Sunday, 4 September, 2022 – It appears the threesome were still in London today. I hope they are all feeling okay. I had the impression from David’s conversation with Elias that they planned to go to Newcastle today but maybe that is not correct. Or maybe they decided on another day of recovery.
When Elias and David talked, they had moved from the hostel in Elephant & Castle to this one near Hyde Park, which allowed them to have a sort of studio to share, rather than being in a dorm-like setting. I expect being sick prompted this decision, though it also appears to be nicer and cheaper than the previous place. Here’s a link to the new place on the map: Atlas Hostel.
A couple days ago, I said I thought they’d visited Notting Hill. Then Elias posted pictures of Notting Hill today. There is something fun about seeing in person something you saw on film, or TV. In fact, I think it takes a little of the mystique out of the film itself, but makes me appreciate the magical art of film making. When I visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in 1985 (ack!), it felt impressive, but not mystical, and certainly not as symbolic as I eventually understood it to be. I did not know much more about the history than the plaques told us. (Back before the internet, we could not simply google “Forbidden City” and unearth a trove of information. I went without much background at all, apart from a Pearl Buck novel called Imperial Woman.) Two years later, as I watched The Last Emperor by Bernardo Bertolucci, I thought back to walking through the Forbidden City and being awed, in retrospect, for something I did not really appreciate at the time. Seeing it through the lens of the film maker, I understood a whole lot more about the place of the Forbidden City in the Chinese imagination, myth, and national identity. Which made me want to learn more about the history.
In any case, I like the fact that Elias and Kelsey wanted to see the place where Notting Hill the movie was shot. Here are his pictures.
Through the power of the web, I can also see that they walked through Kensington Gardens, because I looked up what “Long Water” means. (In the picture by the water, the sign says, “Birds of the Long Water.”)