Last post of Great Britain Trip 2022 – July 21 & 22 – London

What a way to finish up our two week tour of Great Britain. The streets of London were swarming with people and we would walk over 20 miles on those streets during our final two days in Great Britain. I wish i could share all of the experiences and all of the wonderful photos I took in London. Hopefully, the highlights and photos I do share will convey how we felt about our time in London.

London has arguably been the epicenter of Western development for the past 500 years. The Romans tried their best to control all of the British Isles, and failed. That is why we have Hadrian’s Wall. And this Island nation, with London as its capital, became one of the longest global superpowers in the world with an Empire that touched every continent. Napoleon did his best to cripple Great Britain, and failed. It’s the primary reason he invaded Russia. Even Hitler could not cripple England, despite launching the biggest bombing campaign in the world up to that point, known as the Battle of Britain. After WWII, Great Britain would lose most of its remaining territories, along with much of its global influence, to be replaced by the United States.

And we did our best to see as much as possible of this great city’s history and culture in the two days we were here. A city of statues, we admired the architecture, museums, and beautiful streets in this part of London. The highlights of the first day were the National Gallery and Westminster Abbey. Carter and Jack even watched another cricket match at The Oval, a historic cricket field in England.  

I love art museums that have a high quality collection, but that are also smaller and more accessible. So, after our visit, I will now include the National Gallery in London, along with the Musee D’Orsay in Paris and the Barns Foundation Museum in Philadelphia, in my top three art museums in the world. Walking this museum is equivalent to attending a well curated art history tour.

What can I say about Westminster Abbey? The site of every British monarch coronation for centuries, it is a who’s who of tombs and of people who are commemorated. For me, it was quite simply, overwhelming. My favorite areas of this beautiful cavernous catacomb were the tombs of Captain Cook, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary, Queen of Scots, and the plaques dedicated to John Franklin, the explorer, and to the poets Shakespeare and Wordsworth.

All that sightseeing and walking makes one hungry. And one should not go to London without dining at an Indian restaurant. Elizabeth and I took the boys to London almost 25 years ago and had the best Indian food in our lives. So, I took the boys to a neighborhood Indian restaurant about 1.5 miles north of the center of the city – a true neighborhood restaurant. It was not fancy and I was worried at first. I needn’t be. Jack said it was the best Indian food he had ever eaten. I was overjoyed that my sons loved the food. You never know when you choose a restaurant. 

London is also the birthplace of theatre. And London still has a thriving theatre scene, with 38 venues in its theatre district, known as the  “West End”.  And our hotel, the Waldorf Hilton, was located smack in the middle. “Momma Mia” and “Tina” were both playing at theaters on the same block as our hotel. And “Six”, a play about King Henry VIII’s six wives, which I wanted to see, was playing at the next block. So, even though we did not see a play while here, we felt the theatre vibe.

The highlights of our second day in London were my 5-mile run out and back to Hyde Park, the Borough Market, the British Museum, High Tea at our Hotel, and attending a triple feature at a famous London Cinema. During my run, I passed Buckingham Palace and had the pleasure of seeing the Royal Guard, with their 18-Inch bearskin caps, practicing formations on the grounds. 

Located near the oldest part of London on the other side of the Thames, the Borough Market is famous for the quality of its wares and food. While there I tasted some amazing cheese. We could have spent hours there, and if we had timed it better, we would have had lunch there. 

Speaking of lunch, we realized that we could not visit Great Britain without doing High Tea. As we all know, the Brits are famous, or maybe infamous, for taking a tea break in the afternoon. Back when we visited Great Britain when the boys were small, we had high tea at the St. George’s Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. So, we all agreed that it made sense to do so in London. So, we arranged to have high tea early afternoon at our hotel. The difference between high tea and afternoon tea is that high tea is usually served at a formal table and has a greater selection of sandwiches, biscuits and cakes, and is served with more pomp and circumstance. And because this was our last day in Great Britain, we felt the pomp and circumstance was warranted.

Speaking of circumstance, Great Britain’s influence in the Mediterranean and the Middle East allowed it to assemble the greatest collection of ancient civilization relics in the world, including relics from the Egyptian, Minoan, Mycenaean, Athenian, Greek and Roman empires. As a result, The British Museum is arguably the granddaddy of cultural history museums. It also has some amazing Celtic, Viking, and Anglo-Saxon treasures. Because I saw the movie “The Dig”, one of my favorite Anglo-Saxon exhibits at the museum was the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial room and exhibit. Based on a true story, “The Dig” chronicles a 1930’s excavation of a dark ages burial ground by an amateur archeologist hired by a wealthy landowner. The movie, starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes is worth watching. You can find the movie on Netflix. The excavation ends up as one of the most significant archeological finds ever.

Speaking of movies, because Carter is so knowledgeable about film – he is an NYU Film School grad after all – he was aware of a famous cinema in London, called the Prince Charles Cinema, that curates and shows older movies. So, instead of seeing a play, we decided to attend a “triple feature” at this famous cinema that included The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off. Carter would say that this run of three straight Nicholas Cage movies where he starred opposite Sean Connery, John Markovich and John Trivolta respectively was Cage’s most successful box office streak. I would bet a lot of money that we were the only Americans there. And watching these movies with a boisterous English audience was a lot of fun. 

After the movies – around midnight – we strolled back through the rowdy Leicester Square section of London to our hotel. Tomorrow would signal the end of this once-in-lifetime trip with my sons. As Davis said, “I am sad that this trip is ending, but I am looking forward to getting back to my wife and son.” I told Davis that is exactly how you should feel after a great vacation. When I texted to Davis at the end of the trip that we will talk about this trip the rest of our lives. He texted back with the following, “I think the reminiscing of the trip is going to make it feel even more special as time goes by.” So true…