Buckingham Palace - the flag was raised, meaning the King was home!
Exploring London for the first time was a delight! I found myself in a (mildly) strange land where I knew the language, but not the culture – it was an interesting dichotomy, one that I was excited to unravel.
Monday found us in the heart of London, focused on highlighting the power structures in Britain and the visible evidence of them within the city’s infrastructure. As can be imagined, we saw sites such as Buckingham Palace and Big Ben and Parliament Square, but we also got a look into the more behind-the-scenes, if you will, examples of power structures in London. As we strolled down streets like Pall Mall and Savile Row, home to traditional gentlemen's clubs and tailoring services, I was interested to learn about the way these more ordinary places were often sites of covert political agreements and discussions. Not an official signing into law, of course, but agreements, handshakes, and negotiations between wealthy men that had a say in the politics of the times. These underground power structures likely decided a lot of political decisions, and it was fascinating to see such wealth so casually on display.
This first day also found us exploring Westminster Abbey. I wasn’t sure what to expect–I didn’t even know it was a church–but the high, vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and immense history blew me away. In Poets’ Corner, I stumbled upon name after name: Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, T.S. Eliot, Handel, Shakespeare, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, and, of course, Charles Dickens. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the power structures in place–the fame these writers achieved to have their names forever cemented in such a historic place.
Inside Westminster Abbey
"Defend the Children of the Poor & Punish the Wrongdoer"
Tuesday plunged us into the Second Book of A Tale of Two Cities. We stood outside Old Bailey, the oldest criminal courthouse in London, and the words engraved on the side of the building sent a chill down my spine. There we stood, where Darnay was on trial for treason, and later we ate lunch just down the street at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where he went after he was acquitted. Sitting in the small pub that Dickens frequented, everyone around me eating fish and chips–I felt truly immersed into Dickensian London. Later that day, we reached the former site of Temple Bar, where Tellson’s Bank was located, and the stuffiness of the area could be felt in the air. We went through a winding path, and suddenly found ourselves in the Temple and adjoining areas. No longer were we on the busy streets of London; we were in the quiet, serene gardens, the Temple Church, and surrounded by gorgeous brick buildings. This was a different kind of power displayed here – one of tremendous wealth, yes, but in legalities rather than the political sphere. That being said, there is no doubt that the men of the Middle and Inner Temples also had political sway back in the 1800’s.
On Wednesday, we saw a lot of cool locations: the Globe Theatre, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the London Bridge and Millenium Bridge. We tracked down Temple Bar, which had been relocated near St. Paul’s Cathedral, and our imaginations flourished as we tried to picture how the severed heads used to be placed on the structure. (Yes, heads.) The highlight of my day was eating a meat pie, not on Fleet Street, but at Borough Market, a massive outdoor food market. The market did not have many seating options available, so I sat on the curb of Stoney Street, eating my pie, feeling akin to a Victorian child. To my shock and awe, it was pretty decent.
Temple Bar - Where do you think the heads would have been placed?
Bloomsbury, the neighborhood we were staying in, was Thursday’s adventure. Seeing first edition copies of A Tale of Two Cities in Jarndyce, copies that were pasted together using the chapters that had been published in magazines, was quite spectacular. The flow of the novel–its cliffhangers and sometimes seemingly unrelated chapters–made so much sense when seeing that novel that had been, quite literally, pieced together from its separate parts.
Charles’ Dickens desk, at which he wrote A Tale of Two Cities
That day, we also explored the Charles Dickens Museum, his former house on Doughty Street, a mere thirteen minute walk from our flats. Standing in front of the massive wooden desk at which he wrote A Tale of Two Cities, among other novels, was a memorable moment for me. The power that desk held overwhelmed me. The people it has seen, the works it has contributed to. The dark, brown wood, strong and holding up over time, contained so much history in it – much like London itself.
The sheer amount of history that the city held within its boundaries quite honestly overwhelmed me a bit. I have never traveled outside of North America, and, for most of my life, the oldest buildings I’d ever seen were the skyscrapers of Chicago, most of them rebuilt after the fire in 1871. My first few days, the city’s layout reminded me immensely of Boston–my only frame of reference for a city like London. The buildings were shorter than I was used to, the streets were winding, and, yet, there remained a certain liveliness and newness to the city as well. The nightlife in Soho, the South Asian community on Brick Lane and in East London, and the endless outdoor markets with all sorts of crafts, cuisines, and cultures to discover–these all gave the city a lovely modern feel to it. By the end of this first week, I almost felt as if London was a tale of two cities on its own – the old, and the new. Seeing Dickensian London felt old to me, of course, but in the context of the city’s history, it may as well have been the newest thing there.
