Travel Across the UK - London
Excitement, anxiety, boredom and impatience defined me as I
killed my time in the long 8 hour flight to London Heathrow. I knew my sister
would be waiting for me at the airport long before the flight lands. Noone
could be more particular than she is in maintaining a well-planned buffer of
time while receiving or meeting someone. So I waited … until finally the plane
screeched to its landing. I stepped into London with a rush of excitement to
explore this new country, new people, new culture and new life. Tai had good
plans to take me around London as soon as I arrived. My university was due to
begin a week after and I had plenty of time to acclimatise to this place. This
is where my journey around this country began…
London
As a typical Indian would, I knew London by The Big Ben and
The London Eye. These landmarks are frequently used in Bollywood movies and
they still don’t fail to strike you with awe when you first see them for real.
They are magnificent and very strategically located. You are dazzled by the
view of one while you stand underneath the other. And the Thames just amplifies
this awe manifold. You can feel the cold air brushing against your face, the mild
fragrance of caramel nuts being freshly roasted on the sidewalk, the sound of
the water flow, the sight of these splendid structures, leaving you engulfed in
your own senses. I have been to Westminster so many times during my stay in the
UK and every time this place made a different statement depending on the time
of the year and the time of the day. If you are lucky to be there at sunset,
you will realise what a beauty the Westminster Abbey is as the sun slowly
washes down the building with its pale yellow light and the sky displays a play
of colours on top of the dimly lit Abbey. It is a sight you should never miss.
What I have always missed here in London, is the change of
guard ceremony at the Buckingham Palace. Whenever I have visited the palace,
the ceremony has either been cancelled or I have been delayed enough to miss
the beginning of it. The palace, otherwise, is magnificent and definitely royal
in all ways. From the inside it only accentuates its royalty through the
display of legendry paintings by world famous artists and the royal wealth that
one beholds. The huge hallways and spiral stairwells, the ballrooms and the dining,
everything about this palace is suited to the royalty that it belongs to. But these
riches are like the sun. When you see it after a long time its brilliance
dazzles you for a while but soon you get used to its presence and fail to
admire how priceless each room of the palace is.
The Sea Life Aquarium next to the London Eye, I’d say, is
unfortunately very badly located. It loses its charm in the magnificence of the
London Eye and the Big Ben; but then, there is another point of view that it receives
the mass of visitors that it does, because of its location and the combination
tickets offered at the centre. Either way, I loved the aquarium just as much mainly
for one of the several aquatic animals they house there – the penguins. They
are so adorable in how they waddle on the pseudo ice and water created for them
and the way they dive into the water for a dip and a swim, you fall in love
with them instantly!
An Indian cannot come so close to the Kohinoor and not go to
take a look at it. Every Indian feels the Kohinoor belongs to his forefathers!
If you don’t believe me, next time you come across an Indian ask them about the
Kohinoor… It is hardly two blocks away from the London Eye. Displayed in the
Tower of London along with all the other crown jewels, it is indeed a splendid
precious stone and I can certainly understand why it created such havoc during
the time of British rule over India. It is definitely one of the priced precious
possessions of the British Royal Empire acquired from one of its colonies and it’s
a pity that England has refused to give it back! In fact this takes me straight
to the Victoria and Albert Museum of London that displays all the various
historical artefacts from various cultures from around the world. When I came
across the section of South-East Asia, I found myself surrounded by my own
cultural artefacts. The vastness of the kinds of these artefacts, right from
attires to utensils and weapons made me wonder if this is why there are no
history museums in India – the British took it all! Although some of them do
not seem ancient Indian or Indian at all in any way, it does represent the
region most conspicuously. Let’s come back again to the Tower of London and leave
the rest of the V and A Museum for later. The tower itself signifies a
jewel in the royal crown because of the way it is built. Each part of the
entire construction represents a different King/Queen in whose rule it was built.
These parts of the building were all built for a purpose and their structure
manifests this very clearly. In particular, the Coins and Kings section, the
Tower of torture and the Crown Jewels are the biggest attractions of this
place. Some science patrons like me tend to be amused by facts such as Isaac
Newton worked in the Mint at this tower as a Warden who tracked down counterfeiters
and made suggestions for improvement in the working of the Mint. He was the
first to be promoted to Master of the Mint, a post which he held until death.
It reminds me how little we know about the famous scientists apart from their
major findings. Just like the tower of London and the London Eye most of London’s
major tourist attractions fall on the banks of the Thames. So I took a ride on
the boat ferry trying to take away as much information as was humanly possible
as the guide spoke on the ferry along with clicking away on the shutterbug.
Madame Tussauds is one hell of a place! This lady has brought
a new form of art to the world’s notice and how! Initially when you enter the
place, you somehow find the statues unreal. Compared to the fame and praise
that the work has received all over the world, the statues are very obviously
unreal; but as you walk through to the comparatively older ones you begin to
appreciate the work. The one that I loved the most was that of Einstein’s. He
is standing there in full flesh and blood trust me! His eyes have this spark
that you can only associate with Einstein and the casual posture only makes it
more believable along with his black board of course. This is the guy who came up with E = mc2,
you can tell. All the Indian figures are a disappointment I have to say because
the wax makes the Indian skin look unbelievably free of blemish from exposure
to the weather and pollution back in that land. The features of the Indian
figures also have a slight influence of the western touch. They don’t look
Indian! That’s the only problem I’d say. Then comes the part where the process
of wax statue making is explained piece by piece. This is where you are struck
by the amount of work that goes into making one part of a person’s body. The
patience of the artist is commendable. The Chamber of Horrors is meant to hold
the victims of the French revolution apparently but it holds something else
altogether. I wouldn’t want to dampen your pleasure (or rather mine!) if you
haven’t seen it yet. Don’t miss this section I’d suggest… and do come back to
give me an account of your experience.
Having visited all the major tourist places in London it was
time to get out for a bit. My next visit to London was focused on Greenwich!
The place where time begins…
Comments
Post a Comment