Blog Postcards Part I- With Love, From Me to You

Dear D and S

It’s the day after our 72nd Independence Day and ironically, I have landed safely on the British soil. The flight was good and overall uneventful. I watched two movies, had Rajkummar Rao and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for company and slept the rest of the journey. It was a rainy day in London when I landed and immediately I was a little skeptical about the weather in the following days of my stay here. But I have realized that worrying is of no use. As my driver explained while we were on our way to the hotel, “You can have all four weathers in a single day in London!”

I left almost immediately for the Kickstart meeting at the Contiki Basement. On my way, I stopped and had a sumptuous lunch, sitting on a bench in Russell Park. The pigeons are really fat and big here and so are the squirrels. They are not afraid of humans and let you touch them. 

In the meeting they just briefed us about when and where to meet tomorrow morning. There are about 40 of us, some will be joining us tomorrow. I am the only Indian here. Majority are from Australia and Canada. Most of them are travelling alone. It’ll take me some time to remember everyone’s names and I’m sure others would say the same about mine! But in general, everyone’s friendly. We went for a walk around West London. Lots of musicals going on in various theatres including Matilda, The Lion King and Sir Ian Mckellen as King Lear. I don’t know if I’ll have time to go watch any, maybe once I’m back from Scotland. Did you know, while they spell it as Thames, they pronounce it as Tems? During the Great Stink of 1858, the people threw everything into the river, including faeces from their windows. Post this they set up multiple fountains across the city to purify the water. 

The walk ended at Trafalgar Square. Nelson stands tall atop a straight column, sort of reminding you of his nickname 111 which he owed to having one eye, one arm...and umm... one testicle! When he was fatally wounded in the war with a bullet to his shoulder going through the length of his spine, he requested his soldiers to take back his body to be buried in London. In order to preserve their commander’s body, the sailors used the best and only available preservative in the vast seas, alcohol. His body was put in a cask of brandy. But after the battle was won and the boys were celebrating, as usual, ‘the rum is always gone!’ In their merriment the boys, not meaning any insult, did borrow brandy from their commander giving rise to the phrase, ‘tapping the Admiral!’ The column is guarded by 4 massive, yet disproportionate lions. The lion is the national animal of England overlooking the fact that this animal is not found in the country at all!

Post the group walk, I wandered around by myself. I have got myself an Oyster card so I can travel by the Tube. I made my way to the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel with 32 pods, each representing the 32 boroughs of London. I walked along the river Thames, watching the gulls posing for the tourists. The Big Ben is under renovation and will be under scaffolding for the next three years but according to the people here, it won’t be chiming for another 5-6 years. However, interestingly, it has a Twitter account that tweets every hour! The Palace of Westminster is grand. The Abbey however was closed by the time I reached. There is a statue of Winston Churchill which really reminded me of Gru! If he was offended by his portrait by the artist Sutherland on his 80^thbirthday, he certainly would not have been flattered by this statue! 

I’ll be leaving early tomorrow, by 6. So I shall call it a day now. It’s a beautiful place. The roads and houses are exactly how we’ve seen in The Crown, nothing has changed. I know you guys will worry, but try not to…I love it! I quite enjoy taking in the sights and sounds of a new place on my own. It’s liberating in a different sort of way. And I am ready for the adventure that is to begin tomorrow! 

Lots of love!

M

Dear S

You should have been the one here. I missed you the most today. Guess where I am? I am at Liverpool!! The football crazy town where the Beatles were born!!! 

Liverpool was once a thriving port city engaging in the triangle of trade of slaves, textile and tobacco. Nestled on the banks of river Mersey, the symbol of Liverpool is the Liver bird. We have all seen it on the logo of the city’s famous football club. It is supposed to be a mythical creature which even the Liverpuddlers consider quite ugly! It is sort of a hybrid between the Eagle, that was the symbol of King John, and a cormorant, that was commonly found near the sea. It carries a seaweed in its beak. The Royal Liver Building located near the pier has two statues of the Liver birds. The female Liver, Bella, faces the sea, to protect the men and to bring them back safely. Her mate, Bertie, the male Liver faces the city to take care of the wives and daughters the sailors are leaving behind. It is a common joke among the Liverpuddlers that if a pure woman walks past between the two Liver birds, the city shall fall…and well, it’s still standing!

 The Royal Liver Building with Bella and Bertie

The folks here are football fanatics! Football hooliganism is something very real. Liverpool and Everton are the two clubs, and both have together made Liverpool the city with maximum titles to its credit, but their rivalry is legendary. Forget cheering or talking about football, we were asked not to wear red or blue when we went out in the city. Nobody is allowed to keep red or blue dustbins here and that is why you get to see purple dustbins along every house, a mixture of the two colours of their clubs.

The purple dustbins

The accent here is strong and peculiar and is called the scouse and the people of Liverpool call themselves the scousers. The Anglican Liverpool Cathedral was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the same person who designed the iconic red telephone booth. One such telephone booth is also placed inside this Church! The Gothic architecture of this Church of England is in stark contrast to the Roman Catholic Church of Liverpool which looks more like a set from a sci-fi movie!

The Catholic Church of Liverpool, behind a veil of raindrops

But history, culture, architecture aside, this city beats, breathes and bleeds Beatles!!! We went on the Magical Mystery Tour with our guide, Jackie and she showed us where the Fab Four went to school, their houses and where they played their music. Ironically, Paul failed an audition for the choir of the Liverpool Cathedral! With their songs playing in the coach, the tour was nothing short of magical. As the coach turned into Penny Lane, I caught sight of the barber shop that Paul wrote about one night as he missed his hometown. As if John could read Paul’s mind, he wrote Strawberry Fields Forever in memory of a children’s home run by the Salvation Army in Liverpool. The two songs were released as a double A sided record. The blue suburban sky smiled down at us as we walked along Mersey on Albert Dock to reach the statues of the Boys from Liverpool. All of us are used to seeing their photo crossing the street on Abbey Road. But this statue captures their true spirit, you can see their boyish charm as the four walk, nonchalantly, with wind-ruffled hair, camera in hand and dreamy eyes looking at a distance, cool and unaffected by their influence in every corner of the world. 

The Museum of Liverpool is situated at the dock and they had a John and Yoko exhibition going on. Of course, the Beatles Story is a museum dedicated solely to them. But I felt the city itself was an ode to the Beatles, with a flower patch dedicated to Lennon here and a Beatles café there, the graffities on the walls shouting for an encore and the autographed Penny Lane signboard signaling for a photo. The cherry, oh sorry, strawberry on the cake was going to the Cavern Club that night, where the Beatles had played nearly 300 times! You can actually feel the Beatle mania as it would have been when the band actually played there as you step inside this tiny jam-packed club with every inch of the stone walls adorned with fans penning their love for them. The stuffiness, sweat and heat take a backseat as you find yourself swaying and crooning to their timeless songs strummed by the younger fans…

“He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one Mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
'Cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now
Over me”

 

As I write to you from my hotel room, I look up to find Paul, John, George and Ringo smiling at me, framed on the wall. For somebody who knows their every song by heart, had made a scrapbook with all the articles on them, had seen The Birth of Beatles for 5 consecutive days and cried when Lennon died, this is your Mecca S…and I will make sure you visit this lively, vibrant city one day (of course without your jersey). Till then…

“You say goodbye…I say hello…hello…hello.”

Dear D and S

Today I was at the designated Most Haunted City of the Europe, York! It is a city built by the Romans, ravaged by the Vikings, conquered by the Normans and passed on to the Tudors. Its bloody past has now become its novelty!!! There are tourists everywhere but you can feel eeriness of the old…and they make sure you do! The cobbled streets are a pleasure to walk on. Colourful flowers blossom from window sills and lamp-posts. Street performers enthral the crowd, umbrellas of all possible hues decorate a busy street and signboards lead you to York’s Chocolate Story shop, enchanting tea rooms and drool worthy fudge factories. 

York Minster is an imposing cathedral, a classic example of gothic architecture. You can spot the spire from far away, which is like a lighthouse signal for somebody like me with notorious orientation skills. Emperor Constantine sits majestically outside the cathedral. The magnificent stained glass wall softens the contour of the stone building with numerous gargoyles. The walk along the city walls is about 4 km and gives stunning views of both the city and the Minster. 

We visited the most famous street, the Shambles which is said to be one of the many inspirations for the Diagon Alley. Be on the lookout for these three things on this street- shelves, hooks and figures of cats, some climbing a wall, some peeking out from a window. Its name comes from the word ‘Shamles’ meaning slaughter house. Earlier this street was lined by the butcher shops and was built to allow the blood to flow down. But today, it’s very easy to see why this street inspired Rowling to write about a place in London where you can get everything from robes and quills to cauldrons and broomsticks. There are shops selling curios, pubs, chocolate stores, Viking stores, gin shops and three unmissable recent additions- The Boy Wizard, The World of Wizardry and the one and only The Shop that Must Not be Named. There was actually a long queue to get into the last shop…but you know the reason for the hype once you enter it. 

Shambles

We also had the famous Yorkshire pudding with a twist…we had the YorkPud wrap which is an absolute must for anybody visiting this town in north England. The savoury apple sauce will definitely leave you wanting for more even when you are satiated. You also get more than 50 different types of gin here and for the seekers of the spirit, the Evil Eye Gin Shop is the best stop. For a traditional Sunday roast, we went to the Lowther. A big thumbs up to this place situated next to the river Ouse.

Amidst all this, never does York fail to remind you of its dark history. The buildings and houses have never been changed over thousands of years. A visit to the Dungeons of York gives a chilling yet exciting account with characters like the Executioner, the Plague Doctor, the Highwayman, Guy Fawkes and the Torturer coming to life. The Jorvik Viking Centre gives a glimpse into the lives of the followers of the Norse Gods. The Clifford’s Tower stands atop a mound in silent testimony to the death of around 200 Jews within the York Castle. 

Clifford's Tower

The colourful flower lined lanes of York are criss-crossed by dark alley ways which hold secrets of which we can but get a hushed whisper during the Ghost Walk through the city. I have never been a believer in the supernatural, I am way too driven by science to be drawn to ghosts and spirits. But this was not something that I had expected. The Ghost Walk guide told us stories about real people- an earl, an innkeeper’s boy who ran out to be driven over by a carriage, a lady who held on to her catholic beliefs until her execution, people getting scared of a little girl suffering from epileptic attacks, naming the street the Mad Alice Lane, a sinister murder in Grape Lane, the Grope Lane of yesteryears, and crimes committed under the shadow of the York Minster. It’s not that they try to scare you with noises or people popping out from behind the walls. But it is a strange, unreal feeling, listening to the tales under a flickering lamp post, walking through the very alleys where the incidents took place and looking at the shadows growing longer as the dusk settles in, a stillness disturbed only by our trespassing footsteps…or probably it is just excellent narrative!!!

I have done my best to describe a city which is so embroiled in history and fiction and yet very much real…but I cannot do enough justice. York is a place that you should not visit but experience. It is as Captain Barbossa said, “You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner…You are in one!”

Yours live and loving it,

M