along the way to the exit, on the right side, is the extraordinary and beautiful St. George's Chapel, built in the 1400s at the height of the English Perpendicular Gothic style.
The unusual, almost parabolic, curve at the tops of the nearest windows is repeated inside in an even more flattened form in the beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling. The master mason who carried out this work, Henry Janyns, was indeed an inspired engineer and architect. The vaulting is decorated with heraldic crests known as "bosses" at the intersections of the vaulting tracery. This chapel is the official chapel of the Order of the Garter, and the Knights of the Garter hold their ceremonial church service here every year. Again, I've had to borrow a picture because amateur photography is barred in the Chapel.
From there, I proceeded down the rest of the hill and out the gate, bringing my sightseeing for the day to a close. And with a considerable case of "tourist feet" (again), I headed back to the car and returned to Maidenhead and my hotel.
Windsor Castle is a remarkable amalgam of many different things. It is one of the state residences of the Queen. It houses a remarkable chapel, bigger than many cathedrals, whose services are attended by both residents of the area and visitors. It's a mediaeval fortress and a royal palace. As a museum, it houses an extensive displays of artworks, furniture, fine china, historic weapons and armour, and many other artifacts from the state collections and the Queen's personal collections. There are also changing exhibitions from time to time. It's a historic monument of great significance, as well as encompassing a capsule view of much of British history. And the architecture of this massive complex is memorable in its own right.
The Castle's website advises visiting before 9:30 or after 11:30. To me that sounded like the perfect excuse to start with lunch! Just outside the gates of the Castle are a few very old buildings, one of which is the so-called "Crooked House", now a restaurant. Just beyond it lies the "Carpenter's Arms", a traditional pub, and that's where I headed.
I was a little surprised when the menu was identical (or nearly so) to the "Crown" in Oxford, but then I remembered having heard that many of the traditional pubs have been bought up and standardized by one or two major companies -- this one being Nicholson's. It doesn't bother me. The pub looks like a pub ought to look, they have cider on tap, and the fish and chips tasted very authentic! On the way out, I stopped to admire the etched-glass window which I had faced in reverse from inside while I was eating.
I then walked around the corner to the Castle entrance, purchased my ticket, passed through security check with no trouble, and headed into the sprawling complex. I had to borrow a rather grainy aerial photo from online to show the true scope of the Castle. The whole area to the right of the central Round Tower is the palace section.
And it is near the Round Tower that you enter the Castle. You walk around the semi-circular walkway between the two walls on the left of the Tower. On the way around you get great views of the military architecture (this is definitely the "fortress" section) as well as the beautiful gardens in the moat at the foot of the hill where the Round Tower stands.
You then proceed out onto the North Terrace, with beautiful views across the town towards the famous and elegant chapel of Eton College across the river.
From the North Terrace you enter the ceremonial wing of the palace, known as the State Apartments. At this point, you are forbidden to take any pictures. It's not hard to understand why. Many of the textiles, paintings, and the like could easily be damaged by repeated exposure to flash photography. A little searching online will soon help you find pictures taken by authorized photographers that will give you the idea.
The lavishness of the room decoration reflects the centuries of work that went into creating these enormous rooms. Painted and carven ceilings, window frames, mirror frames and fireplaces are everywhere. So is gold and gold leaf. The furniture pieces include many that have been brought here from elsewhere for display. So too with the hundreds of paintings. Somehow, I doubt that the king's dressing room was really decorated to the last inch with twice-life-sized portraits of his ancestors!
The enormous collections of historic weapons and armour are all creatively displayed. One corridor is completely lined with glass cases housing numerous china services from many of the world's greatest makers. Marble tables with gilded legs and chairs with gilded frames and velvet cushions abound, as do gilded lampstands and crystal chandeliers. Along the route, there are several photo and video displays which allow you to see the Castle as it appears when being used as the venue for a state banquet or other similar event.
Before touring the State Apartments, you may if you wish visit the display of Queen Mary's Doll House. I have not bothered on either of my two visits, but I have no doubt it is as remarkable as anything else to be seen at Windsor.
You emerge into the courtyard surrounded by the palace complex, and this lets you appreciate its true and full size (the State Apartments occupy only the north side of the palace wings).
You then exit into the Lower Ward of the Castle via the gatehouse beside the Round Tower, and begin walking downhill towards the lower gate and exit. Here I paused to take a selfie (that's an interesting challenge with a SLR camera!) just to prove that I really was there!
And then I took a picture looking down the entire length of the Lower Ward.
Along the way to the exit, on the right side, is the extraordinary and beautiful St. George's Chapel, built in the 1400s at the height of the English Perpendicular Gothic style.
The unusual, almost parabolic, curve at the tops of the nearest windows is repeated inside in an even more flattened form in the beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling. The master mason who carried out this work, Henry Janyns, was indeed an inspired engineer and architect. The vaulting is decorated with heraldic crests known as "bosses" at the intersections of the vaulting tracery. This chapel is the official chapel of the Order of the Garter, and the Knights of the Garter hold their ceremonial church service here every year. Again, I've had to borrow a picture because amateur photography is barred in the Chapel.
From there, I proceeded down the rest of the hill and out the gate, bringing my sightseeing for the day to a close. And with a considerable case of "tourist feet" (again), I headed back to the car and returned to Maidenhead and my hotel.
A Circle Tour and Two Shows
I'm now at my next to last stopover before heading home, in the town of Maidenhead, which is just west of Windsor. I came here to spend a couple of days visiting with my good friends Janine and Lisa. Janine is a former colleague from Elliot Lake Secondary School. Her mother and sister both live in Woodstock, near my home, so we're all good friends!
On Saturday night, Janine cooked up a great turkey dinner in honour of Canadian Thanksgiving, and we had a good visit. Yesterday, she picked me up at my hotel and took me on a little circle tour by car of some of the smaller towns and villages around about. Our one extended stop was at the town of Marlow, which -- like Maidenhead -- is on the Thames River. This river meanders back and forth in great big loops across the countryside. So it's a little confusing to find that the river is on the east side of Maidenhead, and then you can drive west to Henley -- which is on the river -- and then go northeast to Marlow -- which is also on the river -- and..., well, you get the idea!
Anyway, Marlow is another attractive English country town. This means that you have a High Street with all the main shops, cafes, banks, restaurants, and the like. You have buildings of all ages from the 1200s to the 2000s rubbing shoulders, but discreetly, and the most modern ones are sometimes hidden from view behind an older facade. There are always a handful of old pubs and inns, dating way back, such as the George and Dragon (a common pub name).
There's always a lovely old parish church with its graveyard. In Marlow, the church (All Saints) has a particularly imposing tower and spire and a lovely setting right by the river.
Close, by, a chain suspension bridge finished in 1832 spans the river. It is one of two existing bridges built by William Tierney Clark, the other being the similar but larger bridge spanning the Danube at Budapest.
During the late 1700s and early 1800s a great web of canals stretched across the landscape, and canal boats carried passengers and freight between many of the major towns and cities. The Thames River formed a major link in this network, and numerous locks and weirs were built to keep the river level consistent and move the canal boats up and down the stream. A weir and lock are located just downstream from the bridge.
From Marlow we continued circling through villages such as Cookham and Bray, and made our way down to Windsor, where we stopped for lunch. Windsor Castle was not on the agenda, as that is an extended visit all on its own and we had other plans! And, alas, that is where the pictures stopped because rain was in the forecast.
After lunch, the three of us drove into London to the Tate Gallery, which has mounted a major exhibition of the late works of J. M. W. Turner, one of my favourite artists. The Tate houses the Turner Bequest, and for this special exhibition their collection was supplemented by works borrowed from other galleries. Certainly the classic paintings such as Rain, Steam and Speed: The Great Western Railway, or The Angel Standing in the Sun were shown, in context, alongside many lesser-known works. Also on display were pages from the artist's sketchbooks, his palettes and palette knives, his spectacles, and the like. All was arranged to show how his style continued to evolve quite dramatically during the later years of his life while his subject matter remained consistent in many cases. All in all it was a fascinating and informative show!
We then went out to dinner, and then to the Duchess Theatre. The Play That Goes Wrong is a side-splitting farce, the kind that wears you out because you laugh so hard. If it wasn't precisely great theatre it certainly was great fun. You can read my detailed reactions to the show here:
An Outrageous Evening of Farce
The beauty of the 7:00pm curtain time is that we were able to make it back to Maidenhead and our respective quarters in very good time, so it wasn't a late night out!
We then went out to dinner, and then to the Duchess Theatre. The Play That Goes Wrong is a side-splitting farce, the kind that wears you out because you laugh so hard. If it wasn't precisely great theatre it certainly was great fun. You can read my detailed reactions to the show here:
An Outrageous Evening of Farce
The beauty of the 7:00pm curtain time is that we were able to make it back to Maidenhead and our respective quarters in very good time, so it wasn't a late night out!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
A Trip Back Through Time
On my way south from Oxford, I took a little detour to the English country village of Long Wittenham to visit a totally unique museum. At first blush, Pendon Museum doesn't appear to be a museum in any usual sense of the word. Instead, it makes one think of a model railway fanatic's dream come true. But there's far more to Pendon than just big boys messing about with trains!
The project began in the 1920s with Roye England, who was determined to preserve the rural landscape and lifestyle he saw disappearing by degrees around him. His long-term objective was to create a detailed model landscape of the Vale of White Horse as he saw it in the inter-war years. He began with a single model of a country pub with thatched roof, and progressed from there. As he worked, he also satisfied his train-spotter's eye by taking copious notes of the times and consists of trains working through the Vale along the Great Western Railway. These notes form the basis of the model trains working in Pendon today, both the make-up of the trains and the strict schedule on which they are operated in scale time.
Throughout all three model layouts at Pendon, the level of hand-crafted detail is eye-popping -- perfectly finished brickwork, straw thatch, Victorian bric-a-brac on buildings, a buggy whip, exquisite lettering on signs. The scale used requires that all human figures are not much more than 1 cm tall! As well, there's the extraordinary collection of period-appropriate passenger and freight cars of all kinds, plus locomotives, also all hand-crafted.
The pioneering railway layout, the Madder Valley Railway, was created single-handed by John Ahern during the 1930s -- by hand! (There certainly weren't shops you could run into to purchase such tiny models and figures!). It depicts a fictional location with uncanny scenic precision. The Madder Valley Railway was the first railway model ever to be created within a detailed scenic environment, and as such assumes legendary status among railway modellers. This also makes the Madder Valley the direct ancestral great-great-great-great-grandfather of Thomas the Tank Engine!
Along with Roye England, a team of volunteers continued working towards the goal of recreating the life of the Vale. As a transitional stage, they built another railway layout based on an imaginary location at the edge of Dartmoor, in the southwest of England. This became so popular that it was retained in its own right and forms the second display.
The entire upper floor of the museum is reserved for the huge Vale of White Horse model, which was finally begun in the 1970s, and continues as a work in progress.
The lower portion of the display depicts the countryside and railway station at the imaginary village of Pendon Parva, which is served by the GWR main line and by a branch line.
Up the hill on the unpaved road behind the station is the village, and here the detail of the modelling is incredibly precise and intricate.
One of the fascinations is the ability to see the "bare bones" sections of this enormous model alongside the finished portions. A cutaway model of a country cottage is displayed so you can see the detail of construction that these volunteer craftsmen put into their work. These are certainly a far cry from mass-produced snap-together building models!
In this garden scene, look closely at the spade behind the wheelbarrow by the rear fence. Look at the tip of the spade and you will see a robin perched there. Remember that this entire spade-and-robin piece is perhaps 5-6 mm tall!
I spent well over an hour studying these incredible model landscapes and railways. I can only guess at the number of years of further work that lie ahead before Roye England's vision of a complete model of life in the Vale of White Horse reaches completion. Happily he was able to see the project well under way before he died in 1999.
Even if model railways don't interest you, Pendon Museum is well worth a visit for its incredibly detailed re-creation of rural life in a time now almost a century gone, well before the widespread introduction of motor vehicles and mechanized farm equipment. It's a fascinating experience!
The project began in the 1920s with Roye England, who was determined to preserve the rural landscape and lifestyle he saw disappearing by degrees around him. His long-term objective was to create a detailed model landscape of the Vale of White Horse as he saw it in the inter-war years. He began with a single model of a country pub with thatched roof, and progressed from there. As he worked, he also satisfied his train-spotter's eye by taking copious notes of the times and consists of trains working through the Vale along the Great Western Railway. These notes form the basis of the model trains working in Pendon today, both the make-up of the trains and the strict schedule on which they are operated in scale time.
Throughout all three model layouts at Pendon, the level of hand-crafted detail is eye-popping -- perfectly finished brickwork, straw thatch, Victorian bric-a-brac on buildings, a buggy whip, exquisite lettering on signs. The scale used requires that all human figures are not much more than 1 cm tall! As well, there's the extraordinary collection of period-appropriate passenger and freight cars of all kinds, plus locomotives, also all hand-crafted.
The pioneering railway layout, the Madder Valley Railway, was created single-handed by John Ahern during the 1930s -- by hand! (There certainly weren't shops you could run into to purchase such tiny models and figures!). It depicts a fictional location with uncanny scenic precision. The Madder Valley Railway was the first railway model ever to be created within a detailed scenic environment, and as such assumes legendary status among railway modellers. This also makes the Madder Valley the direct ancestral great-great-great-great-grandfather of Thomas the Tank Engine!
Along with Roye England, a team of volunteers continued working towards the goal of recreating the life of the Vale. As a transitional stage, they built another railway layout based on an imaginary location at the edge of Dartmoor, in the southwest of England. This became so popular that it was retained in its own right and forms the second display.
The entire upper floor of the museum is reserved for the huge Vale of White Horse model, which was finally begun in the 1970s, and continues as a work in progress.
The lower portion of the display depicts the countryside and railway station at the imaginary village of Pendon Parva, which is served by the GWR main line and by a branch line.
Up the hill on the unpaved road behind the station is the village, and here the detail of the modelling is incredibly precise and intricate.
One of the fascinations is the ability to see the "bare bones" sections of this enormous model alongside the finished portions. A cutaway model of a country cottage is displayed so you can see the detail of construction that these volunteer craftsmen put into their work. These are certainly a far cry from mass-produced snap-together building models!
In this garden scene, look closely at the spade behind the wheelbarrow by the rear fence. Look at the tip of the spade and you will see a robin perched there. Remember that this entire spade-and-robin piece is perhaps 5-6 mm tall!
I spent well over an hour studying these incredible model landscapes and railways. I can only guess at the number of years of further work that lie ahead before Roye England's vision of a complete model of life in the Vale of White Horse reaches completion. Happily he was able to see the project well under way before he died in 1999.
Even if model railways don't interest you, Pendon Museum is well worth a visit for its incredibly detailed re-creation of rural life in a time now almost a century gone, well before the widespread introduction of motor vehicles and mechanized farm equipment. It's a fascinating experience!
(Note: Apologies for the variable focus of the pictures.
Shooting through plexiglass is always apt to be an iffy venture at best!)
Friday, October 10, 2014
Lovely All Times She Lies ....
My title is a quote from the poem Thyrsis by Matthew Arnold, a poem which includes this wonderful description of the university city of Oxford:
That's where I now find myself. I did come here once, many years ago, on a day trip from London by train, but I didn't prepare myself properly and didn't really get a very good look at the magnificent architecture. In fact, I really don't remember much about that visit at all, except that it happened.
But some years later, I encountered the poetry of Matthew Arnold. Through his vivid description of the city and the surrounding region I found myself falling in love with the idea of Oxford. Even though it is no longer the place he knew in the 1800s (in many ways) there are still many sights that he would find familiar among the spectacular churches and colleges, dating from all periods from the 1200s to the 1800s.
It's a crowded little city, crowded because of narrow streets -- narrow even by British standards, which is saying a lot! -- and crowded with people because of the University and its numerous colleges, and all the tourists. This is one place where common sense dictates that you leave the car at one of the five "Park and Ride" car parks on the outskirts and take a bus into town, where you can walk about. And that's just what I did. My lucky break was that the park and ride terminal was right beside my hotel, so I didn't even have to drive there!
As if that weren't enough, there was another substantial bonus: I awoke to a cloudless, brilliantly sunny sky, made to order for walking and for photography of beautiful old buildings -- two of my favourite outdoor activities!
The park and ride bus dropped me off in St. Aldate's Street, right beside the front of Christ Church College and it's famous Tom Tower, which houses a bell named Great Tom (hence the name). This, by the way, perpetuates nearly the same error which people fall into when describing the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London as "Big Ben". That name actually refers to the largest bell in the tower, the one that strikes the hours. Tom Tower was designed (beautifully) by Christopher Wren. Perhaps even more striking is the high Gothic style of the college's Hall.
Just a short way north is the 4-way intersection from which Oxford as we now know it was laid out, and here you find the ancient Carfax Tower. Depending on who you believe, the name is said to be a corrupted form of the French "quatre faces" (for four sides) or "carrefour" (for market place).
Stretching east from Carfax is the gentle curve of the High Street, lined with shops interspersed in between the noble buildings of several colleges. Part way down the street, on the north side, is the beautiful Gothic St. Mary's Church, the official University Church.
At the end of the street is Magdalen College, with its prominent chapel tower. Beside it, Magdalen Bridge crosses the twin narrow channels of the River Cherwell, here nearing the point where it will merge with the Thames.
Heading back into the city, and turning north, I came next to the imposing and unusual Radcliffe Camera (in this case, Camera is the Latin word for a room or hall). It was built in the mid-1700s to a design by James Gibbs to house a science library funded by the bequest of Dr. John Radcliffe. This was ironic in the extreme, as Radcliffe had been a noted iconoclast and frequent mocker of the reading of books! One contemporary remarked in a letter that Radcliffe's bequest was "about as logical as if a eunuch should found a seraglio"!
Not far beyond Radcliffe Square is a unique enclosed footbridge, connecting two buildings of Hertford College. It looks like it's built in the height of fashion of the same mid-1700s period, but this one is actually a kind of romantic fake -- it was finished in 1910! Colloquially it's known as the "Bridge of Sighs" after the famous enclosed footbridge in Venice, but the resemblance to that city's Rialto Bridge is even more striking. I think what amuses me the most is that the bridge is so much more ornate than either of the two buildings it connects!
Right across from the Hertford Bridge is the genuinely-1700s Sheldonian Theatre. Its primary role is to provide a venue for university ceremonies such as convocations. But it is also used for lectures, recitals, and concerts.
Just north of this area, the imposing Martyrs Memorial recalls one of the darker chapters of English history. When Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, came to the throne, she made strenuous efforts to turn the by-now-Protestant England back to Roman Catholicism. When three bishops refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Pope, she had them imprisoned in Oxford and they were burned at the stake just outside the city walls. Largely as a result of this triple execution, Mary became known to subsequent generations as "Bloody Mary". The irony is that when her younger half-sister Elizabeth succeeded her in turn, and England was turned Protestant again, Elizabeth's agents executed more than ten times the number of people executed in Mary's reign for religious causes. Yet Elizabeth has gone down in popular history as a wise and powerful ruler, while Mary has been despised as a bloodthirsty tyrant. Or, as Sellar and Yeatman said in their classic 1066 And All That, Mary was a Bad Queen and Elizabeth was a Good Queen.
Now, all of this architectural and historical study had taken up several hours, and involved quite a few kilometres of walking on pavement, bricks, cobblestones, gravel, and grass. I was beginning to suffer from a rather painful case of "tourist feet", also known as incipient blisters. So I decided to hunt up some lunch, and right there on Magdalen Street was an alleyway leading to the Crown, a very long-established pub which was in fact patronized by Shakespeare when he was in Oxford. Well, if the Bard liked it, I figured it had to be pretty good, and it was. The outdoor patio looks appealing, but I was actually feeling a bit chilly and decided to eat indoors. By the way, all the best old pubs in Oxford are hidden down narrow alleyways. Having a pub sitting out in the open on the main streets of this city was plainly not permitted!
By the time I came out, it was almost an hour and a half later. There's something about a British pub that makes me want to linger, especially when it stocks my favourite cider (Strongbow) on tap! But eventually, out I came, and promptly felt the first raindrops splatting on my head. The sunny morning with a clear sky was going back to the same old wild pattern of clear sunshine alternating with hearty rain showers. With that, I headed for the nearest bus stop, and rode back up to the hotel, calling it a good morning's work!
And that sweet City with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty's heightening,
Lovely all times she lies, lovely to-night!
That's where I now find myself. I did come here once, many years ago, on a day trip from London by train, but I didn't prepare myself properly and didn't really get a very good look at the magnificent architecture. In fact, I really don't remember much about that visit at all, except that it happened.
But some years later, I encountered the poetry of Matthew Arnold. Through his vivid description of the city and the surrounding region I found myself falling in love with the idea of Oxford. Even though it is no longer the place he knew in the 1800s (in many ways) there are still many sights that he would find familiar among the spectacular churches and colleges, dating from all periods from the 1200s to the 1800s.
It's a crowded little city, crowded because of narrow streets -- narrow even by British standards, which is saying a lot! -- and crowded with people because of the University and its numerous colleges, and all the tourists. This is one place where common sense dictates that you leave the car at one of the five "Park and Ride" car parks on the outskirts and take a bus into town, where you can walk about. And that's just what I did. My lucky break was that the park and ride terminal was right beside my hotel, so I didn't even have to drive there!
As if that weren't enough, there was another substantial bonus: I awoke to a cloudless, brilliantly sunny sky, made to order for walking and for photography of beautiful old buildings -- two of my favourite outdoor activities!
The park and ride bus dropped me off in St. Aldate's Street, right beside the front of Christ Church College and it's famous Tom Tower, which houses a bell named Great Tom (hence the name). This, by the way, perpetuates nearly the same error which people fall into when describing the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London as "Big Ben". That name actually refers to the largest bell in the tower, the one that strikes the hours. Tom Tower was designed (beautifully) by Christopher Wren. Perhaps even more striking is the high Gothic style of the college's Hall.
Just a short way north is the 4-way intersection from which Oxford as we now know it was laid out, and here you find the ancient Carfax Tower. Depending on who you believe, the name is said to be a corrupted form of the French "quatre faces" (for four sides) or "carrefour" (for market place).
Stretching east from Carfax is the gentle curve of the High Street, lined with shops interspersed in between the noble buildings of several colleges. Part way down the street, on the north side, is the beautiful Gothic St. Mary's Church, the official University Church.
At the end of the street is Magdalen College, with its prominent chapel tower. Beside it, Magdalen Bridge crosses the twin narrow channels of the River Cherwell, here nearing the point where it will merge with the Thames.
Heading back into the city, and turning north, I came next to the imposing and unusual Radcliffe Camera (in this case, Camera is the Latin word for a room or hall). It was built in the mid-1700s to a design by James Gibbs to house a science library funded by the bequest of Dr. John Radcliffe. This was ironic in the extreme, as Radcliffe had been a noted iconoclast and frequent mocker of the reading of books! One contemporary remarked in a letter that Radcliffe's bequest was "about as logical as if a eunuch should found a seraglio"!
Not far beyond Radcliffe Square is a unique enclosed footbridge, connecting two buildings of Hertford College. It looks like it's built in the height of fashion of the same mid-1700s period, but this one is actually a kind of romantic fake -- it was finished in 1910! Colloquially it's known as the "Bridge of Sighs" after the famous enclosed footbridge in Venice, but the resemblance to that city's Rialto Bridge is even more striking. I think what amuses me the most is that the bridge is so much more ornate than either of the two buildings it connects!
Right across from the Hertford Bridge is the genuinely-1700s Sheldonian Theatre. Its primary role is to provide a venue for university ceremonies such as convocations. But it is also used for lectures, recitals, and concerts.
Just north of this area, the imposing Martyrs Memorial recalls one of the darker chapters of English history. When Henry VIII's daughter, Mary, came to the throne, she made strenuous efforts to turn the by-now-Protestant England back to Roman Catholicism. When three bishops refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Pope, she had them imprisoned in Oxford and they were burned at the stake just outside the city walls. Largely as a result of this triple execution, Mary became known to subsequent generations as "Bloody Mary". The irony is that when her younger half-sister Elizabeth succeeded her in turn, and England was turned Protestant again, Elizabeth's agents executed more than ten times the number of people executed in Mary's reign for religious causes. Yet Elizabeth has gone down in popular history as a wise and powerful ruler, while Mary has been despised as a bloodthirsty tyrant. Or, as Sellar and Yeatman said in their classic 1066 And All That, Mary was a Bad Queen and Elizabeth was a Good Queen.
Now, all of this architectural and historical study had taken up several hours, and involved quite a few kilometres of walking on pavement, bricks, cobblestones, gravel, and grass. I was beginning to suffer from a rather painful case of "tourist feet", also known as incipient blisters. So I decided to hunt up some lunch, and right there on Magdalen Street was an alleyway leading to the Crown, a very long-established pub which was in fact patronized by Shakespeare when he was in Oxford. Well, if the Bard liked it, I figured it had to be pretty good, and it was. The outdoor patio looks appealing, but I was actually feeling a bit chilly and decided to eat indoors. By the way, all the best old pubs in Oxford are hidden down narrow alleyways. Having a pub sitting out in the open on the main streets of this city was plainly not permitted!
By the time I came out, it was almost an hour and a half later. There's something about a British pub that makes me want to linger, especially when it stocks my favourite cider (Strongbow) on tap! But eventually, out I came, and promptly felt the first raindrops splatting on my head. The sunny morning with a clear sky was going back to the same old wild pattern of clear sunshine alternating with hearty rain showers. With that, I headed for the nearest bus stop, and rode back up to the hotel, calling it a good morning's work!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Living in History
I'm now in a different country, on my seventh or eighth (or ninth?) return visit to one of my favourite cities on the entire planet: Amsterdam. I came here for the first time way back in 1971, when my high school trip to Italy encountered an unexpected snag and about 20 of us out of the group of 100 were stuck with an unplanned 16-hour stopover here. In the best tradition of European hospitality, KLM laid on a chartered bus for us, drove us into the city, took us on one of the famous canal boat rides, treated us to an early dinner, and then returned us to the airport for our onward flight to Rome.
That was it -- I was hooked on Amsterdam. And I've been hooked on the place ever since. There are a whole range of reasons why. Two that might spring to mind right away are, as it happens, not true. No, I do not come here to get high in the infamous cafes and no, I do not come here to party my brains out in the numerous gay bars. Things like that just aren't my style.
The city centre of Amsterdam is like a living museum, with amazing old architecture from the city's "golden age" everywhere you look. That, for me, is one big attraction. For anyone as history-minded as myself, there is no such thing as a boring view in central Amsterdam! It's also fascinating to see how the old buildings are re-invented to serve more modern needs while preserving their outward appearance. A good example is shown by the Crowne Plaza Hotel, my favourite stay in the city. It's a modern, seven-story building which wraps around and incorporates several historic houses. In fact, the room I got this time is actually on the top level of one of those houses.
It's a full suite. And before you go jumping to conclusions about my spending habits, I hasten to point out that I was upgraded here by the hotel on the basis of my Platinum membership in the chain's frequent stay plan. That upgrade includes use of the club lounge with free snacks and drinks all day, and free breakfast either in the lounge or in the restaurant. Also, a 25% discount on all food and drink ordered in the restaurant is included. I don't know many hotels anywhere that give so many bonuses in return for membership at the upper level of their chain's program!
It's in a prime location, too. This hotel is a 2-minute walk from the Central Station, where you arrive by express train from the airport. The station is also the hub of all the public transport, including the famous trams and the metro. Buy a day pass or a week pass and you're all set. Most of the canal boat tours leave from the canal right in front of the station too, and there really is no better way to see the city and get oriented to the layout than a boat tour. The boats travel around the central canal system and part of the harbour, giving you a good overview of the key role of water in the city's life, and of the best and most imposing historic buildings and monuments.
One short block away from the Crowne Plaza is one end of the Nieuwendijk, which is a pedestrians-only shopping street, winding through the heart of the city. And next to a boat tour, walking is the second-best way to get around in Amsterdam. Don't even think about trying to drive here -- you will cut yourself out of 3/4 of the best places to see!
Next to the history, the other prime attraction of Amsterdam is the people-watching. And a great way to do that is on the open plaza called the Leidseplein. There are a number of cafes and bars fronting on the Leidseplein, each with its own outdoor seating. Several different tram lines cross here so there are always people coming and going. It's popular with outdoor entertainers too. These can be jugglers, acrobats, dancers, musicians, you name it. My favourite activity here is actually an inactivity -- just buy a beer, sit at a cafe table, and watch the world go by for a while. The infinite variety of people in Amsterdam constantly surprises me, and it's always entertaining too!
That is, if and when the weather cooperates. Often it doesn't, and today was a perfect example. We had a few dry hours this morning, although the sky remained cloudy (a typical condition here) and I did manage to squeeze in the boat tour which I always do. Of course, the tour boat always takes you past the same sights: the varied designs of the gables on the old houses:
The extra-large mansions of the wealthiest merchants on the "Golden bend" of the Herengracht (the "Gentlemen's Canal"):
The famous "Seven Bridges" along the Reguliersgracht (sorry, no can translate!):
(some day I met get an adequate photograph of that particular sight!)
And then there are the inevitable "results" of building a city on reclaimed silt land, colloquially known as the "kissing houses":
After the canal tour arrives back at the Central Station, there's a chance to admire the view of the boat basin (only partly shown here) and the domed St. Nicholas Church. And right beside the church on the right is the entrance to the street Zeedijk which leads to the infamous red light district!
Right after the cruise, the rain moved in. Every time it seemed to stop, I grabbed my coat and headed out, only to get rained on again. Well, all I can say from frequently repeated experience is that you just have to expect this if you come to Amsterdam. But since I have often visited all the museums I want to see, and I am not much of a shopper, that leaves precious little to do on a rainy day in Amsterdam. It doesn't matter. As always, I'm glad to be back in a city where individual people count far more than anybody's ideas of what people ought to be like.
That was it -- I was hooked on Amsterdam. And I've been hooked on the place ever since. There are a whole range of reasons why. Two that might spring to mind right away are, as it happens, not true. No, I do not come here to get high in the infamous cafes and no, I do not come here to party my brains out in the numerous gay bars. Things like that just aren't my style.
The city centre of Amsterdam is like a living museum, with amazing old architecture from the city's "golden age" everywhere you look. That, for me, is one big attraction. For anyone as history-minded as myself, there is no such thing as a boring view in central Amsterdam! It's also fascinating to see how the old buildings are re-invented to serve more modern needs while preserving their outward appearance. A good example is shown by the Crowne Plaza Hotel, my favourite stay in the city. It's a modern, seven-story building which wraps around and incorporates several historic houses. In fact, the room I got this time is actually on the top level of one of those houses.
It's a full suite. And before you go jumping to conclusions about my spending habits, I hasten to point out that I was upgraded here by the hotel on the basis of my Platinum membership in the chain's frequent stay plan. That upgrade includes use of the club lounge with free snacks and drinks all day, and free breakfast either in the lounge or in the restaurant. Also, a 25% discount on all food and drink ordered in the restaurant is included. I don't know many hotels anywhere that give so many bonuses in return for membership at the upper level of their chain's program!
It's in a prime location, too. This hotel is a 2-minute walk from the Central Station, where you arrive by express train from the airport. The station is also the hub of all the public transport, including the famous trams and the metro. Buy a day pass or a week pass and you're all set. Most of the canal boat tours leave from the canal right in front of the station too, and there really is no better way to see the city and get oriented to the layout than a boat tour. The boats travel around the central canal system and part of the harbour, giving you a good overview of the key role of water in the city's life, and of the best and most imposing historic buildings and monuments.
One short block away from the Crowne Plaza is one end of the Nieuwendijk, which is a pedestrians-only shopping street, winding through the heart of the city. And next to a boat tour, walking is the second-best way to get around in Amsterdam. Don't even think about trying to drive here -- you will cut yourself out of 3/4 of the best places to see!
Next to the history, the other prime attraction of Amsterdam is the people-watching. And a great way to do that is on the open plaza called the Leidseplein. There are a number of cafes and bars fronting on the Leidseplein, each with its own outdoor seating. Several different tram lines cross here so there are always people coming and going. It's popular with outdoor entertainers too. These can be jugglers, acrobats, dancers, musicians, you name it. My favourite activity here is actually an inactivity -- just buy a beer, sit at a cafe table, and watch the world go by for a while. The infinite variety of people in Amsterdam constantly surprises me, and it's always entertaining too!
That is, if and when the weather cooperates. Often it doesn't, and today was a perfect example. We had a few dry hours this morning, although the sky remained cloudy (a typical condition here) and I did manage to squeeze in the boat tour which I always do. Of course, the tour boat always takes you past the same sights: the varied designs of the gables on the old houses:
The extra-large mansions of the wealthiest merchants on the "Golden bend" of the Herengracht (the "Gentlemen's Canal"):
The famous "Seven Bridges" along the Reguliersgracht (sorry, no can translate!):
(some day I met get an adequate photograph of that particular sight!)
And then there are the inevitable "results" of building a city on reclaimed silt land, colloquially known as the "kissing houses":
After the canal tour arrives back at the Central Station, there's a chance to admire the view of the boat basin (only partly shown here) and the domed St. Nicholas Church. And right beside the church on the right is the entrance to the street Zeedijk which leads to the infamous red light district!
Right after the cruise, the rain moved in. Every time it seemed to stop, I grabbed my coat and headed out, only to get rained on again. Well, all I can say from frequently repeated experience is that you just have to expect this if you come to Amsterdam. But since I have often visited all the museums I want to see, and I am not much of a shopper, that leaves precious little to do on a rainy day in Amsterdam. It doesn't matter. As always, I'm glad to be back in a city where individual people count far more than anybody's ideas of what people ought to be like.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)