In Which We Travel to Utrecht

One of the best things about Schiphol Airport is that it has its own train station – not just a direct route into the city like London’s Heathrow Express, but a proper mainline station. From Schiphol you can travel to all sorts of useful places, including Utrecht. Not only is the airport regularly served by trains to just about everywhere, but the platforms are located directly underneath the terminal and a stone’s throw away from the Burger King. This is a very important detail when one is traveling with 9 months worth of luggage. I was very concerned about how I was going to get both myself and my approximately 100 pounds of baggage to Utrecht.

Just because an airport is well connected by various modes of transportation does not mean that any of those methods are particularly well suited to carrying large amounts of luggage. When I lived in London, I could have theoretically taken the Underground all the way from Heathrow to Russell Square, a few blocks away from my former home. I didn’t. In reality, there is very little luggage space on the Tube and, more importantly, there is half a flight of stairs at the Russell Square station up which I would have had to drag my suitcases. I did see many people travel with large pieces of luggage on Tube during my stay in London, but I have no idea how they managed it.

Fortunately, one can easily travel from the Schiphol Burger King to the platforms by elevator. My main concern was instead what to do with my enormous luggage once I got on the train. In my limited experience riding Dutch trains, I have never seen any place to put luggage other than the overhead racks, which were clearly not designed to accommodate large suitcases. My hope was that there might be some room in one of the vestibules near the doors. Because many Dutch trains are double-deckers, there tends to be some extra room in that area to accommodate stairs to the different floors. When my train pulled up to the platform, I had the great fortune of being near one of the cars with designated space for bicycles. As there were no bicyclists in the vicinity, I saw my opportunity and I seized it, leaving my luggage there. If there had been other passengers with bikes, I am not sure what I would have done. There was some other space in the vestibule, but if the train had been fuller, that might not have been practical either. So, if one is traveling with large amounts of luggage, the train is probably not the best way to go, unless it is a particularly quiet time.

Thirty minutes later I arrived in Utrecht, took an elevator from the platform to the station and made my way to one of the closest hotels to the train station. The next morning, being unwilling to try my hand at traveling with my luggage on the bus, I took a rather expensive taxi ride to my new apartment.

In Which We Arrive (in Amsterdam)

The biggest problem with traveling to Europe (including Britain!) is the time difference. This inevitably means taking a red eye flight and arriving in Europe at some ungodly hour of the morning. I hate red eye flights with a passion. In theory, it's a good idea: Leave at night, sleep on the plane, and arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to face a new day. In practice, I have never been so lucky. Although I am very skilled at catching up on my sleep while reading for class or attending lectures, sleeping on trans-Atlantic flights is not an area of my expertise. When I flew to London, I was very fortunate to be able to take a flight that left in the morning and arrived at Heathrow around 10pm. This was absolutely brilliant because, after having to get to the airport at 5am and undergoing a grueling day of travel, I was more than ready to call it a day when I arrived, despite it only being about 5pm in New York. If only all flights to Europe were so convenient!

In Which We Return

Gentle Reader,

I am pleased to announce that, thanks to the generous support of a year long fellowship, I am once again able to attempt to conduct research. Rather than return to the humdrum life of a graduate student at a Midwestern university, I am free to dissertate. I therefore present to you a second season, if you will, of archival investigations, cultural perambulations, and personal tribulations.

However, not unlike a long running tv series desperate to boost sagging ratings, there is a twist – no longer am resident in London, but instead have moved to the continent and to the Netherlands. Having researched the English side of my dissertation, it is now time to do the same for the Dutch half. So, while I hope to still pepper this space with a few more anecdotes from the British Isles, I will now predominantly be writing about my life in the Netherlands.

First though, at the request of my patrons, I must herewith state that this blog is in not the official blog of any grant, fellowship, or program. Likewise, the views expressed here are solely my own and are not those of any grant program, government department, or their partner organizations. They are mine and mine alone.

Thank you.

In Which It is Easter

Lest anyone should think that all I do is visit archives and join religious processions, please allow me to share one the other highlights of my Easter Weekend. One of my personal hobbies is to consume as many different varieties of "ethnic" British food as possible.

Presenting The Cadbury Easter Cake Selection Box:

In Which It Is Good Friday

It was recently Good Friday and the start of a four day bank holiday in the UK. Since all the archives were closed, I decided to participate in some of London's unique Good Friday events.

King's Cross-St. Pancras Ecumenical Walk of Witness:

Following the Cross outside of St. Pancras Station

 The first event on my agenda was this morning procession through the streets of the neighborhoods just south of the King's Cross and St. Pancras railway stations. The walk was organized by members of local churches and lead by members of the clergy carrying a large cross. The walk stopped at a number of "churches," each representing one of the Stations of the Cross. This year's walk began at St. Pancras Church and included stops such as the International Lutheran Student Centre, King's Cross Methodist Church, and Goodenough College. I found the stop at St. Pancras Station, however, to be the most interesting. Since the station has an Anglican chaplain, it was included as one of the neighborhood "churches" we visited. The people in the station seemed quite surprised, and rightly so, by the sight of our little procession passing through. St. Pancras is a busy hub for both commuter and long distance trains, not to mention Eurostar and the Underground. Living in the area, I pass through St. Pancras on a regular basis and I can honestly say that I have never seen anything there before like the Good Friday procession.

In Which it is Palm Sunday

It was Palm Sunday this weekend and St. Paul's Cathedral held their traditionally re-enactment of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. When I heard that this would be an outdoor procession complete with a live donkey, I decided I had to attend. After all, it's not every day that there's a religious procession with a donkey parading through the streets of London

The Procession Approaches (the donkeys are behind the head on the left)

I waited for the procession at Paternoster Square, outside of the Cathedral. When I arrived, I was greeted by St. Paul's sharply dressed ushers, who presented me with a bulletin and a cross made from a palm frond. The ushers at St Paul's are always dressed in formal attire:  morning coats, waistcoats, and large medallions of the Cathedral's arms worn around their necks. I have often wondered whether possessing such fine clothing is a prerequisite to serving as an usher, but I digress…

The London Metropolitan Archives – Basics

Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday – 9:30-4:45
Tuesday and Thursday – 9:30-7:30
Select Saturdays – 9:30-4:45

Getting there:
The 3 closest tube stations are King's Cross-St. Pancras, Angel, and Farringdon. The LMA isn't terribly close to any of these. The 63 bus towards Honour Oak runs fairly regularly from outside of King's Cross and the Bowling Green Lane stop (next to a large parking garage) is very close to the LMA. Presumably there are similar services from the other tube stations.

Sign in at the desk on the first floor and collect a clear plastic bag. Stow your stuff in locker on the "mezzanine" level and go up one more flight of stairs to the reading room.

Getting a "History Card" (i.e. reader's ticket):
If you want to make photocopies, print from a microfilm, or use original documents, you'll need a History Card. Ask at the information desk.  You'll need proof of address and proof of signature.

Ordering Documents:
Documents are ordered using paper slips. Apparently, you can order them using the internet, too, but I have never seen anyone do this. The slips are collected from the Information Desk about every 20 minutes and it takes 20 minutes from the time of their collection for the document to be available.

In addition to being able to order the LMA's documents, you can also have documents delivered from the Guildhall Library, although it takes 48 hours for them to be delivered. As the Guildhall Library's reading room is, I believe, still being renovated, this is the only way to access their manuscripts.

Taking pictures:
£2.70 per day