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Liverpool: 19 September 2009

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Paul

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31 January 2010

Four months late, but here are some photos from my visit to Liverpool back in September. Being from Australia, I found it fascinating that only 45 minutes from Manchester, one can be in a completely different city, where people have different accents and their own identity. In Australia, you’d still be in a suburb of the same city! Sometimes, I thought that people were foreigners but after closer listening realised that they just had really strong scouse accents. I was also amused at the excessive use of “erm” in sentences and “like” at the end of each sentence. I always thought that people were exaggerating when saying that people from Liverpool spoke like this, but it’s true!

Liverpool’s maritime heritage is very evident throughout the city. There are warehouses and old dock buildings everywhere. If you’re from Western Australia, think a larger, grittier version of Fremantle. Unfortunately, Liverpool felt, to me, like a city that is very much past its prime. There were lots of abandoned buildings everywhere and a lot of the city felt like it was in a state of disrepair, even in the main parts. Saying that, the potential for recreation and rejuvenation is huge, and there are certainly a lot of old warehouses being converted into apartments and bars and the like, so hopefully the city can continue to do this and reinvent itself as a cultural/arts centre (it was voted European capital of culture in 2008).

I started at Lime Street, just up from the train station. This area is full of neo classical heritage listed buildings that were constructed when the city was at its economic peak in the mid/late 1800s. The area is known as the Willam Brown Street conservation area, after William Brown, local MP and philanthropist, who in 1860 donated land in the area for the building of a library and museum. The main focus of these photos is on St George’s Hall, the Walker Art Gallery, and St John’s Garden.

Radio City Tower in the back ground (second tallest structure in Liverpool).

Next we move on to Victoria Street, ‘The Cavern’ and the general network of small streets and alleyways in that area. This area requires no explanation. It’s all about the Beatles, and they let you know it. A lot of tacky stuff as to be expected, but still a cool little area, and good tunes blaring onto the streets.

Moving down to St John’s street and the surrounds is a completely restored area of the city, full of new buildings and lots of shops. The official Liverpool FC and Everton FC stores are in this area.

Moving closer to the waterfront, is Duke Street, and the general docks area. This is a very interesting part of Liverpool and the area where I can foresee massive change occurring in the coming years. There are lots of ruined and abandoned buildings here, but you can see that there is a real creative vibe, with street art, creative businesses and studios, and new apartments in warehouse conversions. The area is still very run down, but it’s only a matter of time before it all changes. Hopefully they can improve the overall area without gentrifying it too much.

There was an unusual ”suburban” type area between the warehouses and the waterfront. It really seemed out of place.

King’s Parade, Albert Dock, Tate Liverpool & the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The Tate was very good and had some really interesting exhibits and the Maritime Museum was very informative and interesting, with an excellent display on slavery and the darker aspect of the city’s prosperous days.

Close by and heading back into the ”city” is Nelson Street and Chinatown. It is a very small Chinatown, but I managed to find an awesome Asian food superstore that was better than anything I have found in Central London and a great little place that did a good, simple roast duck on rice and dry noodles. I go all the way to Liverpool and still can’t shake my obsession with Asia!

The Liverpool Cathedral is a beast of a structure. It opened in 1910 and is the largest Protestant church in the world. Very impressive.

Heading back towards Lime Street Station, down Roscoe Street & Renshaw Street. This area confused me. Location wise it is very central and seems like it is one of the main parts of Liverpool but it was very run down, and there were abandoned buildings everywhere and a general sense of depression about the area.

Craven Cottage: 19 December 2009

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Paul

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19 December 2009

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About a 10 minute walk from my flat is Craven Cottage, home of Fulham Football Club. I decided to head down there during the Man Utd v Fulham match, which I unfortunately was unable to get a ticket to (although after seeing the result, perhaps it was best that I didn’t get a ticket!)

Craven Cottage is located next to Bishop’s Park on the banks of the River Thames. ‘Crave Cottage’ was originally a royal hunting lodge and has history dating back over 300 years. You can see the original cottage which has been retained inside the stadium.

Manchester: 18 – 20 September 2009

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Paul

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6 December 2009

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This is somewhat of a mega post, covering three days in Manchester. I was debating whether to do one post or a few smaller ones, but meh, everyone has broadband these days so it should be ok.

I didn’t really know what to expect from Manchester and came away very impressed. The fact that, apart from a small part of the trip, I got to experience Manchester with bright sun and clear blue skies was helpful!

The city actually reminded me a lot of Melbourne. Given that both Manchester and Melbourne experienced big periods of growth around the same time, this is not completely surprising. A lot of old factories and warehouses that have been converted into apartments, mixed in with lots of new, exciting architecture and a very different vibe to London. Unfortunately, Manchester does not share Melbourne’s food culture and the selection of exciting food was minimal to say the least. I did get an excellent Lebanese meal in the Northern Quarter and a great sweet pineapple bun and bubble tea from Chinatown though – and much cheaper than in London. Overall, Manchester is definitely a city I would go back to.

First, we start at Old Trafford. I am a huge Manchester United fan, and this was the first thing that I had to do. The stadium tour was brilliant, and we were pretty much shown all the areas of the stadium, rooms etc. that were of any relevance to anyone. Very thorough, and utterly impressive.

Salford Quays is an area basically across the river from where Old Trafford is. This area was run-down for ages, but in recent years has undergone a massive transformation. There are shops and apartment towers going up everywhere. There are photos of this later on.

St Peter’s square is one of the main squares in Manchester. The tram network in the inner city is being extensively upgraded, so this was the end of the line and my starting and end point when going to the city centre.

Down Cross Street, through King Street and onto Deansgate. A lot of shopping in this part of town.

Just off Deansgate is Market Street and the Arndale, a massive, modern shopping development. This area is very new and shiny and is very, very vibrant. Next to the Arndale is the Wheel of Manchester.

Urbis is a centre which has art and fashion displays, exhibitions on scenes in Manchester, stuff about the city and other interesting bits and pieces. It is basically a centre designed to show off what’s happening ”creative” Manchester. It is very obvious by walking around this city that it is trying to position itself as a creative and media hub. Edit: Urbis has since shut down and the building now houses the National Football Museum. Cool, yes. Creative and media-like not quite.

This is a sort of entertainment mega-centre across the road from the Wheel of Manchester and Urbis. It was cool, and had a very generic United States, Vegas kind of vibe (not that I have been to the US or Vegas, but it was the impression that I got). After this, I headed into the Northern Quarter, which is the ”cool, alternative” part of Manchester. I liked this part of town, and it did have a unique vibe to it. There were lots of independent clothing shops and artist spaces in little slots down random alleys.

From St. Anne’s square, we head back down Deansgate, but away from the shopping area. The big tower is the Beetham Tower, which in Manchester’s tallest building.

FAC 51. Just off the end of Deansgate are the Hacienda Apartments. For anyone who is into the Manchester music scene, this needs to explanation. Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, a host of other bands and the whole Madchester scene were all driven by Tony Wilson, who had founded Factory Records in the late 1970s. The Hacienda was the club that epitomised all of this, and was open for 15 years between 1982 to 1997. It was known as the best club in the world. In the early 1990s the centre of the music world was in Manchester, and at the centre of this world was the Hacienda. It is perhaps ironic, given what Factory Records stood for, that the site is now home to expensive apartments but such is progress. I was very disappointed that the original sign for the club was strategically placed in an architect’s office on the ground floor so that it barely possible to get a glimpse of it.

Heading towards and down Oxford Road, we get to the University of Manchester.

FAC251. This was where Factory records was run out of from 1990 until they went bankrupt. Perhaps Tony Wilson shouldn’t have bought that obscenely large and expensive boardroom table? It seems that the building was later home to a small bar which has since shut down. I looks to be unoccupied at present. There was a very indie rock vibe about this area, different to the Northern Quarter – less artsy and more rock.

FYI the original Factory Records office was in a suburban house near the university but we couldn’t find it.

Next, we walk along Whitworth Street and Piccadilly Station, before moving up Piccadilly and Portland Streets and into Chinatown.

Manchester’s Chinatown was small but had a few interesting places, most specifically a great little Asian bakery that sells sweet Chinese breads and great Bubble Tea. Also, the prices of everything in Chinatown were noticeably less than in London. The Bubble Tea was actually affordable! There are lots of East Asian students in Manchester so that probably goes a long way towards explaining it.

Backtracking to the Arndale, Canon Street, Corporation Street and Portland Street. The “Dry Bar”, in the foreground of the picture after the bridge is FAC201, and was the Factory Records bar. It still looked surprisingly cool and independent which was nice to see.

Manchester Town Hall is quite an impressive building. Further down is the Manchester Central conference centre and across the street from that is Bridgewater Hall (a concert hall). Bridgewater Hall is a great example of modern, exciting Manchester architecture.

Back to Salford Quays and the pictures that I promised at the start of this post. There is a LOT of high rise construction going on around here!

I was lucky enough to go to the Man Utd v Man City derby as my first football match in the UK. Who would have thought that it would end up being an absolute thriller and one of the matches of the season. A win for Man Utd and the perfect way to end an excellent long weekend.

Brighton: 22 August 2009

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Paul

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29 November 2009

2

I know it’s been forever since my last update, but life has a way of moving along at breakneck speed. Today’s update is from my trip down to Brighton. The town has a very different vibe to London and is much more laid back, as one would expect from a seaside city. When I got off the bus, the smell of the beach and freshness in the air reminded me of home. All in all, it was a good day and the day trip down there is certainly worth it.

This building, which houses the Holiday Inn, is one of the ugliest things I have seen in my life. Given all of the nice architecture that lines the beach front, I don’t know how anyone with half a brain could have approved this thing. The picture actually makes it look a lot nicer than it does in reality, which isn’t saying much.

The famous Brighton Pier. It’s pretty cool, with lots of family friendly activities.

It are views like this that really drive home the fact that one is not in London.

The Royal Pavilion was built between 1815 and 1822 for the Prince Regent (who later became King George IV). It was designed in an Indian style as that is what was popular at the time.

‘The Lanes’ is the main shopping area of Brighton. As you can see, it is made up of many extremely narrow laneways and full of interesting boutiques. Most of the big name brands are here as well.

The main train station in Brighton, which is near the more ‘alternative’ part of town. I can only assume that this was the ‘swinging’ part of Brighton during the 1960s as that is the theme that encapsulates this area.

London: Exploring Hackney

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Paul

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10 October 2009

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Today’s walk starts on Mare Street, in Hackney. Hackney is in East London had has historically had a reputation as being a dangerous area with, for example, ‘Murder Mile’ being only a few minutes’ walk from the Burberry Outlet store which you will see later. As if often the case with these sorts of things, the media beat up is more extreme than the reality. Sure Hackney is not Kensington, but it is an area that is very close to the financial centre of London, and it is in the midst of rapid gentrification. There is lots to like about Hackney, and the vibe is a lot more ‘real’ than in other parts of London, with plenty of hidden gems to be discovered.

Heading off Mare Street, Andrews Road, which leads to the Broadway Market is where the gentrification of Hackney is most evident. What was, 10 years ago, a dangerous part of Hackney is today a clean river, lined with apartments and cycle paths and an amazing market.

The Broadway Market is really great. It was set up in the late 90s by residents who were sick of the bad image that the area had. It was a hit, with plenty of locals setting up pubs, organic stores, food stalls and the like. Of course, once the area became popular, the council wanted to get rid of the markets and turn the whole area into apartments. The people who rented out the various businesses got together and purchased many of the properties outright. Today, the market is a highlight of the area and well worth visiting. It is similar to the Borough markets in many ways, but without the tourists and more of a bohemian vibe.

The Broadway Market is also home to the best Banh Mi in London. Banh Mi is a Vietnamese/French baguette style sandwich which is common on the streets of Hanoi. Banhmi11 is in the same stall as Ca Phe VN. If you are in the area, grab a Banh Mi and a Vietnamese style condensed milk coffee. You will not be disappointed!

This park at the end of the Broadway Market, and a few streets leads to the Hackney Town centre.

Just a hop, skip and jump – or should I say a car park, Tesco and council estate from the Hackney Town centre is the Burberry factory outlet. A mecca for chavs and South East Asian tourists alike, there are plenty of bargains to be found here.

Back on Mare street, and about a 20 minute walk out of Hackney to Old Bethnal Green Road and Brick Lane.

London: A Post Work Walking Route

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Paul

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22 September 2009

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Today’s post is a walk from Russell Square, down through Holborn into Covent Garden, through Chinatown and ending at Piccadilly Circus.

Just outside Russell Square Underground station there are people in the morning and evening rush hour handing out free papers. They are very light on material and are primarily a vehicle for advertising but hey, it’s free so one can’t really complain. The Londonpaper below is owned by News Corp, and it was announced a few weeks ago that production of it will cease shortly.

Walking all the way down Southampton Row from Russell Square brings one to Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is one of my favourite parts of London. Most of the West End theatre is located here and as far as high street brands are concerned, all the big brands have stores here, many of them flagship stores. The Covent Garden market isn’t really a market as such and is more of a tourist trap these days – always busy and probably my least favourite part of Covent Garden.

Out of Covent Garden and down Shaftesbury Avenue and to the left is London’s Chinatown. The original Chinatown was further out of the centre but was bombed to oblivion during World War II. After the war, Chinatown was relocated here. Being in the middle of the West End, it is obviously going to attract a lot of tourists and as such it can feel quite unauthentic at times. The best area to shop for Chinese food provisions in central London is around Edgware Road, which is North West and about 10 underground stops from this area. Like anywhere though, there are good things in the official Chinatown for those who are willing to do a little research. Tokyo Diner has good value western style Japanese food and HK Diner does some good authentic Chinese food, although the authentic menu is in Chinese and if you don’t know specifically what you want or can’t read Cantonese you’ll be stuck with the Westernised menu. I always go for the boneless chicken or duck with rice. Simple and tasty!

Back onto Shaftesbury Avenue and a minute’s walk down to Piccadilly Circus, one of the most recognised landmarks in London. Whenever I’m in Piccadilly Circus I never cease to be amazed and always take a moment to appreciate just where I am. This area is non-stop busy and is even more amazing by night.

London: 21 June 2009

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Paul

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9 September 2009

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Today starts at Notting Hill Gate Underground station. Notting Hill is of course home to Europe’s largest street festival which occurs all the way along Portobello road and the surrounding streets on bank holiday weekend in August. During normal weekends though, Portobello road is home to the Portobello markets, which contain a wide variety of stalls lined along the streets selling all kinds of things. There are a lot of antique traders here and the area also has a few record shops. Honest John’s records, which sources diverse, hard to find music from around the world is at the Northern end of Portobello road and Rough Trade West (the original Rough Trade store / home of the Rough Trade record label) is on nearby Talbot road. This store still has an independent vibe and feels a lot more authentic than Rough Trade East.

Just up from Notting Hill are Kensington Gardens. Kensington Palace was the birthplace of Queen Victoria and the home of Princess Diana. It is a really nice park with lots of people out and about enjoying themselves. There are quite a lot of tourists around by virtue of the Princess Diana memorial.

On the other side of Kensington Gardens is Kensington High Street, a nice high street full of big name boutiques and a very large Whole Foods Market store, which sells all kinds of great organic foods.

London: Spitalfields & Brick Lane

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Paul

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31 August 2009

2

Today starts at Liverpool Street station, which is directly above and next to, but should not be confused with, the Liverpool Street underground station. It is the third largest station in London and connects the capital with various UK locations.

Liverpool Street just outside the station gives quite a good view of the clash between old and new buildings in ‘The City’.

Only about a 10 minute walk from the station is the Spitalfields market. They are worth checking out once but I won’t be going there again. It’s all very tacky and touristy and you know when major chains like Starbucks start opening up in the market, that the market is catering to a very specific touristy mainstream group. There are many more interesting, authentic markets around.

Leaving the markets, it is only a short walk east to get to Brick Lane. Famous for its Indian, Pakistani and Bengali foods, there is a lot to choose from on Brick Lane. Like the Spitalfield market however, Brick Lane is to some extent a victim of its own success. As often happens with these sorts of areas, they are once great (in this case Brick Lane was famous for it textile industry), fall into disrepair and poverty, poor immigrants and artists move in, they make the area ‘cool’, everyone else sees this new cool area and wants a piece of the action, and the area becomes gentrified. It’s still a great area with something for everyone but it takes a bit of research to find the quality gems amongst the large number of standard offerings in the area.

Case in point – Rough Trade East. The new branch of Indie label Rough Trade opened up just off Brick Lane in 2007 on Dray Walk. It’s a great store and I’ve purchased a few things from there, but with its opening, come the raft of ‘cool kids’ who hang about the area because it’s the place to be seen. In any case, that doesn’t change the fact that the store is one of my favourite record stores in London (my favourite would have to be ‘Sounds of the Universe’, at 7 Broadwick Street, Soho – but photos of that can wait until another day. Back to Brick Lane!

These are some streets around Shoreditich, another trendy area where all of the ‘cool kids’ hang out that has been heavily gentrified in recent years. It is probably my favourite area to go out in London, as there is usually a pretty diverse crowd and for the most part the area is missing the vast number of heavily drunken fools that one encounters on a night out. These photos only capture a small part of the area, just off Old Street, before I head back down Old Street to the Old Street tube station. I will be coming back to this area in the future, because it is home to some of London’s best street art, which I missed seeing the first time around.

London: 13 June 2009

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Paul

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26 August 2009

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I will leave continental Europe on hold for the time being, and start uploading some of my London photos instead. This was my first full day out in London with the camera, and I explored the offerings along the south bank of the Thames.

First, are a few typical streets around my neighbourhood in Fulham. Very different to the suburban Perth landscape I had been accustomed to my whole life!

Next, onto the tube at Fulham Broadway, taking the District line to Embankment. Walking across the Hungerford bridge, to the south side of the Thames, brings you to the Jubilee Gardens and the London Eye.

Walking east along the Thames, there are lots of things to see and do. Street performers and a second hand book market are in this area, just near the Royal National Theatre. There are lots of families, young people, old people and anyone else who wants to enjoy the day hanging around here – I imagine the vibe would be quite different during the cold of winter.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, built in 1599. destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuit in 1614, demolished in 1644, and rebuilt, as closely as possible to the original, in 1997!

Heading east towards Southwark Cathedral and the Borough Market. The present market is the oldest food market in London, and has been in the same spot since 1755. There were other markets in the area before this, and there is evidence that the area was a place of trade from as early as 1014. I really like this market, as there is plenty of fresh produce to buy – both to take home and to eat as you browse. All sorts of good stuff you won’t find on your local high street!

Even further east, we reach London Bridge, which is full of tacky touristy things, some expensive apartments and the famous Tower Bridge.

Walking back west now, past some other interesting areas near the fancy apartments and assorted bits and pieces that escaped my eye the first time around.

Now we reach the Tate Modern. Now the most visited place in London, and it’s easy to see why. Such a varied wealth of modern art – and entrance is free! The Tate Modern is far to expansive to see in one day. Not only is the art amazing, but the old power station that houses the museum is a work of art in itself.

Peeking outside of this window, one can see the Millenium Bridge linking the Tate Modern to St Paul’s Cathedral. A rather symbolic way of linking and old landmark with a new one.

Heading back to where the day started, onto the tube at Westminster Station and back home for the day.

Hong Kong: February 2009

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Paul

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11 August 2009

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After many, many years of study, work and anticipation (and a very stressful wait for my UK working visa!), I set off for Europe, the start of a 3 month journey around most of the western portion of that continent.

Hong Kong was the natural choice for my stopover, and I spent almost a week there not doing much – just chilling, eating, walking and taking in the amazing city that never gets boring and always surprises. Just a few photos this time around, as I’d gone photo crazy a year prior.

Next stop, Europe!