Books, Ralph, and the elusive Peter Pan.

"Nothing is certain in London but expense." - William Shenstone


The fatigue of travel is fulfilling. To know that one has walked miles around a city such as London makes sore feet a small price. Just as I love the feeling of closing tired eyes after hours spent finishing a good book, it feels so good to lay back on my bed, kick off my shoes, and smile after returning from a day out in London.

I'll start with the books. This past Friday was dedicated to bookstores - my little earthly paradises. I took the 25 Bus from Queen Mary all the way to Tottenham Court Road (a journey of approx. 45 minutes). From Tottenham Court, I made my way to Charing Cross Road - London's Street-o'-Bookstores. On the way, I passed London's Tin Pan alley, where music stores stretch as far as the eye can see. Saxophones, pianos, banjos, and violins adorn all the shop windows, creating quite a spectacle.

Then I saw it. The majestic facade of heaven-on-earth - Foyles. This bookstore is the mother-ship of bookstores. I entered in a daze; my head spinning from the sight of shelves and shelves of books, a staircase winding down the middle of the building that allowed one to ascend all 5 glorious floors. I spent hours meandering through the store, picking up a book here and there for my reading for classes. It was marvelous. Foyles is just what I always dreamed of - the perfect bookstore in every way.

I bought a number of books for my classes - the cheaper Oxford classic or Wordsworth or Penguin editions - plus a copy of John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which I plan to see at the cinema this week once I finish the novel). The icing on my wonderful experience came at the checkout counter: Foyles offers a 10% off student discount for the fall and the first Wednesday of every month. I was so tempted to tell the kindly old sales clerk that I loved him.

By this time, I needed coffee and I needed to read. The Foyles cafe, right next door to the bookshop and up one flight of stairs, has a ledge of counter before open windows. After grabbing a cup of coffee Americano, I pulled myself up on to one of the rickety old stools and looked down upon Charing Cross Road. This is the London I've come here for, concentrated on one street. Looking around the cafe, people sat before book-strewn, coffee-stained tables. I smiled to myself, cracked open the le Carre novel, and fell into the blissful experience of the written word as Michael Buble music played quietly in the background.

When I next looked at the clock, it was two and a half hours later, my bum was stiff from the hard wooden stool, and my coffee was gone. Leaving Charing Cross road, I headed back down the bus route to explore the area a bit. My favorite find was JAS Smith and Sons - what appeared to be the world's largest umbrella store.

I explored the Bloomsbury area for quite a while, strolling through Bloomsbury square and just marveling at the beautiful, white buildings of West London. I returned to campus via the 25 bus and spent an hour or so resting before heading out to Wetherspoons, a pub at Canary Wharf, with members of QMUL's Christian Union. I tried Pimms lemonade, which was a delicious little alcoholic drink.

Saturday was an early, early day and for a very good reason. Heading out from Mile End around 8:30am, a group of Americans and I headed down to Piccadilly to try and get some theatre tickets for that afternoon. We had the unique privilege of seeing Piccadilly Circus at probably the only hour of the day that it is deserted. This is what it looks like:

We (Christa, Emma, Lilly and I) headed down to the Royal Haymarket Theatre, where Ralph Fiennes is currently performing in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." The box office opened at 10am, at which time we hoped to get our hands on 15 GBP stall tickets to the matinee performance. We got in line at 9:15am with about 20 or so people ahead of us. By the time I, the first of our little group, got to the window, there was one (ONE) ticket left - seat A3, a front row seat. I could not say no and the other girls were good sports about it. While they headed across the street to get tickets for "The Phantom of the Opera," I was bubbling over with excitement for the 2:30pm show.

During the two or so hours between our waiting in line for tickets and the start of the show, I left the group and went down to Green Park to join one of the free "Autumn Amble" walks around London. I took the "Oscar Wilde's London" walk, which was a guided tour of Wilde's favorite London haunts in the St. James area. We saw, for example...

The Royal Arcade

London's premier tobacco shop (formerly Robert Lewis's)

...and some of the hotels Wilde frequented. Our tour guide, an Oscar-enthusiast named Allen, walked us through the streets of London dressed as a dandy. He wore Wilde's famous green carnation, a Victorian sign of homosexuality. In his witty British manner, Allen related various anecdotes and facts about Wilde's life, including his unbelievable cigarette bill (Wilde smoked between 80 and 100 cigarettes a day!) and the details of Wilde's sodomy trial. Apparently, the law that Wilde was charged with breaking regarding sodomy remained in effect until the 1960's (though obviously less people were charged with engaging in public homosexual acts). 

During the walk, I met a girl from Poland who is studying art in London for the year. Talking with her about her experiences growing up in Poland, learning English, and exploring London was wonderful. She even offered to help me as much as she could with my Kosciuszko research, should I choose to look at him for my thesis.

After some broccoli and cream soup at Pret with the other Americans, we parted ways to our theatres. The Royal Haymarket Theatre is a beautiful little space, decorated in gold and blue. I found seat A3, the front row of the theatre, and gave a silent cry of delight. This was the view from my seat to the stage:

HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! During the performance, Ralph Fiennes (who was brilliant as Prospero) was an arms-length away and, at one point, I swear some of his spit landed on my arm. That's how close I was. The play was really great, just as Shakespeare usually is when it's done right. During intermission, everyone in the theatre bought a little cup of ice cream (which I felt obliged to purchase and consume myself) for refreshment and then settled in to watch the second half. Such a wonderful experience overall and being in the front row (with a super discounted ticket) was certainly something new for me!

After our shows, I met back up with the Americans and we walked down Piccadilly Lane towards Hyde Park. We went into Hatchard's, the booksellers that first published Wilde's work, to browse. I, in my weakness, purchased another book, but hey, it's from Hatchard's. We then headed down for a sunset stroll through Hyde Park, vainly searching for the Peter Pan statue, which no one seems to know exists. Every Brit we asked gave a quizzical look and shrugged. Most didn't believe me when I said there was a famous statue of Peter Pan there - I suppose the locals have little interest in things that are right under their noses. I'll have to search another day, I guess.

That's enough for today. I'll be sure to post all about Christian Union and my visit to Tower Hamlets Community Church very soon.