OLD KENT ROAD, £60
the longest road on the monopoly board, and also the only one south of the river thames. unfortunately also the road located the farthest from a tube station. not helped by the fact that charing cross station flooded this afternoon, causing closures on more than half the bakerloo line...including the one i needed to get to. great way to kickstart my monopoly marathon...
eastern london, with a vibrant bengalis community. market stalls fill the road, selling everything you could possibly think of, from jewellery to funky-patterned umbrellas, cd's to vintage clothing. also home to the royal london hospital, where joseph merrick "the elephant man" was taken after being exhibited as a freak show on whitechapel road.
not gonna lie, i was pretty excited when i walked through the barriers at king's cross. platform 9 3/4, here i come. only to discover that the station is being revamped, so the walls have been covered, including platform 9 3/4. my hogwarts dreams = crushed. devo.
THE ANGEL, ISLINGTON, £100
a monopoly property that was named after a pub of the same name. the original one isn't actually there anymore, but another by the same name's been built next to the original site (a bank is now on the corner). i stopped over for a pint, then it was back down to the tube to the next site...
the main road linking euston & king's cross railway stations. nothing too special about it, except for the fact it's near camden markets - so it's relatively busy and moves into the more arty-farty area of london. i noticed there were heaps of posters stuck to phoneboxes and streetsigns, promoting rallies & shouting the political opinions of thousands of east londoners. also a really funky area full of banksy-esque street art.
PENTONVILLE ROAD, £100
pretty average street, with nothing overly exciting that jumps out. maybe chosen as a property to make up a trio with the "blues", simply because it was in the same area. ??? discovered, however, that an unremakable street becomes instantly more beautiful when you look above the first level of the buildings - almost all the buildings in this area are heritage listed....i.e old and pretty.
i came across several embassies when walking down pall mall - but apart from that there's really nothing overly interesting about this street. buuuuut, i did visit pall mall at about 5pm, after about 6 hours & 10km of walking around london - so i couldn't really be bothered walking the length of the street. maybe there was something more interesting, maybe not. however, i did read on a plaque that pall mall was the first london street to be lit by gas - in 1807...
so i had to use my imagination a bit for this one, because who really knows which electric company charles darrow had in mind when he chucked it on the monopoly board. i eventually chose it to be my favourite london art gallery, which is also an ex-electric power station - the tate modern. consequently put my monopoly adventure on hold for the afternoon, while i visited duchamp, ernst and picabia at the gallery.
links trafalgar square to parliament square (big ben), and is dotted with cafés and pubs. the sun had just begun to set and so the impressive sandstone (??) buildings lining the street had this really rich, golden colour. i decided to take a break at a cute little café called 'tea' (creative name...). it was surprisingly warm for late afternoon, so i sat outside with my vanilla chai latte - watching the sunset and writing postcards.
one of the streets leading off trafalgar square, it took me a while to figure out which one it was. kind of reminded me of the 'star' leading out from the arch de triomphe in paris... northumberland avenue links trafalgar square to the embankment, so it was really nice to stroll up to the river thames afterwards, overlooking the london eye. apart from a bit of wind, i can't believe how warm it's been this week...but i'm making the most of it!
the smallest and youngest of london's main railway stations, built in 1899. it gets pretty busy at peak hour, but for the most part it's calm - with a couple of pubs inside offering a warm place to go while waiting for your train. it's just near the top of hyde park, so from marylebone i walked down through hyde park, green park and st. james' park - leading towards the river. then walked along the embankment to watch the annual oxford university vs. cambridge university regatta on the thames.
a narrow street off long acre road, bow street is where you'll find the magistrate's court -built 1740 ish. also houses the royal opera and the design council. it's a quaint lil' street that's not too busy...although that might've just been the time of day when i went. the nearest tube station, covent garden, is just around the corner - making bow street one of the easiest to get to. good stuff.
actually 'great marlborough street', it's just off regent street. there used to be a magistrate's court here (now demolished), which welcomed a few famous defendants: john lennon & brian jones to name a couple. there was a flower market when i walked down here - londoners making the most of the crazy warm weather we've been having, i guess. was so tempted to buy some flowers, but had to remind myself that it's kinda totally impractical lugging pretty flowers all across london. in any case, they wouldn't be that pretty at the end of the day...
VINE STREET, £200
not really sure why this street was included on the monopoly board. it's a short street, a dead end. mostly made up of the backs of surrounding buildings. apparently there used to be a police station here...so that's a 'law' connection with the other "oranges". but let's be honest, it's just a super ugly street. although, the street next to it had charm - filled with outdoor restaurants and buskers.
STRAND, £220
'the strand' is one of the loooong streets leading away from trafalgar square. here you can find the art deco savoy hotel, as well as a few churches dotted here and there. i think it's also been home to a bunch of palaces over the years. most of these have been demolished (such as durhum house, once the home of anne boleyn) but some still stand - one being the savoy hotel. fun fact: australia house is on the strand, up towards aldwych.
FLEET STREET, £220
this was the lucky last site i saw on my monopoly marathon. i walked down from st. paul's cathedral, and on the way came upon king's college, the temple church and the royal courts of justice. i also passed no. 186, the address of sweeney todd's barber shop. you've probably seen the movie (mmm johnny depp), but here in his shop, todd was supposed to have murdered over 150 customers in the 18th century. on a lighter note, the twinings museum is also on fleet street - so i popped in and discovered an area at the back where i could make myself a cuppa of any type of tea...for free! yum
TRAFALGAR SQUARE, £240
def my favourite square in london. i plonked myself down on the stone steps leading up to the national gallery - looking out over the twin fountains, bronze lions and nelson's column. so picturesque! it's also home to the national portrait gallery, so it's a pretty busy square. aaaand because the weather's been so incredible this week, everyone's flocking to trafalgar to lounge around in the sun. it's also a popular space for rallies and demonstrations - i came back to traf square yesterday and it was covered in graffiti from the "anti cuts" rally. bit sad because the entire base of nelson's column had cheap graffiti all over it...
FENCHURCH STREET STATION, £200
i think it's one of the only railway stations that doesn't have an underground of the same name...? it's tucked away almost under a bridge, and took a while for me to find! only to discover that i'd actually come in through the back entrance...what can i say, after a long day in london i was looking for shortcuts. the front façade is a great deal prettier, with a bunch of round-arched windows and a huge old-school clock. opened in 1841, fenchurch street station is one of london's oldest. i also chucked in a photo of a page of my epic instructions/directions...
apparently one of london's most beautiful squares...but unfortunately has been fenced off in preparation for the 2012 london olympics. despite this however, the surrounding streets have a really lively atmosphere. lots of boho cafés & bars, and street artists drawing portraits of passers by. it's near chinatown, and makes up one of the more vibrant parts of soho. on a side note, i think the spelling of leicester (pronounced 'lester') is one of the most ridiculous of the places in london, closely followed by 'marylebone' (pronounced marly-bone) and 'warwick' (pronounced worrick). silly poms...
COVENTRY STREET, £260
aka "theatreland", it is the part of the west end famous for theatre productions and musicals. i came here last year to see keira knightley in the misanthrope, and have my heart set on seeing billy elliot this time around! there are lots of booths selling half-price tickets to shows running that day, so hopefully i'll be able to land myself some tickets...
a loooooooong street linking hyde park corner to piccadilly circus. it's home to lots of hotels overlooking green park, as well as st. james' church. it's a very pretty street to look at, with lots of old-school sandstone buildings reaching up to the sky. the statue at the end of piccadilly is the angel of christian charity (try saying that 10 times, fast...), which sits in the middle of piccadilly circus, looking out towards both piccadilly and coventry streets.
the east border of mayfair, it runs from oxford street down to piccadilly. last time i was on regent street was christmas '09, when the famous christmas lights illuminate the entire street. now in spring time, it's just as beautiful, with all the trees still full of fairy lights - which light up every dusk. regent street is also home to the london college of fashion. this street dates back to the early 1800's, and was named after prince regent.
i got a lil' distracted walking down oxford street as it's the epicentre of shopping (soz chadstone..). although let's face it, this is oxford street and window shopping is about all my wallet can handle. i managed to drag myself away from the shops and all the way along the north border of mayfair. this is definitely my favourite of the monopoly streets, as it's the perfect mix between beautiful buildings with intricate sculptural detail, endless shopping opportunities, relaxed cafés - then spacious hyde park at the end; the perfect place to kick back after a busy day.
now known as 'new bond street'. running straight through mayfair - it has that same posh, expensive feel to it...like piccadilly, oxford street & park lane. so beautiful though! looking up you can see all the petite balconies with fancy iron railings of the high-end apartments. not gonna lie, i'm totally jealous of people who live here...! a number of both commercial and public art galleries can be found on new & old bond streets - including sotheby's and bonhams'.
opened in 1874, it's one of the more grand railway stations, and also one of the busiest. it still has most of it's original victorian architecture...so it's still got quite a bit of historical charm. when i was there (not even peak hour), it was full of people rushing here and there. this is prob also because it's both an underground & national railway station. ironically, trains from liverpool street station do not actually go to liverpool...
this site was built around the same time as regent street, and separates hyde park from mayfair. unlike other streets bordering mayfair which are famous in their own right - park lane's reputation is prob a result of the fact it was made the second most valuable property on the london monopoly board...a heap of famous people have lived on park lane over the years, including the ex-owner of harrods and dame anna neagle. in my opinion, it's a very pretty lane, but there's nothing of actual interest to see...
hello ££££££££££££££££! mayfair isn't so much a street, as an area of london. high-class, fancy, exclusive, expensive, a bit ostentatious... all these words describe mayfair in a nutshell. as well as being a shopping district, it's also home to the us embassy. you'll also find several squares here, including the hanover and grosvenor. in some of the more quiet streets in mayfair, such as blenheim street - it's nice to sit down for a not-so-delicious-but-very-expensive coffee and watch the hustle & bustle of everyday london go past.
so, there you go! have now been to every property/site on the monopoly board, and definitely feel more at home in london. satisfied...
S.
