If
you are looking for fish and chips in London, good luck these days. The once
popular item now is very hard to find in many of London’s 5000 pubs. On my
first trip to London this meal was easy to find and at that time we even had to
try the bitters that came so highly recommended. The food was great but the
bitters can stay on the shelf. On a later visit it was a little harder to find the
old stand by and by the turn of the century we wandered around a great deal, but
finally did find a pub in Soho that served fish and chips. Even the information center
couldn’t direct us to a pub---we were on our own!
The Hard Rock Café originated in
London in the 1970s and is located on Piccadilly.
A coat of arms outside a shop
indicates that a royal member shops there.
The English seldom drink coffee and many
say it is rarely drinkable. Although tea is the
drink of Britain it is not drunk with
or after a meal. Tea time is
generally 11AM and 4PM. Tea is also a
crisis drink; any time one has a problem it is talked about over tea. Tea
drinking is pretty much the center of the family.
High Tea in the late afternoon is an event
in itself. It also is a meal which can include finger sandwiches, scones,
crumpets, and sweets with jams and jellies, and or clotted cream. There are a
couple of rules governing the taking of high tea, namely: take small sips,
small bites, and different than regular tea time---small talk, no big subjects.
LANDMARK
SYNOPSES
Harrods
the huge department store covers a full city block. It would take days to
amble through all its departments. A local told me, “In 1980 escalators were
installed in the store, but people were reluctant to use them so the store
offered a bit of brandy before stepping on them. It didn’t take long for people
to get used to riding the escalators and of course now there is no brandy!” (I
wonder when the escalators were installed in the underground)
Westminster
Abby, an architectural masterpiece of the 13-16th centuries, is a
magnificent medieval church. It is the corner stone of the monarchy and has
been the burial ground for England’s monarchy since 1066. Monarchs have been
crowned here for over 700 years. It was interesting to see who was buried in
the church and to see all the ornate tombs and statuary. The 1700s coronation chair was on display. It
certainly looked uncomfortable.
Every hour on the hour one minute of
silence is observed in the Abby for meditation and prayer. England’s Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier is in the Abby. I stood over Winston Churchill and read the
inscription on the unknown tomb. It was a moving moment.
It is worth finding a local docent who can
impart lots of information and history.
The neo-gothic House of Parliament replaced the original structure after it burned
in 1834. It is the seat of the two
houses of government: the Lords and Commons. The building stretches 940 feet
along the river.
Big
Ben is the largest clock in England. The four faced clock was hung in 1858
and chimes on the hour; four smaller clocks chime every quarter hour. Big Ben’s
13 ½ ton bell is housed in its own tower and is not part of the Parliament building as is commonly believed.
Piccadilly
Circus is not a circus but a traffic circle, which the Europeans call a
round-about. Piccadilly acts as the center
of a wheel with seven spokes all of which are main arteries. It is a popular place
for people to gather on the steps under the statue of Eros, the Greek god of
love. Erected in 1892, the statue is a memorial to the Victorian philanthropist
the Earl of Shaftesbury.
More London landmarks next time.
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