Travel Tips: London on the Cheap

When I tell people that I'm going to London, the response I often get is "I'd love to go, but it's such an expensive city." Sure, I say, if your travel expectations are for luxury accommodation, West End theatre and lots of tourist attractions, but that doesn't suit my style or my wallet. Over the past 15 years, I've developed a shedload of ways to have as good — or, I'd argue, better and more authentic — London travel experiences on a budget. Here are a few of my tips. 

• Before I even left, I saved myself a bundle through my credit cards. I booked my plane ticket and AirBnB with my travel rewards card (and made the down payment on the crown I need on a tooth I just broke) and got back about $150 in rewards to offset the cost of the travel and accommodation. I had let the reward points accumulate on my other credit card since my trip to Ireland last year and I'll be able to transfer about $200 to my bank account, which I'll use for walking around money in the UK. When I ordered a new raincoat and a few other things I needed for the trip from Amazon, at checkout I saw a banner advert saying I could open an Amazon credit card and immediately get $100 off my purchase. So I did. This is all free money!
• Accommodation: AirBnB or Vrbo have some good values for money, but it helps to start your search early. Forget about zone 1 — look at areas in zone 2 with excellent transport links, preferably a tube station and a couple of convenient bus routes. Two years ago, I stayed a five minute walk from Queen's Park station for $62/night. On my upcoming trip, I'll be spitting distance from the Tufnell Park station with easy access to Camden Town, King's Cross/St Pancras and beyond for $52/night. I look for a room with a private bathroom, wifi, cooking facilities and use of the washing machine. 
• Transport: Once you've settled in and walked to the tube station or bus stop, what's the best way to pay for transport? Whether you're in town for a few days or a few weeks, you need to get an Oyster card, but the type of card and what you load onto it will be different depending on the length of your visit. For less than a week, you're fine with a visitor's Oyster, which can be purchased online and mailed to you before your travel or purchased at Heathrow. If you're staying a week or longer, wait until you're in town and purchase a regular Oyster from any tube station or hundreds of news agents. What's the difference? Visitor cards function only as PAYG, so you need to pay attention to your balance and top it up when you get low. Regular Oysters have the added advantage of enabling you to load travel cards, sold in one week or one month duration, onto them. I load my Oyster with some cash and one-week zone 1-2 travel card(s). The cash will cover journeys into the farther out zones (Heathrow is in zone 6, so I always need some dosh on my card to get to/from the airport because I'm too cheap to take the Heathrow Connect or Express). 
• Food: Dining out in London can be expensive, but food is actually cheap. I rarely eat in restaurants other than to go for an Indian or a pub meal. I scope out the nearest farmers' market, street market, bakery and grocery store options. Tea and a roll or a chunk of tasty bread is all I need in the morning. For lunch, I prefer to bring something with me in my day bag or grab a Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local meal deal — a sandwich, beverage and crisps for about £3 — and sit on a bench in a park or a churchyard to eat. Cafes are a good alternative — the ones in church crypts often serve healthy and hearty food. I often stop for an afternoon treat at a bakery or caff and then end the day with dinner on the cheap — a veggie pie, soup, salad or something else I can heat up easily at my gaff washed down with a glass or two of wine.
• Free outdoor spaces: London is full of places to walk and explore, including some of the best parks you could imagine, often with an historic home in the park or nearby. Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath is lovely, full of art and free. And the cemeteries are to die for! Highgate Cemetery is the only one of the Magnificent Seven that has an entry fee, but it's quite reasonable. It's often said that London is an amalgamation of many villages, each with its own character. I love spending time rambling around and taking it all in. And it doesn't cost a thing.
• Museums and other attractions: Most of the big-name museums, including the National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Victoria & Albert, the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum, have free entry. They do, however, charge for special exhibitions and those entry fees have gone up considerably over the past few years. Some of the other museums, including the Royal Academy and the Foundling Museum, do charge entry fees. If you know that you'll be museum hopping all over London (and beyond), while soaking up a lot of art and culture, an Art Pass is a great investment, particularly if they have a three-month "taster" Art Pass on offer for 15 quid. The card gets you in free to hundreds of venues that normally charge and also gives 50% off the cost of special exhibitions. Cards need to be ordered online and sent in the post to UK addresses. I asked my AirBnB host if I could use her postal address for my Art Pass and she was fine with it. NOTE: This is different to the London Pass, which in my estimation is a total ripoff. 
• Events and performances: I've never been to West End theatre, so I can't give advice on how to score cheap tickets to those plays.  Smaller theatres away from the West End, like the Almeida (Islington), Arcola (Dalston), Hampstead (Swiss Cottage) or Kiln (Kilburn), are reasonably priced. The Hampstead has reduced-price tickets on Mondays. There are also scads of cultural events, including performances, talks and walks, that are free. Some of the churches have free noontime music performances or you can sit in on a rehearsal. I'll be in London for two fantastic free events: Open House weekend (over 800 buildings of architectural interest all across the capital city open to the public) and Totally Thames Festival, a month-long celebration of the river with exhibitions, talks and walks. I also like to check out free or reasonably-priced talks at cultural institutions such as the British Library and the Bishopsgate Institute as well as the museums. 
• Promo codes and coupons: I get a bunch of weekly email newsletters from London websites and am always on the lookout for bargains. In the past, I've had coupons for pub meals and attractions. I recently downloaded the app for a new ride-hailing company called Kapten and used a promo code from SkintLondon to put £15 in credit on my account. 
• Views: Why pay £25 to look down on London from the dizzying heights of the Shard when you can get views just as good for free? There are viewing decks on the new extension to Tate Modern and on the One New Change shopping centre in back of St Paul's Cathedral. For something a bit higher up and enclosed, there's the Sky Garden on the Walkie Talkie building (timed entry, book online up to three weeks in advance) and the new garden at 120 Fenchurch Street (no need to book ahead). I've seen great views from Primrose Hill, Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and several places in south London. On my upcoming trip, I'm looking forward to seeing the view from Dartmouth Park Hill, about a 10 minute walk from my AirBnB.

Two great sources of info about free and cheap things to see and do are the IanVisits website (sign up for his weekly newsletter of listings) and Londonist.

Watch this space for my chronicles of my journey, with scintillating details of where I went, what I saw and how much I spent. If you know of other tips, please pop them in the comments below. 

Heading home now

It was a bit lonely in the doss house last night, but I slept well thanks to the wine and Tylenol PM. Woke up around 1 am when the inmates in the next cell came in, but they weren't loud for long.

I got up early, showered, packed and was out the door at 9 for a walk around Griffith Park and up to the National Botanic Gardens. Both were lovely and quiet on this sunny Sunday.

We really lucked out with the weather this past week. Though it was grey and a bit chilly in Belfast, we only had rain one afternoon as we came back from our day's adventures. The past four days have been warm and bright ... and long, as we were here for the solstice and the sun has been setting around 10 pm.

I'm sitting at the gate at the airport now and we'll board soon.

Stats:
€2.50 banana bread at the Botanic Gardens caff

13,386 steps, 5.79 miles (so far)

A Flop House in Dublin

Friday (yesterday) we returned the rental car and got a morning bus from Belfast to Dublin, arriving at noon. It was an easy ten minute walk from the bus station to the hostel where we had reservations to stash our bags for the afternoon and then we were on our way to explore. The bag stash place is very close to the Dublin GPO, site of the rebel headquarters during the 1916 Easter Rising, so we stopped for a look around. Over 100 years on, the bullet holes are still evident on the portico and facade. Inside, it's a busy post office, nicely rebuilt after the interior burned during the fighting, with lots of wood and brass fittings. There's also a museum about the Easter Rising, but we skipped it as we needed to push on.

Next stop was the visitor info center where we bought our Leap visitor cards for the bus and tram and then made our way westward in search of food as we looked at this and that along the way -- a garden of remembrance for the dead of all Irish rebellions, the shiny brass plaque on the Sinn Fein national headquarters in Parnell Square, the bustling produce market, Jameson's Distillery, Victorian warehouses and worker housing, newly constructed office and housing blocks. We finally found sustenance in Smithfield Square at a trendy food market with lots of eat in/take out options including an excellent salad bar with Thai spice tuna salad, curry rice salad, and various combos of veg, feta, cous cous and quinoa.

On the itinerary for the afternoon was a guided walk about the Great Famine in Dublin, led by Fin Dwyer, the man behind the Irish History Podcast. Through sight and sound, he exposed us to the impact of the potato blight from 1846 to 1851 (which we usually think of as a rural calamity) on people living in urban Dublin. We learned that, throughout the years of the hunger, Ireland was exporting food to Britain and Europe. The blight may have sparked the famine, but it was the land tenancy system, along with British governmental policy and callous disregard for the suffering of the Irish people, that precipitated a food security catastrophe the likes of which has not been seen since. I'd highly recommend the walk to anyone coming to Dublin with an interest in Irish history.

After the walk, we popped into the Cobblestone to have a pint (Roger cider, me Guinness) and listen to some trad music, then reclaimed our bags and took the city bus north to the Drumcondra area to check in to our Airbnb. Drumcondra, like the Queen's Quarter where we stayed in Belfast, is an area of tree-lined streets of red brick Victorian terrace houses, populated by students, young families and senior citizens. Though we were feeling the good vibe of the neighborhood when we got off the bus, that disappeared when we opened the front door of the house where our Airbnb is. Turns out that the rather shabby house has been chopped up into ten tiny units. The dark hallway with worn carpet, steep stairway and hand-scrawled signs of instructions from our host awaited us inside. Our unit is small and dreary, but it's cheap, in a safe area and has good transport connections. We quickly dropped our stuff and headed out again.

In addition to booking these accommodations, Roger booked tickets for an a cappella showcase at a club near the Temple Bar area. We ate pizza, consumed wine and listened to music -- a nice way to wind down our day on the move. We wrapped it up with glasses of whiskey at Fagan's Pub (where Bertie Ahern took Bill Clinton for a drink in 1998) on our block in Drumcondra.

This morning we explored the Liberties, a very old part of Dublin between the massive Guinness factory on the west and Dublin Castle on the east. This doesn't seem to be an area that attracts tourists and I was happy to wander through a community garden with a pig located on wasteland, a tatty market and a Norman church without colliding with any teen tour groups. When we reached Dublin Castle, we spent a good amount of time seeing an exhibition called Coming Home: Art & the Great Hunger. It's a very powerful show, with a video intro, paintings and sculpture. Much of the works come from the collection of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut (who knew?) so local folks will get to see it when the art returns in 2019.

Roger then headed for the airport to go back to London, leaving me to travel solo until my flight on Sunday. I spent two hours at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Parnell Square. The permanent collection includes many impressionist and modern works by Irish artists. They also house the studio of Francis Bacon. It's his entire actual studio. After his death, the studio he had for over 30 years in a Kensington mews was dismantled and reconstructed, down to the piles of clutter and the smallest detail in this Dublin gallery. I'm not a fan of Bacon, but I thought the studio was so interesting -- it's rare to see the place where art is actually created.

I also walked along beautiful Georgian terrace streets, saw an iron bench being consumed by a tree at the King's Inn (a legal inn), visited Blessington Basin park (ducks, a swan, fairy houses and a sweet little lodge) and did my shopping for dinner. I'm back in the flop  house now. As soon as I finish writing this, I intend to sleep soundly and long.

Friday stats:
£3.50 final bus fare in Belfast
€19.50 for 72-hour bus pass in Dublin
€4.80 lunch
€17 famine walk
€3.40 pint of Guinness after the walk
€20 ticket to a cappella showcase
€12 pizza and wine

21,252 steps, 8.77 miles

Saturday stats:
€2.85 tuna & sweet corn sandwich from Tesco
€5.39 salad for dinner
€5.30 bread and wine

20,644 steps, 8.48 miles

The Coastal Route

We rented a car and drove north via an inland route and back to Belfast along the coast. Today is the longest day of the year and it was sun and blue skies the entire day, though temps never got out of the 50s and it was pretty breezy. I think this might be as good a day as we could possibly have had weather-wise in the north of Ireland in June.

We got turned around and lost numerous times, but Roger drove on the wrong side of the road only once and we didn't hit anything. There were a few times on the twisty narrow B roads that our hearts were in our throats, however.

I took a lot of photos on my camera, but only a couple of crap ones on the phone.

The Dark Hedges, a two hundred year old tunnel of beech trees seen in Game of Thrones:

Giant's Causeway, which is pretty spectacular:

When we got back into Belfast, we thought we'd drive over to the Shankill Road to look at the unionist murals. We made several attempts to get there via what looked on the map like through streets, only to encounter the barricades of the "peace wall." It might be that the gates had been closed at 6 or 7 pm, before we got there. It was a stark example of what local residents encounter as they try to get from one part of Belfast to another.

When we did reach the Shankill Road, we thought the area was creepy and the murals are very militaristic. During the Troubles, this was home turf for gangs who committed the most brutal sectarian violence, murdering scores of Catholics across Belfast. Now, the gangs have turned their enterprise to drug dealing. I didn't take any photos with my phone so you'll just have to wait for me to upload my proper photos to ipernity.

Stats:
£3.50 top up bus pass
£2.75 sandwich and crisps in Bushmills
£11.50 entry fee for Giant's Causeway
£3.40 pint of Guinness in Cushendun
£3.50 soup and bread for dinner

15,786 steps, 6.58 miles

More on the Troubles and a big ship goes down

Today we got a different perspective on the Troubles and how they impacted ordinary citizens of Belfast, both Protestant and Catholic, and do so to this day. We did the walking tour about the history of the terror with DC Tours. 

Our guide Paul ( Donzo) took us through several seminal incidents that took place in Belfast city centre, incidents that illustrated the "parallel universes" that have been inhabited by people on the two sides of the conflict over the past four decades. He carefully showed how people on either side can have their own truth and their own trauma. I was particularly struck to hear him describe the ways in which a person's own experience in the years of terror can to this day impact that person's viewpoint, body language and behavior. Paul has taken part in a number of educational and reconciliation projects related to bringing peace to Northern Ireland. I wish I had been able to ask how young people who were born after the Good Friday Agreement experience their city. I'm really curious how they view the Troubles and to what extent -- given that something like 90% of primary and secondary schools are segregated by religion -- they are able to have normalized experiences that mix Protestant and Catholic kids.

After the conclusion of the walk at the waterfront, we took a look at the Salmon of Knowledge and then crossed the pedestrian bridge over the river and made our way towards the old ship yards. Our lunch stop was the DOCK Cafe. I can't remember how I heard about this place, but whatever it was made me put it on my spreadsheet as one of my Belfast destinations. In a cavernous space at the base of a new development next to Abercorn Basin, the caff serves up wholesome food on an honour system -- each customer puts whatever amount they think is fair price for their order into an honesty box. The caff also serves as a meeting space for local groups, with comfy donated furniture all around, an art gallery, a prayer garden and place for community volunteerism. On the recommendation of one of the volunteers, we each had the chicken soup and bread and it hit the spot.

Our next destination was the Titanic Experience, where we learned about the late c19 and early c20 industries in Belfast, the dockyards, the building of the Titanic and its sinking. It's an interactive, highly immersive place -- as opposed to a museum proper. Lots of moving images, sounds, buttons to push. I enjoyed both the bits about the industrial history and seeing how the ship was outfitted with furnishings, woodworking, china, linen, etc., most of which was made in Ireland. 

It was wicked easy to catch a bus back to the city centre from Queen's Island. We stopped in a pub -- pint of cider for Roger and pint of Guinness for me -- before catching another bus back to the Queen's University quarter where we are staying. For dinner, we went back to Slim's Healthy Kitchen where we had eaten two nights before and it was just as good the second time around.

Stats:

£3 to top up bus pass

£1.90 for scone for breakfast eaten on the bus

£15 for History of the Terror walk with DC Tours

£3 lunch

£15 Titanic Experience

£4.40 pint of Guinness

£15 dinner and wine

14,392 steps, 6.08 miles

A lesson in history and lunch at the Felons Club

Two of the reasons for this trip to Belfast were to see the political murals and learn more about the Troubles. We did both today on a walking tour of west Belfast, organized by a group called Coiste that supports former IRA prisoners. Advertised as a three-hour tour, we actually spent well over four hours with our guide Peadar Whelan, who put the murals and the individuals depicted on them into context. Woven through the walk were the history of the political, social and economic conditions that gave rise to armed resistance to British rule as well as Peadar's own personal history in prison. The tour is not on unbiased view of the conflict and doesn't pretend to be. It's all about the IRA's fight for a united Ireland free from British rule.

While there are dozens of murals to be seen on both sides of the conflict, we saw only a handful of them. At first I wished we'd pick up the pace and wondered if we'd run out of time before I'd seen enough. It wasn't until we were a couple hours into the walk, when Peadar told us his own story of serving 16 years of a life sentence in the Maze prison (part of that time with Bobby Sands), that it clicked for me. I thought I knew a fair amount about the Troubles but my knowledge was certainly augmented by Peadar's insights. What I had no previous exposure to was the personal narrative of imprisonment. But for this to have come earlier in the walk would have been premature. It seemed right that Peadar tell his story on his own terms at whatever time works for him. I won't retell it here, but suffice to say it gave me a new perspective on the reality of imprisonment, the brutality of the British government and the organized campaign of resistance that the IRA waged within the prisons.

The official end of the walk was at the Milltown Cemetery where many IRA members, including Bobby Sands, are buried. But the real end was just down the road at the Felons Club, a membership club like the Elks for former IRA prisoners. We were invited to the bar for a glass of Guinness and we stayed to order sandwiches for a late lunch. I wanted to take a photo of the outside after as proof positive that I was there, but it was stonking raining when we left so you'll have to take my word for it.

We hopped the bus back into town and then got another bus down towards Queen's University and the neighborhood where we are staying. Sadly, it was too late to go to the Ulster Museum. We then tried unsuccessfully to get into the Palm House and the Tropical Ravine in the Botanic Garden, but those had just closed as well. So we trudged home in the rain, dried off a bit, went out for nearby takeaway from the Thai Tanic (cheap, edible, nothing to write home about) and came back to the flat to eat and crash.

Stats:
£3 to top up bus pass
£8 for walking tour
£5.50 chicken sandwich for lunch
£6.95 Pad Thai for dinner

21,302 steps, 8.88 miles

Street art, Hobnobs and a good night's sleep

We didn't make the 10:35 bus as Roger spent a long time in the immigration queue, but caught the one an hour later. There's not much in the way of scenery to gawp at from the motorway to Belfast -- cows, hedgerows, auto junkyards and a few isolated wind turbines, but no picturesque Irish villages. The journey was fast and we hit the pavement in Belfast city centre by 2 pm. Our first stop was nearby at a tourist ticket shop that doubles as a short term luggage drop (pre-booked on Stasher.com), then to the Belfast Visitors Centre to purchase our city bus passes and to a magic money machine to get a fist full of her majesty' s currency. I learned when I purchased my return bus ticket from the driver in Dublin that the pound coins I was carrying are no longer in circulation. Some time in the last nine months they've been replaced with shiny two-tone nine-sided ones sure to defy any attempt at counterfeit. I spotted a Waterstone's, so nipped in to buy a copy of The Gospel According to Blindboy, a book of satirical and philosophical short stories by one of the Irish podcasters who has been in my ears these past months.

Our original plan had been to spend the afternoon at the Titanic Experience learning all about ship building and ship sinking, but opted to explore the streets and alleyways of the Cathedral Quarter instead. This turned out to be a grand idea as nothing warms my heart more than derelict buildings and street art. Just off the busy shopping streets we found plenty of both, as well as some proper good architecture (Georgian and art deco) and a big cathedral (early c20, Protestant and uninspiring).

After a sit down at Caffe Nero, we reclaimed our bags, boarded a bus and headed to our AirBnB. There was some confusion about the key, but we got that sorted. The place is clean and spacious with most of the mod cons we require. We explored the neighborhood eating options, ending up at Slim Kitchen, a nice bistro serving fresh, healthy and tasty eats as well as booze. Our final destination was Tesco to stock up on essentials -- cereal, milk, more wine and Hobnobs.

Stats:
€2.25 coffee at Dublin airport
€2.20 bottle of water
£22 return bus ticket for Belfast
£6 luggage stash
£3.50 one- day bus pass
£10.99 Gospel According to Blindboy paperback
£3.35 water and banana bread at caff
£24 dinner and wine
£7 bevvies and nibbles from Tesco

19,254 steps, 7.92 miles

I'm in the Emerald Isle ...

... and spending my first five hours hanging out in the arrivals hall of Terminal 1 at Dublin airport. It was an uneventful flight over, packed like a sardine in steerage. I give myself high marks for judicious packing -- my new carry on weighed in at a mere 16 pounds and I successfully hoisted it into the overhead bin unaided. Ate some crap airline food, watched Lady Bird (swearing censored) and slept about an hour and a half on the flight.

Roger just messaged me that he's on the train to Gatwick. I'm hoping he exhausted all his bad travel karma on his recent trip to D.C. If good luck holds, he'll arrive at 10:10 and we'll be on the 10:35 bus to Belfast.

As I know my loyal readership is eager for the scintillating minutia of my travel adventures, I will try to post every step taken and pence spent. Stay tuned for further developments.

Lessons Learned

Happy to say that I didn't lose anything or get lost on my trip. Before I forget them, here are the lessons I learned:

1. I must stop looking for the steps-free access to the westbound District Line platform at Paddington. Yes, it is possible to take the lift up to the ticket concourse/street level from the eastbound platform, but steps-free access back down to the westbound platform does not exist. Advice to self: Deal with it, get a lighter suitcase, or use the Circle/H&C via Hammersmith to get to Heathrow. 
2. Aer Lingus from Hartford via Dublin is the way to go. Doing immigration at Dublin saves much time and hassle over the lines at Heathrow. It was so quick and easy on the way to the UK that I hardly realized (at 4 am) that I had done it, but I have the stamp in my passport as proof. Coming back was a bit more complex, with three different segments to the pre-clearance for US-bound passengers (re-screening of all carry-on items, passport scanning and a final station where you turn in your customs declaration form and receipt from the passport scan), but at 45 minutes all told it was better than the up to 2 hours it can take now at Logan Airport in Boston. 
3. The Airbnb experience was fantastic. I was a bit wary of staying in the home of people I didn't know, but with my room a bit removed from the rest of the house (I was over the garden extension) and my own bathroom, it was extremely comfortable. Traveling on my own, it felt nice to have people to talk to for a few minutes when I came in every evening. The location was ideal -- I really like Queen's Park and it was fun, after two years away, to explore new things in the area.
4. The 2GB add-on package I purchased for £15 with the sim card from EE was more than enough data for my stay, even running Google maps and the Citymapper app every day. I switched the phone to wifi-only data when I was in the flat and used a total of about .6GB of data over nine days. I could easily have gone with the 1GB package for a tenner. 
5. Having a smartie phone with me when I was out and about was certainly convenient for maps and transport info, but time spent looking at a screen is time not spent looking at what's around you, as tempting as it may be to check Facebook when riding the bus. 
6. The 90-day Art Pass for ten quid was brilliant. I got value for money within the first day of using it. They don't advertise the 90-day pass, but I saw a promo code for it in one of the London e-mail newsletters I receive (can't remember now which it was -- possible Open House or London Transport Museum). 
7. I need to upgrade my technology. Taking the bluetooth keyboard to use with my tablet wasn't worth the bother (heavy, awkward touch), so I finger-typed my blog posts on the tablet instead most of the time. Time to think about buying a Chromebook -- possibly the new Asus Chromebook Flip C101. 
8. Many years ago, my friend Helen declared me an honorary Londoner, but at the time I didn't feel that I'd fully earned the appellation. I'm chuffed to say that, finally, I think I wear it well. 

I came home with £20 in my wallet and ~£13 on my Oyster. Time to open a new spreadsheet and start adding things for the next trip to Blighty. 

Open House: Sunday

A quick recap before I finish packing and leave for the airport. On Sunday, I set out with many more index cards in my stack than the number of places we could possibly visit. I figured that, if queues were long or took more time than I'd thought to visit, we could skip some and move on to others. The first two stops were non-starters. When we got to the Andaz Hotel, the queue for the Masonic temple inside was already 100 people long. It was supposed to open at 10 am, but the queue didn't begin to move until 10:20. By 10:30, we'd only moved a few feet, so we pushed on to St Helen's Bishopsgate, where the morning service had just begun and we weren't allowed in. After that, we were much more successful and saw seven OH venues:

• St Mary-le-Bow, a small Wren church in Cheapside
• Billingsgate Roman bath and house (archeology under a new building)
• Custom House, just across Lower Thames Street
• After a bus ride to Bermondsey and lunch at Maltby Street Market, we hopped back on the bus to Rotherhithe to see Brunel's shaft, recently fitted with a proper staircase inside. It's the 8th wonder of the world, as we were repeatedly told by the director of the museum during his talk/tout of museum shitknacks. 
• The nearby Old Mortuary, now the Time and Talents Community Centre
• A quick look at Sands Films Picture Library
• Through the tunnel to Wapping to Metropolitan Wharf, where we visited an architectural studio overlooking the river.

We walked along the Ornamental Canal up to London Docks in hopes of seeing Pennington Warehouse, but reached it too late to get in. So, we ended our trek at St Katharine Docks, where we saw the royal barge Gloriana moored. No, we didn't get to go aboard.

Making an early night of it so we both could go back to our Airbnb flats to pack, we had dinner at Mr Fish, the local chippy in Queen's Park, which was quite good. Thanks for treating,  Molly!

Speaking of my Airbnb, it was totally lovely and comfortable. And the location was perfect.

Final stats:

1 pound 85 for egg and avocado on a mini roll

4 quid for lunch

90p for water

85p for coconut macaroon

23303 steps

10.01 miles

Open House: Saturday

It's been a number of years since I was last in London for Open House, an annual September event during which over 800 venues are open across the capital. It's a fantastic opportunity to see the inside of buildings normally not open to the public or to go on special tours to learn about the unique architecture of sites. I do my research well, choose my destinations, make an index card for each, put them in order and plan the transport route from one to the next.

Armed with my stack of index cards, I headed to the first venue, a home and studio near Brondesbury station, stopping in the cafe in the middle of Queen's Park (the actual park) for something to eat on the way, and was the first to arrive at the gate at ten minutes to ten. I was soon joined by a woman wearing an Open House volunteer name tag and her husband. We chatted a bit and then we're confronted by a snotty youth demanding to know why we were standing in front of his house. The woman explained that we were there for Open House. He kept insisting that the house was not open and finally said that his parents changed their plans and it would be open only on Sunday. I'm guessing that the bratty attitude is a case of the apple not falling far from the tree.

The rest of the day went much better. I did one residence/studio near my Airbnb myself and Molly then caught me up for the rest. Here's what I saw:

• Studio McLeod in Kilburn Lane, an architect's studio and residence that made amazing use of a small space, even finding places to conceal and store three motorcycles.
• Simon Court in Saltram Crescent, where we saw a small flat in a converted Victorian church.
• 264 Westbourne Park Road, two contemporary houses built one atop the other on what had been a small corner of derelict land. We were the last people admitted for the last tour of the day. The architect/owner/occupant showed us most of the house and explained his design and the construction. It was a great tour.
• Royal Albert Hall. As I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend a concert here anytime soon, this was a good opportunity for hoi polloi like me to see it.
• Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Street, with lots of Art and Crafts elements. 
• Moravian Close, just off the King's Road, on a site dating back to Tudor times, where there's a more recent Moravian burial ground and chapel. I need to do more reading about this spot (we missed the talk).
• We walked down to Cadogan Pier, where there was supposed to be an exhibition of art made from bits and bobs found on the foreshore, but it wasn't there. (This was something I read about on the Totally Thames website, not an Open House venue.)
• Sambourne House at 18 Stafford Terrace in Holland Park. Again, we got there in the nick of time to be among the last people admitted. This is said to be the best surviving late Victorian middle-class home in the UK, and I'd had it on my spreadsheet for ages but had never managed to get to it on one of the days that it's open each week. It was totally rammed with people, but we got to see most of the rooms.

Much in need of a drink, we stopped at the Elephant and Castle, a nearby neibourhood pub, for bevvies and nibbles. Next, it was back to Queen's Park for a pub meal at the Salusbury to end a long and full day.

So, seven venues seen, two closed or missing, and two index cards skipped. All told, a highly successful day.

Stats:

2 pounds for pastry in the park caff

2 pounds 86 for meal deal for Tesco (eaten in a park off the Portobello Road)

1 quid for pamphlet about Holy Trinity Church

2 pounds 35 for half pint of beer

20 pounds for pub meal

25019 steps

10.28 miles

Bermondsey, Bankside and Victoria Embankment

Friday was a very full day spent on both sides of the river. The weather cooperated through the daylight hours and we got some great views of Westminster, the City and Southwark.

I started my day at White Cube Bermondsey to see an exhibition of women surrealists called Dreamers Awake. I hadn't read much about it beforehand and there was no text in the gallery to help me understand what each artist's intent was or how the pieces fit in the surrealism movement. What I saw were some disturbing images, a lot of genetalia and many dismembered body parts. Not my favourite exhibition of those I've seen this week.

Molly caught me up and we walked up to Borough Market for lunch, followed by a walk along Bankside under a warm September sun. This was the weather I was hoping for, not the dreary damp of earlier in the week.

We reached Westminster Pier for my friend Jen's guided walk, Beyond the Great Stink. Jen does her walks through a collective called Footprints of London, a group of qualified guides who give well-researched walks on a variety of topics in locations all across the capital. This walk was no exception. I had read the book The Great Stink, but the walk really did take my understanding beyond the miasma. I learned a lot about Joseph Bazalgette's engineering of the sewers and the Embankment. We saw 16th and 17th century watergates, which showed us just where the pre- Embankment Thames would have been, and peered through a grate where we saw a platform on the District line just a few meters below us, made possible once the river was contained.

As it was Friday Lates, we were able to go back to the south bank and spend time at Tate Modern, where we saw Soul of a Nation, an exhibition of black American artists' work from the 60s and 70s. It's a massive exhibition that covers many themes and perspectives on a turbulent time in American history, and it exposed me to scores of artists I didn't know of. If I lived here, I'd go back and see the exhibition a second time.

We also went to the observation deck on the new extension (great views) and had a look round the building and the tanks.

Stats:
4 pounds 50 for lunch
8 quid for walk
7 pounds 50 for Tate exhibition (50% off with Art Pass)
A fiver for dinner at Leon (not great but ok)

30041 steps
12.97 miles

Exploring

Thursday was my day to explore Stepney and Mile End. On each visit to London, I choose at least one area I don't know, do my reading and research before coming, and set out with map and camera to explore. I used a walk in Stephen Millar's series London's Hidden Walks for my guide. (I have all three volumes of the series and think the walks are great.) This walk starts at Whitechapel station and ends at Bow Church, but I knew I wouldn't do it all.

Along the way, I passed former breweries, hospitals, social housing, a workhouse, two Jewish cemeteries and various institutions of education and culture. Through the buildings and the geography, I saw the history of immigration to this part of the East End, as well as poverty and wealth, alcohol and temperance, work and home, life and death. One of my favourite stops was Stepney Green, with a lovely garden in the middle. Around the green are Georgian houses, two Victorian social housing blocks, some more recent social housing, the Stepney Jewish School and a sweet little memorial clock tower. Just a few meters from the busy, noisy Mile End Road. it's a green oasis of quiet.

I made it as far as the Green Bridge when I knew it was time to start making my way back to Spitalfields to meet Molly at 1:30, so I hopped the tube from Mile End to Whitechapel and worked my way northwest towards Hanbury and Pedley streets, passing Spitalfields City Farm as I walked along. My destination was the Nomadic Community Gardens in the derelict goods yard to the east of Shoreditch High Street station. With so much development going on in Shoreditch, mostly unaffordable residential tower blocks, my fear is always that I'll return to the East End one year to find a monstrosity on this site. Happily, for now, the local community has taken the land for gardening and other community use. I had a sit down at the Roving Cafe and ate tuna mayo on a bagel, then rushed to Bishop's Square to meet Molly under the white goat (only five minutes late).

I'd promised Molly we'd look at streetart around Brick Lane, but first we popped into the Bishopsgate Institute to use the loo and look at the library. After that, we zigzagged around for a couple hours, then had tea and a sit down at the Albion Cafe in Red Church Street. No time to walk round the Boundary Estate, but we did go over to Village Underground to see the latest streetart piece by Ben Eine, which is in tribute to the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Our final destination was the Walkietalkie, where I had booked us tickets for Sky Garden. We took in the view, had a drink and watched rain clouds move in from North London.

Stats:
£1.60 for cookies
£4 for lunch
£2.75 for tea
£3.20 for dinner (Sainsbury and M&S)
6 quid for a bottle of wine

30275 steps
13.33 miles

The Euston Road

Either the distance between points has gotten greater or I'm just not as speedy as I once was. Yesterday had me rushing from place to place in order to work everything in, but I managed to do it. Today's plan is probably overly ambitious given my slower mph, and I want to get an early start for my long walk on the Mile End Road, so this post will be brief.

Here's what I saw and did on Wednesday:

• Got to the Design Museum right when it opened. Saw two exhibitions -- Breathing Colour and California -- and took a quick look through the permanent collection. Also got a good look at the building, the former Commonwealth Institute, which is an amazing work of design.
• On to the V&A to see the Plywood exhibition and to look at the new entrance in Exhibition Road.
• Up to Regent's Park for the Frieze sculpture. Had to take shelter in the station to wait out a torrential downpour, then ducked under trees in the park as the sky changed from bright blue to stormy grey every five minutes. (Notice I have more to say about the weather than about the sculpture.)
• Met Molly and started our walk down the Euston Road. She likes Antony Gormley, so I promised I'd show her his four pieces along with the other public art I knew of between Regent's Park and King's Cross.
• Stopped in at the Wellcome Collection, one of my London favourite places, to see objects contributed by the public to represent their personal relationship with nature.
• Stopped at Platform 9 3/4 so Molly could get a snap of the punters getting their own snaps.
• Didn't make it up to Granary Square for a look around, but pointed out some of the refurbs and new development. I hadn't seen the buildings in the gasometers. Glad to see the beloved gasometers back in place, but not impressed with the look of the buildings. 
• Hopped the tube for the Barbican and walked to the Museum of London to hear the Gresham Lecture about the Thames by the bloke who used to be head of English Heritage. He told the history of the river through art, from the sixteenth century. Very interesting up to the end, when he covered the whole of the twentieth century with, "After the war, the Pool of London closed." No 20th century images. If he couldn't find a modern piece of art, I would have closed with a photo of the cranes lowering as Churchill's funeral barge passed, but I wasn't consulted.
• Back to Queen's Park for a pub meal at the Alice House.

Stats:

9 pounds for Design Museum exhibitions (50% off with Art Pass)

4 pounds 25 for quick lunch at EAT.

20 quid for dinner

23707 steps

10.17 miles

Art, Art and More Art

Tuesday was my day to be arty in central London. I arrived right on time to meet Judy at the Photographer's Gallery to see a large (all three floors of gallery space in the building) exhibition of large-format photos by Gregory Crewdson, called Cathedral of the Pines. The photos were all taken in Becket, Massachusetts, a town of about 2000 people in the Berkshires. Like all his work, these photos were highly staged, with great attention to detail, lighting and how people were posed. His aim was to depict intimate views of the working class residents of the town, in homes or in the landscape, and primarily in emotional and/or physical isolation. I had been looking forward to this exhibition and wanted to like it, but my overall impression was "meh." Less would have been more in this case.

We next moved on to two gallery shows, one recommended by a friend and one I had found on the ArtRabbit app. The recommended one was called Playground Structure and was at the Blain Southern Gallery in Hanover Square. A group exhibition of abstracts, all the pieces were in reference to or conversation with a large photo of a kiddies' climbing structure that formed various grids, lines and angles. Judy and I both enjoyed this show a lot.

Following the ArtRabbit app,  we wove our way around hoardings and heavy construction equipment to the nearby Ronchini Gallery to see work by Samantha Bittman, who combines weaving and painting to make vivid (and a bit eye-hurty) abstracts. Her technique is to first weave her pieces, I think in a jacguard pattern but I really don't know much about weaving, and then painting over some of the individual threads. I'm looking forward to showing photos to my friend Kay, a master weaver, who I'm sure will be able to explain it to me.

Zigging and zagging through Soho and Covent Garden, Judy delivered me at Somerset House, where I learned that the tour of the crypt was cancelled because the guide was ill. I tried to do the tour a few years back, but then too it was cancelled, that time due to flooding. So, we had a leisurely lunch that fueled me for my solo wanderings in the afternoon.

My Art Pass got me in free to the Courtauld Gallery, where I saw a small exhibition by the Bloomsbury Group and then meandered through much of the permanent collection.

Now in need of another sit down, I made my way to the Coliseum to meet Barbara for tea and a catch-up, which was lovely as always.

I had just enough time afterwards to pop into the NPG to see this year's BT Portrait Award exhibition and a very small exhibition of photos by the Douglas brothers before heading back to Queen's Park for a 7 pm Pilates mat class.

Back in my Airbnb, I heated up the mini quiche I bought Sunday at the farmers' market, then slept like a log.

Stats:
All the art was totally FREE
17 pounds for Pilates

24180 steps
10.52 miles

Camden Town, Highgate and Belsize Park

Monday was spent revisiting some old familiar places, while ticking off two more things I'd been meaning to do for a while. I arrived in Camden Town at 10 am, but needed to make a stop on my way to the Jewish Museum. My travel power strip/USB charger thing was acting up -- power kept going on and off, and it was feeling hot -- so I stopped at an electronics shop in Parkway, where I spent more than I wanted in order to charge my devices without burning down the flat.

I'm really interested in the history of the Jews in London, so had been meaning to go to the Jewish Museum. The special exhibition on Amy Winehouse, plus free entry on my Art Pass, moved it to the top of this year's list. The Amy exhibition, put together by her brother, centered on her childhood and teen years as well as her family history. It was fun (and sad) to see all the photos of her as a vibrant, healthy kid -- a nice Jewish girl from North London. The permanent exhibition was great, particularly the objects that people brought with them when they immigrated to Britain.

It was warm and sunny as I mooched around Camden Town, taking in Gloucester Crescent (where Alan Bennett had lived) and walked though Camden Lock Market and Stables Market for the first time in 10 years. It's crowded, expensive and overwhelming.

A quick tube ride got me to Archway, where I looked around in confusion among the multitude of bus stops before finding where to catch the 143 bus to Bisham Gardens. There, a short walk took me down the hill to the entrance to Highgate Cemetery where I met up with David to do the West Cemetery tour. I'd been to Highgate before, but only to the East Cemetery. Our guide was fantastic and I learned a lot about Victorian funereal motifs and about some of the people buried there. Just as the tour ended, the rain came pouring down, but we did manage to pop over to the East Cemetery to see Karl Marx, Elgar and a few other notable dead folks.

I then rode the C11 from Swain's Lane to Belsize Park, where I took refuge in a caff to wait out the rain. When it stopped, I meandered through some familiar streets and slowly made my way to the Finchley Road, where I had sushi for me suppa at the Udon Cafe. It was tasty and cheap.

Last thing on my itinerary was theatre -- a new play called Prism at the Hampstead Theatre in Swiss Cottage. It's about Jack Cardiff, a British cinematographer, who has dementia. Though I struggled a couple times to stay awake (due to my exhaustion, not because the play was dull) I thought it was witty, touching and well-acted.

The 187 took me back to Queen's Park, where I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

Stats:
33 pounds for 7 day zones 1-2 travel card
15 pounds for power adapter
Jewish Museum FREE with Art Pass
12 pounds Highgate Cemetery Tour
27 pounds for theatre ticket (Monday tix are the cheapest)
3 pounds 55 for falafel wrap at Cafe Nero
2 pounds 50 for tea at Gail's
5 pounds 80 for sushi for diner

26473 steps
10.93 miles

Don't Trust the Weather

I should know that by now, shouldn't I? I've always had such great weather in London in Septembers past, but it's let me down yesterday and today. Both days started out clear, bright and sunny, and both ended grey, wet and cold. Personally, l'd rather have the opposite and that's my hope for tomorrow. Whinge over.

During the bright and sunny part of today, I walked through Queen's Park (the actual park) before going to the farmers' market at the Salusbury Road Primary School. The park is a little green gem, with places for walking, running, doing some kind of fitness training, learning about trees, playing football, etc. There's a caff and a bandstand as well. I so envy the people who live close by. (There's also a Victorian cemetery near by, which makes this a prime location in my estimation.) My only complaint is that the squirrels and the kiddies got all the good conkers before I arrived.

At the market, I stocked up on all my favourites: goat cheese and veg pie, walnut and raisin bread, olive bread sticks. Also picked up a small roast veg quiche, tomatoes and a cucumber. I'm set for the next few days.

Then the adventures commenced. I got to tick off two places that had been on my list for yonks: Dulwich Picture Gallery and Eltham Palace. Thanks to Janie and David, and with mutual friend Judy, we got to see both (which probably wouldn't have been doable on public transport) AND we had a scrumptious lunch at an Italian family restaurant in leafy, lovely Dulwich.

The Picture Gallery is the first purpose-built public art gallery in the world. The building, designed by Sir John Soane, contains the tombs of its two founders in a small mausoleum smack in the middle. A bit creepy, but a good way to ensure they aren't forgotten. We did a quick look round the permanent collection of masterpieces by old masters.

Eltham Palace, once owned or visited by kings and queens since the middle ages, was a bit of a wreck when acquired by the Courtaulds in the 1920s. They restored the Tudor great hall, where Henry VIII had wined and dined, and they built their own home adjoining the hall. I'm not sure what to call the style of the exterior, as it's neither faux Tudor nor contemporary. Where they really expressed their style was with the Art Deco interiors, full of fantastic woodwork and all the mod cons of the 1930s. Built at a time when most Brits lacked indoor toilets, this was truly a Palace of Plumbing. During the Courtaulds' occupancy, they frequently held swanky parties with celebs and jazz bands. The gardens are supposed to be lovely as well, but the weather was not conducive to strolling through them on our visit. We did get to see the wall of the Tudor moat that surrounded the palace and that was pretty impressive.

Stats:
Spent about 12 quid at the farmers' market
Dulwich Picture Gallery FREE with my 10 pound Art Pass
Treated to lunch -- thank you, David and Janie!!
Eltham Palace FREE with Art Pass

17516 steps
7.23 miles

The Aer Lingus Experiment​

I'm declaring it a success for the following reasons:
1) Fare to London from Hartford is really not much more than from Boston
2) Bradley Airport (Hartford) is significantly closer than Logan (Boston) to my house
3) Convinced an OAP to give me rides to/from Bradley, saving cost of parking in the MassPort Framingham lot and Logan Express bus fare
4) Here's where it really gets good: Going through immigration/passport control in Dublin at 4:30 in the morning was quick and easy. No landing card to fill out and no queue to speak of. Landed at Heathrow as an EU flight into Terminal 2. No passport check whatsoever. Just got my luggage at baggage reclaim and went on my way.

The only downside was that I only got two hours of sleep on the flight before waking up to the announcement that we would soon be landing in Dublin. Consequently, I've been even more dazed and confused on arrival day than usual, but I managed it by sticking close to familiar territory.

I arrived at my AirB&B (which is lovely and comfortable) by 11 am, unpacked, took a shower and was out the door by 12:30. I'm staying 3 short blocks from Roger's old flat. I headed up the Harrow Road to Ha'Penny Steps, crossed the canal and cut through Meanwhile Gardens (the site of my yarnbombing a few years back), then down through Golborne Road and Portobello Road markets. A bus ride took me to Bayswater where I got my UK sim card at the EE store. From there, I walked through Kensington Gardens under sunny, blue skies (though it had rained when I was eyeing the street food at Acklam Road) to the Serpentine Gallery. Friends David and Janie got there seconds after me and we queued for Grayson Perry's Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Lots of great recent stuff to see -- ceramics, tapestries, gigantic wood cut prints, sculptures made of assorted bits and bobs, a bicycle and a motorcycle -- all witty, satirical, biting and astute social commentary. Judging from the number of people and the enjoyment they exuded, I'd say the exhibition lives up to its name.

After, I took a quick look in the Serpentine Sackler, but I was really too knackered to take it in, so I walked north (in real rain at that point) out of Hyde Park, back to Bayswater, onto two buses that took forever to arrive, and to the Coop in the Harrow Road to buy something for me evening meal. I'm going to force myself to stay awake until 10 pm so I can get a good night sleep and awake fully on GMT, or BST, or whatever time it is here.

Stats:
20 pounds to top up Oyster
15 pounds for sim card and 30 day package
2 pounds for Portuguese custard tart
65p for water
1 pound 50 for Grayson Perry postcards
20p to use the loo in Kensington Gardens
12 pounds 50 for various groceries

18489 steps
7.61 miles

Deja vu

Here I am again today with another post. And there I was today, pretty much replaying Sunday of last year.
Sundays always start with a walk up to the farmers' market in the playground of the Salusbury Road Primary School in Queen's Park. I'd been thinking that I would leave from this trip without a veg pie from Pieminister, as I hadn't been near a market or shop where I could buy one. But I found a pie vendor at the farmers' market today who had a sweet potato, goat's cheese and red onion pie -- same as the Pieminister's Heidi pie without the spinach. So, that will be my dinner tonight.

Roger needed to go to school to work on something or other, so I went on my own to the White Cube in Bermondsey, walking down many of the same streets we walked last year when I was without a camera. This time, I was able to take lots of snaps of the interesting old warehouses, the leather exchange, and some wicked old houses. The exhibition at the White Cube was pretty good (I'll add links later) and I had fun taking photos of people taking photos of themselves and their mates with the art.

Last year, we zigzaged east and north to the river. This year, I went west and north, stopping in at St George the Martyr, which was open today, unlike years ago when I did my Dickens in Southwark walk. St George's is next to the site of the Marshalsea Prison, which Dickens' father did time for his debts, and is where Little Dorritt was married. I walked again past the garden and social housing in Redcross Way that was established by Octavia Hill, the social reformer, and past Crossbones Graveyard, where many prostitutes and outcasts were buried without the rites of the church. The community is building a little garden next to Crossbones Graveyard, but I could only get a glimpse through the locked gate.

I followed Bankside from Southwark Bridge west to Tate Modern, where I used the loo and took a look at the latest installation in the Turbine Hall, due to officially open on Tuesday. It's called "Empty Lot" and it looks like an allotment with triangular-shaped raised beds filled with dirt. Nothing growing but the occasional weed. Maybe they've planted seeds and the installation will grow during the time its there.

My next mission was to walk up and down Theed and Roupell streets, both of which contain small Georgian terrace houses, with unchanged exteriors, that date from the 1830s. Roupell Street shows up in scads of tv programmes and movies, and Theed Street is used for exterior shots of Chummy and Constable Noakes' house in "Call the Midwife." So, just like last year, my final photos (when I ever get around to posting them) will be related to the midwives.
I was really knackered at that point, so I headed back to the flat to eat my pie and pack.

Expenses:
£3 for veg pie
£1.35 for an olive bread stick
£1 for some falafel
65 p for Lockets (like Hall's throat lozenges) for my slightly sore throat
23,117 steps, 9.59 miles

Graves, buses and street art

I'm starting to wind down and my stamina is waning. But I'm pushing on, albeit at a slower pace. Saturday morning, while Roger went to the gym and did errands, I opted to skip mat class in favor of doing a bunch of stretching exercises before taking a long, leisurely walk up to Paddington Cemetery in Queen's Park. I actually passed the Pilates Studio on the way and felt a bit guilty about not being inside for class, but the cemetery was calling to me. I do love me a good graveyard. Although this one isn't counted among the Magnificent Seven, it dates from about the same time and, though small, has all the elements that I think make for an excellent cemetery ramble -- a central avenue leading to a derelict funeral chapel, wooded side paths, overgrown spots and broken headstones, interesting Victorian monuments, angels (at least one of them weeping), and -- something I hadn't seen in the grander graveyards -- iron bootscrapers and toilets. I made use of both.

The cemetery looks close to the Queen's Park station (about a 12 minute walk from the flat) on the map, but the only way into it is on the furthest corner. So, by the time I got back to the flat I'd already logged over 3 miles on my Fitbit. Roger and I had some lunch and then headed out to the East End via Westbourne Park station. Across from the station is the Westbourne Park bus garage, where TfL houses, washes and repairs hundreds of buses. One of their occasional vintage bus days was going on in the yard, where they had on display an omnibus that had been repurposed during World War I as a troop carrier or something (painted a khaki color), a late 1930s prototype double decker that didn't go into production until after World War II, and a 1950s era double decker. I'm sure that the bus enthusiasts among my followers will have more info to add once I post the pix.

From Liverpool Street station, we wandered along Brick Lane, taking various side streets to check out new street art. Along the way, we ran into FIVE street art walking tours, something I'd never encountered before. I hadn't roamed  around this area for two years, and at every turn I saw some new, horrid development that was complete or in process, including the old fruit and wool exchange building in Brushfield Street that's currently being demolished to make way for another abomination. Lots and lots of trendy clothing stores and cafes catering to the Hoxton hipster types have opened up. I don't have so much of a problem with that, as the shops are occupying existing storefronts, but there are now very few shops of any kind that meet the needs of the long-time residents of the area. Tons of expensive flats are being built for yuppies and wealthy international students. Unless the pace of development is slowed by the new mayor, whoever that turns out to be, I won't recognize the area at all in another two year's time.

We stopped into the Howard Griffin Gallery to see Pablo Delgado's exhibition, and then had a drink at the Old Blue Last, a pub that still appears as gritty as it would have 50 years ago, but was full of hipsters.

We ended the day up in Belsize Park, where we met up with Greg and Esther and then walked up to Hampstead to that great little French bistro where we've eaten before. I had the trout, and it was lovely.

Today (Sunday) we'll go up to the farmers' market at the Salusbury Road Primary School and then I'm off on my own while Roger does some school work. I'm thinking I'll go down to the White Cube in Bermondsey and then mooch along Bankside as I haven't seen enough of the Thames this week. This evening I'll be packing and then out the door early Monday for my flight. Not sure if I'll get another dispatch written until I'm home.

Expenses:
£1.25 donation to St John's Ambulance at the vintage bus event
£1 for cookie at the Town House gallery and cafe in Fournier Street
£22 for dinner
25,228 steps, 10.42 miles

Two friends, another walk and more art

My faithful readers will remember the second Friday of my 2014 visit, the day my camera died as I was taking a long walk through Poplar to Trinity Buoy Wharf. This year, a fortuitous opportunity to return to Trinity Buoy wharf fell into my lap. I'd found out several months ago that Wilton's Music Hall sponsors a free, weekly Friday walk to somewhere in the Tower Hill/Tower Hamlets area. I'd wanted to join the walk during this visit, and I signed up without knowing where they'd be going on 9 Oct. My Flickr and Facebook friend Kathy saw my post that I was planning to do this, and since she'd never seen Wilton's, she was keen to go along. We then found out the destination would be Trinity Buoy Wharf (via DLR, not walking the entire way), which Kathy had also never seen and I was robbed of my chance to photograph last year.

So, out the door I went at 8:10 am, arriving right at 9:20 when we were told to assemble. The group walked to Shadwell station and boarded the DLR for Canning Town. Our guide for the walk was Alan, an artist who knows the area well. It's not easy to reach Trinity Buoy Wharf, as it's always been an isolated spit of land between the River Lea and the Thames. Alan told us that part of the area had been called Bog Island in the 19th century, and of the 140 kids who attended the local school, 100 shared the same surname.

When we got to the wharf, we were met by David, who works for TBW and was there to give us a tour of the lighthouse, normally only open at the weekend, where there's a sound installation of Indian bowl music that's on a loop that will not repeat for 1000 years. The narrow steps up to the top of the lighthouse were a bit scary, but worth the anxiety as the views were great -- the O2, Canary Wharf, and parts of Poplar.  Instead of the usual free tea and cake back at Wilton's at the end of the walk, we were encouraged to make a donation to the lighthouse and to purchase something at the little caff (the one where Jen, Jane, Malcolm and I had lunch last year). Kathy and I got food and tea, and we were joined by an older gent who was on the walk. Quite a talker he was, and we ended up getting a late start back to Canning Town. The walk was a good fun, and Kathy and I will do it again next year.

The Jubilee line took me from Canning Town to Green Park. A short walk from there, I met my friend Judy at the Royal Academy to see the Ai Weiwei exhibition. It's popular exhibition, and a bit crowded, but no school kiddies. Photos were allowed (Judy said that Ai Weiwei encourages people to photograph his work and post it on social media) and happily I didn't see one single selfie stick. I'm not sure if the sticks were expressly banned or if the RA just draws a crowd that isn't obsessed with selfies.

We then took the 14 bus to the Victoria and Albert, got some lunch nearby, and walked up to the Serpentine Gallery and this year's Serpentine Pavilion. We both agreed that this year's pavilion is a good one. I liked it better than last year's pod, but not as much as the cloud pavilion in 2013. We had a good time taking photos before checking out the exhibitions in both of the galleries.

Next, we strolled back down Exhibition Road to the V&A to see the Tower of Babel. (I'll add a link when I get home, or you can Google it in the meantime.) The artist spent two years on his bicycle, photographing shops -- from chicken shops to nail salons to hardware stores to fancy places like Harrod's -- and then worked with ceramicists to transfer the photos onto 3-dimensional ceramic blocks. The shops, some 3000 of them, were then stacked in a hierarchical tower, with the lowly ones at the bottom and the chic boutiques at the top. The individual shops are for sale on his website, starting at 95 pounds and going up to several hundred pounds each. Judy saw a man who was choosing several of them to purchase. I'd love to have one, but I think cost and logistics are prohibitive.

After a sit-down, Judy needed to head back home. Since Roger was going to be out at Sadler's Wells, I figured I'd do some of the Friday Lates (many of the museums stay open late on some or all Friday evenings). The Natural History Museum's lates is the last Friday of the month, but I had just enough time before closing to walk around inside for a bit (I'd never been in, but had seen it in photos and movies, most recently in Paddington Bear). Then I went to the Science Museum next door -- the Media Space, which is generally of interest only to adults, stays open till 10 on Fridays. I saw two photography exhibitions. The first was a large exhibition of the work of Alec Soth, an American documentary photographer. He takes large-format photos of American people and landscapes. In style, his landscapes were portrait-like, and his portraits all told something of the time and place that the people inhabited. Somewhat distressing and depressing, all beautifully done. I also saw an exhibition of the photos of Julia Margaret Cameron, who did portrait photography in the mid-nineteenth century. These were also moody and evocative.

My energy was fading, so I nixed my plan to go back to the V&A for the Fabric of India exhibition and/or back to the Serpentine Pavilion for some night photos. Instead, I got the tube and the a bus back to the Harrow Road, picked up some soup and rolls at the Coop, and went back to the flat for dinner, another episode of Outnumbered, and sleep.

Expenses:
£1.25 donation to the Trinity Buoy Wharf lighthouse (all the change I had at the time)
£3 bagel with hummus at the caff
£6.30 for the Alec Soth exhibition
£4 for my dinner food plus Hobnobs and Gingernuts to take home with me
27,223 steps, 11.67 miles

Gallery, gallery, gallery, cuppa, gallery, walk, walk

I just walked in the door after a very long, full day and I have to be up and out early tomorrow, so this post will be brief. My day, distilled down to the essential info, included:

• The Photographers' Gallery: Burden of Proof exhibition. Very interesting, often powerful, though the bit about the Shroud of Tourin could have been left out.

• Got take-away lunch from a place in Newman Street called Caffix, where everything they have on offer costs 1 pound. Got quinoa salad and curried lentils and chickpeas -- yummy. Ate sitting on a sunny bench in Soho Square.

• White Cube Gallery: exhibition of textile art, including quilts, embroidery, some carpets and a couple knitted pieces. A mixed bag.

• Walked up The Mall, saw the tacky Queen Mum memorial and the grave of Giro the German dog.

• National Portrait Gallery: Faces of Britain exhibition. Really well curated and well worth seeing.

• Tea and catching up with Barbara. Lovely time, as always.

• Wallace Collection: old masters, old furniture, old china, old armor. I liked the room with all the paintings of Venice.

• Roamed around, got two samosas in the foodhall at Selfridges, walked through Grosvenor Square (ugly American edifice) and Mount Street Gardens (a beautiful, peaceful spot with benches, palm trees and birds) and up to Cavendish Square.

• Guided walk: Sherlock Holmes in Marylebone with Jen as our guide. A very well-planned, interesting and amusing walk that kept us moving, pondering and deducing the entire time. 

• Beer with Jen and Malcolm and a few others who came on the walk.

• Bakerloo back to Queen's Park. Knackered. Good night.

Expenses:
£2 for lunch
£2.90 for samosas
£10 for Footprints of London walk
31,773 steps, 13.64 miles (I believe that's a personal best)

The Magnificent Seventh

It was a bit misty yesterday when I walked up to Queen's Park for the 10 a.m. mat class at the Pilates studio, but it had stopped by the time I finished class. I checked the weather report when I nipped back to the flat to change my clothes, and the forecast said rain would be ending by 11:45. I also checked Citymapper, which said that the earlier signal failure that was disrupting service on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines was cleared. Both were wrong.

I waited nearly 15 minutes on the platform at Westbourne Park and took the first eastbound train that came along, unfortunately a Circle line train that got me only as far as Liverpool Street. But the walk from there to the Whitechapel Gallery wasn't really that much further than had I gotten the H & C to Aldgate East, and I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich along the way.

At the gallery, I looked at some of the Emily Jacir exhibition, entitled "Europa" -- I saw parts of the large section on the assassination in Rome of Palestinian writer Wael Zuaiter by Mossad agents in 1972, and  "stazione" (something she did for the 2009? Biennale in which she added Arabic lettering to the names of many of the vaporetto stops in Venice as a way of highlighting the connections between Venice and the Arab world -- the work wasn't completed because it was deemed too controversial or dangerous or something). I also saw part 1 (three more parts will come over the next year or so) of Arabic art from the collection of the Barjeel Art Foundation -- modern works (1900-1968) by artists from Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. In the small children's gallery was a bittersweet exhibition called "The Name of Fear." A Brazilian artist had asked London school kids to tell her what they feared, and she made a series of capes of fabric and other materials, with lettering spelling out the fears such as "strangers," "the end of the world," "nightmares" and "biscuit crumbs."

When I left the gallery, the mist had returned, but I was still optimistic that it would pass. But it was my optimism that passed, for it was coming down steadily by the time I reached Brockley station and my walk to the gates of Nunhead Cemetery was a soggy one. There I met up with David and Janie, who for the second year have very generously accompanied me as I tick off another of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Nunhead sits on a hill, with a view of the tall buildings at the Elephant & Castle visible in the distance, framed by the trees and the cemetery gates. There's a lovely ruin of a funeral chapel (not quite as creepy as the one at Abney Park) and winding, tree-lined paths around the (mostly) Victorian gravesites. The gloomy day certainly made for an atmospheric stroll among the headstones. We found a couple of the noted memorials -- one to the nine boy scouts who were drowned in boating accident on their way to a camping trip in 1912, and the other a massive tomb in a Greek or Turkish style (David will know, as he recognized the shape) of someone named John Allan. So now, I've done all seven of the great Victorian cemeteries. It's taken me only ten years to do it!

Damp and in need of refreshment, we then headed for the Ivy House, a nearby pub that was saved from developers when locals had it declared a community asset and developed a share-based funding scheme in order to purchase it. I'd heard an episode of the Londonist Out Loud podcast about the pub, which was a popular music venue in the 70s and 80s. Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer all played there. Just as we were walking to the pub, a line of about 30 school kids and their minders marched up the pavement and right in the pub door. We followed. The kiddies were headed to the back room with a little stage where they took part in an after school program of arts and theatre. We got 1/2 pints and crisps and settled into a booth in the other back room, a room with booths, tables, dark wood paneling and a fireplace (not lit, alas). Soon, some girls about 10 years old came into that room for their dance class. It was great to see the pub being used to fill the needs of the community in this way. I'll have to listen to the podcast again, but I seem to remember that different adult groups meet there during the day. The pub really functions as the community's living room, something we'd never see happen in America, unfortunately.

By the time we left, the rain had stopped for good and it looks like I'll have good weather (cool but dry) for the rest of my visit. Thanks again to David and Janie. Next year, we'll go to Highgate.

Expenses:
£15 for Pilates class
80 p for two biscuits on my way to Westbourne Park station
18,961 steps, 7.91 miles

Venice

Up until now, the closest I'd ever gotten to Venice -- or to Italy, for that matter -- was the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas with the fake canals and gondolas. The real Venice is much better.
We arrived from London at about noon on Saturday, and were met at arrivals by Cia-cia, who would be our shepherd at various times throughout our stay in Venice. Cia-cia (real name Paolo Martinuzzi) is a retired river taxi driver, who is a great friend of the parents of one of Roger's students. He picked us up at the airport in his friend's water taxi and dropped us off at the Arsenale vaporetto stop, where we were met by the young woman who showed us to the flat that Roger had rented for our stay. It was a 2-minute walk to the flat in Calle de Pestrin, in Castello and very near the venues for the Biennale where we planned to spend a lot of time looking at art (weird, edgy, inexplicable, all of the above). Anyway, Cia-cia will return in this story and will be a central figure in our Venetian experience.
So, on Saturday afternoon, we mooched around the Arsenale venue of the Biennale. Some of the art was cool, but a lot of it seemed pretty pretentious and selfindulgent. I was just happy to actually be inside the Arsenale and see the architecture of the place, which is normally inaccessible except during the Biennale. This is where, for centuries, the great ships of the Venetian navy were made by incredible craftsmen.  At its peak time of operation, there were 16,000 skilled craftsmen working in the Arsenale, turning out a boat a week.
I really wanted to see the Jewish Ghetto more than almost anything in Venice, so that was our destination for Sunday morning.  First, we bought 2-day vaporetto tickets and headed up the Grand Canal. A short walk took us into the ghetto, where we saw the 6-storey houses (because the area was so confined, there was no where to go but up, and even then families had to sleep in shifts for lack of room) and the oldest pawn broker shop in Europe (or the world, I forget which). The pawn broker was Banko Rosso, which issued red receipts for goods, hence the term "in the red."
From there, we wandered along various canals which were blissfully devoid of tourists until we reached Fondamenta Nove vaporetto stop, where we got the water bus to San Pietro and then walked down to the Giardini venue of the Biennale. More weird, edgy, inexplicable art, but a few things were incredibly cool. Stay tuned for photo evidence, which will eventually turn up on my Ipernity photo site. Just as we were leaving at around 6 pm, we got caught in a torrential downpour, which turned out to be the only truly crap weather we had. We waited out the worst of it back at the flat, where I used the hairdryer to dry off my only pair of slacks, until the rain let up and we wandered out for dinner, finding a lovely trattoria near the flat.
Monday was our day on Cia-cia's speed boat, being shown around wherever we wanted to go, all as a treat from Roger's student's parents. Cia-cia and his co-pilot Tony met us at 10 at the dock by San Giorgio Maggiore. We boated from there to Murano, where Roger and I got out to visit a glass foundry and to mooch around the island for a little bit. The next stop was Torcello, where we saw an amazing Byzantine church with a huge mosaic depicting the last judgment. Then, on to Mazzororbo for an incredible three-course al fresco lunch -- sardines, risotto, sole, eel, lots of prosecco, dessert and espresso. Roger and I staggered from there over a bridge to Burano, were we gawped at the multi-colored houses and then met the boat for the ride back to San Giorgio.
I can't believe that we had room for more food after that lunch, but we did venture out in the evening to a great place for pizza. We had enough strength to stop in St Mark's Square for a bit before our exhausted, sated bodies fell into our beds beds back at the flat. During the night, I was attacked by mosquitoes and woke up with blood blotches, but thankfully no hangover.
Today -- our last day -- Roger and I each went out early to explore on our own for a bit. I wanted to find the spiral staircase at Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo. I reckon I hadn't walked five minutes from the flat before making a wrong turn. Instead of going west, I found myself at the magnificent entrance to the Arsenale, which was east of where I started. A happy mistake, for sure, because I got to see the lions that guard the entry.  Somehow, I made my way back westward, finding the church of San Zaccaria (I didn't go in because early mass was going on) and then to St Mark's Square, where I found Roger. We worked our way in the direction of Palazzo Contarini, but Roger decided to head back on his own, perhaps not trusting my ability to find it or just how cool it would be to see. I zigged and zagged, found some signs, and then found the Palazzo as the rain started to fall. But I got my photo op and the satisfaction of mission accomplished.
Cia-cia then picked us up in the water taxi at the Arsenale vaporetto stop and delivered us to the airport in plenty of time for the return flight to London. Did I see all that there was to seen in Venice? No, not by a long shot. But I saw some of the iconic places, wandered off into places where few tourist venture, and had a great time. I will return.
Expenses:
250 euros, including lodging, meals, Biennale, vaporetto 2 day ticket, etc.
About £44 for Gatwick Express for Roger and me
£32.10 for 7-day travel card on my Oyster card when we got back to Victoria Station today
Steps:
Saturday -- 19,731 steps, 8.18 miles
Sunday -- 22,110 steps, 9.11 miles
Monday -- 20,225 steps, 8.33 miles
Tuesday -- 14,645 steps, 6.13 miles

I'm Baaack

Here I am, back in Blighty. I've brought my bluetooth keyboard.  It's  pain in the arse to type on, so I reckon my blog posts are going to be shorter than they've been in the past. This is all because I don't have unlimited access to the desktop computer at Roger's flat, but that's a whole 'nother story and I'm not going into it.

I flew over in steerage on British Air and spent at least an hour this morning in the immigration queue at the UK border. But once I cleared that, it was easy-peasy to grab my bag and get on the tube to Paddington via Hammersmith (I hadn't changed there before, but opted for a route with step-free access). I topped up my Oyster card at the news agent on Praed Street (because it was a step-free alternative to the in-station machine), got on the #36 bus, and was at Roger's flat about 9:45 am, too late to take a Pilates mat class, but plenty of time for exploring.

My adventures today took me to some new places and some old. I took the 187 bus to somewhere in Maida Vale and walked down through Lisson Grove. My first stop was the old aeroworks factor (now luxury flats, natch), which is a lovely art deco building. As I was snapping photos of the facade with the fantastic deco airplanes and Egyptian deco columns,  a nice middle-aged gent in a high-vis vest saw me with my camera and chatted me up about the building and how very few people even notice it.

The next stop was another new-to-me destination -- Church Street. I mooched around the street market and the antique shops before getting a sandwich at Tesco Metro, which I ate in a nearby park. Then on to the Lisson Gallery for an interesting gallery show called Fieldworks (link to come when I figure out how to do that with this keyboard). At Edgware Road, I went in search of the Joe Strummer Subway (found it) and the Subway Gallery (no luck there, I think it's closed). From there, the number 18 bus took me to the Wellcome Collection, one of my all-time favorite places for interesting, albeit strange, exhibitions. This one was by Alice Anderson, who explores how we make memories through her use of fine copper wire to "mummify" various mundane and/or iconic objects, such as a Mustang car chassis, plasma tv, various tools and electronic devices. I thought about doing an hour stint helping to mummify stuff with wire, but decided I needed to push on.

The Crypt Gallery in St Pancras Parish Church was my next stop. On my way there, a German or Dutch couple asked me for directions to their hotel in Tavistock Place, and I was able to help them out. The exhibition was kinetic sculpture/installations that came to life -- with lights, gunfire noises and Germanic (Nazi?) voices -- and made a lot of racket. Things in that gallery space are always hit or miss. I'd say this was somewhere in between.

Pushing on, as my aching back was improving from Advil and arnica, I went to King's Cross Station in search of Harry Potter kitch for my Pilates instructor's 6-year-old son. I thought I'd just be able to walk up to platform 9 3/4 and take a snap. No! There was a queue of at least 50 people, waiting for their photo op. I waited at the side for the interval between two selfie-seekers and got a quick photo. Next, I managed to get in and out of the shop with a Griffendor patch in less than 5 minutes. Online pre-shopping is the way to go.

Why I decided to push on from there, rather than doing  hasty retreat back to Maida Hill, is beyond me. I was drawn to a structure behind King's Cross that said "Viewing Platform" on the side. The views were of all the development -- tons since I'd last been there. I was hoping to see the gasometer being reconstructed, or where the swimming pond is, but if they were there, I couldn't find them. What I did have was a nice chat with a uni student from Tanzania who is studying fashion at University of East London. They have Fridays off for sports day, but he and his mates were exploring the town instead.

Now I'm back at the flat and about to eat dinner.

Expenses:
£25 to top up Oyster
£1 for lunch
£5 for Harry Potter patch
20,876 steps, 8.59 miles