London gave us a warm welcome. Maybe a little too warm, as the 100+ degree temperatures on our first two days of exploration made me realize how much I took for granted two essential things that England seems to be in short supply of: water fountains and air conditioning.
Despite the high temperatures, we powered on, making our way through London’s political and legal centers. For Charles Dickens, we started where he ended. His body lies in Westminister Abbey, marked with a simple dark stone. We took a tour, partially motivated by the idea of seeing the abbey and also drawn in by the promise of air conditioning. It was absolutely incredible, with beautiful stained glass windows and intricate carvings.
I was fascinated by the fact that Dickens is buried mere meters away from the very political figures that essentially ran the country he commented on. At the beginning of the second book of A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens takes some time to describe Tellson’s Bank. He paints it as a small, stuffy, unattractive place, and he uses this description to provide insight into England in the year 1780. Based on my observations from this past week, his critique of England’s old-fashioned ways remains true to this day; however, remnants of the old are not-so-smoothly blended with reflections of our modern era.
On a surface level, ornate palaces and buildings line the streets, intermixed with modern architectural feats like the Gherkin. Walking down the streets feels like walking through centuries of construction and reconstruction. Lloyd’s Bank, which has been around for hundreds of years, is housed in a building that closely resembles the hi-tech style of the Centre Pompidou in Paris: All the guts of the building are on the outside, and the entire building is done in exposed steel.
We spent our second day in “legal” London. Walking past the Old Bailey, I could imagine the many trials that took place there, including the fictional trial of Charles Darnay. Jerry Cruncher would have walked in to deliver the note to Mr. Lorry, and Lucie and Dr. Manette would have sat inside as witnesses to the Darnay’s alleged crimes. Once again, it was quite interesting to see such an old establishment in a buzzing international metropolis. This is a place where people used to be sent to Tyburn to be hanged if found guilty, and now they’re being tried for modern crimes.
From there, we made our way to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which is officially my new favorite restaurant name. Not exactly my favorite restaurant, but the inside was incredible to see. The hard wooden benches, antique paintings, and creaky wooden floors helped me envision Charles Dickens coming here back in the day. Although I did not take a picture with the plaque marking the space that was supposedly his favorite seat in the pub, I was able to photograph the original copy of A Tale of Two Cities enclosed in a glass case. It was even turned to page 54, the exact page where Sydney Carton and Darnay go for a drink at a pub. According to the path Dickens describes them taking from the Old Bailey to the pub, the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is predicted to be the pub in question.
With Wednesday came overcast skies and a drizzle of rain. I was glad to finally have a slice of what I expect when I think about London weather. Ducking into a side street on our walk, we looked at an old inn where coaches would have stopped to transport passengers. Seeing this old inn helped me envision what Mr Lorry’s journey by coach might have been like. In true London fashion, the juxtaposition between the old and the new could be seen there. A brightly colored sign describing upcoming events for this summer stands in front of this 17th-century inn.
Later on in the day, we made our way over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the current site of Temple Bar. It was an odd sight to stumble upon Temple Bar—a historic structure that once stood on the Strand—wedged between two random buildings. I could just barely get a glimpse into the room atop the archway, which used to be a bookkeeping room for a bank. This suggests that Dickens might have used the bank that occupied this space as inspiration for Tellson’s. After all, his vivid descriptions indicate a high level of detail that appears based on truth.
On Thursday, we truly dove into Dickens as an author. We started off at Jarndyce, an antique bookstore specializing in 19th-century texts. I was shocked to see that these precious first editions and rare books were not locked up, but rather exposed to curious hands. Being able to flip through an original copy of A Tale of Two Cities felt like touching history. As we all took pictures with our modern phones, I was once again reminded of how sharply the old and the new are contrasted here.
We continued on to the Charles Dickens Museum on 48 Doughty Street. More of a house rather than a museum, I loved walking through the halls where he walked and passing the desk where he worked on his novels.
Prior to watching Les Mis at the theater, we walked around Soho Square and located what is believed to have been the inspiration for the Manette house. We also discovered that the alleyway behind it is now aptly named Manette Street. Walking by, I could hear the footsteps of those who walked around us, similar to the many footsteps heard in the novel.
Stepping into Dennis Severs’ House on Friday afternoon, I got a final glimpse of modernity mixing with history. Everything in the house looked so recent yet so old. The duvet on the bed was untidy, as if someone had just woken up and left the room. All the food at the table was real, and someone had taken two bites out of the piece of toast. Finding our way back out of the house through the candlelight, we exited onto the street and back into the modern world.
As we begin to explore Paris in a few days, I’m curious to see if there will be such a significant contrast between the old and the new. Will skyscrapers cast shadows over 17th and 18th-century architecture? Will modern companies occupy ornate and historical buildings? I look forward to finding the answers to these questions as we dig deeper into A Tale of Two Cities next week.
