Travel
Orlando Bloom's travel tips for London and Canterbury
Travel
Orlando Bloom's travel tips for London and Canterbury
Once upon a time, in the verdant county of Kent, in the city of Canterbury, England, a boy was christened Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom, after seventeenth-century composer Orlando Gibbons. Alas, this Orlando, being from Canterbury, where Geoffrey Chaucer based his famously unfinished tales, would soon take a more dramatic turn with his life. Having excelled in local plays at an early age, he moved to London at sixteen to attend drama school, a journey that not only transformed the boy into a man, but also into a star born for epics on the silver screen.
In London, he met the wizard behind The Lord of the Rings, who cast Bloom as the elfin Legolas Greenleaf. Soon, our hero was a prince of filmdom, performing alongside the kings: with Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, and Brad Pitt in Troy. He starred on his own in Kingdom of Heaven, a typically Orlando-esque adventure about a common man who serves a doomed king, falls in love with a forbidden queen, and rises to knighthood. Herewith, Bloom tells the equally captivating story of his own fabled life in Canterbury and London.
Friday
Culture
In Canterbury, there is a place called the Canterbury Tales, which is like a little walk-through museum where you see all the different characters described. The mannequins are all dressed up, and there are even the sounds and smells of the times. It's quaint. Often, I'll dream of walking through streets in England that I used to walk. St. Thomas Hill in Canterbury is one that was locked in my head. It actually led to my old school, and I grew up on that hill. We had a house on St. Thomas Hill.
But growing up in Canterbury, the cathedral was always right in my backyard, and for different school functions we would go to the cathedral. And at Christmas my mom loved for us to go and sing carols at the cathedral. I think that sort of space instills a sense of awe and history and imagination. All of the history that went along with Canterbury – being brought up there, it became a part of who I was. I suppose it may have had some lasting impression that has inspired me to do the historical, epic kind of stories.
London orientation
I moved to London to finish my studies and go to drama school. My dad drove me up, and I stayed with family friends. On my first night, I put on London radio stations. I remember waking up my first morning and thinking about all my friends in Canterbury who were probably at the same boarding school, and, wow, here I was listening to KISS FM. In Canterbury, it was like invective radio. And I remember thinking, Wow, this is cool. I'm in London and I'm listening to great music on London radio. I had dreams of being an actor, and the National Youth Theatre, which is an amateur dramatics company based in London, was something that I joined initially. I also finished my education at the Fine Arts College in North London, did theatre, photography and sculpture – subjects that weren't available to me at school in Kent. I felt that if I wanted to be an actor, London was the best place to start. I lived there for seven years until I left to do Lord of the Rings.
Page 1 of 4
Academy awards party guide:
Roll out your red carpet and get set to be a winning Academy Award Party host with our annual guide to hosting an Oscar Party!
Red carpet cocktails:
Make your guests feel like stars with elegant cocktails like the OSCAR MANHATTAN and the sophisticated CUCUMBERDEW MARTINI. Or mix up a simple but delicious batch of OSCARS FESTIVE PUNCH.
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Sights
I consider London my home. I pine for it. I find myself more often than not in America, predominantly L.A., so I feel homesick for London. I think it's the energy. It was so liberating. Nobody was judging you. You could dress however you liked. You could really just be essentially who you wanted to be. I remember when I was a child we'd occasionally go up to London on the weekend. We'd go to the theatre and grab something to eat, or we'd go shopping on Oxford Street or along the Kings Road. So I had a connection with London, because it's only about an hour and a half from Canterbury. I remember going to the Tower of London [Tower Hill] too, and seeing the Crown Jewels. They're all there in a case, and then there are the Beefeater men, who are there to guard the jewels.
Dinner
When I started drama school, I had a flat in the centre of London under the British Telecom Tower, and I always used to think of the tower as my back garden. It was like a beacon for home, because it's so tall and I could always see it flashing. I lived on Hanson Street, and there was a fantastic little greasy spoon there. In the summer we'd sit outside under the BT Tower eating eggs and bacon, tea and toast.
On the other end of my street is a restaurant called Back to Basics. It's a small fish place with really lovely waitresses from Sweden or Stockholm or somewhere. The food is fantastic, the fish fresh, really well cooked. My good friend whom I lived with in the flat was Swedish, and he loved the food there and recognized the cooking as a taste from home. There was a restaurant next to it called Silks & Spice. They have one in Camden, as well. It's got great Thai food.
Saturday
Shopping
I worked at Paul Smith [Covent Garden] when I first moved to London. It was a great place to work. I got a lot of great clothes from there, and I still do. But back then I got a great discount. It kept clothes on my back the whole way through school. Now I'll dress in one of his suits or I'll wear his shirts. Paul Smith's got great British style. There are little details and things that make his stuff stand out. I think what I learned about style from there is to be individual and not to feel like you have to conform. Just wear what feels good and be a little eccentric if you feel like it.
Lunch
I normally lay low when I get to London these days. But I used to go to a pub, the Old Ship [Hammersmith], that has beautiful views of the River Thames. There's also the Cow [Notting Hill], a pub near the Portobello Road market, which is a great place to go on the weekend. The Cow was always good for a pint of prawns or some oysters and a Guinness. It's got character. When I was younger, I used to go to pubs and bars and hang out with friends and do Soho. But it's been a while. That was before I broke my back.
I was visiting friends in Lisson Grove. They had a roof terrace on the landing below their apartment. I got up to the fourth floor and I could see this roof terrace. I could have just jumped straight from the window onto the ledge, but instead I got onto this piece of drainpipe flashing, nothing really substantial, and I fell back and landed on a first floor terrace between some iron railings and an old washing machine. I had a rather miraculous escape from death and the possibility of spending my life in a chair. For four days I contemplated that, having been told by the doctors that I would never walk again. It's something that's actually been a very positive part of my life. It made me appreciate life with a fresh set of eyes. Forced me to slow down, look around, and think a little more.
Page 2 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Sights
It's always great to see Buckingham Palace [St. James]. Really, if you only have one day in London, for my money, you should walk through Hyde Park or Green Park and then walk down to Buckingham Palace. The Tate Galleries are great, too. Very inspired. Madame Tussauds [Regent's Park] wax museum was always an interesting place to go. I went there when I was very young. They have a planetarium there, as well.
And there's the London Zoo [Regent's Park]. I actually studied animals at the London Zoo. It was part of a course. We had to go there every weekend, study the animals, come back, and mimic the animals' behaviours. I studied all these fantastic animals, like apes and lions, but I ended up being a lizard. The teacher felt that stillness was something that would be of great use to me later in my career. She said, "It's a lizard for you, young man!" I have to tell you, it was fantastic studying lizards. I learned stillness, composure. You don't have to be doing something to be doing something. Sometimes you can do too much.
High tea
Tea at Fortnum & Mason [St. James] is great. You get great fresh tea there. When I say fresh, what I mean is loose tea or tea bags. My cousin's got a big thing for the tea at Fornum & Mason, so we go and grab tea there and bring it back to L.A. They also have Marmite and bangers and mash and fish and chips. Fortnum & Mason is very English. Just the packaging of the teas of whatever you're buying and the shop itself is very old-school English.
Dinner
I do go home. I still have family there. But I don't go back as often as I'd like. When I'm in Canterbury, I try to go to Café des Amis, a Mexican restaurant. I guess I was sixteen when we started going there. It had just opened. The food is outstanding. The best Mexican food you'll eat. Honestly. I've travelled around Mexico, and I still find Café des Amis to be a pretty good match to anything I've had in Mexico. It's in an old building overlooking the river and the West Gate Towers, which are the gates to the city. It used to be a store where they sold odds and ends, brass objects and things. There's also Papa's Fish Bar in Canterbury. They have great white bread. I remember that loaf called Mother's Pride, with Marmite.
I had dinner recently with Ridley Scott in London at Cipriani [Mayfair], a great little restaurant. We were there for Ridley's birthday and the waiter came over and said, "Ah, we had your friend Johnny Depp here last night." It was one of those funny stories, ships passing in the night. I think he was there shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Another place is the Wolseley [Mayfair]. It has really good food. More recently, when I've been popping back, I've been having nice meals at J. Sheekey, in the West End. Fantastic fish.
Theatre
I spent three years at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama [Square Mile]. That's where Ewan McGregor studies, and David Thewlis, who is in Kingdom of Heaven. And Joe Fiennes. You can see the third-year performances there. It's a great school. I had three fantastic years there. It's next door to the Barbican. The Royal Shakespeare Company had productions going on at the Barbican, and we would see productions there. But we had our own productions at school. That was where I learned it was something I really loved.
Page 3 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Orlando Bloom's London/Canterbury essentials
Dining
• Back to Basics, Swedish, $$, 011-44-207-436-2181
21A Foley Street, London
• Café des Amis, Mexican, $$$, 011-44-122-746-4390
93 St. Dunstans Street, Canterbury
• Cipriani, Italian, $$$$, 011-44-207-399-0500
23 Davies Street, London, Mayfair
• Fortnum & Mason, English, $$$, 011-44-207-734-8040
181 Piccadilly, London. St. James
• J. Sheekey, seafood, $$$, 011-44-207-240-2565
28 St. Martin's Court, London, West End
• Papa's Fish Bar, seafood, $$, 011-44-122-776-1013
33 Wincheap, Canterbury
• Silks & Spice, Thai, $$, 011-44-207-482-2228
27-28 Chalk Farm Road, London
• The Wolseley, European, $$$$, 011-44-207-499-6996
160 Piccadilly, London, Mayfair
Sights
• Buckingham Palace, 011-44-207-766-7300
Buckingham Palace Road, London, St. James
• Canterbury Cathedral, 011-44-122-786-5350
The Precincts, Canterbury
• The Canterbury Tales, museum, 011-44-122-747-9227
St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury
• Green Park, Royal Parks System,
Piccadilly and Constitution Hill
• Hyde Park, recreation area, 011-44-207-298-2100
350 acres in central London
• London Zoo, 011-44-207-722-3333
Outer Circle, London, Regent's Park
• Madame Tussauds, wax museum, 011-44-870-999-0046
Marylebone Road, London, Regent's Park
• Tate Britain, art museum, 011-44-207-887-8000
Millbank, London
• Tate Modern, art museum, 011-44-207-887-8888
Bankside, London
• Tower of London, 011-44-870-756-6060
Tower Hill, London
Shopping
• Paul Smith, clothing, 011-44-207-836-7828
40 Floral Street, London, Covent Garden
Pubs
• The Cow, 011-44-207-221-5400
89 Westbourne Park Road, London, Notting Hill
• The Old Ship, 011-44-208-748-2593
25 Upper Mall, London
Theatre
• Barbican Centre, 011-44-208-638-4141
Silk Street, London, Square Mile
• Guildhall School of Music & Drama, 011-44-207-628-2571
Silk Street, London, Square Mile
Read about the hottest Canadian celeb hangouts.
Page 4 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
In London, he met the wizard behind The Lord of the Rings, who cast Bloom as the elfin Legolas Greenleaf. Soon, our hero was a prince of filmdom, performing alongside the kings: with Viggo Mortensen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, and Brad Pitt in Troy. He starred on his own in Kingdom of Heaven, a typically Orlando-esque adventure about a common man who serves a doomed king, falls in love with a forbidden queen, and rises to knighthood. Herewith, Bloom tells the equally captivating story of his own fabled life in Canterbury and London.
Friday
Culture
In Canterbury, there is a place called the Canterbury Tales, which is like a little walk-through museum where you see all the different characters described. The mannequins are all dressed up, and there are even the sounds and smells of the times. It's quaint. Often, I'll dream of walking through streets in England that I used to walk. St. Thomas Hill in Canterbury is one that was locked in my head. It actually led to my old school, and I grew up on that hill. We had a house on St. Thomas Hill.
But growing up in Canterbury, the cathedral was always right in my backyard, and for different school functions we would go to the cathedral. And at Christmas my mom loved for us to go and sing carols at the cathedral. I think that sort of space instills a sense of awe and history and imagination. All of the history that went along with Canterbury – being brought up there, it became a part of who I was. I suppose it may have had some lasting impression that has inspired me to do the historical, epic kind of stories.
London orientation
I moved to London to finish my studies and go to drama school. My dad drove me up, and I stayed with family friends. On my first night, I put on London radio stations. I remember waking up my first morning and thinking about all my friends in Canterbury who were probably at the same boarding school, and, wow, here I was listening to KISS FM. In Canterbury, it was like invective radio. And I remember thinking, Wow, this is cool. I'm in London and I'm listening to great music on London radio. I had dreams of being an actor, and the National Youth Theatre, which is an amateur dramatics company based in London, was something that I joined initially. I also finished my education at the Fine Arts College in North London, did theatre, photography and sculpture – subjects that weren't available to me at school in Kent. I felt that if I wanted to be an actor, London was the best place to start. I lived there for seven years until I left to do Lord of the Rings.
Page 1 of 4
Academy awards party guide:
Roll out your red carpet and get set to be a winning Academy Award Party host with our annual guide to hosting an Oscar Party!
Red carpet cocktails:
Make your guests feel like stars with elegant cocktails like the OSCAR MANHATTAN and the sophisticated CUCUMBERDEW MARTINI. Or mix up a simple but delicious batch of OSCARS FESTIVE PUNCH.
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Sights
I consider London my home. I pine for it. I find myself more often than not in America, predominantly L.A., so I feel homesick for London. I think it's the energy. It was so liberating. Nobody was judging you. You could dress however you liked. You could really just be essentially who you wanted to be. I remember when I was a child we'd occasionally go up to London on the weekend. We'd go to the theatre and grab something to eat, or we'd go shopping on Oxford Street or along the Kings Road. So I had a connection with London, because it's only about an hour and a half from Canterbury. I remember going to the Tower of London [Tower Hill] too, and seeing the Crown Jewels. They're all there in a case, and then there are the Beefeater men, who are there to guard the jewels.
Dinner
When I started drama school, I had a flat in the centre of London under the British Telecom Tower, and I always used to think of the tower as my back garden. It was like a beacon for home, because it's so tall and I could always see it flashing. I lived on Hanson Street, and there was a fantastic little greasy spoon there. In the summer we'd sit outside under the BT Tower eating eggs and bacon, tea and toast.
On the other end of my street is a restaurant called Back to Basics. It's a small fish place with really lovely waitresses from Sweden or Stockholm or somewhere. The food is fantastic, the fish fresh, really well cooked. My good friend whom I lived with in the flat was Swedish, and he loved the food there and recognized the cooking as a taste from home. There was a restaurant next to it called Silks & Spice. They have one in Camden, as well. It's got great Thai food.
Saturday
Shopping
I worked at Paul Smith [Covent Garden] when I first moved to London. It was a great place to work. I got a lot of great clothes from there, and I still do. But back then I got a great discount. It kept clothes on my back the whole way through school. Now I'll dress in one of his suits or I'll wear his shirts. Paul Smith's got great British style. There are little details and things that make his stuff stand out. I think what I learned about style from there is to be individual and not to feel like you have to conform. Just wear what feels good and be a little eccentric if you feel like it.
Lunch
I normally lay low when I get to London these days. But I used to go to a pub, the Old Ship [Hammersmith], that has beautiful views of the River Thames. There's also the Cow [Notting Hill], a pub near the Portobello Road market, which is a great place to go on the weekend. The Cow was always good for a pint of prawns or some oysters and a Guinness. It's got character. When I was younger, I used to go to pubs and bars and hang out with friends and do Soho. But it's been a while. That was before I broke my back.
I was visiting friends in Lisson Grove. They had a roof terrace on the landing below their apartment. I got up to the fourth floor and I could see this roof terrace. I could have just jumped straight from the window onto the ledge, but instead I got onto this piece of drainpipe flashing, nothing really substantial, and I fell back and landed on a first floor terrace between some iron railings and an old washing machine. I had a rather miraculous escape from death and the possibility of spending my life in a chair. For four days I contemplated that, having been told by the doctors that I would never walk again. It's something that's actually been a very positive part of my life. It made me appreciate life with a fresh set of eyes. Forced me to slow down, look around, and think a little more.
Page 2 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Sights
It's always great to see Buckingham Palace [St. James]. Really, if you only have one day in London, for my money, you should walk through Hyde Park or Green Park and then walk down to Buckingham Palace. The Tate Galleries are great, too. Very inspired. Madame Tussauds [Regent's Park] wax museum was always an interesting place to go. I went there when I was very young. They have a planetarium there, as well.
And there's the London Zoo [Regent's Park]. I actually studied animals at the London Zoo. It was part of a course. We had to go there every weekend, study the animals, come back, and mimic the animals' behaviours. I studied all these fantastic animals, like apes and lions, but I ended up being a lizard. The teacher felt that stillness was something that would be of great use to me later in my career. She said, "It's a lizard for you, young man!" I have to tell you, it was fantastic studying lizards. I learned stillness, composure. You don't have to be doing something to be doing something. Sometimes you can do too much.
High tea
Tea at Fortnum & Mason [St. James] is great. You get great fresh tea there. When I say fresh, what I mean is loose tea or tea bags. My cousin's got a big thing for the tea at Fornum & Mason, so we go and grab tea there and bring it back to L.A. They also have Marmite and bangers and mash and fish and chips. Fortnum & Mason is very English. Just the packaging of the teas of whatever you're buying and the shop itself is very old-school English.
Dinner
I do go home. I still have family there. But I don't go back as often as I'd like. When I'm in Canterbury, I try to go to Café des Amis, a Mexican restaurant. I guess I was sixteen when we started going there. It had just opened. The food is outstanding. The best Mexican food you'll eat. Honestly. I've travelled around Mexico, and I still find Café des Amis to be a pretty good match to anything I've had in Mexico. It's in an old building overlooking the river and the West Gate Towers, which are the gates to the city. It used to be a store where they sold odds and ends, brass objects and things. There's also Papa's Fish Bar in Canterbury. They have great white bread. I remember that loaf called Mother's Pride, with Marmite.
I had dinner recently with Ridley Scott in London at Cipriani [Mayfair], a great little restaurant. We were there for Ridley's birthday and the waiter came over and said, "Ah, we had your friend Johnny Depp here last night." It was one of those funny stories, ships passing in the night. I think he was there shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Another place is the Wolseley [Mayfair]. It has really good food. More recently, when I've been popping back, I've been having nice meals at J. Sheekey, in the West End. Fantastic fish.
Theatre
I spent three years at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama [Square Mile]. That's where Ewan McGregor studies, and David Thewlis, who is in Kingdom of Heaven. And Joe Fiennes. You can see the third-year performances there. It's a great school. I had three fantastic years there. It's next door to the Barbican. The Royal Shakespeare Company had productions going on at the Barbican, and we would see productions there. But we had our own productions at school. That was where I learned it was something I really loved.
Page 3 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Orlando Bloom's London/Canterbury essentials
Dining
• Back to Basics, Swedish, $$, 011-44-207-436-2181
21A Foley Street, London
• Café des Amis, Mexican, $$$, 011-44-122-746-4390
93 St. Dunstans Street, Canterbury
• Cipriani, Italian, $$$$, 011-44-207-399-0500
23 Davies Street, London, Mayfair
• Fortnum & Mason, English, $$$, 011-44-207-734-8040
181 Piccadilly, London. St. James
• J. Sheekey, seafood, $$$, 011-44-207-240-2565
28 St. Martin's Court, London, West End
• Papa's Fish Bar, seafood, $$, 011-44-122-776-1013
33 Wincheap, Canterbury
• Silks & Spice, Thai, $$, 011-44-207-482-2228
27-28 Chalk Farm Road, London
• The Wolseley, European, $$$$, 011-44-207-499-6996
160 Piccadilly, London, Mayfair
Sights
• Buckingham Palace, 011-44-207-766-7300
Buckingham Palace Road, London, St. James
• Canterbury Cathedral, 011-44-122-786-5350
The Precincts, Canterbury
• The Canterbury Tales, museum, 011-44-122-747-9227
St. Margaret's Street, Canterbury
• Green Park, Royal Parks System,
Piccadilly and Constitution Hill
• Hyde Park, recreation area, 011-44-207-298-2100
350 acres in central London
• London Zoo, 011-44-207-722-3333
Outer Circle, London, Regent's Park
• Madame Tussauds, wax museum, 011-44-870-999-0046
Marylebone Road, London, Regent's Park
• Tate Britain, art museum, 011-44-207-887-8000
Millbank, London
• Tate Modern, art museum, 011-44-207-887-8888
Bankside, London
• Tower of London, 011-44-870-756-6060
Tower Hill, London
Shopping
• Paul Smith, clothing, 011-44-207-836-7828
40 Floral Street, London, Covent Garden
Pubs
• The Cow, 011-44-207-221-5400
89 Westbourne Park Road, London, Notting Hill
• The Old Ship, 011-44-208-748-2593
25 Upper Mall, London
Theatre
• Barbican Centre, 011-44-208-638-4141
Silk Street, London, Square Mile
• Guildhall School of Music & Drama, 011-44-207-628-2571
Silk Street, London, Square Mile
Read about the hottest Canadian celeb hangouts.
Page 4 of 4
Excerpted from
Celebrated Weekends: The stars' guide to the most exciting destinations in the world by Mark Seal. Copyright 2007 by Mark Seal. Excerpted with permission from Rutledge Hill Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
Comments