I honestly don't think that Phil and I could have crammed in anything else to this weekend's trip to London...no change there then. Our hectic weekend started going to Regents Park open air theatre. Note to anybody who will be going there in the future, find out where the theatre is before you set off. After walking around the whole park Phil and I tried our usual tactic - follow other people. One snag is when our guides went across the grass, we didn't want to follow so ended up going in the oppoisite direction of the theatre and me having sore feet from the hike.
Cymbeline was fantastic, funny and highly recommended. We did have a slight escapade when getting to our seats (late of course) with Phil pulling the back of his seat off becuase he couldn't work out where the foam ended and the seat started :)
On the Saturday we ventured to Neasden (North London). I was very sceptical about this trip to a Hindu temple but Phil was on a mission. Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (http://www.mandir.org/) can be reached by walking along the North circular road with 4 lanes of taffic, through suburbia, past ikea an then out of no where comes a majestic white temple! You enter the temple through the haveli and remove your shoes, then if you are like me and phil, you follow everybody else becuase they always know where they are going :) we saw the prayer hall and went through the introduction to hinduism exhibition (highly recommended too). A gentleman stopped us half way through the exhibition and told us to go upstairs for the service is about to start. We just thought we were going to stand at the back but no. The gentleman lead phil tp the front of the congregation and directed me to sit crossed legged on the floor with the women which i did. One problem, I'm 6 ft tall, the lady next to me was barely 4 ft and when i looked around I realised I looked like gulliver. So, Phil and I were separated, didn't have a clue what was going on, in the most majestically carved marble room with the gods in front of us. However, I was quick to realise that the men were in front and women were behind a rope, therefore, the men always went first so i watched what they did and followed. A lady brought around a candle whereby the women brushed their hands over it and over their head which I intend to find out why. After the beautiful music the men were lead in front of the gods, Phil was number 4 in the queue and really looked confused but I followed the little women around me as we passed the gods, they prayed and brushed their hands at the feet of them. A truly moving experience.
Back along the north circular, past ikea, past tesco and suburbia and off to Highgate cemetary (http://highgate-cemetery.org/index.asp) , apparently one of the top things to see in London, I wasn't convinced before we went but after the mornings venture I happily went to see graves. Highgate is actually spilt into 2 parts, both kept by the 'friends of highgate' who run a tour of the famous graves. I was made to cover my shoulders in the cemetary out of repect which I have never done in an English cemetary. OUr tour showed us the egyptian style tombs in egyptian alley, the gothic style tombs, why air holes are in the doors becuase the doors would blow off when the bodies decomposed, the grave of the postage stamp designer and many many more famous people. One disappointment is that we often weren't shown the graves but were told that they were 'behind there' so I can tell you that dickins family is 'beind there' and Faraday is also 'somewhere in there'. Karl Marx is buried in the open access cematary opposite close to 'george eliot'.
In the evening we went to London's Hungarian Restaurant 'Gay Hussar', the style is 1950's soho and has the menu in hungarian and english, hungarian wine, hungarian waiting staff...quite an odd thought. After dinner we virtually ran to the Globe Theatre (http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/) to see Pericles, Prince of Tyre, an impressive play but the rope gymnastic and audience participation was outstanding. We had the cheap seats so had a weird side on view in the upper gallery but should see how it would have been when first built. The poor in the yard, mingling with the prostitues and just going to the toilet stood where they were, the middle gallery with the proper seating and the upper gallery with the benches.
It was an entirely enjoyable weekend of rushing from a to b and seeing things that aren't on the tourist route. Be warned, anybody who comes to London with me is going to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir :)
