London Trip

I spent two days in London last month on my way home from a family visit. I lived in London for a number of years until finally moving to Germany. I still call it my home town, though. I'm not sure of what the fascination is. It is a big city and yet there is something so endearingly parochial about it.
Paris or Berlin, on the other hand, are beautiful cities but they have a completely different atmosphere.
I love the little places in London where the tourists are not so thick on the ground. Where you can feel just how old this city is and how much history and human stories have taken place here.

One of my favourite places is the area around Temple. This little gem, almost unknown to the tourists, is well worth a visit. When you step into the complex, you are entering another world. It is the home of English law. There are signs at the entrance to most of the buildings giving a list of practicing barristers and solicitors. I almost expect to meet Charles Dickens strolling the streets.

The Temple Church built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters is a step way back into history. It is worth reading about it in the excellent BBC article:

bbc.com/travel/story/20160510-the-hidden-world-of-the-knights-templar

I also visited St. Clement Danes church, completed by Sir Christopher Wren, Brompton Oratory and Westminster Cathedral (not as old as the other churches but still impressive). By then I had seen  enough churches. For me, they represent the spirit of old London, of places where Samuel Pepys and Samuel Johnson, two of my favourite writers, went to worship. 

For old time's sake, I visited Harrods in Knightsbridge but here I found that luxury and wealth didn't do it for me, so I did not stay very long.  Next I went to South Bank in the hopes of finding the open air book market (much more like it, from my point of view). It was school half-term and there was a lot of hurdy-gurdy and no sign of the book market. Instead I paid a visit to Foyles and bought a book -  Volume I of Somerset-Maugham's short stories, if you want to know. Of course I could have got this for a third of the price somewhere else but, well, I fell in love with the new cover and anyway, you have to buy a book at Foyles, don't you?

The great thing about London is that you are never far from a park. I went to pay my respects to Hyde Park, near Harrods, and watch people feeding the birds.

When crossing the road on my way back, I was delighted to see the Horse Guards riding down the street. Beautiful horses with glossy black coats and riders with those scarlet uniforms! I remember when I worked somewhere near Chelsea that they used to ride out in the morning in the middle of the rush hour. I still remember the gleam on sunlight on brass buttons and bridle buckles.

What I had forgotten is that you do so much walking in London. By the end of each day I was exhausted and very ready to retire to my tourist hotel in Earls Court. I lived here for a few months many years ago. Earls Court itself has not lost its cosmopolitan atmosphere and yes, there is a little shop where you can buy all the essentials on your way home. Nice to see things have not changed that much.

Before I knew it, I was on the airplane home and I felt like I'd been away a month!  See you soon again, London.