There are possibly only two places in the world where, if you wait long enough, everyone in the world passes by; London and Las Vegas. That alone makes them great cities. London is the one that's not insufferably hot.
I visited London at age 14, in 1975. I thought it was possibly the most magical place I had ever seen. The food...not so much. (I had been to France a month before...the food...I digress.) It was just that, the remembering of living in the place of my coming of age years, that compelled me to write my memoir (coming out this Dec.!) May your London of yore, always bring back a fondness in your heart.
To be fair, the food has improved and there are pockets of excellence. Borough market sells delicious fresh food, and there are excellent restaurants. You'll have to come back!
In the early '90s I visited England for only 13 days, with my ex-sister-in-law. As I'd never been, I spent months reading travel books to come up with lists: "must-see these" "next -must-see" and "do this activity." All of which planning made my trip very memorable. The British Museum stands out for me, as I stared at the wonderful display of the Rosetta Stone and read all the panels on several walls - made me very teary. An incredible artifact. The V&A Museum, climbing 528 steps inside St Paul's Cathedral to the very top outside (vertigo - an Australian tourist supported me to walk all around, take photos etc.!!), visiting Stonehenge, Cambridge (the round Norman church!), Thames boat trip to Greenwich (so I could stand on the 0-longitude), taking the subway, buses, trains, walks. Enjoying Pubs, cobblestones, the City boundaries, Trafalgar Square, the Monet exhibition at the British Art Gallery, and more. We barely touched London, yet I was thrilled at what I saw. A wonderful city indeed!
It sounds like you had a wonderful time. But you need to come back again, and enjoy London - not just the big tourist attractions but the small and quirky, like Sir John Soane's Museum in Holburn.
Yes, but you missed the best part when your train breaks down and the conductor tells you to get out and walk down the tracks. In all fairness, Germans are better at running trains. But then the Brits did not invent Zyklon B.
I often search out books on Google Books that are from the time and place of my ancestors. If nothing else, the use of language is fascinating. I'll be in London in October for the first time. I look forward to seeing one of the great cities of the world. :)
Google books and Project Gutenberg are fantastic resources. October is a great time to visit London. I am sure you will have a great time. I used to write a blog about the quirky history of London. If you scroll down to the early posts there are some about the river Thames that you might find interesting to read before your visit. https://motleytalk.substack.com/
Yes! I loved that book by Bill Bryson as well. I purchased it specifically to read on the flight for my first visit to England many years ago. I know I laughed out loud a couple of times. The flight was over before I knew it.
I feel your nostalgia! My first visit to London was 1969. I was four. I have returned many times since. As a young person, travelling to the UK, even a big international city like London- it was like we’d landed on another planet. This was back before every place became like every other place.
I liked your memory of the natural history museum. When I was an art student in Paris in the 1980s our instructor sent us to the natural history museum at the Jardin des Plantes to draw dinosaur bones. It was a wonderful assignment, but even better was discovering this eccentric 19th century museum. We were the only visitors. The museum was a succession of small dark rooms with wooden floors and lined with wooden shelves, filled with dusty jars containing pickled animal parts. Years later I realized why - It was originally Lamarck’s laboratory! Of course some time in the 1990s the French government renovated it and made the whole thing shiny and interactive, updating the displays in line with current science. I was happy I got to see the old version.
I love your memory of the Parisian Natural History museum. Those dark, dusty, empty museums had to be updated and encourage visitors, but I also have fond memories of their past life.
Loved this. Travel books capture moments and contexts that anchor our memories. Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island beautifully encapsulates a changing UK, providing a nostalgic and enlightening glimpse into the past. Great post brilliantly written.
There are possibly only two places in the world where, if you wait long enough, everyone in the world passes by; London and Las Vegas. That alone makes them great cities. London is the one that's not insufferably hot.
It is lucky that London is rarely hot, since the infrastructure like the underground trains are so old they can't accommodate air conditioning.
I visited London at age 14, in 1975. I thought it was possibly the most magical place I had ever seen. The food...not so much. (I had been to France a month before...the food...I digress.) It was just that, the remembering of living in the place of my coming of age years, that compelled me to write my memoir (coming out this Dec.!) May your London of yore, always bring back a fondness in your heart.
To be fair, the food has improved and there are pockets of excellence. Borough market sells delicious fresh food, and there are excellent restaurants. You'll have to come back!
I would love to go back! To see it again through my eyes/heart that have lived so much more of life, would be enchanting, I am sure.
What! You don't like two day old curry and greasy fish?
In the early '90s I visited England for only 13 days, with my ex-sister-in-law. As I'd never been, I spent months reading travel books to come up with lists: "must-see these" "next -must-see" and "do this activity." All of which planning made my trip very memorable. The British Museum stands out for me, as I stared at the wonderful display of the Rosetta Stone and read all the panels on several walls - made me very teary. An incredible artifact. The V&A Museum, climbing 528 steps inside St Paul's Cathedral to the very top outside (vertigo - an Australian tourist supported me to walk all around, take photos etc.!!), visiting Stonehenge, Cambridge (the round Norman church!), Thames boat trip to Greenwich (so I could stand on the 0-longitude), taking the subway, buses, trains, walks. Enjoying Pubs, cobblestones, the City boundaries, Trafalgar Square, the Monet exhibition at the British Art Gallery, and more. We barely touched London, yet I was thrilled at what I saw. A wonderful city indeed!
It sounds like you had a wonderful time. But you need to come back again, and enjoy London - not just the big tourist attractions but the small and quirky, like Sir John Soane's Museum in Holburn.
Yes, but you missed the best part when your train breaks down and the conductor tells you to get out and walk down the tracks. In all fairness, Germans are better at running trains. But then the Brits did not invent Zyklon B.
I often search out books on Google Books that are from the time and place of my ancestors. If nothing else, the use of language is fascinating. I'll be in London in October for the first time. I look forward to seeing one of the great cities of the world. :)
Google books and Project Gutenberg are fantastic resources. October is a great time to visit London. I am sure you will have a great time. I used to write a blog about the quirky history of London. If you scroll down to the early posts there are some about the river Thames that you might find interesting to read before your visit. https://motleytalk.substack.com/
Yes! I loved that book by Bill Bryson as well. I purchased it specifically to read on the flight for my first visit to England many years ago. I know I laughed out loud a couple of times. The flight was over before I knew it.
I love all his books.
I feel your nostalgia! My first visit to London was 1969. I was four. I have returned many times since. As a young person, travelling to the UK, even a big international city like London- it was like we’d landed on another planet. This was back before every place became like every other place.
I liked your memory of the natural history museum. When I was an art student in Paris in the 1980s our instructor sent us to the natural history museum at the Jardin des Plantes to draw dinosaur bones. It was a wonderful assignment, but even better was discovering this eccentric 19th century museum. We were the only visitors. The museum was a succession of small dark rooms with wooden floors and lined with wooden shelves, filled with dusty jars containing pickled animal parts. Years later I realized why - It was originally Lamarck’s laboratory! Of course some time in the 1990s the French government renovated it and made the whole thing shiny and interactive, updating the displays in line with current science. I was happy I got to see the old version.
I love your memory of the Parisian Natural History museum. Those dark, dusty, empty museums had to be updated and encourage visitors, but I also have fond memories of their past life.
Loved this. Travel books capture moments and contexts that anchor our memories. Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island beautifully encapsulates a changing UK, providing a nostalgic and enlightening glimpse into the past. Great post brilliantly written.
Thank you so much. Have you read his follow up book 'The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island'?