If Banff, Canada was a stroll in the park, London was an out-all, mad dash, sprint to cram as much as possible in our short stay.  We don’t let the jet lag from our overnight flight with a five hour time change deter us from getting out and exploring London the first afternoon.  We set out to explore London on foot.  We are staying in Covent Gardens and come to Trafalgar Square first.  It was a perfect weather day with sun shining and the square was filled with people hanging out as a musician played live U2 songs.  We head down towards the river and come to Westminster Abbey (UNESCO).  We explain to the kids that this is where royal coronations and weddings take place.  Ashlynn perks up “will we see the Queen?” We make it to the river Themes and the kids are excited to go on The London Eye which is one of the largest Ferris wheels in the world.  We see the London Bridge, House of Parliament and Big Ben although there is some disappointment that the clocktower is undergoing renovations.  We walk a different (longer) way home and end the day having logged over 10 miles (not bad for the jet lag travel day).

John takes charge and plans the entire second day.  The day starts with a tour of the Shakespeare Globe theatre in London.  Our tour guide was awesome and actually is an actor in the Shakespeare plays at night.  This one is a big hit with the kids.  We walk around London and see the buildings and architecture in city including the Chard, City Hall, Southwark Cathedral and the waterfront buildings.  We take a self-guided tour of the Tower Bridge where we learn about the science and engineering that went into building the bridge that sees 40,000 vehicles and people cross it each day.  From there we go to the Tower of London (UNESCO Site) which was a combination defense fortress, royal palace and prison.  We see the Crown Jewels, the royal bedroom rooms, armor, weapons and various torture devices.  The English apparently take their torture and imprisonment very seriously.  Tonight is the night to eat at a local British pub, Porcupines.  Most of us go with the hamburgers but Corey goes with the trio of meat and Shepard’s pie.  The final activity of the long day is a Ghost Bus tour on a double decker necrobus that was used to transport the coffin on the 2ndlevel and the attendees on the bottom level to the funeral.  Total miles walked = 7.

The third day is a bit of a slower pace.  We go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  Ashlynn inquires “will we see The Queen?” We respond, unlikely unless we can hire James Bond to breach the palace security, scale the palace wall and sneak in.  The afternoon, some of the group goes to British Museum where the highlight was Greek and Roman artifacts that the British brought back to London before WWII. Leanne and I had dinner at Bocconchino in Mayfair with several people from business school including Roxanne & Rob, Edwin, Heather and Sanjiv & Sherfali.  It was great catching up as seeing friends in the various countries is an added benefit of the trip we’re looking forward to.

 For the fourth day, we split into boys and girls.  In a historic moment, the Yankees are playing the Redsox in London in the first-ever MLB series in Europe.  I grew up a die-hard Yankee fan going to games with my now-passed dad so we were all in on the game.  Despite being surrounded by Red Sox fans (who all flew from Boston just for the game), the Yankees rallied to a 12-8 win!  Before the game we did round 2 of the British Museum and John led us to an out of the way place God’s Own Junkyard which is the largest neon museum in the world. Very cool.

 For the fifth day, we do a full-day bus tour into the English countryside.  The first stop is Windsor Palace.  Ashlynn asks yet again “will we see The Queen?”  No queen sightings but we do see the changing of the guard at the palace and the rooms of the royal palace.  The English that their castles seriously.  Second stop is my favorite, a Roman bath house in Bath, England that was built in 76 AD.  It is the most well preserved Roman bath houses in the world as it just discovered and excavated last century.  The courtyard has statues of emperors Julius Caesar, Constantine the Great and then-current Vespasius. John loves Greek & Roman history and I took 5 years of Latin so it was one of our highlights.  The final stop is Stonehenge.  It’s been a long day on the bus and I think the kids aren’t appreciating the mystery, science and engineering of the Stonehenge which was built 5,000 years ago as effectively the first calendar to track the winter and summer solstice for farming crops. The day ends with our friends Eric and Louise hosting a BBQ with Roxanne and Rob and all our kids.

 The sixth day is a travel day where we pack up and are off to Edinburgh, Scotland. 

London Snapshot

Overall Assessment - fast paced cosmopolitan city steeped in history.

Dinners - Pepe’s Italian Street (Italian), Porcupine (British Pub - check local food box), Bocconcino (Italian), TGI Friday’s (American), Eric’s BBQ

Activities - London Eye (Ferris Wheel), Ghost Bus Tour, God’s Own Junkyard (Neon Museum)

Epic Activity - Yankees - Redsox first ever MLB series in Europe

Culture / History - tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, British Museum, Buckingham Palace & Changing of Guard, Windsor Castle & Changing of Guard, Tower Bridge Tour, Tower of London

 UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Roman Bath House (Bath, England), Stone Henge

 Sites - Trafalgar Square, House of Parliament, Big Ben(under renovation), River Thames, the Chard, City Hall, London Bridge, Leister Square

Friends Seen - Roxanne & Rob, Eric & Louise, Heather, Edwin, Sanjiv & Shafali, Adde

Reminds Me Of - New York (City for London, Upstate for English countryside)

Mishaps avoided - losing Ashley on the underground, multiple times nearly getting run over looking the wrong way crossing the street

GOT - England’s history must certainly have been an inspiration for GOT with king, queens, royalty, executions, beheadings, affairs, arranged marriages, armor