Urban Explorer- Germany: 2011

At the end of September, early October 2011, Lars and I took a trip to St Albans and London, England. Lars wanted to visit his former coworkers at Veolia in England, and I wanted to visit England and see the places I had visited everyday last year while briefly living with him. We first when to St Albans to a pub for lunch. I had a wonderful time meeting his colleagues and enjoyed putting a face to the name.

The whole time I was in England, Lars told me that it was inappropriate for him to bring me to meet his colleagues or to accompany him to work social events. There were lots of events such as Christmas parties and happy hours, but, according to Lars, no one ever took their wife or husband. This custom is very different than in America, I thought. At the last place I worked, spouses and kids often dropped by the office, especially on Fridays. I'm not saying it happened all the time, and some people were more private than others, but I had the impression that being too private was bad for office relationships and caused distrust from your coworkers. And once a year there was a Christmas Party where everyone brought their spouses or partners. That seems normal to me; why go to a party and not be able to bring your partner? But Europe is famous for it's separation of private and professional spheres, to whatever good that brings, which is little in my eyes.

ST ALBANS

Lars walking the streets of St Albans on the way to the train station.

I took the above picture because I wanted to capture how narrow the streets are. Also, to the left you can see half of an outer wall of a building (below) with interesting stonework. These stones appear all over town in the older buildings dating back to the Georgian era, I believe, or maybe earlier. I have seen the rocks in walls, in the abbey and in other clergical buildings. I also think I saw a similar pattern of stone building in the original wall of Cottbus, in Germany, so maybe this goes farther back to medieval building customs.

House built into the stone wall of previous building.

Modest American style row house in Philadelphia.

I liked this picture because it really captures how small these row homes are. this is much smaller than what I was used to seeing in the northeast of the US in Philadelphia, for example. Now, this real estate is very expensive. Did these buildings house just working class tenants/owners? It is interesting to note the walk-up difference between American and English style row-houses. In the US, even modest row houses include the standard stoop, which became a cornerstone of street social lounging and chatting. (See picture to the right from Amer. style.)

It seems like a better alternative to a suburban single family home or an urban apartment if you, for example, want to save yourself the cost of yard maintenance but still want the personal feeling of walking up to your front door. I can see myself raising kids in this kind of house much easier than in a single-family home with front and back yards. A small little patio or porch would be enough for me, because I love public parks where someone else does the yard maintanence and where it feels more social. Besides, kids don't like to play by themselves. I always used to play on the street or in the wooded area on the block-- just like a park! We didn't play in a closed off back-yard after a certain age, anyway. I know that the funnest games and best forts happened "out there" not "at my house". What the tenant here loses in yard, gains in access to public green space such as parks and nature trails. That is, as long as you have a smart urban planner and developers and local politicians who can imagine it.

Beautiful blue door.

The above winding street illuminates the clash of modern and "old" England. I parenthesized "old" because I think that the idea of an older, historical and traditional village plays a big marketing role in St Albans tourism and real estate business. St Albans is in fact old, though, because it was a Roman trading point and then later a medieval market town. However, the real roman town is sort of outside of St Albans now, so few of the buildings visible here are probably much older than the last few centuries. Nonetheless, the sign advertising a car wash seemed a practical, yet somehow contradictory allusion to modern life.

Another invisible force not shown in this picture is the force of suburbanization of the area outside of London. Lars and I noticed very quickly that St Albans has some strange quirks. For example, people working in St Albans usually don't live in St Albans and must commute to it for work. Most people living in this and similar small towns actually work in London. A shocking number of men and women living in St Albans are not in St Albans during the day. The streets are, however, filled on market days and weekdays with women, children and the elderly, who, presumably live in St Albans. The men are eerily absent.

The inhabitants seem to have a real culture of stay-at-home moms, who shop at the fancy shops and push their babies in prams and pull their children around town while the men work in London.

Some businesses have completely moved out of London to accommodate the workers living in the suburbs, such as Veolia, which services the entire London area but is not located in London. Although these villages such as St Albans were once vibrant and economically self-servicing villages in their own right, now most inhabitants cannot afford the real estate prices in St Albans and choose to live in neighboring towns with less charm, where the prices are lower. Lars moved first to Hatfield in 2010, but decided that the town felt too depressing, so he moved to St Albans. He paid almost $1000 dollars rent per month just for a bedroom in a house!! And, he wasn't even living the high life in London; he was living practically in the burbs.

I learned much of this by talking with the owner of the local language school, St Albans School of Languages, Ian, by talking with little old ladies (I mean the term nicely) on the bus and by visiting the local history museum. I haven't done much outside reading though.

Nonetheless, the below picture highlights the beauty of St Albans. Notice the very expensive cars parked in front of the Victorian row houses below. How sad that the original front gardens have been turned into parking lots.

Lars says that the prices in St Albans are just as high as in London. Do these Londoners choose to live in St Albans just so they can live in a place with a small town feel? London already felt small time to me. I'd like to understand the psychology going on here.

LONDON

The rest of the pictures were taken in London. The first pictures were taken the following day in the borough of Kensington. Below, in the center of the picture is Harrod's department store.

Me with Harrods in the background

Bench sill with spikes in front of Barclay's Bank

I took the above picture because I was shocked at the spikes on the window sills. Now, some people might say the spikes were surely intended to keep the birds off the ledge. I wonder though. That ledge looks suspiciously like a bench, which is not an easy thing to find in England on the streets. Just when you think you have found a place to sit, someone put spikes on it, so you can't sit. It seems so obviously aggressive. I hope it is just to keep the birds at bay, an no one else.

Inside Harrods; chocolate bar

The above picture was taken from within Harrods in the department for food purchases. I had read that the beginning of the international design philosophy called Art & Crafts, which eventually came to the US and was known on continent, aka Europe, as Art Nouveau, began in England by a man named William Morris. It was very awe inspiring to look at examples of this design trend in England, where it originated. Below is a link to information about the design philosophy, which I've mentioned a few times on my blog already.

Arts & Crafts Movement

Candy shopping at Harrods.

Above and below, notice the beautiful ceiling plaster work and the gold brushed lamps and painted columns. The picture doesn't do it justice!

Arts & Crafts column with tile work.

Notice the organic shapes painted onto the tiles and incorporated into the plaster. Arts and Crafts design was a philosophical rejection of the effect of industrialization on workmanship. Of course the design philosophy first became popular in England, since England was the first country to undergo industrialization and introduce it to the world.

I love how complex countries can be, first creating something and calling it progress, then leading the counter-revolution against it! I think the US is like this in many ways, and I notice how different the US is in its ideologies from Europe. For example, like industrialization in England, consumerism in its modern form was practically invented in the US and spread out to the rest of the world. But, more and more, I feel that Americans are searching, sometimes nostalgically, for more meaning in our social, personal and professional lives, and we seek this sort of traditional sense of community that walkable cities and street markets can give us. I talked about this topic in a the blog about corporate America. I think the countertrend to this type of consumerism takes many forms and the desire for something more personal than the impersonal way we have lived is strongest in the US, where Facebook, hang-out cafe's etc have become common, but less so in Europe.

Interestingly, the Arts and Crafts movement also embraced oriental influences in its art form. That seems contradictory to me, because the movement supposedly embraced pre-industrial craftmanship and ideals. However, oriental makes sense if one imagines how the artist must have felt; he wanted to reject the contrictions of baroque and neo-classical, etc., and wanted something more organic. Sometimes we look far away from home to find what we have lost, I suppose. Maybe this is why I love the Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe.

Ok... enough about that! Just an aside as I look at these pictures.

Egyptian influence in Harrods

Lars in Harrods

Har har. Lars loves Teddy bears. I caught him hugging one.

Lars on the elevator at Harrods

The above picture is the final picture from Harrods. In the picture, there is a vibrant painted plaster design of the constellations, but I don't recognize much, so I'm not sure. Does anyone know what this is?

The next picture was taken by Lars at the Natural History Museum. There was a shocking exhibit about the effect of pollution and other networks such as utilities networks (water, electricity, waste water, fresh water networks, etc.) on the environment. Since Lars works as a lawyer for utilities companies, he knows all about these issues and was so impressed to see an exhibit about it.

Acknowledgement is the first step to change. I encourage everyone to reflect on the things your throw away, the energy you use and visit energy and waste control plants in order to understand the immensity of the systems that allow us to live a high-energy, take-it-to-go culture. Plastic hasn't been around much more than a century and Tupperware was invented in the 50's or so, but already scientists are studying the "Great garbage patch" in the Pacific ocean and the "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. The pictures are shocking. (Not here-gotta go google.)

The next few pictures were taken from the Thames River as we took a ferry ride from Kensington to London City and back.

Millennium Bride-pedestrian bridge with London Eye in background

The Globe from the Thames

The Gilden Hilde (More info below)

The above picture is of the Golden Hilde, a copy of the ship that Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world.

London Tower Bridge

View of London south of the Thames

Tower of London (?) (north of Thames)

Tower of London

Guys Tower and Guys Hospital (under construction)

The tower in the picture above will be the tallest building in London, according to the Tour guide.

Big Ben aka Palace of Westminster

The London Eye and Westminster Palace

Westminster Palace (?)

The next few pictures were taken from Nottinghill when we went to the street market one day. The picture below was taken in front of private residence. I hope they don't get mad at me for taking a picture of their house! If you know me, you know I love row houses! I love the steps and the blue door here.

Unsanitary garbage disposal

Lars pointed out the unsanitary garbage on the street. According to Lars, leaving garbage on the street would never be allowed in Germany. This is because garbage on the street attracts vermin and other unfriendly visitors, who transmit disease. My mom pointed out to me that maybe the sanitation employees were on strike.

Below is a picture of the Nottinghill street market. Cars do drive down the street, but have to go slowly because there are so many pedestrians. The cars driving along are mostly bringing in goods to the stores. You can buy food, antiques, clothes and everything else at the market here.

The antiques were so awesome. I love how the English love antique furniture too. This is not really the case in Europe, I think. Germans, at least, really like modular furniture, especially 70's style modern furniture from Sweden.

Antique appeal other than retro mod is just now coming back as a fashion trend in Germany and many call the style "Country Style." It doesn't matter if it is baroque or rusted iron, it's all "country" in Germany. According to a furniture saleswoman in Görlitz, this country style trend comes from Denmark, England and France, mostly. This seemed curious to me, because I saw stuff that looked to be directly taken off the wall of a Cracker Barrell store. Some items had faded English writing on it, like a sign that said, "Home Sweet Home", or something. I told Lars that I think the country style imitates the American preference for used-looking furniture, quilts, etc., all that stuff you would expect at a Bed & Breakfast, I guess. Is this a growing nostalgia for the past just like in the US?

But, I don't think many American companies are capitalizing on this. A quilt can cost 200 euros in Germany, if you can find it. There's so much demand! Pastoral designs on curtains, sheets, etc. and classic iron-frame beds are so popular, it is immediately sold out.

Nottinghill Market

Kensington, where we stayed in a Hostel

The following pictures were taken mostly from Kensington, where we stayed.

Looking out from the balcony at our hostel.

Small-town London in Kensington

just another street market in Kensington

Fish stall

Flowers outside South Kensington Station

They trademarked me!

Viktorian Michelin Store...what were victorian tires like?

Chelsea near the Spanish Embassy

Rent-a-Bike Stand

A market in Chelsea

The image speaks for itself.

The British may be conservative. They may be polite and reserved. But they are not afraid to use bright colors! Example in point, the Belgravia Police Station flaunts its blue-purple rail with matching barbed wire. How quaint. I'm sure the inmates appreciate the color coordination when they first peak over the fence during an escape. "Oww, barbed wire. Oh, look, (in)mates, what a nice color!" Sorry, maybe a bad joke.

New development near Marks & Spencer in London City

Sometimes new developments are not very popular, I guess. We noticed this in front of the Marks & Spencers near London City (Londonium). There was hardly anybody out on the sidewalks compared to other streets or ped-zones of London.

Below are pictures of the Globe, a copy of the original theater called the Globe. Shakespeare's plays were originally performed here. I didn't go inside though, because tickets were pricey.

The Globe

The pictures below were taken off a side street on the south side of the Thames Bank near the Globe. It was a real surprise to suddenly see the archeological/architectural remains of Winchester Palace around Clink street (see map below). I found this interesting information about the palace on Wikipedia:

"Winchester Palace was a twelfth century palace, London residence of the Bishops of Winchester.It is located south of the River Thames in Southwark, near the medieval priory which today has become Southwark Cathedral.

Winchester Palace by Wenceslas Hollar, 1660.

Southwark was the largest town in the old diocese of Winchester and the bishop was a major landowner in the area. He was also a power in the land (Winchester being the old Saxon capital), and regularly needed to be in London on royal or administrative state business. For that purpose, Henry of Blois built the palace as his comfortable and high-status London residence.

The palace remained in use until the 17th century, when it was divided into tenements and warehouses, but was mostly destroyed by fire in 1814. Part of the great hall, and the west gable end with its rose window became more visible after a 19th century fire and 20th century redevelopment. It is believed that the great hall was built c.1136 and that the rose window was added 200 years later. The hall had a vaulted cellar below with direct access to the river wharf for bringing in wares, and was richly decorated. It often entertained royal visitors, including James I of Scotland on his wedding to Joan Beaufort (niece of the then bishop, Cardinal Henry Beaufort) in 1424.

The rest of the palace was arranged around two courtyards. It other buildings within the site included a prison, brewery and a butchers. The bishops also had access to a tennis court, bowling alley and a garden."

The Remains of Winchester Palace

Lars in front of the only remaining walls of Winchester Palace

Winchester Palace is straight ahead- (large round window at top left)

Just a little further down the street, we encountered the Golden Hinde (also on the map). We checked out the boat for a while, then went south to the Borough Market.