THE END

Me in front of Pomeroy House in Bethnal Green, my home for the last two months of my sabbatical. My room is on the top left.

It rained all day today. It seems as if London wants to relief me of the stress of leaving.

I packed my suitcase and two rucksacks, cleaned my room and went off to meet Rose at a café in Kensington. Rose and I were coursemates at the LSJ and became good friends. At the end of our meeting we both had tears in our eyes and agreed upon this wouldn't have happened if we were as strong as men.

In the evening I met Tobi, a friend from Nuremberg/Erlangen. Funnily enough it was him I met with on my very last day in Germany before I flew to London in April. So my sabbatical has come full circle.

Thank you all so very much for making my time in London to such a unique experience: Emma, Justine and Duji, Alex, Tony, Rose and my coursemates, Catherine and the staff of the LSJ, Andrew and all the other teachers at the LSJ, Bridget and Robert, Sandra, Jessa, Chris, Polly and Gemma, Richard and Julie, Thomas and Kathrin, John, Elaine and the other hikers and all the other lovely people I met!

Thanks also to those who enabled me to take this wonderful break: My boss Jan, my colleagues - first of all Heidi and Kathrin - and, last but not least, my spouse Günter. I can't tell you how grateful I am, so I better stop now.

"Nanny state" Britain

Ian McGregor, well-known British actor who became famous for his lead role in the film Trainspotting, recently critised the "nanny state" Britain. He's left London some years ago to live in the US.

In fact there is an awful lot of CCTV cameras everywhere, even on top of this sculpture in a nearby park. But on the other hand the observations have led to the arrest of quite a few criminals, even murderers, the best known among them, I guess, the teenaged murderers of James Bulger.

What worries me more is the high standard of "security" in this country. Each school is defended like a maximum security prison, like this comprehensive school in Bethnal Green. And there are a lot of 24/7 security guards all around the city.

It makes you feel quite threatened yourself as this suggests that there is a high need for all these measures.

Switching to a lovely topic again, Lovers Walk was successfully re-written and directed in London. I went to see the play yesterday after having seen it in Brighton and it was perfectly adapted to London by Gemma and Marcelo. It's in its last week so hurry up if you want to see how Rosie and Matt fall in love and want to get to know what's happening in their relationship.

On top of it all

One of the best lookout points is the spine of St Paul's Cathedral. Getting there is quite an adventure and you pass the Whispering Gallery where you have an amazing view down onto the marble floor of the cathedral and up to the dome and the Stone Gallery with great views into all directions before you finally reach the Golden Gallery right below the golden ball and cross at the top of the spine.

The church itself is burial place of some famous captains, with the two star tombs of Nelson and Wellington. To round up my day at St Paul's, I, again, took part at the Evening Song with a lovely boys' choir.

At the end of the day, I went on a pub crawl. Together with my landlord, Tony, and my flatmate Melvyn, I went to The Barrow Boy and Banker, The Royal Oak and finally Market Porter. An excellent choice, Tony!

From Glynde to Seaford

Seven Sisters, East of Seaford

The facebook group Walking/Cycling/Dancing etc in & around London did the 24 kilometre walk from Glynde to Seaford yesterday.

I joined them and it was again, despite the rain that set in at lunchtime in Alfriston, a very nice walk with nice company and great views from the South Downs Way.

I recommend this group to all Londoners strongly. It's based on the friends of John and Elaine and has developed ever since. Just see the list of recent activities!

Sandra introduced me to this group and I'm glad I had the opportunity to join them on two Sunday walks. By the way, Sandra is the one on top on the facebook group's page.

Shower with arts and attention

Recently seen in the Eastend

Judging from the numbers of phone numbers already missing, this artist should have enough muses now for the rest of his life.

Thought about mailing him for a second to be showered with arts and attention - but then decided to go back to all my friends, colleagues and boss back in Germany.

Although it's sad to say good bye to my friends here in England, I'm looking very much forward to seeing you all next week again.

Master of the Road

A Heritage Roadmaster waiting for his next tour through the city center

London wouldn't be London without the red double-decker busses.

From 1954 to 1968 these busses looked like this one and were called Roadmaster. Apart from the driver there always was a conductor on board. Passengers boarded and enlightened at the back of the bus, not only at the regular stops but also in between - quite risky and not accessable for wheelchairs.

In 1968, the Roadmasters were replaced by modern busses und today the Heritage Roadmaster operates on two lines, 9 and 15, only. It's great fun to travel on these busses because you can reach many of London's sights and enjoy a ride on a historic bus. Much better value than the hop-on-hop-off tours the big bus companies offer.

Achso

Some German words have found their way to the Anglo-American world. I knew about Kindergarten, Blitz and gemütlich, but during the last six months I came across some more.

The other day I saw this poster advertising an arts exhibition. At that time I've already heard the words kitschig and über-cool. In German we probably wouldn't use the word über-kitschig in this combination. And yesterday I read the word Doppelganger in a headline.

My favourite German words I can't do without? It's probably Nein whenever I find something unbelievable. And Achtung whenever I want to warn someone of an approaching car or loosing some of his/her belongings in the tube.

But my most favourite word is Achso. I use it whenever someone explains something to me and I'm beginning to understand. A course mate pointed this habit of me and many other Germans in England out to me. And since then I'm more and more aware about me using it.

Having been in England for nearly six months now, I probably should say Got it instead.

When I get older, loosing my hair...

Who am I? That's not only one of the many philosophical questions I ask myself from time to time, it's also the title of an exhibition at the Science Museum.

This is the opportunity to learn more about oneself, ones abilities, habits and values.

It came to me as a surprise that I apparently think like a woman and a man in equal terms. When I morphed myself into the opposite sex I couldn't tell much difference. And finally, when the computer, based on the outline of my hand, guessed my sex, it chose the wrong one (although there is only a 54 percent chance of getting it right).

And this is the result of my morph into the "elderly" category. I haven't changed much, have I? It doesn't look like fun being "elderly" although I did smile when the computer took the picture.

What a great outlook into the future when not only the proportions of your face change, your skin gets darker and wrinkly and your hair becomes lighter, but also there obviously won't be any reason to smile anymore.

Would be great to have a "Start again" button within reach...

Second chance for The Globe

I wanted to give me another chance. When Günter and I went to The Globe to watch Henry IV, Part IV, I understood approximately five percent of what was said on stage.

This time, I went to the afternoon performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor. And I was lucky. This time I understood nearly 85 percent.

Lesson learned, everything deserves a second chance.



Just having a TV evening with my flatmate Andy, watching Lost Land of the Tiger.

On the route of the Queen

Westminster Hall, where the Pope held a short speach on Friday. It was the first ever state visit of a pope in the UK

Today I followed the processional route taken by Her Majesty the Queen when she performs the State Opening of Parliament. Our guide Russel took us onto this very route when he showed us round the Houses of Parliament.

He did a very good job and squeezed a lot of information into 75 minutes but I felt a bit rushed. Would have loved to go into more details and stay a little longer.

The medieval Westminster Hall (pictured) is the oldest surviving room of the Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament. All the rest is an orgy in Neo-Gothic style, including the House of Commons that had to be rebuilt in the 1950s after having been damaged in the Blitz.

On the ladies toilets I came across this electronic device telling me that the inspection service is overdue for nearly an hour.

Not sure this is the right way to put pressure on your employees. It obviously doesn't work.

Open House London - Take two

Model of the City of London, with some buildings "under construction"

Open House London runs for two days. So I visited some of the usually closed liver buildings in the City of London.

The City of London is also called The Square Mile and is outlined by the old Roman walls.

This model of the City of London is used by its marketing experts to inform and convince investors from all over the world.

On Open House London, the model was explained by a man who once worked for the company who produced the model. I was surprised how much this man knew about the architecture of nearly each building in this model, apart from his knowledge on model making. Above that he presented his knowledge very witty ("We model makers have a biblical ability. We can walk on water.")

He wasn't the only one that impressed me today. The guide who explained the Guildhall in perfection is the hall's security man. At the RSA, a member of the society finished the day with his eleventh lecture on the building and its great paintings. And in Drapers' Hall and Apothecaries' Hall the many volunteers on duty answered every question you could possibly think of.

Open House London

For the annual Open House London event some people come from as far as Devon to visit some of the most interesting buildings of London usually closed to the public.

I took the chance to visit, among others, 120 Fleet Street, the former Daily Express building. It's a classic Thirties building boasting a cinema-like reception with a starburst ceiling in gold and silver, deep black marble and a wave pattern floor of blue and black rubber.

Staircase of 120 Fleet Street

The visitors were deeply impressed, and so was I.

In the evening I watched a film titled Britain's Really Disgusting Drinks. I couldn't believe the story behind a drink called Buckfast. And this is how the story goes.

At the end of the 19th century, Benedictine monks brought an ancient recipe for a tonic wine from their homeland France to the Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Since then the abbey produces and sells this wine and becomes more and more successfull.

Today this tonic wine called Buckfast is a wine with 15 percent alcohol and, above that, has a very high caffeine content, with an equivalent of eight cans of cola in each 750ml bottle.

In an area around Glasgow, Buckfast is connected with a lot of aggression and crimes. Quite a few politicians and even the Archbishop have tried to discuss the effects of its product with the abbey.

But all the monks do is what every profit seeking company would do. They deny the dangers of their tonic wine and keep on producing the stuff... Another story that shines a light on the real Catholic church.

Where the Queen spends her weekends

Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, was my destination today.

I started with a guided tour through the Great Kitchen, the oldest, substantially unchanged and still used kitchen in the country and most probably in the world.

Windsor is just an hour on the train away and well worth the 16 Pounds entrance fee (plus 4,50 for the Great Kitchen tour).

I joined the Evening Song in St Georges's Chapel, where ten monarchs are buried, including Henry VIII (with his favourite wife Jane who gave birth to his only son) and (beheaded but head and body were then joined again) Charles I. The chapel boasts a most beautiful Gothic nave and choir and is headquarter of the Order of the Garter. I actually sat on the choir chair of the ex-prime minister John Mayor.

Later I crossed the Thames to stroll through the small village of Eton. It was too late to visit Eton College but it was quite surprising to see the masses of pupils heading for an evening event in their school uniforms, dressed up far more exquisite than most men on their wedding day.

Black and White Photography

At nearly every corner there's a gallery in London. Today I went to see to two of them.

First was Getty Images. The stock photo agency has its own gallery close to Oxford Circus. Right now there are photos of stars on display. The exhibition is titled Love from London: A City of Stars. As I'm not very much into celebreties I wasn't much impressed but I did like the mock-up of Alfred Hitchcock floating in the Thames and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy fooling around in a shop.

Just opposite of Oxford Street is The Photographers' Gallery. The exhibition of Sally Mann's photos The family and the land is amazing. Especially the pictures of her (naked) children are beautiful. Rather strange are her pictures of dead bodies used by scientists in a forensic study. However, she's a great photographer.

In the evening I went to The Old Vic, a theatre close to Waterloo Station with a grand history. Design for Living by Noel Coward has been banned from UK's stages in the 1930s. Today, the story of Leo, Otto and Gilda who love each other obviously isn't provocative anymore but great fun.

Witty people

This building on the South banks of the river Thames is the City Hall. It's home to the Greater London Assembly (GLA), whose responsibilities include transport and communications and social services in the 32 boroughs of London and the City of London.

Today was Mayor's Question Time and as the acting Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is famous for his spontaneous and funny remarks, it was my last chance today to see myself if this is true.

Most questions he had to answer were related to improving the traffic in London. He dealt with a nearly accident of two planes above London some weeks ago, another nearly accident in the tube when an engineering train drove backwards on Northern Line, the recent tube strikes, plans to reduce the opening times of tube ticket offices, the Olympic lanes, the Mayor's bike hire scheme and the identification of Rickshaw drivers.

As expected, Boris Johnson was very entertaining. It all started with him and his whole Tory faction not turning up for the first five minutes to avoid that the GLA is complete to make a decision on future proceedings.

In the afternoon, the Reverend of St. Leonhard's church in Shoreditch led us through its highly interesting crypt. The church is said to stand on the ground of the first Roman settlement of London and strongly connected to Shakespeare.

Many actors of Shakespeare plays of the very beginning are buried here. The crypt is full of coffins, some are piled five layers high and have already collapsed. But the best bit was the very knowledgeable and witty Reverend, Paul Turp, himself. Just discovered that he inspired the BBC show Rev.

All day long wedding celebration

Every day at Hampton Court Palace, you can witness Henry VIII marrying his sixth wife Kateryn Parr. Visitors feel like being part of the proceedings - from the selection of the wedding dress to the preparation of the wedding night.

Here, in the Great Hall, the King introduces his new wife to her Royal household. As we were his wedding present to her, we were told that we're supposed to stay at the palace. Luckily they let me out so that I could return to Bethnal Green in pouring rain shortly before the palace was closed at 6pm.

Hampton Court boast lots of attractions and superlatives. The World's oldest tennis court is just one of them.

My brother Christian told me about it as he'd played Real (Royal) Tennis in Australia and even qualified for a tournament in Tasmania. I was lucky that there was a game going on. But I didn't understand the many tricky rules of this game, Henry VIII was so very keen on.

In September, the gardeners of Hampton Court harvest the grapes of another unique Royal possession. The Great Vine is the World's largest vine, grown from a cutting in 1768 - and it's still growing.

Night carnival

With a wonderful night carnival and fireworks the Mayor's Thames Festival 2010 ended today.

Today, I strolled over the festival market without doing any shopping, visited a photo class, watched Morris dancers for the first time in my life, saw some more events and art projects and finally watched the night carnival parade.
The parade was much nicer than the famous Notting Hill carnival and had a very special atmosphere as the groups marched all along the Thames, there weren't any big loudspeakers and many costumes were illuminated.

A toast on the Thames

London owes its very existence to the Thames and the Londoners celebrate their city with the Mayor's Thames Festival this weekend.

As pictured, Tower Bridge had to be lifted for some of the historical ships who took part at the river parade. There was a Feast on the Southwark Bridge with a lot of activities promoting environmental friendly activities, some art installations, theatre, music and a lot of stalls.

As the festival is mainly financed by sponsors, there was this Cadbury stall where a women chef created Tower Bridge in chocolate. Didn't look very tempting to me, though.

I spend the evening with Polly and her friend celebrating her birthday. She had chosen a very nice pub called The Scolt Head. Although the noise level in this popular pub put my language abilities to the test, I could follow the conversation quite well and enjoyed the evening very much.

Bad girl in London

Any comments?

Sculpture with a secret

Isn't this a lovely memorial. That's what I thought, when I saw it in the entrance hall of the Royal College of Surgeons of England that houses the Hunterian Museum I was going to visit.

The Macloghlin Memorial has a weird secret, a sign says.

The memorial was commissioned by Eliza Macloghlin after her husband Edward had died in 1904. The box the couple hold in their hands was supposed to contain his ashes. Hers were to join his later.

When working on the memorial, Sir Alfred Gilbert and Eliza fell in love and they developed the obscure idea that the sculptor could find his resting place in the memorial too. So he provided a place for his ashes in the head of Eliza and closed it with a hinged lid.

Unfortunately, or should I rather say fortunately, the love affair didn't last long so that today, Mr. and Mrs. Macloghlin's ashes alone are united in their memorial.

Cows and horses

This memorial plaque I came across at the Southbank of the Thames yesterday. I'd just read that the European Commission considers to loosen the restrictions regaring BSE. Why feeding animals with meat anyway when there still are risks for people, I ask myself?

My theatre evening today was all about horses. I went to see War Horse at the New London Theatre and was completely struck by the story, the actors and the huge puppets and their players.

I'd never seen such a great performance before. And, sitting in the first row, it felt as if the horses nearly ran me over. The tank was rolling over me and I was amid the World War I battle field. I will miss this kind of theatre very much when I'm back home!

London Eye

An astonishing feature of London's waterside is the London Eye. It's little more than ten years old, 443ft high and offers superb views onto the city.

I haven't been on the thirty minutes ride as I think it's quite expensive - my guide book says it's 17 Pounds but although it was published this year, most entrance fees are already quite a bit higher. Furthermore, I'm not sure I'll like it up there.

Today I came home from a wonderful short break with Jessa and Chris in Bristol. After my packed program in London it was great to spend some relaxing days among very good old friends.

London Eye casts its shaddow onto the Shell Centre. Built in the 1950s it was the talles building in London at the time. It's still owned and operated by oil giant Shell which started as an East End sea-shell shop in 1833.

Tell the difference

One picture shows reality, one art. Can you tell the difference?

Inspiration for the phone box

This is me, pretending to enter one of the oldest surviving red phone boxes in London.

These traditional phone boxes are to be seen everywhere in the city, but I haven't seen anybody using them except for photo purposes. However, they belong to London as Big Ben and Tower Bridge.

Giles Gilbert Scott, who designed them, is said to have been inspired by a mausoleum.

The mausoleum can be found on the graveyard of Old St Pancras Church, hidden and neglected behind iron railings behind St Pancras Station. It's the mausoleum for John Soane's wife, designed by her husband in 1816.

Eating out

There are many contradictions in everyone's life. Given the choice, I rather go for eating. This is the city where you can find nearly every country's kitchen. Will miss this diversity back in Bratwurst City.

Mystery bag and safe haven for books

There are plenty of public services available here London. One positive example are the libraries.

One day I came across two libraries who've developed creative ideas to even improve their service for their readers - and to get rid of books no longer needed.

When buying the "Mystery Bag" you don't know which books you're going to take home. But it seems to be good value - you'll get a bag full of paperbags in a chosen category for only two Pounds.

Another library offers a service for out-of-hours. Another great idea I would love to see in Germany for busy working people like me. Thank Good there is the Siemens library to where I can send back the books via in-house post.

Love poem on your door step

This love poem was written on a door frame in the Eastend. It comes "straight from the heart to say I love you".

Although I couldn't read it completely, I find the idea of love poems delivered right to your door very poetic. Guess the house owner doesn't share this opinion and probably would like to have a talk with the admirer of his tenant about this type of poetry.

Two love stories between gravestones

Grave of the Rossetti family (left) and Elizabeth Siddall (right) on Highgate Cemetery

Today I went on a guided tour through Highgate Cemetery, the most famous graveyard of the "Magnificent Seven" in London. Again there were many interesting stories about the life and death of the people who were buried there from 1839 onwards.

Among them two obscure love stories. One is the story of the love between painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his model and wife Elizabeth Siddall. She was the most popular model for the Pre-Raphaelites and, with her beautiful red hair, she appears in many pictures of this period.

When she died, Rossetti slid the only handwritten copy of his many love poems into her long red hair and the coffin was closed. Seven years later, when Rossetti feared to become blind and running out of money, he had her coffin exhumed to retrieve the manuscript.

True is that the poems were still in good order. Untrue, that her long hair had grown since her burial and had filled the coffin when it was opened again.

Tomb of bare-knuckle fighter Thomas Sayers

When Thomas Sayers won a fight against one of his colleagues, he decided to make a living out of his abilities. Unfortunately he later was heavily injured in the World Boxing Championship so that his friends collected money for his early retirement.

When he died, thousands of people gathered on the streets leading up to the cemetery. Neither his wife nor his children attended his funeral, so his beloved dog Lion, a bull mastiff, followed his coffin with a black neckband. In stone, he still guards the grave of his master.

I'm off to visit my friends Jessa and Chris tomorrow. Polly will take me to Bristol in her car. So the blogs that will be published in the upcoming days will have been written in advance. Keep your fingers crossed that this will work!

Today's deal

A great deal was on offer today for all subscribers of the Groupon newsletter. "£19 instead of £47 for the ultimate Oktoberfest Experience in London for you and a friend with authentic beers from the fest, a Schnapps each plus pretzels and pommes for two at Octoberfest Pub."
"This is 'the closest thing to Beerfest outside of Munch' according to Time Out."
"The frauleins will serve your traditional Dirndls and steins will be overflowing so come and get the party started."

It would be interesting to know what the frauleins wear if they serve the Dirndls. Will they dress up in Hendl or Weisswurst?

Today I visited the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch. It's a museum dedicated to the interior decoration of the middle class and once was an enclave of eighteenth-century ironmongers' almshouses.

On certain days you can not only visit the museum with its period living rooms but also step into one of the almshouses, what I did. Although they lived in a single room without a kitchen or a bathroom for themselves, they were pretty well off compared with other pensioneers, by definition people aged 56 and older, of their time.

Drinking for England was one of two amazing films I watched at the Mediathek of BFI Southbank today. Watching the films is free of charge, you just have to turn up and choose the ones you'd like to watch from more than 3,000 films of the BFI National Archive. A great place to end the day, just before heading home to write my daily blog.

Dinosaurs, insects and the lot

While the sun was shining brightly, I went to the National History Museum. It's in the most beautiful, huge building you can imagine, built in 1880 in Romanesque style. The walls are decorated with lots of terracotta animals and plants.

Kids-magnets are a great dinosaurs exhibition (and shop) as well as Creepy Crawlies, an exhibition about insects and arthropods. They even have a colony of leaf-cutter ants from Trinidad which feed on an fungus that they grow on the leaves they gather before the eyes of the visitors.

I went onto a tour through the museum's large collection of animals preserved in spirit. Some weren't very nice to look at. Just imagine a fox, a sheep or a giant squid in alcohol.

At the end of the tour I asked my guide if they display "a partially digested human head from a perm whale's stomach", as my guide book says. She just shook her head and led me to a jar with a poor squid that lost its life after having been swallowed by a whale. So don't believe every word your guide book says!

In the evening I, again, went to the theatre. This time I saw Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris at the Royal Court Theatre. Seven great actors and actresses, among them Martin Freeman (The Office) and Sophie Thompson (younger sister of Emma Thompson), made this excellent satirical play on race and hidden racism a unique experience.