On Sunday, my mum and I finally went to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum. I have to say I was disappointed. I had read so many articles about this whole new take on Vikings, the eye liner and the harem pants, the lasting impact on the British isles, all brought to life in the first major exhibition for over 30 years… But it was a pretty standard museum exhibition, except for the high price tag and the hoards, not of Vikings but of visitors, who crowded round the displays.
Instead, the surprise highlight of our Sunday outing in London was the Aznavour farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Now, I have to be honest, I had very low expectations. Up until the previous day, I had thought that we were going to listen to some Czech violinist. Oops. I’m not entirely sure how I have managed to be so completely oblivious to the “Frank Sinatra of France” who was named Entertainer of the Century. The only song I recognised was She, and that was from Elvis Costello’s cover on the Notting Hill soundtrack.
The whole experience of being in that venue was special. The Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871 and has over 5,000 seats. Those seats were gradually filled with hard-core Aznavour fans as the 90 year old came on stage and his voice boomed out into the hall. One of my favourites was Je voyage, which he sang with his daughter Katia. A young woman meets an old man sitting on a bench, and she asks what he’s doing there. He answers that he’s travelling through his memories. He asks what she’s doing there. She replies that she’s travelling too, travelling into her future.
Many thoughts were going through my mind as the music filled the hall. Most of all, I thought about how many amazing things there are to do in London. I’ve already written about how much I’m enjoying London – but I know it’s only temporary, and I feel like there’s so much I could do to make the most of being here.
So I need your help! What do I need to do? I’ve started a list, and I hope you’ll all finish it for me…
-Watch the Last Night of the Proms
-Go up in the London Eye
-Sing karaoke at Lucky Voice
-See a play at the Globe Theatre
-Take a boat up the Thames
-Go to a Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-a-long
………………………….
Help please! What do I still need to do? Will you join me?
Je voyage, je voyage, vers les lieux bénis de ma vie
de voyage en voyage, à travers erreurs et acquis
sans bagage, par images, par le rêve et par la pensée
de voyage en voyage, sur les vagues de mon passé
Je voyage, je voyage et je cours pour aller de l’avant
de voyage en voyage, sac au dos, cheveux dans le vent,
parfois folle, parfois sage, refusant les idées reçues
de voyage en voyage, dans l’espoir de trouver un but
Go see the view from the top of the shard, and go boating on the lake in Regent’s park!
Very nice! Thanks Kaveh 🙂
Anna, I have to agree with you about the Vikings, an exhibition that I greatly looked forward to. My main gripe was ‘is that it?’ there were way too many tiny things in cabinets which are not ideal for the hoards when you have to queue to see every single piece. And what was the longboat fragment about, when there are so many complete ones in Scandi museums?
Yes! Exactly. Apparently it’s the longest longboat ever found but I’m not sure if the metal structure was exciting enough to be the main feature… And my mum’s question of where the Vikings slept was left unanswered 😉
Start at Tower Bridge Underground Station and walk towards the Southbank.Make sure you cross all the bridges as you come to them and pop in and look at anything that takes your fancy.You can do this all the way to Hammersmith Bridge although it gets less interesting once you get to Chelsea.
Ask your mum about the visit to Spittalfields.It’s still one of my most memorable evenings.The man who conducted our tour has died but somebody else may be doing it.
Look out for The City of London Festival:lots of lovely concerts at unusual venues.
Look up on the internet for guided walks.The guides are very knowledgeable and can sometimes take you to places you can’t often get in to.
A walk starting at Kensington Gardens,make sure you see the Peter Pan statue,through Hyde Park,St James’s Park and then Green Park.Notice they are all still gaslit,at least they were when I last went.
The Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park is nice too.
Thank you Jill! I’ll add as much of that as I can to the list, and hope for some nice weather!
Go to Smithfield market and/or Billingsgate market at 3am. Also make sure you have visited Borough Market and Columbia Road Flower Market
Kew Gardens
Hampstead Heath (and a pint in the Spaniards)
London Fields (or Hyde Park) Lido
Frieze Art Fair (Oct)
Yes go to the Globe but do also go to the ROH and/or Sadlers
Paddle a canoe along the Regents Canal, and take a break at Kerb at Granary Square
Have a curry on Brick Lane, a kebab in Whitechapel, a Chinese in Chinatown
In fact restaurants / foodie things generally I can give you quite a few names on!
Lesser-known museums / cool houses in London: Leighton House, Sir John Soane Museum
Sorry got a bit carried away there. That’s a fun exercise when you get started on it!
Enjoying the blog, Anna!
Yikes so much to do, I’d best get started… Thanks David, and thanks for following!