1999 Austria / London / Munich: Clapham Junction

  Locations of visitors to this page
be notified of website changes? subscribe
Big Ben

 

> Across Europe <

> Austria <

London

Speaker's Corner

Inns of Court

Leicester Square

Clapham Junction

Coptic Street

Camden Market

Knightsbridge

> Munich <

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

1999 Austria / London / Munich: Clapham Junction

One day Rose wanted to show me a part of the London environs with which she was very familiar, Clapham Junction.

Usually a short bus ride from London, this suburb is a working-class mixture of cultures without the density of London. Today, however, it took several hours. No explanation was forthcoming from the usually detail-expressive Britons, but as we got off the bus and strolled toward the center of town we saw the problem: a motorcoach (a bus, to Americans) had rolled or been driven into the side of a building. Traffic was blocked in two both direction, for miles and miles.

Did I mention that it was hot? Really hot. That's the main reason we took our leave of the bus stuck in traffic. We had such good weather this trip, but when halted in the midst of dozens of metal boxes burning fossil fuel one hopes for a bit of cool breeze.

Once in Clapham Junction we searched around and found Rose's old stomping grounds. We saw council flats, stores and restaurants, and many small cars - both the old Minis and the new Daimler-Benz SMART cars - which charmed Isaac to no end.

My favorite stop was one of Rose's favorite restaurants, Akash Tandoori. (It's at 70 Northcote Road, for those of you following our footsteps. Yes, I know that there are some folks who really have done just that. Really.) It was closed for lunch, but the owner saw her familiarity and our dissapointment and offered to pack up food to take away ("to go", for non-Britons). That's what you see me doing at the bottom right; balancing a foil container on my lap, eating, while trying to spill as little as possible. The food was good, but I suspect it would have been better without a bit of cooling down.

After brunch on the bench we continued our walking tour of the outskirts of Greater London, finally making our way to the very Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green. It was great fun shopping in shops where Hebrew was the first language. At least Rose could read labels; I had to look at the pictures. We had a very late lunch at a Persian restaurant, being served by a Polish woman. We almost overdosed on sumac, a delightful spice.

Next, Holbourne and the Inns of Court.

Have you found errors nontrivial or marginal, factual, analytical and illogical, arithmetical, temporal, or even typographical? Please let me know; drop me email. Thanks!
 

What's New?  •  Search this Site  •  Website Map
Travel  •  Burning Man  •  San Francisco
Kilts! Kilts! Kilts!  •  Macintosh  •  Technology  •  CU-SeeMe
This page is copyrighted 1993-2010 by Lila, Isaac, Rose, and Mickey Sattler. All rights reserved.