East London

Once again I’m embarrassingly behind in my recordings. I blame it on school. When there are so many other papers to write, week after week, I simply cannot motivate myself to write in my free time as well. Interestingly enough, the first 4-5 weeks back, however long it's been, are dedicated to completing final papers for last term's courses. And honestly I’m alright with that. Not having a pile of essays to turn in on the last day of class was a huge relief and left me full of pep and energy going into Winter Break. Upon my return, then, I hankered down in my room, day after day, with plenty of hot tea and indie acoustic, to get me through the work. (Though I admit I still did my two-a-day runs religiously....why wouldn't I?) And now I've emerged unscathed and, quite frankly, doing very well grade-wise. But that's no surprise ;)

However, as I’m incredibly organized with my time, down to the minute of every day, I partitioned off sections of days and allowed myself, on multiple occasions, to go out and actually DO stuff, too. I would just cease to be me if I sat in my room all day, after all. That's just not me.

The last time I wrote I talked a bit about the street art in Shoreditch/Brick Lane area. Well, for this segment I'll expand on what those areas have to offer. Since my first visit weeks ago I've returned to the area several times.

Just outside the East Aldgate tube station, where I alighted on my first day of exploration, there's a small art gallery; The Whitechappel Gallery. It's tall and narrow and features several floors of modern and 20^th century art. It's one of the original East End galleries and has proven itself to be a considerable point of interest within that thriving artsy community, showcasing world-renowned artists like Picasso, Pollock, and Rothco.

This season, the featured exhibit was Zarina Bhimji's large-scale photos. Her project focused on abandoned places in India and East Africa where there was once human activity but now there is silence. 'Desolate but beautiful', was how these scenes have been described by the art critics. The other galleries inside didn't thrill me much, so I'll move on.

Exit Whitechapel Gallery and you're right at Brick Lane which, as I mentioned before, is a part of London infused with curry, jewish beigels (aka: bagels), street art, and underground night life. It's also a crowded market full of illegal sellers on weekends and you'll find people selling anything, from antique books to eight-track cartridge decks to vintage furs and shoes. Seedier than Protobello Road market, to be sure, but part of its charm lies in the possibility of strange discoveries and photo ops.

Beigel Bake is a 24-hour bakery on Brick Lane. Its menu is focused on bagels (which it spells beigels), baked in the traditional Jewish style with fillings such as hot salt beef with mustard, chopped herring, and cream cheese and salmon. Beigel Bake is the oldest bagel shop in London, and produces 7,000 bagels every day. The line, when we went past, ran down the street, so I did not try out this place, but I thought it was a big enough highlight to include anyway.

Keep walking north and you'll end up with the Columbia Road Flower Market on your right and Shoreditch on your left.

On Sunday the street, Columbia Road, is transformed into oasis of foliage and flowers. Any plant you can imagine is up for grabs, including imports from around the world. The single lane road is teeming with pedestrians and buyers and all the while the chants and deals from the barrow-sellers rises above all the noise. Behind the flower stalls, lining the streets, are sixty independent shops. “Small art galleries sit next to cup cake shops, vintage clothes stores, English and Italian delis, garden and antique shops. There is also a wealth of great pubs, cafes and restaurants. The shops have a common thread, a love of the flower market and its history, and a refusal to be dictated to by a retail world where the sense of fun has all but gone.”

After a jog through the flower market, heading west, you'll come to Shoreditch. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Shoreditch was a center of entertainment to rival the West-End; theaters and music halls galore. However, none of the most famous ones survive today. Instead, like many other parts of London, this one saw some gentrification and is now quite fashionable, proudly demonstrating higher property taxes, etc. However, to the north, east and south, poor quality housing and urban decay are still prevalent. Most recently, during the 'online boom' the area has become popular with London based web technology companies who base their head offices around Old Street.