Marienko Belasha

[marienkobelasha]

Moriarty's London chronicles

Hello! This is going to be the last part of me exploring London (at least for a while) visiting places mentioned in the yuumori manga through the prism of Moriarty. It is actually a combination of a few smaller walks I have done with my friends. Ay I even got one of the said friends to watch MTP, so manga is next ;p

Part 4 - Across London

The Langham Hotel

This location was actually mentioned twice: first time when MP Whitley was meeting up with Milverton for negotiations, and second time it was the backdrop for the first mission of the reformed MI6 after the time skip. A.C. Doyle set his two Sherlock Holmes stories "The Sign of Four" and "a Scandal in Bohemia" (which are also adapted in the manga) partially in Langham. Overall it is a very Luxurious Hotel that at the time, was the largest and most modern hotel in the city (1865) and now carries British (funny) history and heritage. At some point there was a guy from The Cambridge Five ring staying there who supplied Soviets with official government secrets. That made me cackle a little bit.

2. The Chiswick Old Cemetery

Unfortunately we all know that negotiations in Langham with Milverton did NOT go well for Whitley. So then he invited the Moriarty gang for a totally casual meet up at the cemetery. This arc always gets me, it really marks a grand shift in the story. Cemetery as a location is also a very unique place within both the story and real life. This particular one has been a burring ground since at least 1748, was closed in 1854 due-to lack of space, reopened for burial in 1867 and then enlarged in 1871. It is still a functioning cemetery, so a mix of newer graves and old stone ones you can no longer read is captivating. Please ignore the red shoes, the rest of the outfit matches the cover, right?

3. The British Museum Reading Room

in 1879 this room became one of the first public spaces in London to have electric lighting. Before that people had to rely on natural light and several gas lanterns. This meant that people usually had to leave at dusk or when heavy fog covered the area. Readers noted the peculiar smell of leather chairs and the mustiness of damp overcoats. The silence was occasionally broken by a thud of heavy books, rustling of dresses and a lonely cough or snore. The reading room had a capacity of 302 readers at the time with two tables being reserved for women (thanks for that at least). The room is surrounded by 40km of shelving filled with books and to get one you would have to first find it in a catalogue, then fill out a request and wait up to an hour to receive them. Taking books out was not permitted. Very atmospheric place indeed.

4. Harrods

It is a luxury department store, home of fashion and jewelry, the largest one in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. Naturally has a very extensive history, was visited by a list of famous people and so on. The original Harrods store (chain) burnt down in 1881 and was later rebuilt and reopened into what we see now by the son of the og department store creator in 1905. My favorite fact is that the first escalator in England was installed in one of the original Harrods stores, at the top of which nervous customers were offered brandy to revive them after such a wild ride.

5. Irene Adler's House at St.John's Wood

Unfortunately Briony Lodge located at Serpentine Avenue is not a real location, however that day I did walk around the Serpentine lake at Hyde park so perhaps that counts. on Sherlock Holmes Gazetteer website I found information that "Langford Place, St Johns Wood is one of the candidates for Briony Lodge, Irene Adler's home." I don't know why and for some reason I can no longer access that article, but I did visit that street and found some similar looking fancy houses indeed.

6. Random shenanigans

Yet another trip to Sherlock pub. This time we got some tea to really feel like William and Louis, and a quick stop at Bond Street station, well because Bond... James Bond. Also a cheeky little strawberry snack outside of British museum while it was raining.

Hyde Park and Green Park walk on the way to Harrods and back (walking around Serpentine Lake included). I think I mentioned this before, but strolling around parks inevitably makes me feel like an honorable member of Victorian Society getting some enrichment, chatting with my fellow partners or whatever. Outfit matching the volume cover as always.

Walk around Chiswick House and Gardens pondering about Life and Death after visiting the cemetery. Cemeteries are so easy to romanticise, I see the appeal, but with my fear of death it feels rather hypocritical. I have never been to Chiswick before and it will probably be years till my next trip there so was making the most out of it.

So far the only locations I have missed are: King's Cross station (which I just did not find a reason to go to in the past three months), Eton college (a bit far for such an uneventful trip) as well as Durham and Bath which I am planning to visit most likely later this year. These walks have been helping me a lot to get out of the house more often, and I made lots of fun memories this way!

What's next: I have not read Part 2 or the light novels (I did really enjoy the Remains manga however) and I am yet to watch the musicals. I have a general idea of what has happened in Part 2 so far, and I am really looking forward to the official english release this august, so I will continue doing these walks later on. I am a little worried about the series becoming too angsty for my taste and/or dragging on, but I dearly love this adaptation so I will carry on with it. Also investing myself into other Sherlock universes of course!

Anyway, that's it for now, thank you for reading this far, see you soon!

[marienkobelasha]

Moriarty's London chronicles

Hello! This is a side quest and a fun little deviation off of my usual walks around London visiting places from MTP manga. This time my friends and I went on a Moriarty themed treasure hunt around London Marylebone (by HiddenCity) and I am here to tell you about it!

The experience starts in the Marylebone pub where you are given a booklet with clues and a pen to help you solve them (I got to keep these :p). During this experience you keep receiving messages from Professor Moriarty and by answering his questions correctly you prove yourself as worthy and can move onto next part of a quest.

The biggest part of the quest is walking. You are given these very cryptic instructions on where to walk or what to look out for. At the end of each clue there is again a question that you have to answer correctly in order to get a new set of directions. The end goal is to find Moriarty's safe house.

In the middle of your around 2 mile walk there is a food place located inside a former church. Here you are given yet another clue, this time you gotta sniff 5 samples and figure out which one contains "poison". Pretty atmospheric place. Also during the game you will be receiving messages that encourage you to join Sherlock's side. Here you can either prove your loyalty to Moriarty or betray him. I honestly wonder if this was made for the sake of the theme and atmosphere or there was a second ending to this adventure, but we chose to stay on Moriarty's side obviously.

Then after walking a bit more and deciphering the directions you end up at the final location, yet another pub where you solve the last mystery. At all three pubs you stop during the game, you get a discount for drinks. At the end all members of your team get a pin that proves that you are part of Moriarty's criminal organization, you get a call from Professor himself congratulating you and you get your team's stats. It took us 2 hours and 6 minutes to complete this treasure hunt with the average time per clue being 5 minutes and 30 seconds (did not get a place on leader board though this seems to be the average completion time for the entire quest). It was a very satisfying experience, the difficulty level is quite spot on with it being fun and accomplishing to solve, but not too difficult to actually get a headache and I am really happy I did this with my friends!

Fit check: I of course as usual tried to match the volume cover and one of my friends picked an outfit to match William! (brown jacket and dress instead of trousers and red necklace for the tie)

While we at it, here are some amazing William and Sherlock key chains I picked up on the weekend at London MCM from @kitkatdrawwss. There are so cute, cannot wait to display them.

And last but not the least, gotta end the day with a cuppa, but this time I went for Crème Brûlée hot chocolate, since this dessert was mentioned in the manga. Thanks Albert for the amazing taste <3

Thank you so much for sticking around and reading this far, hope to see you in the next entry!

[marienkobelasha]

Moriarty's London chronicles

Hello! This is the continuation of me exploiting the fact that I live in London by visiting places mentioned/shown in Moriarty the Patriot manga.

Part 3 - Central London and Baker street

The Royal Courts of Justice (Law Courts)

It was quite entertaining to imagine being on jury duty for the Merchant of London case while visiting this place. Honestly low key an underrated building, I think a lot of tourists miss out on this one. I am not sure though, I actually forget London is in fact a touristy spot.

2. Lyceum Theater

During Victorian era it transformed from English Opera house to a leading theater in Britain with successful productions of Shakespeare works. Nobody was waiting for me behind the third column in order to talk to me about The Agra Treasure though, what a disappointment :(

3. Trafalgar square

Nowadays just like historically this space is often used for protests and demonstrations on different political and general issues, so it really makes sense for the reveal of The Lord of Crime identity for the public to be shown specifically at this location. Honesty really gotta appreciate the amount of research the authors have done to create a quite authentic setting and atmosphere for the story, it definitely shows.

4. Diogenes Club (Pall Mall street)

What a funny concept to me, maybe that is how some people see the idea of a silent disco. It is a fictional place after all so this is the closest I could get to it.

5. Buckingham Palace

I do find Queen to be a very funny character in the series, since she just kind of sits there and calls in Mycroft every once in a while. I mean it stayed the same to this day I guess, so pretty accurate huh. Unfortunately there was a quite limited access to the palace due-to London marathon, so that's the best pic I have managed to get.

6. Big Ben and The Palace of Westminster

Again unfortunately crowds of people and restricted access made it hard to get a better look around so that's all I got. I do have to say that I like the White Knight arc and every time I get to it, it feels like damn shit is going down, the story is getting really serious now. I think it also demonstrated how there was no chance for a change in the system unless using radical methods, although I do really wish it was explored further, because sometimes it does feel as if Moriarty family could have tried harder at guiding and protecting Whiteley from the shadows for his plan to work. And yes my outfit matches the cover of the volume, thank you for noticing ;)

7. Great Scotland Yard

This is the original Scotland yard, it is a street where public entrance to Metropolitan police office used to be. It was the first dedicated space for detective department where naturally all high profile cases were processed and all high profile prisoners were held. Nowadays it is a luxurious Hotel with its own history, Metropolitan Police headquarters moved to New Scotland Yard and Scotland Yard to this day remains a synonym to word police amongst people.

8. Old War Office Building

Just like Great Scotland Yard was transformed into a 5 star hotel, The Old War Office building was also sold to be a luxurious hotel and apartments 10 years ago. Throughout history the whole concept of this War Office kept changing and shifting, decreasing greatly in its importance after The First World War. Despite its confusing history I believe mtp manga got it quite right in terms of who was overseeing what. Either way Mycroft was The Government so who even cares :p

9. Sherlock Pub

This was a great diversion and a way to escape the crowd. The pub is amazing, has great decorations everywhere which feels really immersive and a whole room decorated in style of canon Sherlock in the dining area upstairs. We got really lucky and had a table with the view of the room. It was a great alternative for Sherlock museum since I personally did not feel like spending £20 on a tour of a few rooms (it still looks beautiful and I will eventually visit it nevertheless). Cheeky pint of cherry cider with the side of chips was just perfect addition, highly recommend!

10. Baker Street

First of all Baker street station has multiple Sherlock murals within it, right outside of the station there is the Sherlock Statue and a 2 minute walk from the station there is Sherlock museum at 221B Baker street. Again we did not see the inside of the museum, however the gift shop is free so we had fun looking around there and I got some stickers as a sweet treat!

Talking about the stations, rip William James Moriarty you would have loved Jubilee line - all the important places a lot of which are mentioned in the manga are accessible on that line: London bridge station - Tower Bridge, Westminster station - Parliament, Green Park station - Buckingham palace, Bond street station (James Bond ;p), Baker street station- the great detective’s home, St.John’s wood station - Irene Adler’s house, West Hampstead station - Milverton’s manor. You get the point, live love laugh Jubilee line.

11. Regent's Park

It is right there next to the Sherlock museum and it is a lovely big park with open air theater that holds Sherlock Holmes Play this summer that I will hopefully be able to attend. In the manga the only park that was specified is North Cross Park that M.P. Whiteley has designed, however I did not manage to find any good information on this North Cross Park. At a google search you are met with Claremont Park instead and I personally did not find it intriguing enough or necessarily accurate to my search, so I decided to make Regents Park part of my walk as a replacement. The reason being that it was one of the Royal playgrounds areas that became a public park during the Victorian era, and due-to its proximity to Baker street I can totally imagine yuumori cast having a casual stroll there.

Gotta finish the day with a cheeky little cuppa that hopefully Louis would be proud of! Well actually perhaps he would hate it, since I have brewed some Sherlock tea ;p

Once again thank you for sticking around and reading this far, see you soon in the next entry!

[marienkobelasha]

Moriarty's London chronicles

Hello! This is the continuation of my London walks visiting places mentioned/shown in Moriarty the Patriot.

Part 2 - Whitechapel and Central London

St. Paul's Cathedral

it is basically THE church with a lot of significant events using it as a backdrop throughout history. It is quite iconic and is one of the most recognisable sights of London. So naturally it can be seen in the manga panels, though never used as an actual location, it definitely adds to the atmosphere nevertheless.

2. William Shakespeare's bust

As we know William James Moriarty is a dramatic guy who clearly loves works of Shakespeare, so I visited two Shakespeare memorials today and here is one of them. The inscription of the plinth refers to the memory of John Heminge and Henry Condell, two actors and friends of Shakespeare, who were responsible for collecting and giving to the world his plays and works. And if you think about it, it is a reference to the way William is known as The Lord of Crime with the help of John and Sherlock that were responsible for solving and publishing his crimes.

3. Barbican Conservatory

Barbican Center opened in 1982 (so not an actual MTP location) however its Brutalist Architecture really reminds me of soviet architecture and although it is not inherently communist, it is definitely highly associated with. Moreover Barbican center has a plant conservatory and is overall filled with vegetation of all sorts, which I believe Fred Porlock would be a fan of.

4. Cenotaph of William Blake in Bunhill Fields Burial Grounds

William Blake is a very well known English poet and painter and his painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun" was used in manga as a symbolic representation of Milverton manipulating people to commit sins and a classic dilemma of good vs evil. The painting itself is displayed in the National Gallery of Art, Washington in the United States. His other similar paintings are displayed in London at Tate Britain, however instead I decided to visit his grave, because the paintings of his I like aren't on display at the moment.

5. Jack the Ripper

There are great posts out there explaining how well MTP manga adapted Jack the Ripper cases that I recommend people look up. These include the correct mention of 5 canonical victims with their names being slightly altered for ethical reasons. From ethical point of view it could be quite immoral for me to visit these places, so I want to note that I did not take any pictures of myself there, I did not participate in Jack the Ripper tours that often glamorize the killer and exploit the sensationalism of this story and I did my research on social history of East End London beforehand. That being said I did visit one of the victim's death locations - Annie Chapman (Adeline Bergman in manga) who is the second victim and was murdered at Hanbury street. The reason Jack the Ripper was able to get away with these murders was the fact that Whitechapel was a poor overcrowded underclass area, it was a maze full of narrow streets and dark alleys, the area was poorly lit and police avoided it, at first brushing off disturbing murders and labeling them as normal struggle of chaotic hostile slums. The area is very different nowadays. Again please do check out amazing posts that explain how yuumori manga adapts real life events of these mass murders.

6. Whitechapel

With the context we just discussed about Jack the Ripper's Whitechapel, let's look at it now as a place where William and Louis have grown up. Whitechapel in combination with Shoreditch nowadays is an area full of street art, food and vintage markets and I do think Moriarty brothers would love that! Seeing it really reminded me of that one moment in the anime where Moriarty brothers were painting.

7. Irene Adler's church

The church where Irene Adler meets up with the Lord of Crime to pass the stolen documents is "The church along Hoxton's New North Road". The real church on that road is St John the Baptist Church, however it looks nothing like the manga panel and it did not intrigue me enough, so instead here is another church I saw at Whitechapel area that looks more like the one shown in the manga :)

8. The Tower of London

This is where Albert imprisoned himself for three years after William's presumed death. I did think it was quite crazy how characters poke fun of Albert and Moran grieving so intensely for three years even though why are you guys not..? Your literal cult leader who you pledged your life and loyalty to, as well as your best friend you have been working for/with for years allegedly dies and you just move on after a few months..? nah I don't believe in it. Anyway The Tower of London was used as a fortress, palace and prison throughout history and is a world heritage site. I unfortunately had a quite limited access to it since there was London marathon going on.

9. The Tower Bridge

I don't think much needs to be said, oh my shaylas :(

Actually how crazy is the fact that Albert imprisoned himself pretty much right next to where his brother presumably died. He was in fact hoping that he is talking to his ghost.

Again did not manage to get a better picture due-to restricted access because of London marathon. The crowd however really added to the bit, it really did feel like the revolution was about to happen!

10. Southwark Cathedral

Finishing off the walk again with atmosphere and vibes, as well as another Shakespeare mural.

thank you for noticing once more that my outfit matches the cover of the volume ;)

Last but not the least what is a day without a cheeky cuppa tee hee, Louis would be proud of me

This is it for now, thank you for reading this far and stay tuned for more!

[marienkobelasha]

Moriarty's London chronicles

Hello! After reading the yuumori manga I couldn't help, but make use of the fact that I live in London by planning a series of walks visiting places mentioned/shown in mtp manga. I will share my walks here for anyone curious and stick around to see more being posted.

Part 1 - Hampstead area

Tube construction site - Willesden Green Station

This tube construction location can essentially be anywhere, however after getting some research done I can present why my local station is potentially the one ;)

First of all the main story is set in 1879, first tube opened in 1863 that being Metropolitan railway (now Metropolitan line) that covered following stations: Bishop's road (now Paddington), Edgware road, Baker street, Portland road, Gower street, King's cross (also a location mentioned in the manga) and Farringdon street. From there on Metropolitan railway will be further expanding and in 1868 Metropolitan District railway (now District line) was introduced. Now I will continue focusing only on Metropolitan railway although a new possible line was introduced since Metropolitan railway runs through Baker street (which is naturally a reoccurring location in the story even though the characters are NOT using the tube at all) and additionally it was being further extended towards Hampstead area where Milverton's estate is located and it is specifically his minions that are shown on the tube construction site location. In 1879 Metropolitan line was being further extended and in November of that year Willesden green station was opened. A general idea is that the Final Arc takes place in the summer months (cannot find the source, but from what I remember potentially if you line up the sunrise and how early in the morning it was when Sherlock and Liam were falling from The Tower Bridge it must have been during the summer months, although the whole sunrise is suppose to be metaphorical) and so by the time of mention Willesden green was still under construction and opened later that year.

Unfortunately Metropolitan line does not run at this station anymore, however the building is old and so it still says loud and proud "Metropolitan Railway" at the top. It was replaced by Jubilee line in 1979 and in my next post I will talk about it a little more.

2. Milverton's manor

Again this is just a vague area and a generic rich person house, so I just walked around Hampstead area and took pictures of houses that looked like that and this was the one that looked the most like the manga panel.

3. Other rich houses

Hampstead is known to be a posh area since back in the time it was the rich people countryside - not too far from London, yet far enough from noise, crowds and pollution. In Victorian era it was quickly developing to become affluent London Suburb that attracted lots of famous artists and writers of that time. So a very fitting location for Milverton as well as other potentially evil representatives of higher class. So here are more cool pics I took that I imagine William visited during final problem arc when he was on the rampage ticking everyone off of that list.

4. Houses you can actually visit

Fenton House and Garden is a historical landmark and a museum you can visit for £14, however on the day I was there it was closed, also I was not particularly interested in spending my money there so I just enjoyed seeing it from outside. It also kind of looks like Milverton's house I think.

Burgh House is a free to visit second oldest house in London with a lovely garden cafe and exhibitions inside, and that was more like my cup of tea (pun intended). I treated myself to some traditional scones and tea to really feel the atmosphere and it was super yum!

5. Hampstead Cemetery and other atmospheric places along the way

I will be visiting other cemeteries linked to MTP in my other walks (such as Chiswick old cemetery), this one was just along the way.

6. Finished it off with walking around Hampstead Heath and The Hill Garden & Pergola again for the atmosphere and vibes

thank you for noticing that my outfit matches the cover of the volume :)

This is it for now, thank you for reading this far!