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May 25, 2004
London Balling
Finally got to spend some significant time in London. Last Thursday morning everyone in our seminar rode a bus to the big city to tour the British Library, which in addition to having a really massive collection is notable for having some very impressive historical artifacts: a copy of the Magna Carta, a Shakespeare First Folio, and the King's Library, King George III's huge collection of books - now stored in a stunning multifloor glass tower in the middle of the building. After the library tour, we were set free in London, so it was off to Rough Trade - a historical site of a whole different sort but equally exciting in my book. Unfortunately, high prices and the crappy exchange rate made Rough Trade and the several cool sneaker shops nearby seem more like museums than places where I would actually buy anything. But perhaps that was for the best given how much money I've already blown here and how little space there seems to be in my luggage! I'd never actually been to London before this trip, so we spent much of the rest of the afternoon walking down by the Thames River and seeing the more impressive tourist-y sites: Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, etc. After some refreshing stops for pints of ale and British pub food, we headed off to Camden to see Bonobo play at the Jazz Cafe. A pricey show at 15 pounds, but the six-piece band was great and it was cool to see some live music while we were in London.
After abandoning earlier ideas of a weekend trip to either Brighton or Bristol, Tito and I decided that we should just use our free Saturday to head back to London for another day-trip. Did some record-shopping in Soho (where we made some purchases at the awesome Sounds of the Universe shop run by the Soul Jazz folks), ate a really good Korean lunch at Nara, walked by the impressive but undergoing-renovation St. Paul's Cathedral, had afternoon pints outside by the Thames, and spent a couple of hours inside the impressive Tate Modern. After taking in the main galleries at the Tate, we grabbed a bite at the noodle-shop institution Wagamama, got expensive drinks at the very bizarre bar Yo! Below, and then made our way to Electrowerkz for the evening's must-attend entertainment: 100% Dynamite, a fortnightly DJ night and dance-party hosted by the Soul Jazz Soundsystem. Lots of great reggae, ska, and dancehall records were spun, several Red Stripe tallboys were consumed, and there was much dancing in a crowded warehouse-y room. A very satisfying finale to our London day, with the only downside being that we missed the last tube and spent the next couple of hours in a sleepy blur of waiting and bus-riding, our final Oxford arrival painfully punctuated by that early UK daybreak that has been really catching me off-guard since I'm used to spending my summers in much lower latitudes. To da break of dawn...
Posted by Tim at May 25, 2004 11:13 AM
Comments
the tower of london? the tower bridge? hehe. sounds like a damn good time. and don't forget about indian food!
Posted by: justin at May 25, 2004 02:58 PM
dammmmnn, you make london sound "off the chains"
Posted by: cia at May 25, 2004 08:14 PM