A Walk in London

My daily walk looks like this:

Rosebud Pier, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, Winter 2024

My virtual walk took me to the other side of the world, to London. We had visited London in 2008 and visited the well-known tourist spots such as Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Tate Modern, Tower Bridge, and other places.

Mick and Sues in London 2008

So today I aim to wander, virtually, in another part of the city. I begin at Old Street Station north of the city.

Southwards down City Road I come to Bunhill Fields which is an old burial site. Therein lie the graves of William Blake who wrote Robinson Crusoe and died in 1827. Also, Daniel Defoe who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress and he died in 1731. It no longer serves as a cemetery and is now a public green space, and home to grey squirrels.

Cutting through the pathway of Bunhill Fields I head north to the City Road Basin in order to pick up the canals. The paths beside the canals are popular and wide and once were the pathways for horses that drew the barges along the canals ferrying goods to and from London. Joolz points out the evidence of this in his entertaining trip along the canals that he has published on his YouTube channel.

Nowadays many barges line the canals as living quarters and a lifestyle choice. No permanent mooring is allowed, so every two weeks the barges must move to another spot – a never-ending game of musical moorings.

I continue to follow the Grand Union Canal enjoying the city sights all the way to Camden Market. Here I spend hours looking at the diverse variety of goods for sale. I buy some local fare for lunch.

I hop on the tube at Camden Town and make the short trip to Kings Cross Station. Here I take in all the activity of the Coal Drops Yard, before admiring the stunning architecture of the new structure sitting alongside the old building. The new structure is over ten years old now and this informative video explains design and building process of the architecture.

Locating the site for the fictional Platform 9 ¾ I pass by the long queue of Harry Potter fans. What is there to see after all, but a brick wall with a sign on it?

Outside I walk next door to St Pancras Station This heritage building has been preserved, the highlight being the huge metal arches that form the structure for the station. I watch the interesting presentation with Tim Dunn speaking with Josie Murray about the history and architecture of the building.

Next along Euston Road I visit the British Library, a must for any authentic Librarian of course. By comparison, the modern brutalist external façade pales beside its railway neighbours.  It is a relatively new red brick building opened in 1998 and houses many collections of National importance. Beyond the open courtyard, the multilevel interior space is light inviting exploration and browsing. Of course, most of their collected items are stored in a robot-controlled warehouse in another part of England. If you want one of these items you need to give 48 hours’ notice, then you can read it in one of the Reading Rooms of the British Library.

Ancient texts and rare illustrations are on display, providing insight into how some of these precious ideas were created.

Further south I visit the British Museum that once housed the library collections. We had visited this place back in 2008.

Me at the British Museum, London 2008

This museum opened in 1759 welcoming visitors from around the world. “The Museum is driven by an insatiable curiosity for the world”, and the collections and displays support our vast human history.

Inside the Great Court of the museum is light filled atrium that surrounds a central circular domed Reading Room that was built from 1854 – 1857. Unfortunately, this room is now closed to the public.

Exploring some of the many galleries, the Egyptian history exhibition never disappoints. A virtual tour provided by Google Arts & Culture takes me back to my visit in 2008 and is a fantastic experience for the Armchair Traveller.

Screenshot of the Egyptian Collection at the British Museum from Google Arts & Culture experience

With a head full, stimulated by visual and mental images and information I complete this virtual wander through part of London. In researching this virtual wander, I enjoyed being taken along with Joolz and A Lady in London. Hopefully this virtual walk will become a reality soon.

Staying connected

While on holiday touring Europe I tried to stay connected to my family via email. I found that the variables with internet facilities were as ubiquitous as the variables in bathroom plumbing. Everywhere presented different systems that needed re-negotiation.

 

Not all hotels offer a PC with internet connection. Some are free to hotel guests while others require payment, either by coin in a slot, or credit card logon. And the fees vary.

Internet shops can be found here and there, but not everywhere. Again fees vary considerably.

 

Browsers and keyboards differ from what we are used to. Software systems are usually in the language of the country and sometimes there is no address box for typing in URL’s. MS Windows is worldwide so it is easy to recognise familiar icons. A lady in Italy asked me to help her with her PC because she assumed I could understand Italian from my apparent familiarity with the Italian browser. Keyboard arrangements differ too according to the language of the country, so familiar typing habits can hinder the speed of writing an email and inevitably cost you more money. Imagine “q” for “a” and “y” for “z” and the “m” moved entirely. Finding the “@” key can prove to be a challenge every time.

 

Deqr familz,

It is Summer in Europe so the weqther is hot qnd sunnz. We hqve seen the Eiffel Tower, the Sistine Chqpel, the stqtue of Dqvid qnd the Monq Lisq.

Be home soon.

Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to send and receive emails in Engelberg, Rome, Venice, Florence, Paris and London. Accessing Facebook was not always possible, but I updated when I could. Hearing news from Australia on TV or in the newspapers is almost non-existent. We Australians do not rate in the world’s thinking. Even world weather reports ignore us altogether. I think this is a good thing though and hope it remains that way. “Where the bloody hell are you?” spoken by a young Aussie lady in a television commercial for tourism, wondering where all the tourists are, could be more accurately expressed by most residents of the Northern Hemisphere when asked about Australia.

Planning my trip

In three months I will visit Europe for the first time. It will be a three week whiz around Europe. I wish it could be longer.

In anticipation I have been using the web to look at the places I will be staying, the routes I will travel, and the places of interest I will visit.

Google Maps and Google Earth are fantastic tools for this task. How far is the Eiffel Tower from my hotel in Paris? Google Maps will tell me in a flash. What does the scenery look like from The Rialto Bridge in Venice? Google Earth offers great photos uploaded by other keen visitors.

I can plot my trip on Google Earth then fly around the route to gain a spatial awareness that will aid my navigation skills when I’m actually there in this unfamiliar territory.

The itinerary of my trip becomes enriched by this online research using these clever tools.

Others jokingly comment to me that I won’t need to go now as I’ve seen it all online. Well that’s where I clearly appreciate the difference between the online environment and the REAL world.

I long to submerge my physical being into other cultures. I crave hearing foreign languages as incomprehensible song. I want to be dwarfed inside historic cathedrals where light streams in from above illuminating art by the masters. I want to meander along cobblestone alleyways too narrow for cars. I want to be tempted by the smells of different foods that I am yet to taste. I want to get a real sense of my own insignificance in world history by standing in places where men and women stood, fought, died and left their marks. I want to soak in the richness of the colours and textures of beautiful European landscapes searching for the inspiration felt by the great artists. I long to gaze about in open-mouthed wonder.

I can’t do that sitting at my pc.

Meanwhile in anticipation, I can dream, imagine, and visualise the trip online, just to whet my appetite for the REAL thing.