With our trip to Brussels looming, we managed to pack plenty in this week starting on Thursday night with the Long Shorts Programme of the London International Animation Festival. The programme included animations over 10 minutes in length, being shown in a seperate session in order to maximise the number of shorter films included in the other programmes. The programme included an Academy Award winning animation, The Danish Poet, and a Sundance Award winning animation, Everything Will Be Ok. It was amazing to be able to see part of an international festival, just minutes from our home.
On Saturday morning we hopped on the tube and headed west to Canary Wharf. Alighting the Underground at the Foster designed station in the heart of the regenerated docklands, we wandered the new centre of commerce in London before catching the Docklands Light Rail to Cutty Sark. The Cutty Sark is a ship, the remains of which are usually able to be visited, however it's currently under restoration and having no prior knowledge about the ship, I'm no better off having not be able to visit it. Beside the Cutty Sark is the Royal Naval Academy, an impressive group of buildings designed by Christopher Wren on the site of Greenwich Palace. The amazing painted hall was open to visit and a truly incredible display of the grandeur contained within the academy.
The Painted Hall at the Royal Naval Academy.
Just minutes walk from the Cutty Sark is Greenwich and the Royal Observatory, home to Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian is longitude 0, and the defining border of the east and west hemispheres. On display are many astrological and nautical devices, including all four Harrisons, the first watches to be accurate enough on a ship to allow the calculation of a ship's position longitudinally. Also at the Royal Observatory is the "time ball" a large red metal sphere which drops along a rod every day at exactly 1pm GMT. Despite the simplicity of the display, its use as a constant point of reference for ships to set their timepieces was invaluable to the safety of many sailors.
The Prime Meridan.
Following a short walk through Greenwich, we arrived at Laban, a dance college designed by Herzog and De Meuron. The wonderfully resolved building is a highly impressive piece of modern architecture. With curves whose faceted windows reflect the building itself and angular, simple landscaping to accompany the geometry, Laban is awe inspiring architecture. We left Laban to find a bus to catch to another striking piece of contemporary architecture. Set behind a traditional high street, Peckham Library is disjunctive, peeking above the terraces with its copper cladding and orange disc. Somehow Will Alsop convinced Peckham council that the library should be set some three stories above an open public plaza. All that touches the ground is a narrow core, allowing lift and stair access.
Laban's Faceted Windows.
Laban's Main Facade.
Peckham Library.
Having had quite an intrepid day trecking around the city, we returned home to ready ourselves for dinner at Cocoon. Located on Regent St in a heritage building, Cocoon's slick interior makes dining here a pleasant juxtaposition. With its tasty Japanese menu, our dinner was a delight, and left us with a very short walk home.
Sunday we headed north to Hampstead and its impressive public park, Hampstead Heath. Hampstead Heath is a wonderfully huge park, parts of which seem to have retained their natural state, while others follow a more traditional park of rolling grass and hills. One of the heath's high points, Parliament Hill, has a great view over London to the south.
The View from Parliament Hill Across London.
Nearby Highgate Cemetery is home to such names as Karl Marx and Douglas Adams and so we made our way there. The company which began, owned and operated Highgate Cemetery was created by the authorities to deal with the growing needs of London. Seven cemeteries were created in this way in the 1830's which are now known as the "Magnificent Seven". The cemeteries were a huge success right up until the early 20th century when demand for ornate memorials dried up and the company walked away from the cemetery, leaving it without maintenance for 50 years. When the company finally was declared bankrupt and the land was to be sold, a charitable group formed to try and save the cemetery. Luckily they were successful and currently some £300,000 is raised each year just to maintain it in it's current state. Visiting Highgate has been one of the highlights of my time here so far.
Highgate Cemetery.
Highgate Cemetery.
Following our return from Highgate, we ventured to a nearby pub for a quick meal before returning to Curzon for the final session in the London International Animation Festival, the Best of the Festival programme. Voted on by the public attending the session, and including the prize winners, this Sunday night session allowed us the chance to see some incredible animations, and to hear that Everything Will Be Ok won the overall award for best animation. A great end to a busy weekend, we look forward to our short week (public holiday! woohoo!) and impending trip to Belgium next weekend, which is coincidentally the National Belgium Beer Weekend....
And so, I shall close by blog this week, with my updated map link again...
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108781270355512035411.000001130555522820954&ll=51.511734,-0.125656&spn=0.160465,0.456619&t=h&z=12&om=1
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