London Calling

On Friday I arrived in London for a weekend trip with Emilie. Apparently I fit the profile of a drug trafficker, as I received the 3rd degree from a customs officer upon my arrival to Heathrow. Why was I in South America prior to London? What was I doing in London? Why do I live in Switzerland? The questioning went on for a good ten minutes, but I guess I finally convinced him that my visit was legitimate since he decided to let me pass through.

Since my flight arrived at 7am, I had a couple of hours of wait time at the airport before Emilie’s arrival. Fortunately, my ticket granted me access to the British Airways arrivals lounge so I was able to spend the morning in relative comfort. BA was showcasing some contemporary paintings in the restrooms, which I thought was kind of funny. I wonder if the artist knew that this was where his work would end up one day…

After meeting up with Emilie, we headed to the Tube for our journey into London. The trip was very efficient and we had seats the whole way. We’re staying at the Beaufort hotel, which is a boutique hotel on a quiet, tree-lined cul-de-sac in South Kensington. We chose the location because it is walking distance from Hyde Park – the site of the Pearl Jam concert we’d be attending.

After a quick lunch, we headed out to explore London. Our hotel was also coincidentally walking distance from Harrod’s, so Emilie talked me into a “brief” stop in order to make some obligatory purchases. As I stood helplessly amidst the estrogen-filled frenzy, I made eye contact with another pour guy (likely someone’s husband or boyfriend) also trying to survive the experience. No words were needed – the shrug from across the store said it all. We felt eachothers’ pain.

With the shopping behind us, the real tourism began. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace. It wasn’t open for visitors but given the beautiful weather we preferred to spend the day outside anyway. We then walked through St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. I was a fan of everything except for Piccadilly Circus, which basically felt like Times Square in NYC.




























Next we walked toward the Thames to see Big Ben, Westminster Palace (the British Parliament) and Westminster Abbey. All three were very impressive and I particularly liked the parliament building.




















It was at this point that I first learned about a unique aspect of London tourism – it costs money to enter churches but museums are free. During all of my travels, I have always experienced the opposite. While some museums simply “requested” donations, they all generally had an entrance fee. But churches, on the other hand, were always free. But I guess the Brits just like doing things a little differently – kind of like driving on the opposite side of the street.

Speaking of driving on the opposite side of the street, I found it amusing (though nonetheless helpful) that many of the crosswalks in the touristy areas had warnings for which way to look before crossing (see picture below). I guess it makes sense, though, in order to ensure that tourists don’t end up getting flattened by oncoming traffic.

By this point the evening was approaching, so we headed back to the hotel in order to drop off some stuff before the concert. On the way we passed the Victoria and Albert museum, which has visible bullet damage on the external walls dating back to German aerial attacks during WWII. I like how they chose not to repair it and instead left it as a visible reminder of the past.

Before the concert we met up with two of Emilie’s friends that she had met while working in Malaysia. They happened to be visiting London at the same time so it provided a nice opportunity for her to catch up with them.

The concert was actually more like a festival, with multiple acts playing throughout the day. Since we only wanted to see Pearl Jam – the final act of the night – we simply arrived about a half hour before they were scheduled to play. This allowed us to grab some food before and squirm our way as close as possible to the main stage before Pearl Jam went on.

The venue was huge – basically, a large section of Hyde Park had been closed off for the concert. While we tried to get as close as possible, we were still a couple hundred yards away. Nonetheless, we had a nice view and given the size of the crowd we were actually quite lucky to have made it as close as we did.

The show was easily one of the best that I have ever seen. Aside from the fact that Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands, the combination of the warm weather, outdoor venue and 10pm summer sunset really made the overall experience unforgettable. And to top it off, they played for a solid 2.5 hours.