Sloshing Through London

Our long-awaited month in London was about to become the vacation from hell.

That sinking fear overcame my husband, Dick, and me as our plane descended through soggy skies into Gatwick Airport last November. Not only was this the rainiest autumn in England’s history, but the country was struggling with transportation problems, including vexing traffic tie-ups in London and a train system in chaos from a string of accidents.

As we dodged puddles in Victoria Station, clutching Britrail passes that seemed almost useless, we wondered how we could salvage this vacation. Then we recalled a London walking tour we had enjoyed on a rainy day a decade ago. Because the rain was more a steady drizzle than a downpour and tour operators pride themselves on never canceling a walk, we decided to chance one the next day with Original London Walks.

Voila! London in all its grandeur unfolded before us. On that two-hour walk, we explored Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament as well as lesser-known landmarks, including Winston Churchill’s Cabinet war rooms and charming 18th century back streets where ministers of Parliament live.

Many more walks followed, and within four weeks we had cut a wide cultural, historical and literary swath across London. And we had done so at our convenience and without spending a bundle. The diverse tours, which run at all hours seven days a week, assemble at easy-to-find tube stations. Tickets cost about $7.50 ($5 for seniors and students), one of the great bargains of this expensive city.

The guides were the stars of the show. Many of them hold Blue Badges, a coveted emblem earned after completion of London’s most intensive training program for guides.

These scholarly performers with stentorian voices led us into dark crannies where tour buses don’t venture. We visited the haunts of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde; prowled the misty heath of Hampstead, a majestic green sprawl of park and ponds; strolled Bloomsbury’s neat squares; and lingered in a few of the handsome pubs along the Thames.

Despite the rain and cold, weather was rarely a deterrent. We bundled up, carried umbrellas and wore comfortable shoes. In fact, the wet weather enhanced the city’s visual appeal. After an all-day rain, Kensington Palace took on the ethereal glow of a Victorian painting. Against the misty gray skies and waters of Little Venice, the colors of boats, houses and trees seemed more intense. And through the lingering twilight fog, we marveled at the emerald green of Hampstead.

As we drank in the atmosphere and absorbed information on a host of places, we found ourselves grasping the essence of this complex city in a way we never had before. Here are some highlights from some of the tours we took, all with Original London Walks, the largest operator.

Old Kensington

With David Tucker, our erudite, amusing guide, we walked among the wet oak leaves cluttering the pathways of Kensington Palace, splendidly ensconced behind an ornate black and gold iron gate. The palace, with its somber red brick facade starkly framed by bare-branched trees, was home to an illustrious group. For instance, King William III, a Dutchman, died here in 1702 after contracting pneumonia while recovering from an accident. It was here that 18-year-old Princess Victoria awoke one day in 1837 and learned her uncle King William IV had died and she would become queen. And grief-stricken mourners gathered in front of the palace and left masses of flowers after Princess Diana, a resident since 1983, died in 1997.

We strolled around elegant Kensington Square, laid out in the early 1680s and featuring towering manor houses with curved black iron balconies, and got a lingering look at stately St. Mary Abbot’s Church, built about 1870 as a fourth, enlarged revision with a separate entrance and pew for the royal family.

We walked by the homes of Ezra Pound, a slate-gray corner townhome; T.S. Eliot, a first-floor apartment with light green walls and soft, white organza curtains, where his widow, Valerie, still lives; and Winston Churchill, a modest, red brick house with white wood trim. And the bustling McDonald’s where Princess Diana ate with her sons was a reminder of her casual nobility.

Oscar Wilde’s London

Alan Titchard, chief researcher and archivist of the Oscar Wilde Society, was resplendent in a morning coat, fedora and carnation like the one Wilde wore, as he led a trek through the landmarks of the writer’s life, work, imprisonment and death. He gave us poignant details about the man he called “Oscar”--for example, the writer’s self-consciousness about his bad teeth, which he covered in photographs--while we walked past the haberdashery, cigar store and florist that Wilde frequented in luxurious Mayfair. As we looked at the small wooden, labeled drawers lining the walls of Dr. Harris’s Pharmacy, we were invited to sample, for 1 pound, the same fruity concoction Wilde drank for his frequent hangovers. (We declined.)

Continuing in Mayfair, we viewed sites where Wilde’s plays ran; some, like St. James’s, are still theaters, but others have been converted into mundane office buildings. We also walked by the elegant hotels he lived in, entertained in and was arrested in as a result of a long-standing homosexual relationship. Wilde lived three more years after his release from two years of hard labor; he died in Paris in 1900, at age 46.

This was a spellbinding journey into the life of a literary genius who was both brilliantly sophisticated and tragically naive, and we came away with deeper insight into the splendors and rigidities of a Victorian London that celebrated Wilde’s talent and extravagances while condemning his sexual behavior.

Thames pub walk

Ancient, medieval and modern London converged on this evening excursion along the Thames. With the ever enthusiastic David Tucker, we entered three classic pubs. The modern Founders Arms served Winter Warmer, an “ordinary” pure bitter that warms you on nippy, wet nights. The Anchor, circa 1700s, served up 6X and Directors, both good English bitters. At the George, which dates back 400 years, the beers were London Pride and Restoration, which my husband savored for its rich flavor. Properly quenched and fortified, we headed to the top floor of the sensational new Tate Modern museum to behold London’s best skyline panorama. Against a starry backdrop, thousands of glittering lights outlined the architecture of the city.

We also stopped at the new Globe Theatre, reopened in 1997. The wood-frame, thatch-roofed replica has one innovation the original did not: a rooftop sprinkler system.

One of our final stops was the glistening, full-size reconstruction of the galleon Golden Hinde, which Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world more than 400 years ago. London came alive on this walk, from the mysterious allure of the Thames to the revelry of the pubs and the dazzling drama of the nighttime skyline.

Literary society

On a Sunday afternoon we sauntered through Old Bloomsbury in central London with Hilary Ratcliffe, a quick-witted historian who led us down the streets where Virginia Woolf and her fellow authors--”an odd and complicated lot,” she called them--worked and lived. When Hilary noted that one of Woolf’s lady loves was a great-aunt of Camilla Parker Bowles, a murmur of recognition went through the crowd.

We also visited handsome 19th century Tavistock Square, where Dickens had a house and used his garden as a theater; Woburn Walk, where William Butler Yeats lived; and London University’s administration building, where George Orwell toiled in the early 1930s, about 15 years before he wrote “1984,” a book that was partly inspired by this experience.

The walk concluded at the new British Library, where Hilary pointed out some of the major exhibits. One was the Magna Carta, signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215 and often viewed as the document that laid the foundation for modern democracy.

Lawyers’ London

Molly Rumbelow, a pleasant green-eyed blond with rosy cheeks, led this stroll, called Legal and Illegal London, through the labyrinth of courtyards, cloisters, passageways and gardens that make up the Inns of Court and London’s legal establishment. Wigged and gowned barristers paraded by as we learned what distinguishes them from solicitors: Barristers are more extensively trained members of the bar who present and plead cases in court; solicitors have less training, cannot plead cases and do most of the legal groundwork.

Our brief exposure to the English legal system gave us some insight into the values, prejudices and morals of English society. Only a few of those admitted to the law colleges are women, minorities or from schools other than Oxford or Cambridge. A tinge of disillusionment intruded as we stared at the magnificent buildings and lush landscaping, a grandness that would be preferable without the prejudices.

Old Hampstead Village

A gorgeous green heath was the centerpiece for this walk in Hampstead, a Georgian village tucked into the urban landscape four miles north of London. With her black hair tucked artfully under a cap, guide Emily Richard seemed a blend of Joan Collins and Oliver Twist. In an intense, hushed voice, she confided details about the lives and deaths of local artists as we ventured past their graves in rustic churchyards.

This historic hodgepodge included the rambling white house on a hill where John Galsworthy wrote “The Forsyte Saga,” his 1920-1934 novels chronicling the lives of a wealthy British family as they enjoyed the security of the mid-Victorian era and later endured the uncertainty in the wake of World War I. We craned our necks to see down a narrow lane to the gray stone townhouse owned by Judi Dench, whose work includes the movie “Chocolat.” Then we walked up to the formidable dark gray brick wall surrounding the house of singer Boy George and read the cryptic messages left by previous passersby, and studied the quaint corner house lived in briefly by Robert Louis Stevenson, who moved here to alleviate a bronchial condition. A charming street lamp across the road is said to have inspired Stevenson’s poem “The Lamplighter.”

After these walks, our vacation from hell was more than rescued; it was a success. With the luxury of time and attention to detail that each walk provided, we gained a degree of insight into the moods of this complex city that once eluded us but did no longer.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GUIDEBOOK

Walking the Walks in London

Getting there: From LAX, nonstop service is available on American, British Airways, United, Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand, and TWA offers direct service with one stop but no change of planes. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $520.

Where to stay: We rented an apartment for our stay through the London Connection, 2342 Washington Blvd., Ogden, UT 84401-1412; telephone (801) 393-9120 or (888) 393-9120, fax (801) 393-3024, Internet https://www.londonconnection.com. This organization spent a great deal of time answering our questions. We chose a two-bedroom, one-bath place with full kitchen for $121 a night in Vauxhall, a blue-collar neighborhood just south of the Thames and a five-minute tube ride to Victoria Station. Once the jet lag wore off and we adjusted to the faded chintz and slightly stained carpets, we felt as if we had lived there for years.

Here are some of the other agencies we contacted and received information from:

London Guest Suites, 8350 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 205, West Hollywood, CA 90069; tel. (323) 848-8851 or (800) 664-4663, fax (323) 848-8852, https://www.londonguestsuites.com. GoNative London, 26 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RH, tel. 011-44-20-7221-2028, fax 011-44-20-7221-2088, https://www.gonative.co.uk.

Here are some of the hotels we’ve stayed at and liked: Post-house Kensington, Wright’s Lane, Kensington, London W8 5SP; tel. (800) 225-5843 or 011-44-870-400-9000, fax 011-44-20-7937-8289, https://www.posthouse-hotels.com. Doubles begin at $160. Gore Hotel, 189 Queen’s Gate, Kensington SW7 5EX; tel. (800) 637-7200 or 011-44-20-7584-6601, fax 011-44-20-7589-8127, https://www.gorehotel.com. Doubles begin about $240. Harrington Hall, 5-25 Harrington Gardens, South Kensington SW7 4JW; tel. 011-44-20-7396-9696, fax 011-44-20-7396-9090, https://www.harringtonhall.co.uk. Doubles begin about $285.

The walks: We used Original London Walks, P.O. Box 1708, London NW6 4LW; tel. 011-44-20-7624-3978, recorded information 011-44-20-7624-9255, fax 011-44-20-7625-1932, https://www.walks.com. Many other companies are available.

Where to eat: Dinners were improvisational, thanks to our local supermarket, Sainsbury’s, 62 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall SW8 2LF; local tel. 7622-9426, https://www.sainsburys.co.uk, where we discovered the freshest of vegetables, superb organic meats and locally made soups.

Our favorite takeout meal was fish and chips for $6 from the Windmill, 211 Kennington Lane, tel. 7582-5754, in Vauxhall. As for restaurants, we discovered Gandhi, 347A Kennington Road, tel. 7735-9015, while roaming our neighborhood. We savored several great tandoori spreads there for $50.

For more information: British Tourist Authority, 551 Fifth Ave., Suite 701, New York, NY 10176-0799; tel. (800) GO-2-BRITAIN (462-2748), https://www.btausa.com.