London with Original Travel UK – Part 2

I make no apology for the fact that this is an incredibly picture heavy post…  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After our extensive exploration of the British Museum, we had a well-deserved break at Red Farm Covent Garden. Great food, the pastrami egg rolls are delicious, as are the giant Xiaolongbao (Soup Dumplings, served with a straw!).   Not entirely sure about the service charge for just the three of us, but there you go, it was a special treat after all…

Energy levels topped up (with the help of pudding from the cookie company across the square in the covered part of the market) it was time to meet Mark, our Guide for our second London Tour of the day, organised for us by Original Travel UK.

Mark worked in theatre production for many years but has always been passionate about history.  He is now an official Tour London Guide.  Personally, with his vast knowledge of all aspects of the history of our capital city, I can’t think of anyone more suited to take you on a tour of Covent Garden, Soho and Carnaby Street – areas that are associated with theatre and music especially.  I also have to say that Mark is one of those people that you instantly feel like you have known for a long time.  We had such a fun afternoon together, it was like going for a long London walk with an old (extremely knowledgeable) friend!

As I have told you many times before, a life ago I  worked for a Music Law Firm in an ancient square in Holborn.   Covent Garden was somewhere I would pop to for lunch, admiring the Wedding Cake-esque Masonic Hall along the way (and saying hello to the parrot in the Barbershop opposite!) before reaching the heart of a bustling very touristy part of the West End.  At the time it was mostly a load of generic shops and huge theme restaurants churning out mediocre food, not to mention the usual street performers Covent Garden is famous for (some of them good, some of them not so much)…       There were obviously still plenty of places to spend money (the reason I never had any back then) on the main streets, but I always loved the opportunity to duck down a quiet corner away from the masses and wonder about the centuries of history that have formed this City…     Having taken the place for granted somewhat (as is often the case when you are present somewhere every day), I could not believe a) how much it’s changed since I worked there and b) how very little I knew about the history of the area in particular…

Mark started our tour at the back of the Royal Opera House, where he explained that for years Archeologists knew of Saxon London (Ludenwic), discovering clues to it here and there as they dug up various parts of the city, but had never really found a large site, up until they started the dig for the extension of this historic building.  Underneath they found the remains of a Saxon city that made use of a lot of the leftovers of Roman London (tiles and the like) along with some exquisite (perhaps Royal) Saxon jewellery…  Much of this can be found today in the Museum of London (that I will admit to not having visited (yet!))…

Around the corner then to Floral Street.  I would often half run along this of a morning when I thought I was going to be late for work.  I remember admiring the architectural cleverness of the Bridge of Aspiration when it first appeared (in 2003), and what a shame it was that many people don’t even look up that street to see it from the main throng.    I didn’t know why it is called the Bridge of Aspiration (a play on the Bridge of Sighs – get it?) as Mark explained that it links the Royal Ballet School to the Royal Opera House and many an aspiring Ballerina has crossed it.   If you think it’s beautiful from the street, look at this picture from the architect’s website…

From here we walked down into the part of the market that most visitors see, but I bet many don’t know about the history behind.   As we walked, Mark pointed out the old price charts from a time when Covent Garden was predominately a food and flower market.  It started life as the same back in the 1600’s – Covent Garden was actually part of a Convent Garden hence the name.  Having escaped the fire of London, it grew rapidly as people moved to the area, and the more affluent moved out…    Another place I must have walked past a thousand times without thinking much of it is St Paul’s Church.   We learned that this mock Roman villa is actually known as The Actor’s Church, and is used today for funerals for many an artist.    If you happen to visit when the gates are open, do venture through to take a peek through the door (it has a resident cat).  The courtyard is just stunning and is one of those quiet idyls in central London that you really don’t find very often (apart from at the moment!)…

We ventured on to Seven Dials, linking Covent Garden to Soho.  Designed in 1690, it’s a roundabout with several streets radiating out from it dreamt up by politician Thomas Neale.  By incorporating such shaped streets he could maximise the amount of rent per frontage building (Neal’s Yard is also named after him (it’s just missing an “e”)!..   This area featured heavily in Hogarth’s work after its subsequent fall from grace, and it’s said that Gin Lane (and Beer Alley) were based upon it…  Nowadays there’s a huge Food Market here that was new to me, and it’s full of good things to eat!

Soho next, another part of London that is definitely a lot more gentrified nowadays than I could have imagined.  I am not sure this is always a good thing.  Often you lose what makes a place unique (if not special) when you rip the heart of it.   I am not lamenting the loss of the seedier aspects of life here, but to see Soho 100% clinical would be really sad.    Having said that, I am actually seething as having moved office with my work from a 17th-century town house,  to a particularly boring square at the back of the British Museum, they now have a really beautiful office in the heart of Soho…

Mark gave us a great insight into the film and music industry here (of particular interest to my 13-year-old) and we learned about a lot of the characters that helped give Soho its bohemian reputation, both past and present. He took us to an alley close to the Groucho Club where a mural depicts a lot of the people that helped form the personality of the place.   It was great to learn a little about who they all were and what they were famous for…   It was also nice to see a few of my old after-work haunts along the way, along with Bar Italia that we frequented more than once after a late night out…

As we passed through Soho Square and its Mock Tudor gardening shed (thanks Mark, I always wondered what that was).  Mark pointed out Mary Seacole’s House, a brilliant lady that the 15-year-old had studied at school a few years back.   I loved the way that Mark found out what each of us was interested in, and dealt out little snippets of history accordingly to keep everyone focussed and engaged…

On our way to Carnaby Street we passed a pub called The Jon Snow.   Nothing to do with Game of Thrones before you ask, this Jon was an Epidemiologist (how topical) who found that the source of a cholera outbreak was a particular water pump.  The pump still stands today, minus the handle to illustrate how they stopped people from drinking from it.  The Jon Snow Pub now stands behind the pump, named after him in honour.

Carnaby Street didn’t have the best start – it was renowned as being home to the first pest house during plague times.  In much later happier times it became famous as the base for the Swinging Sixties, and thanks to a Men’s clothing store becoming the regular haunt for the likes of the Rolling Stones, Twiggy et al, it became THE place to be seen (A Dedicated Follower of Fashion by the Kinks was about Carnaby Street!)…   My Mum was a Mod back then, and my Dad was a Rocker, and they both have stories about the music and fashions of the time.    Carnaby Street has kept true to that side of things at least, it has a very arty vibe, and there are amazing fabric shops still to be found that the more creative of us can indulge in…

After a bit of a laugh about the uber on trend shop Supreme selling crowbars, it was time to bid a sad farewell to Mark.   I would absolutely book a tour with him again through Original Travel UK.   As I have said, he does all kinds of tours on all sorts of areas of London.   It’s always good to learn more about the places you spent a big chunk of your life in,  and I LOVE introducing my older two to more of their own Capital City.   It’s fair to say they both fell madly in love…

As it was a Saturday night, and probably the Saturday before things really began to shut down in London we mustered up some energy from somewhere (we walked over 30,000 steps that day), and walked back the way I started every journey to work once upon a time – walking across Waterloo Bridge   The skyline has changed so much even in that reasonably short spell of time, but it still really beautiful (I still don’t like the walky-talky building thing though) and back to the welcome embrace of our hotel (The County Hall Hotel which is brilliant for families!).    They had kindly gone out of their way to make a fuss of the Birthday boy with cake, balloons and lots of other sweet treats, and a very welcome bottle of wine for me.   As a sweet extra they had written a card “from me” to the now 13-Year-Old, with the wording  “Happy Birthday to the little boy who stole my heart.  Your Mom…”.   He immediately wanted to know if he had been adopted and where his real mum was, but I couldn’t recommend it more for a family stay.

We had one more walk into Covent Garden the following day to buy that all-important tube train for the Four Year Old and let my older pair spend some money in Brandy Melville and a Trainer Shop, but before we knew it we were on the train home again.   Thank you Original Travel UK, it was such a lovely weekend, and we will definitely come to you again when we are able to book some travel further afield one day.

And to those worried about London today and what we are going through.  Whilst it’s frightening and unsettling, it gives me a bit of comfort to think this grand old lady has seen it all before, and she’s bigger and better than ever today.

A note to my now 13 year old (especially important as I didn’t do this when he was 12, not that he’s bothered…)…   Although your actual birthday celebrations were curtailed somewhat by current events, I couldn’t be more grateful for the weekend we spent exploring London together (even if we could all hardly walk the following day).   It was so special to be able to spend some time with just the two of you as the pair of you grow older, and inevitably begin to make the transition away from home (although you are stuck with us for the foreseeable!).   I am so proud of you and the way you have accepted life in the UK.   Whilst you would still go back to Munich tomorrow, you manage to keep up the important friendships you had from “home” whilst cultivating a good circle of good friends here too.    Like I always tell your little brother, all of you will always be my babies no matter how old you are, I hope we can still laugh as much as we often do in the years to come and that you don’t become too much of a “Kevin” now that you are officially a teenager! X

*we were given the opportunity to review the two London Walking Tours through Original Travel UK.