Lovely London: One Month In

As always, via Pinterest

The pigeons are so amiable. I've never been more charmed. You'll be paying attention to a squirrel, or even just walking along, and then a few dozen pigeons'll decide they want to be where you are. Not in a pushy, busy way; they mind their own business. If you want to poke at them with your foot, that's cool. Crumbs'd be nice, man, but only if you've them on you. Don't sweat it. We're all about the journey.

Londoners are pathological jaywalkers. There are these cute little figures on most corners. They alternate: sometimes there's a little green man and other times a red one. As far as I can discern, they exist for purely decorative purposes.)

Do not ask for stockings based on their opacity. This is not the town to bring up 1D in. And on that note...

You're going to learn about One Direction. Liam is afraid of spoons. Harry has four nipples. There are five people in the band. I can't remember when or how this information made its way into my head but it makes me uncomfortable to know it's forced something useful out.

Hey, that train you wanted? It isn't coming. Because your line splits into two and the side you need is down.

The Mormons are plucky. Piccadilly Circus is plastered with posters. They aren't pushy or annoying or anything remotely along those lines; they're nice stories about family men and lawyers who triumphed over adversity. These people are also Mormons. The part that I like is that Piccadilly Circus is where you go on the tube if you want to see Book of Mormon on the West End.

You're suppose to stand on the right side of the escalator. And for God's sake, do as you're told. Tourists!

 

Holm sweet holm

I'm not going to say a word about how ashamed I am for never blogging.

Going to do a decent post on what's been happenin' lately, but for now I just want to let on about my exciting news: I'm going to Stockholm! (You know, as in Stockholm Syndrome.) I know, I know, I'm doing my supermassive European romp in... well, July, but I couldn't wait that long and got my act together for the first week of June. Stockholm has kind of been my dream utopia since I learnt that Sweden, land of fika, is importing garbage from Eastern Europe as they need more to fuel their (relatively) clean energy source. Badarse. Also, it's hard to follow along with Elsa Billgren and Emma Sundh and not feel inspired.

Omg.

I'm a little beside myself, especially since I fee I've really earnt this. The adjustment to London hasn't been an easy one, nor is it resolving itself easily. But walking home from work through Trafalgar Square in golden hour, when everything was so neat and crisp and Georgian and grand, just feels so right. Even if the work is hard, even if self-motivation is tough. I'm feeling good.

Credit where credit is due.

 

WitW: Graz, Austria

Graz! Hallowed birthplace of Governator extraordinaire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Europe's Cultural Capital of 2003. (I like my Capitals of Culture, don't I?) It's actually Austria's second largest city, but that's still less than 300,000 people, so I'll beg an indulgence from you all.

Now, I think Graz is truly very nice, but I have a serious bone to pick with town planning.

This is not okay. I mean, I like experimental architecture as much as the next, but this is what we keep Iceland for. That said, this so-called Friendly Alien (nicknamed by its creators, hm!) is a very excellent temporary art gallery, or Kunsthaus. Graz is actually a permanent UNESCO City of Design, which translates into an inordinate amount of chamber music and art installations. The place has more than twenty different museums and galleries, including -- but not limited to -- museums of contemporary photography, trams and locks. (The largest collection of locks and keys in the world!) Graz, in essence, likes its culture.

You saw it here first!

As if being a City of Art Things wasn't enough, Graz is also Austria's self-appointed (...) Capital of Culinary Delights. They have a Gormet Spectacular (and what I wouldn't give to hear that phrase in German) and spend a whole evening every so often eating all together at a really long table.

Did I mention that Graz is also home to Austria's largest cave system?



This little city is a busy place.

All credit to my sources: Graz, Wikipedia, Graz UNESCO City of Design, Graz Tourism, Culture Graz, Hanns Schell Collection, Thomahan Culture

Where in the Wednesday is my weekly excuse to trawl through Google Images. It's a profile of a place I wish I was in and an attempt to draw my eye away from classic travel destinations; I hope that you'll enjoy reading about all these places as much as I love learning and writing about them. Anywhere you think I ought to write about, from the obscure little town in your area to that place you visited in 1989? I'm at anscenicworld@gmail.com.

 

WitW: Turku, Finland

Introducing Finland's one-time capital, Turku. In 2011, along with Tallinn, it was the European Capital of Culture and, in 1996, (sit down if you aren't already) became Finland's official Christmas city. (Actually, that's kind of a big deal since northern Finland is basically Father Christmas' stomping ground.)

Turku doesn't have an enormous population: 170,000 people, give or take. However, thanks to its location (down at the bottom of Finland... the warm part, I guess) about a million folks pass through it to take a ferry.

In a word, Turku is adorable. It has adorable architecture, adorable boat bars (boats moored in a general vicinity that are bars; I knew you'd get it) and an adorably dorky medieval festival.

They even had a visit to their adorable music festival by Apocalyptica, who I would call adorable as well if I weren't a little bit afraid of them.



Less adorable is the public toilet re-imagined as bar. But Turku makes up for that with the bank that's been turned into a bar and is, by all accounts, quite grand. If you're looking for something in the middle, the old Swedish school -- which, needless to say, is also a bar these days -- might suit you.

Contrary to the portrait I've painted, Turku is not a fog-swamped harbour town consisting wholly of pubs. (Athough there is an ex-kindergarten bar. I'm done.) Turku Castle hosts a collection of appropriately old artefacts from Turku's glory days as capital. You know: lots of lovely rugs and goblets and things.

See what I mean? But, more than anything else, Turku seems to be a place to wander in. Let's be honest with ourselves: you don't visit this place for its (seemingly endless) stream of maritime museums. You visit to walk around and say, "UGH! So beautiful! Too beautiful! Too charming!"

Because, quite simply, it is.

All credit to my sources: TripAdvisor, Virtual Tourist, Wikipedia, Medieval Market, Turku Castle, the Guardian, FanPop, Will Go To, Get In Travel.

Where in the Wednesday is my weekly excuse to trawl through Google Images. It's a profile of the place I wish I was in and an attempt to draw my eye away from classic travel destinations. I write in the hope that you'll enjoy reading about all these places as much as I love learning and writing about them. Anywhere you think I ought to write about, from the obscure little town in your state to that place you visited in 1989? I'm at anscenicworld@gmail.com.