It's a grey, chilly English winter morning and I'm making my way through the busy concourse of Paddington Railway Station. I'm about to begin one of the most eye-opening travel tours of my life. I'm not about to hop on a train out of London; instead, I'm about to hop on one travelling underneath it.

On January 9 th, the London Underground turned 150. This is an important birthday, because the Tube was the first subterranean train system in the world. It was a miraculous feat of Victorian engineering when the first section of the "Metropolitan Railway" opened in Paddington in 1863 - using, incredibly, steam locomotives to travel the tunnels. It was an instant hit, carrying around 26,000 passengers a day.

Like most Londoners, I take the Underground for granted when it works smoothly, whizzing me miles across the city in a matter of minutes, and moan about it when it's overcrowded and delayed. So, in honour of its birthday, I decided it was time to pay homage to this labyrinthine arterial system that lies beneath my feet.

Michelle Buckley, from Insider London, a walking tours company, is my guide. We stand for a few minutes on the concourse, as Buckley explains how the first underground railway journey in history began here, 150 years ago.

"Congestion on London's road is not a modern phenomenon," she says, holding up a copy of a 19th-century engraving by Gustave Dore. This depicts an apocalyptic scene of a London street swarming with horse-drawn carts, omnibuses, pedestrians, traders and flocks of sheep being driven to market. In the 19th century, London's population was booming, growing from one million in 1800 to almost seven million by 1900.

Something needed to be done to get the city moving, and the man who came up with this "outrageous idea" of an underground transport system, Buckley tells me, was the solicitor Charles Pearson. Reactions to his proposals were mixed, with newspapers such as The Times deriding it as an absurd fantasy.

Buckley and I descend into the Tube and travel two stops on the District Line to Notting Hill Gate, an early Tube station that opened in 1868. Buckley points to its beautiful Victorian brick archways, enormous glazed roof and round glass-and-iron pendant lights above us. "They're the original 1868 lights," she says. Baker Street Tube, too, still has these beautiful curved globes hanging over the platforms.

Buckley's talk is a roll call of great entrepreneurial names who made the system happen, but it's the men who cared about the aesthetic experience of travelling on the Tube whom I find most inspiring. There are two characters who stand out in this story: Leslie Green and Frank Pick.

We take the Central line to Oxford Circus, where we emerge on the pavement by Argyll Street. There are two station buildings here, but they are dramatically different in style. One you would scarcely notice. The other, designed by Leslie Green in 1906, is quite different: a distinctive, arched construction covered in rich, oxblood-coloured terracotta tiling. Beautiful Arts and Crafts lettering proudly announces the station's name on the facade, as if it were a West End theatre or grand hotel. There are 27 of Green's stations dotted all over London that share this bold design and exotic, deep red colour. His work began to unify the look of the Tube, making the stations elegant, recognisable landmarks on busy city streets. These were ideas that would be enthusiastically carried forward by the Underground's visionary managing director, Frank Pick, in the 1920s and 1930s.

"Pick cared deeply about the design and look of the Tube; he believed that stations should be places to visit and admire, not just use," explains Buckley.

To see a fine example of station design under Pick's guidance, we travel south to Piccadilly Circus and emerge onto its magnificent circular ticket hallway. This space is pure Hollywood—a glamorous Art Deco design that is as elegant as it is functional and redolent of the Jazz Age, with soft lighting and smooth, pale stone surfaces. It was designed by Charles Holden in 1928, who built several notable Art Deco stations in London's suburbs.

Buckley points out the Deco treasures this station still possesses: orange columns and glass cylinder lights, an original clock, smart lettering on the walls, small, elegant shop booths (still in use) and a magnificent linear world clock encased in a handsome wood and glass case.

Pick not only commissioned great architects and artists (such as Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore) to create beautiful stations and artworks for the Tube, he also introduced its famous bullseye symbol, promoted the use of beautiful artistic poster-advertising that encouraged people to explore their city using the trains and introduced a universal typeface for all of the network's branding.

Londoners have a lot to thank him for. Nikolaus Pevsner, the great British architectural historian, described Pick in 1968 as "the greatest patron of the arts whom this century has so far produced in England, and indeed the ideal patron of our age". Not bad, really, for a railway manager.

In honour of the area's most famous son, Leytonstone Tube station is covered in a remarkable array of mosaics depicting scenes from Alfred Hitchcock films. They include Psycho, North by Northwest and The Birds.

The first, the greatest, the most innovative, the most visionary... the facts, figures and superlatives that I hear during my Tube tour never seem to end. And then there's the simple, ingenious design for which the Tube is most famous: the map, designed by Harry Beck. This iconic design—much copied, never bettered—was first approved and printed in 1933 (thank you, Mr Pick), and was an instant hit. The map isn't geographically accurate, but as any Londoner will tell you, it's how we all mentally imagine our city. If it's not on the map, we can't tell you where it is.

With a life of its own but always intertwined with the city above, the London Underground even has its own species of mosquito, which evolved from an above-ground species that moved to live in the tunnels during excavation in the 1850s.

Even the thick moquette fabric on the Central Line seats tells a story. Buckley makes me closely examine its apparently abstract blue pattern. As I gradually realise, it is a cunningly designed depiction of London's skyline .

It's just another example of incidental beauty that passes unnoticed by most travellers. Stop and look around you, though, and you'll be taken aback by how inspiring the Underground is in its scope, ambition and attention to detail. One rarely thinks of it as a romantic place, but what a lot of love has gone into it over the years. Happy Birthday London Underground.

這是一個典型的英格蘭冬日的早晨，天空是灰白色的，空氣中傳來陣陣寒意，我穿行在人流如梭的帕丁頓鐵路車站的中央大廳里。我將要踏上自己人生中最大開眼界的旅行之一。不過，我不是要乘上火車離開倫敦去旅行，而是要進行一次倫敦地下之旅。

今年的一月九日，倫敦地鐵已經(jīng)年滿150歲了。這是一個意義重大的出生紀念日，因為倫敦地鐵是全世界第一個地下鐵路系統(tǒng)。1863年，“大都會鐵路”的第一部分在帕丁頓開通，這項工程是維多利亞時代工程史上的奇跡，它不可思議地讓蒸汽式機車在地下隧道里運行。這件事引起了極大的轟動，倫敦地下鐵每天載著大約兩萬六千名乘客穿梭往來。

同大多數(shù)倫敦市民一樣，地鐵通暢運行的日子我把它視作理所應當，地鐵伴著風聲颼颼駛過，幾分鐘之內(nèi)便可以載著我在城市里穿行好幾英里，而地鐵擁擠不堪或是延時晚點的時候，我又會抱怨起來。因此，在它的生日到來之際，我決定借此機會向這個躺在我腳下的迷宮般的地鐵系統(tǒng)致以敬意。

米歇爾•巴克利是我的導游，她供職于徒步旅行公司“倫敦知情人”。我們在帕丁頓站的大廳里站了幾分鐘，巴克利為我介紹150年前第一個地下鐵路之旅如何從這里開始。

“倫敦的道路擁堵不是現(xiàn)代才發(fā)生的事，”巴克利說著，舉起了一件古斯塔夫•多雷的版畫。畫面描述了倫敦街道的可怕景象，街道上擠滿了馬車、公共汽車、行人、商人和被趕往市場的羊群。在19世紀，倫敦人口激增，到1900年，人口數(shù)量已經(jīng)由1800年的一百萬增長到將近七百萬。

必須做一些事讓這座城市運轉(zhuǎn)起來，巴克利告訴我，提出建立地下交通系統(tǒng)這個“大膽”想法的人是一位律師，名叫查理斯•帕爾森。人們對他的提議反應不一，《泰晤士報》這樣的報紙甚至還諷刺這個想法是一個荒誕的白日夢。

巴克利和我進入地鐵通道，在區(qū)域線上乘坐了兩站到達諾丁山門，諾丁山門是1868年開通的一座早期地鐵站。巴克利指給我看車站內(nèi)美麗的維多利亞式磚質(zhì)拱門、巨大而光滑的屋頂和頭頂上玻璃與鐵混合制作的圓形吊燈�！斑@些都是1868年原裝的吊燈”，她說。貝克街站臺上也懸掛著這樣曲線優(yōu)美的球體。

巴克利提到了很多偉大的企業(yè)家，他們都為倫敦地鐵的成功建造做出了貢獻，但是最具啟意義的還是那些關注地鐵旅行的審美體驗的人，其中有兩個人貢獻突出：萊斯利•格林和弗蘭克•匹克。

我們坐上中央線到達牛津廣場，來到安吉爾街的人行道上。這里有兩座車站建筑，但是風格大相徑庭。一座建筑其貌不揚，很難注意到。另一座則大不相同，由萊斯利•格林于1906年設計，該建筑極具特色，拱形結(jié)構(gòu)，頂部由暗紅色的陶瓦覆蓋，大氣奢華。建筑正面的站名采用優(yōu)美的工藝美術(shù)字體，使得整座建筑看似一座西區(qū)劇院或是豪華酒店。整個倫敦市區(qū)內(nèi)格林設計的地鐵站中，有27座都應用了如此大膽而又獨特的深紅色。他的設計使地鐵的外觀開始統(tǒng)一起來，地鐵站成為繁忙街道上優(yōu)雅而醒目的地標。這些想法能夠得到有力的實行都要歸功于20世紀二三十年代富有遠見的總經(jīng)理弗蘭克•匹克。

“匹克很在意地鐵站的設計和外觀，在他看來，地鐵站應該是人們前來參觀并贊嘆的地方，而不是只具有使用價值�！卑涂死�解釋道。

為了看一看匹克指導設計的車站，我們向南行來到皮卡迪利廣場宏偉的圓形售票大廳。這里完全是好萊塢風格——充滿魅力的裝飾派藝術(shù)風格的設計，集優(yōu)雅的外形與實用功能于一身，柔和的燈光配合質(zhì)地光滑、顏色暗淡的石材表面，讓人想起了爵士時代。該建筑由查理斯•霍頓于1928年設計，在倫敦郊區(qū)還有好幾座他設計的裝飾派藝術(shù)風格的建筑。巴克利指出了這座車站仍然保留的裝飾藝術(shù)珍品：橙色圓柱和柱形燈、原裝鐘表、墻面上的精美字體、小巧而優(yōu)雅的商貨攤（仍在使用）以及由精美的木質(zhì)和玻璃材料包裝的線形世界時鐘，十分大氣壯觀。

匹克不僅任命了著名的建筑師和藝術(shù)家（如雅各•愛普斯坦和亨利•摩爾）為倫敦地鐵設計美麗的車站和藝術(shù)品，而且引入了著名的“靶心”標志，推動使用美麗的藝術(shù)化的海報宣傳模式，鼓勵人們乘坐地鐵來發(fā)掘這座城市，并應用統(tǒng)一字體作為地鐵系統(tǒng)的品牌化標志。

倫敦人需要為很多事感謝匹克。偉大的英國建筑史學家尼古拉斯•佩夫納斯在1968年時稱匹克是“本世紀英格蘭最偉大的藝術(shù)贊助家，也是我們這個時代最理想的贊助家”。這個評價確實不賴，至少對于一個鐵路管理者來說很不錯。

雷頓斯通地鐵站為了紀念該地區(qū)最著名的人物（阿爾弗雷德•希區(qū)柯克），整個地鐵站內(nèi)覆蓋著一系列效果非凡的馬賽克，描述的都是希區(qū)柯克電影中的場景，其中包括《精神病患者》、《諜影疑云》和《群鳥》。

“第一個，最偉大的，最具獨創(chuàng)性的，最富遠見的……”在我的地鐵之旅中，這些事實、數(shù)據(jù)和最高級詞匯，似乎聽都聽不完。倫敦地鐵最著名的一個設計簡單而具有獨創(chuàng)性，那就是地鐵地圖，由哈里•貝克設計。這個具有標志性的設計——一直被模仿，但從未被超越——于1933年第一次被通過并印刷（還是要多謝匹克先生），并立刻備受關注。該地圖不僅地理位置標注準確，而且所有的倫敦人一致認為，他們頭腦中想象中的倫敦就是地圖上的樣子。如果不是印在地圖上，倫敦人也很難告訴你究竟是在哪里。

倫敦地鐵不僅有自己的生命系統(tǒng)，也和上面的城市息息相關，地鐵里的蚊子就是證明。19世紀50年代，挖掘地鐵時，地上的蚊子也轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)地下，如今經(jīng)過繁衍進化，形成了倫敦地鐵獨有的蚊子種類。

甚至中央線上厚厚的絨頭織物的布料也有自己的故事。巴克利讓我仔細觀察座椅織物上抽象的藍色圖案，我漸漸發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來這圖案被有心的人設計成了倫敦空中輪廓線的形狀。 這只是平時被大多數(shù)游客忽略掉的地鐵之美的又一個例子。停下腳步，四處瞧瞧，你就會驚訝于倫敦地鐵多么富于創(chuàng)意，它包羅萬象、雄心勃勃，而又如此精心細致。很少有人會把地鐵看做一個浪漫的地方，但是多年以來，多少愛都注入到了這一方天地之中。倫敦地鐵站，生日快樂！