After these many weeks in London, I have been living in London more than travelling in London, cause I haven’t been very good planning out a travelling plan to see the city. I do have problem travelling alone. I am a sharing type of person….or should I say, I need attention. It is a lonely feeling wandering around the city by myself. Seeing interesting things, something that I found amusing, I want to share it right away with my friend(s) for that instant moment of joy. Look around…there is no one…how lonely!
Nevertheless, I still managed to do some sightseeing by myself using the TimeOut magazine that releases its issue each week. From the magazine, I found out the Architecture Week from June 20 - 29. Unfortunately, I didn’t find out the event until the last minute (got the issue in the mid week wasn’t very wise). In a result, most of the events had happened already. I managed to make it to the Open Practice day. Number of architectural firms joined this program allowing the public to see their studio. I visited 6 studios. It was great allowing myself to see what kind of projects they do, and I asked questions learning their company. I could have visited more studios if I didn’t use too much time finding my way to each studio, even though they are in the same area. There are two big and famous studios I would love to visit: Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster and Partners, but I missed them. Zaha Hadid’s office is only opened for pre-booked tour, and only way to sign up was by email. I didn’t have internet access that time, and I was a little too late finding out the information…so I missed it. Norman Foster’s office is not in the same area with most other architects’ office on the list. I chose to visit more studios, so I missed Norman Foster’s office as well. Oh well…next year, next year, if I am still here….
Other thing that I found from the Architecture Week is a walk at the Riverside London by South Bank advertised “architecture + history at your feet”. I picked up their free booklet which provided me with a map showing where the architectures are located with brief history for each. I took Kevin with me on one weekend to walk the walk (we did 1/3 only for one day), and Kevin also had his smart haircut done at a hair salon I found him at Oxo Tower where I picked up the free booklet =)
I plan to do some more lonely travelling by joining London Walks and visiting free museums in London before my return to Vancouver by the end of August for applying the UK working holiday visa.