Here Comes the Sun

I continue my series recounting some of the best days of my life in England last year.

May 7
Today I had another wonderful day out in the green and flowers of London’s parks. On this day I walked all through Hyde Park—from the NW to SE corners, including through the Rose Garden. The weather was incredibly gorgeous—sunny and hot. The park looked absolutely lovely and beautiful. I listened to the Beatles’ album Revolver, which sounded fantastic. I also listened to “Here Comes the Sun,” which just filled me full of happiness. I ate an ice cream sitting on a bench in a lovely garden. Unfortunately, the roses in the rose garden were not yet blooming, but other flowers and bushes had exploded in color.
Unfortunately, I then had to interrupt my ramble through the park with a class visit to the Tate Modern, a converted power station full of modern “art.” It was, predictably, awful. Then I went to the Café in the Crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church for tea. By tea, I mean a plate of chocolate cake, some kind of loaf cake, and a scone with clotted cream and a jar of jam. Before I went to London, I dreamed of having clotted cream and scones, and to my great surprise, I found that the best clotted cream, jam, and scones could be found at Marks and Spencer’s, a chain of grocery stores. M&S offered not only regular groceries, but a fabulous selection of ready-made, take-away food. But I did still enjoy having my afternoon tea on real china with a real pot of tea.
I then walked in the direction of Fleet Street. I passed some very interesting looking buildings that house the Royal Courts of Justice. But by then it had gotten late and I had to go to the theatre.

May 8
Another utterly fantastic day! I went to Hampstead Heath, which is basically an area in the middle of London that has been left wild. The city at some time in the past designated a huge area to do absolutely nothing with. The results are wonderful English forests and meadows right smack dab in the middle of the city. I started out in an open, hilly area with some trees scattered around. I felt like I had suddenly walked into a painting or a picture book. I came up out of the trees and suddenly saw a huge meadow with grass wafting in the breeze. It was Wordsworth country. I had a mysterious feeling of having seen the place before, but I didn’t know where. And again, I felt like I had gone back in time hundreds of years. I could imagine this landscape supporting a magical time of kings and heroes and villains and battles.
I then spent a long time wandering on criss-crossing paths in a more heavily wooded area. Endless paths ran every which way. I let myself get lost and chose whichever path looked more interesting. This part of the Heath was Lord of the Rings country. I saw some wonderfully Ent-ish looking trees. It was green and lush and birds sang all over the place. Except for the occasional plane buzzing overhead, I felt like I could have been in another century or another world.
I had to find my way out so I could get some lunch. I had lunch and walked a little through the Hampstead neighborhood. It felt very village-y, although maybe even a little too posh. It had some wonderful houses with brightly colored doors and riots of flowers. I then went back onto the Heath. And there I saw a very curious thing: children laughing and playing pretend in a tree they had climbed. It was really an excellent climbing tree. The children showed each other their “rooms” in the tree.
Inspired by the delightful children, I decided to try to climb a tree. Having no tree climbing abilities or experience, and wearing sandals, I didn’t get very far, but I made a noble effort. I then climbed to the top of a very large hill, from where I could see lots of London. Throughout the day I listened to acoustic Led Zeppelin songs and the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. I felt like I was walking through Middle Earth or merry olde England. I felt, in the best possible way, like a child. I spent about 5 hours out on the Heath, my muscles becoming pleasantly tired. Before the show I stopped off at Marks & Spencer’s for some scones and clotted cream and jam.

May 9
I’ve found in traveling that I create some of my best memories in relation to food. Eating forms such a big part of our lives that meals associate themselves powerfully with particular moments in our lives. I have many memories of food that I ate during my time in London. I had many very, very good meals, some mediocre ones, and some when I really just needed to put calories in my body. I had many, many sandwiches. England loves its sandwiches and makes them in every possible variety. My favorite became Wensleydale (cheese) and carrot chutney on whole wheat from Marks and Spencer’s. I would usually get a wonderfully flavored, thick and creamy yogurt to go along with it, like toffee and pear. But on this particular day in London, I think I found food heaven.
It was called the Borough Market—an outdoor food market that goes up every Friday in an area called Southwark. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to eat so many things in my life. Not only did it offer a feast for the stomach, but a feast for the eyes. The food looked beautiful—stacks of artisan bread, mounds of chocolate, heaps of sweets, piles of meat pies, whole fish packed in ice, wheels of cheese, jars of jam in every color of the rainbow. It was the finest collection of food and foodstuffs I’ve ever seen. Organic juice bars! Pastries! An entire stand devoted to mushrooms! Tins of fragrant spices! Produce with the dirt still on it! I had some wild boar sausage, 2 half pints of cider (which made me quite drunk), apple-raspberry juice, a blueberry flapjack pastry, and a tub of clotted cream, which I ate with my finger in the churchyard of Southwark Cathedral. I was drunk off the cider by that point.
Many of the booths and stands offered free samples, of which I partook liberally. One stand sold different kinds of olive oil, and offered tiny cubes of bread dipped in the precious oils. I tried a cube of bread dipped in truffle oil. It honestly made me go weak at the knees. I’d never before encountered the taste of the elusive truffle, but even just the little bit of oil in my mouth convinced me that the truffles are worth every penny of the outrageous price. I just wanted to eat everything and buy everything. But I had to watch my wallet and my waistline. Prices on the whole were actually quite reasonable, and lots of locals picked their way through all the sumptuous goodies. I then walked briefly past the Royal Courts of Justice and decided that I could stand being a lawyer if I could work in a building that looked like a castle, with spires and iron gates flanked by dragons.

May 10
I constantly found myself thanking my lucky stars that I had come to England in the spring so I could witness, as Shakespeare would say, the darling buds of May. On this Saturday I made my way out to southwestern London to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. I unfortunately could not take any pictures, because my roommates had unplugged my charging camera the night before. But maybe it was actually a blessing that I could not use my camera, because I would have had to take literally hundreds of pictures of the phenomenally gorgeous gardens. Instead, I was able to focus my attention on the moment and the present.
I don’t believe that I have ever seen such a rich profusion of vegetation. I felt like a princess walking through a fairy-land of my own forests and gardens. I walked through a sea of bluebells—a path cut through an entire meadow filled with bluebells. It felt like something out of a happily-ever-after fairy tale. Trees of every variety punctuated the broad meadows of flowers and carpets of grass. I spent 15 minutes smelling lilacs, which had an unbelievably wonderful fragrance. Even besides the lilac garden, in any part of the enormous park, when I breathed in deeply, I could smell the scent of growing things through the air. Some areas smelled woody, pungent, and mysterious, while other areas smelled sweet and innocent. The first time I traveled to Germany, at the age of nine, the greenness and flowers absolutely awed me. This awed me in a similar way.
As the afternoon wore on, dark gray storm clouds began to roll in. A few heavy drops came down, and I knew that a downpour would soon start. The thunder began to roll. So I headed for an incredible tree that I had spotted earlier. It had huge overhanging branches that made a genuine canopy of leaves—actually more like an igloo of leaves. I went “in” the tree—pushed my way through the web of leaves. Inside I found a huge tangle of roots and branches. Right as I got inside, the downpour came. For about 10 minutes sheets of rain came down. But I stayed dry in my tree. Only a few drops got me. It was so awesome! In my tree, waiting out the storm, I felt like an elf princess. I actually welcomed the rain just so I could have the experience of sheltering beneath the tree.
I had a pleasant walk back through the village of Kew and Richmond. I passed a very quaint tea-house with an old fireplace and blue china. But with the day as hot as it was, I actually did not feel like tea in front of a fire. I passed people playing cricket on the village green. I watched for a few minutes but could not fathom it. It all looked so quaint and lovely and like everyone enjoyed the small pleasures of life. I returned to the flat fully contented with life.