A typical day: (I apologize for the awkwardness of the format, but I'm not redoing it)
I wake up with the sun shining in my window and see this:
Yeah, a bunch of evergreen trees in front of some sort of Victorian graveyard/memorial. At least they could have some cool cenotaphs or gravestones and give me a reason to chase out the homeless guys and try to take a girl back there... but nooooooo.
To the left I have:
An elementary school which ensures the vicinity of my flat is surrounded with smoking hoolingans who are throwing fish and chips everywhere and making out behind every nook and cranny during their lunch hour.
To the right:
Beautiful view eh? Those train tracks start rumbling at 5 am... :/
Time to leave my room.
...and take a shower in our lovely bathroom. Who forgot their laundry! :-O
Funky fresh, I head out the door for school.
And peer over the balcony at the
Gherkin.. the only decent view we have.
I wonder if the smoker who saw me spray myself with wine is home?
Oh a fly in my mouth.. but I can't spit.. not even in Bengali!
Goodbye!
I've never eaten here, but it's across the street...
The beautiful train tracks.
This is also across the street. Never been in here either.
This is where I helped those guys push the car... doesn't seem so scary in the daylight.
The parish church, still the focal part of every Eastender's life.
This is IT! The one and only Green of Bethnal.
As I descend.
What actually happened was some sort of panic and these people died in a stampede. In the UK if you order the deaths of 130,000 Germans in a night or tie Sepoys to cannons, you get a statue 20 ft. tall... but if you are smashed in a pit because the government is incompetent, you get this:
After all, only 10 people died in the Black Hole of Calcutta (probably).
I'm headed West:
What the hell is this? People have no culture and have to go to the BM to find baby names? It's unfortnate they aren't clear in the picture. Do we really need a little Hammurabi running around? How about we just give Byzantine names... we DO need more Eustratioses and Nikephoroses running around. This is NOT a very good justification for the Brits' stealing half the cultural heritage of the world.
There's my train. Pay no attention to the time!
Pics of Chancery Lane... it's a pretty cool place, though most of the most impressive architecture is BEHIND these buildings. You have to enter into courtyards to see it... The Temple Inn is also like that.
This is also on Chancery Lane. I'm sure the relevant person knows why I posted this!
Almost to the library (it's on the left).
Across the street from the library is this pub. It used to be a meeting hall for the Knights Templar... not the people who actually fought the Saracens... they were destroyed by the King of France.. but some people who appropriated the name started some exclusive supper club. Hobknobbing/Saving Christendom.. it's all the same. I'm glad to report it is now a chain restaurant.
Our library is so imposing because of the intellectual prowess of the scholars therein!
My sister knows this alcove well. She waited under it in 33 degree rain for an hour while I looked for a book. (the library is closed to non-students)
This used to be someone's HOUSE!
Before I get started, lunchtime. There really isn't a piece of cake in the bag!
Down to business... time to head in.
A few hours later....
Heading to class, I duck into the Middle Temple. Down this alley is the Temple church (perhaps actually founded by Knights Templar...but it is NOT an octagon by MY count... I'll go take pictures of it someday) of da Vinci Code fame. I sometimes see tourguides talking about it. Making up ridiculous stories about the crusaders and the grail.
But the purpose of the Middle and Inner Temple today is as sort of a lawyers district.. kind of like a guild (there are other so called "inns of court" as well). These people can practice at the Royal Courts of Justice (I'm not sure if regular barristers can). Anyway, here is one of the Cotton Mather robes they have to wear.
They all surround the Royal Courts...
This dragon marks the Temple Bar, where the City of London formally ends. There was a wall here in medieval times. I am now in Westminster. (And still the courts behind it)
This is my bank. Look at all that swanky jade colored tilework! Maybe they should sell that and hire some competent tellers!
Must be a big case, all those people waiting outside. Usually lots of press here too.. this is incidentally where Fleet Street turns into the Strand.
This is a statue of Gladstone... probably the only decent British politician of the 19th c. I like to eat lunch on the steps in front of him... I like the girl w/ the sword decapitating snakes below him too!
It still seems odd to me to see a Georgian church in the median of a street. This isn't the only one either. That's the school on the left.
This tube station is permanently closed. I would have to be subjected to any sort of convenience here. Theoretically, there is a rifle range here... but I think all they do is shoot movies inside. One day, it was surrounded by sandbags to recreate the Blitz! Maybe I should hang out there all day and see if I catch my big break.
Its hard to see how King's was voted the ugliest campus in Britain! The thing is, there is a nice building behind this one.. though it is totally surrounded by very ugly ones on all sides.
The classics dept. is actually in THIS building... and old hotel that was bought and annexed.
You have to walk outside to get to the classics dept... that is the back of the OLD King's building... not too bad... So now it's two hours debating whether or not Luidprand REALLY wanted to get Nikephoros Phokas to send Anna to marry Otto II... :-D
That flew by! In all seriousness, it is great to discuss history with a professor that insightful...
The chapel looks even beter now that the stained glass windows are lit up.
Heading to chinatown for dinner.. I pass my home away from home... or as some people call it "The Savoy".
Continuing down the Strand and into the theater district... this pub is where Gilbert and Sullivan wrote their plays.
This is the embassy of Zimbabwe.. it used to be the British Medical society. Those defaced statues were put up there by Jacob Epstein... I can't ever really get a good look at them but apparently the public thought they were pornographic..
The Cafe de Hong Kong... many a char sui with rice and bubbre tea have been consumed here... hen hao chi!
