In which I walk my friend into the ground.....

As of last week, I've been living in London for 19 months, and it's always been a bit of a sore spot how little of the major sites I've seen. It shouldn't have been a surprise, but when I moved here, I discovered that actually *living* in London takes rather a lot of time, and the Grand (slightly more time consuming)Monuments tend to fall by the wayside. So when my friend Brian, whom I've known since I was 8, said he might come visit I jumped at the chance to have a tourist to show around. By 'jumped' I mean 'Badgered him until he booked a ticket' and he spent last week with me.

Let me just apologize to him now that poor boy, I ran him into the ground with all our tourism. It wasn't quite the "Shara's Death March Tour of Italy" that I did a few years ago, but it was close. In no particular order, our various adventures took us to - Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Regent St, Hamley's Toy Store, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, The British Museum, Harrods, Camden, Covent Garden, Green Park, St. James' Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Southbank, St. Paul's, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, City Hall, Hay's Galleria, The London Dungeons,Carnaby Street, The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, The Globe Theater, Greenwich, The Greenwich Observatory, Queen's House and the National Maritime Museum.
...phew. Busy week.

Of the lot, I have to say Greenwich was my favorite, as I got to make my pilgrimage to see John Harrison's Clocks. I may or may not also have made myself look quite silly while standing at Prime Meridian....Shhh....


Back to the clocks. Did I mention how excited I was about the clocks? Okay, technically they are called Chronometers, but no matter. I was actually really lucky to see H2, as it is being restored...but i was enough of a geek to recognize it through a window in a smaller display of Naval Chronometers behind the Observatory.




We did a LOT of touring....I'm thrilled...and exhausted.

When Men and Mountains Meet

This afternoon I trekked all of Northeast London.
Okay, not really, but it felt like it. East London is not really my playground,. My friends and I used to joke that, as far as I knew, London stopped at Russel Square and nothing existed past that. I now intern at a charity in Canon Street, so I know more exists. But it still isn't terribly familiar territory, and I welcome the chance to explore it a bit more.

First I went back to St. Paul's to find the British Telecom building, which had eluded me the day before. On the way I passed by the plinth where the graffitied elephant had been, now it's just empty, with an elephant paw print spray painted on the astroturf. At least that's what I assume it was meant to be.
#211 - Hope - British Telecom Building (St. Paul's)
#201 - The Elephant Outside The Room (plinth) - St. Paul's Churchyard
Next, I headed to the London Stock Exchange, where I thought there were two Elephants. I think I circled the building a good 3 or 4 times before I stopped to ask a terribly confused security guard and was informed, in no uncertain terms, that there were definitely no elephants in the building (I think he thought I was nuts). So I consulted The Magic List print out. Dyslexia/poor memory strikes again - turns out, there are two buildings with similar names. There's the London Stock Exchange, off St. Paul's, which is a rather boring office building, and then there is The Royal Exchange, near Bank.

My Mistake.

From such an impressive sounding name, you'd think it was an important location right? Nope. It's a shopping center, albeit a luxury one. A bit of digging (also known as going to Wikipedia) informs me that the Royal Stock Exchange building (the Exchange itself being founded in the 1500s) was opened in 1844/45 and the site of the Exchange until 1939. Now it's the shmanciest of shmancies, featuring Hermes, Cartier and Tiffany's, among other shops. Doesn't stop it from still being a very fine looking building, though. I just wish I'd had the time (or money, crikey it was expensive) to stop for a Coffee in the courtyard cafe. Sadly, even in my office duds I still didn't feel like I was dressed well enough, and the Elephant trail waits for no one. I did stop to pose with one of the Elephants though!





#173 - The Paul Smith Elephant - The Royal Exchange
(and me!)
#244 - Jewel-ele - The Royal Exchange

Supposedly #68 - Taxi Elephant is a very special one, because it lights up, like Luna in Westfield. This one is super special though, in that the lighting is solar powered. Only problem with this is that the elephants are in LONDON, and it was (shocker) cloudy. So no lights.


#68 - Taxi Elephant - The Royal Exchange
#107 - Cartier - The Royal Exchange



From The Royal Exchange I was off to Lime Street (aka, the Shadow of the Gherkin). As I mentioned in my last entry, every so often while I am exploring London I am struck by a literary "Ah HAH! I've read about this!" moment. Today was the mother of all of moments though, because as I wandered through the Leadenhall Market, I stumbled upon this:


Oh yes, my Pride and Prejudice addicted friends. It's Gracechurch Street. Cheapside.
There was so much geekish squee going on, I don't know how I handled it. Barring stumbling upon Pemberly itself, I don't know that I could have had a better moment. Leadenhall Market. Turns out that the Gardner's actually were doing pretty well for themselves as merchants, eh?

Oh yeah...there was an Elephant there too.....and in some other places.

#196 - Izzy - Lime St, the quote says "Nine tenths of failures in this world are from not quite doing enough" - Isambard Kingdom Brunel
#184 - The Human Disease (Hoxton Hotel, Old Street)



#60 - Map Elephant - 6 Devonshire Square
#155 - Elephantastic - 6 Devonshire Square

In between Devonshire Square and Old Street, I stumbled across Bunhiel Fields. I'm one of those weird people who is vaguely enchanted by old cemeteries, so I took a peek inside. Turns out its the burial place of William Blake (Poet), John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim's Progress ((another geek squee re: Little Women))) and Daniel Defoe (author of Robinson Crusoe).

I stopped and spoke briefly to the grounds keeper there, who turned out to be incredibly knowledgeable about the area and the history. I commented that it was a little depressing that Blake's grave was in the middle of a stone walkway, it seemed rather barren considering, and immediately he said "Oh no, that's just a place marker" and walked me off through the headstones to a field. Turns out, that when Blake died he was poor and unknown, so he was buried in a common grave. The common grave area has since (above ground at least) been turned into a park and play area for a nearby school. So instead of be barren and stoney, he's buried (and the ground's keeper showed me to within about a foot of where he was) in a field where trees grow, sun shines and children play.

Fitting I think.
"He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise" - William Blake

Bow Street Runner....

I only saw two elephants yesterday, and then I fell asleep before I could finish uploading my photos for the day. It was a good Sunday.

The two that I caught were both at Westfield. I also caught the dress rehearsal of an acrobatic group called 3D, who were performing for the premier of Prince of Persia that evening. Can I just say that A) they were awesome (and really hot) and B) holy mother of coconuts, I am never going anywhere NEAR that mall again when there is a premier the same day. Crikey...




Today was a bit better re: Elephants, with a precisely (well, mostly) executed tour of the Canon Street/Bank/St. Paul's area. I did miss one of the ones I'd planned on, but I got to see Bow Street and St. Pauls. Which is always nice and historical. I'm always caught by Bow Street in particular. When I first moved to London, while I was exploring with my mother I realized that I actually had a moderate working Knowledge of London....it just happened to be a working knowledge of London circa 1815. This is what reading crappy romance novels will do for you. ( Yes, I like them so sue me. I think of it as bubble gum for my brain when I need a break from studying). I enjoy the historical background of said ridiculous books, because every so often as I am wandering London, I'll realize that I'm near something I've read about. I'll stumble upon St. George's Church at Hanover Square, or be walking in Hyde Park and it will click that this is where "Society" used to promenade during the fashionable hours. It gives me a connection to the past. Bow Street was the first one of these realizations that I had, so it sticks with me.

188 - Mayur Gajendra - Blackrock
186 - Around The World - Blackrock



83 - Midnight Indigo - Bow Churchyard
80 - Ritual - St. Pauls Churchyard

The part that kind of stunk, however, was #201 - The Elephant Outside the Room at St. Pauls Churchyard. Complete with graffiti defacement. Boo, people stink. While I was there I ran into some folks from the Elephant Family org, and the actual artist/creator of this particular Elephant, which is supposed to be an evolving work, and change every few days. They were a bit busy dealing with the defacement, so I didn't stay to chat. But I'll try back in a week or so and see how it looks after they've fixed it up.


and finally, another photo of something other than elephants, to prove that I am actually looking around while I do this stuff!

Another Day, and more Elephants...the weather wasn't quite so nice today, and I misjudged the amount of walking and time involved in my planned route. I'd have had no problem plodding along anyways, but I got a call from a friend who was unexpectedly in the area when I was at en route to the Natural History Museum, and we met up at Sloane Square. This meant abandoning a little over 1/2 my planned sights, but I had good company and we went to go and see Hot Tub Time Machine. My overall impression of the movie is of it being amusing, but not terribly memorable. Though I distinctly remember being in absolutely hysterics over various parts of the film, I couldn't for the life of me tell you what I was laughing about. It was enjoyable however, and was followed up by Enchiladas and cocktails at a Mexican restaurant called Tequila in Notting Hill Gate. Good Mexican food (particularly proper sour cream) is very hard to find in the UK, so when I have it it's always a treat!

I know I said this yesterday, but I'm pretty sure that tomorrow will be a light day. I plan on catching the other two Elephants at Westfield that I missed this afternoon after the movie, and checking to see if the second Holland Park Avenue Elephant has been installed.



97 - Saffron - Westfield Mall
172- Luna - Westfield Mall
13 - Doors - Duke of York Square
208 - Kingdom - Sloane Square
190 - Josephine - Sloane Square
164 - Hathi - V&A Museum
185 - Less is Morvi - V&A Museum


98 - Seymour - Natural History Museum, Wildlife Gardens
66 - Phoolan - Natural History Museum, Wildlife Gardens
182 - Fatima - Royal Albert Hall/Kensington Gore
238 - The Isles of London - Royal Albert Hall/Kensington Gore
160 - Lunacrooner - High Street Kensington
232- Whisper - High Street Kensington
59 - Elephant in the Room - Duke of York Square

What's there and What Isn't

Yet another day on the Elephant Parade trail, and I will admit to some frustration. Much as I absolutely adore this event, and all the exploring of the city I have done because of it, the disorganization is rather getting on my nerves. I spent about four hours today tracking down the 'northwestern' elephants, around Paddington and Baker
Street, only to have some serious difficulties. I found most of the ones I was looking for in the end, but Oi! The stress! Plus, I'm definitely going to have to backtrack.
#4 - Strawberry - Hempel Hotel.
#67 - Elephant Chic - St. Christopher's Place

After wandering up and down Baker Street for half an hour, I could definitively say that there were no elephants there. So I called up the Elephant Family office (don't judge me) to try and nail them down better, only to find out that they hadn't been installed yet, either. So my issues with the Holland Park Elephants and the Saint Martin's Court elephants were repeated, but on a much bigger scale! Supposedly they were all to be installed by the end of today, but that's what they told me yesterday, so I'm guessing it will be at least another few days of trekking out to locations, only to find nothing there.
#235 - Poppy - Paddington St Gardens (249 Fulham St)
#35 - Bouquets - Paddington St Gardens

The other problem is frequent mislabeling and swapping of the statues. That and the map isn't terribly accurate to begin with. i.e. #103 - Welcome to the Jungle is listed as being on 31 Harbet St, but Harbet Street itself is a rather dismal looking service drive. The elephant is actually in a place called Merchant Square, just nearby. Nice view though!
#103 - Welcome to the Jungle, Harbet St.
#181 - Kubella - The Seaside Elephant - St. Christopher's Place

There was also this little mystery. According to the map, it's supposed to be #111 - Mother Nature. It was at the Hempel Hotel, like the list says, but this one really doesn't look like a "Mother Nature" kind of elephant, don't you think?

#??(111?) - Unknown (Mother Nature?) - Hempel Hotel

I'm wondering if perhaps it's Chestnut and the name plates were mixed around. It sort of looks like it might be a Chestnut.

#36 - Chestnut - Hempel Hotel Gardens
#216 - The Emerald Queen - Selfridges Ground Floor Jewelry

I hadn't planned on going to visit the Selfridge's statues (there are six), but when I walked down Baker Street, there were none to be had where there should have been four. I took the chance of asking in the Selfridge's shop

#135 - Gerald - Selfridges (Staff Entrance, Duke St)
#249 - Spooning Sunday - Selfridges, 4th Floor Furniture

#162 - Gajaraj - Old Quebec St.
#217 - The Spirit of India - Selfridges, 4th Floor Food Court

Selfridges also played host to two of my favorite so far. I'll admit it, I'm a magpie. These ones were irresistible!


#50 - Heaven's Haathi - Selfridges Basement


And then....there was Ziggy....OH MY GOD, THE SPARKLES. I could have stared at this guy all day....