Aaaanyway!
So here I am, arriving at the end of my visit to the city. Staying with a friend close to a main subway line is sooo good and I've been out there (almost) every day sightseeing and visiting galleries.
There's absolutely nothing like friends. Once more, the network has been expanding and I had the chance to enjoy Gabi's (friend of a friend) company, a very cool lithuanian girl currently not too busy and available to check out exhibits and landmarks with me. I've actually been graced more than once by meeting people in this fashion and also patient enough to put up with me and my exploration needs.
One of them is Lucy, one of the housemates of the place I am staying at in London. We spent saturday afternoon in Camden Town (mainly at the Lock) just before it got struck by a fire. Luck has been on my side. Not only has the weather been brilliant - cold but sunny - but checking out the Camden Lock was great. That place crawls(ed) with alternative life. There are lots of little stalls that sell everything from indian coths, wooden jewelry to whacky t-shirts, shops like cyberdog - a delight for every trace/psytrance lover. At the Lock, one can pass from one yard to another, then to converted horse stables housing some more shops, food stalls, quiet squares with some nice pubs, a canal hosting water taxis. The place is swarming with people and life, the main street is usually packed and access to the subway requires some patience as the flux of people going in and out is controlled to not overload the platforms. Too bad it burned down but I am sure they will try to get it back up ASAP. Even Pete Doherty is willing to play at a fund-raising beneficiary concert.
Back to Gabi... Following Hedda's recommendation, we went to the largest Hindu temple outside india located in London!!! Walking out of Neasden station, a very elucidative sign greets us "Going to IKEA, Tesco or the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple"...
Being the orderly people we are, we humbly follow the next signs, walk past Tesco... then past IKEA... enter a neighborhood and suddenly, after a 15min walk, at the end of a row of little houses we can see what is a building almost totally out of... context. This whole path and experience was described to me by H but I could not imagine I would still be surprised like that.I reckon that walking down the street and having the first far glimpse at the building's silhouette is an experience of its own. Once closer, this is what we saw.
The detail on the marble stucture is just too amazing to explain. The story of its construction is quite impressive "Using 5,000 tonnes of Italian Carrara marble and the finest Bulgarian limestone, it was hand-carved into 26,300 pieces by 1,526 skilled craftsmen...". Cameras are unfortunately not allowed inside. Visiting the temple is free of charge, only the "Discover Hinduism" exhibition has a charge, but it's nothing. This place is not known at all, although referenced in the official london tourist guide, it is easily overseen being devoid of any bold note of attention.
There are way too many things to see in London, all that is cultural or artistic is of a huge volume. I managed to check out:
The TATE Modern and its permanent exhibitions. The main hall has a specially commissioned temporary piece called Shibboleth conceived by Doris Salcedo, it's related to racism, but I'd recommend to check the link. The main hall is huge and as the picture depicts it's a crack in the floor crossing the WHOLE hall.
The remaining exhibitions are very good even if I only kept to the free ones.
The previous day I checked out with Gabi and Amy two excellent ones at the Hayward gallery. "Laughing in a foreign language" (this link looks like a good information source too)is specially funny and interventive. It went from modified Jokemaster toys saying things like:
Q. Did you hear about the guy who's a dyslexic-bulimic?
A. He eats, and then he sticks his finger up his ass
... to Barthélémy Toguo and his Transit series from which I remember 2 scenes: he puts on a clean street cleaner outfit, buys a TGV ticket and boards the train. Cutting a long story short, most of the people next to him change seats and soon the wagon is almost empty. Just remember that he's black, and even if the outfit is spanking clean it still is a cleaner's.
The other one is created following his frustration with security checks at border control where his luggage would ALWAYS be checked. He one day flies back from Camroon with luggage-looking wooden blocks... brilliant.
The second exhibition at Hayward is about the russian artist Alexander Rodchenko! Compare picture one, two and three. The first two are his.
One of his quotes: "We as artists have the duty to experiment". I can but imagine if it wasn't for experimenting artists, where we'd be today...
Tomorrow, thursday, is my last full day and again, no rush... I'll calmly see what I feel like I might miss.
I don't feel like I have much more to tell about London (as I saw it). There's lots going on, lots to see, lots to do... I have the sensation that Lisbon, although having "only" an eight of London's population, supplies the same feeling that it will never stop and keep you forever busy.
Yeah, I have some pictures of the London Eye (the ferris wheel), several bridges (among them "Wiggly wobbly", also called "Millennium Bridge"), some interesting signs, places... so I'll just leave this one to say goodbye (You say goodbye I say Hello).
While not totally keeping my eye off Australia, I was eager to see how the Australian apology to the aborigines would be accepted. The whole question is quite bipolar. While some ask why a gov't should ask for forgiveness for something done in the past, others believe this gesture is an example other nations should follow. I personally am in favor of the apology but then comes the extra argument that the gov't should compensate ($$$) for the stolen generations and other racist behaviors. The previous gov't was not the most emigrant-friendly around, judging by the Pacific Solution (I already posted about it I think...). One thing is true, every city I visited had at least one exhibition about the aboriginal people, showing the good and the bad things that were done to them.
n.-
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