Old London Town

From Poole, I took the bus back north to London where I met Graham’s son, Alex, and his girlfriend, Clare. I was so fortunate to stay them and Graham on my trip, and to get to know them better. Hanging with locals makes all the difference to me. I feel more like I belong when I step out the door in the morning. And to have a glimpse into normal life in another place is always a treat.

I’d seen and done a lot in London on my previous trips but I still had a full itinerary planned for each day. Exploring London on my own was great, especially using the Tube. I loved planning my route on the Tube and trekking all over the place. It’s a great feeling to be able to navigate a large and intimidating city with ease. I didn’t feel like I was in a large and intimidating city, but maybe that’s because I spent a lot of time underground.

With all the things I wanted to do I could easily have spent longer in London but instead I crammed each of four days full, returning satisfied and exhausted each night. I went to the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of London, Westminster and St. Paul’s evensong services, All Soul’s Church, “Along the Thames” pub walk, a concert at St. Martin’s in the Fields, and Trafalgar Square, among other places.

 Nerd alert! Watson and Crick's

DNA model at the Science Museum

 Trafalgar Square, with rare London sunshine

Here’s a few of the best things I did in London:

Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

I’m not a history buff but lately I’ve had an urge to learn more about WWII. Or should I say, relearn everything I forgot from high school. I’m also not a huge fan of museums. That said, I thought the Churchill Museum was awesome. Most of the things on my to-do list in London were free or very cheap but this was the one exception. I was not disappointed in the least. I spent three hours learning about Winston Churchill and the war, and I didn’t want to leave. I would have stayed longer if I didn’t also want to make it to Westminster Abbey for evensong. The museum was informative, interesting, and well-designed, making it worth the price.

It was also very cool to see the cabinet war rooms (secret British government headquarters during WWII) preserved as they were right after the war ended. But this is the place to go to learn about Churchill’s incredible story. He was one of the only people to recognize Hitler’s evil and have the guts to do something about it. Plus, he’s hilarious and has a way with words, you should look up his quotes. I admired Churchill before, but now he qualifies as a personal hero.

Notice the Churchill statue to the right

Ceremony of the Keys

The Ceremony of the Keys is how the Tower of London is locked up every night. I’d been to the Tower on both of my previous trips to London so I didn’t want to see the whole thing again. For some reason, the Ceremony of the Keys is open to the public, which is a little odd. If you request admission months in advance, you can be a witness to the ceremony, for free! Now you understand why I had to do it… I sent my written request for tickets a few months before my trip and received three for myself, Alex, and Clare.

The Ceremony was short, and much of it was spent waiting, but it was still special. We were a part of 700 years of history, even if it happens every night. We (50 eager, giggling tourists) were led around by a cantankerous Beefeeter who explained the official protocol for locking the tower. He made it sound really serious but it can’t be that serious if they let a bunch of joe schmoes watch each night. Definitely worth seeing, but also a little disappointing because we didn’t get to lock any rooms ourselves or see who’s spending the night in the dungeon. I’m glad I got tickets for Alex and Clare too because it’s something that happens right under their noses that they wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. It’s funny how you sometimes don’t do cool things in your own city until you have a visitor to do them with.

 Alex & Clare between the Tower of London

and the Tower Bridge

I even saw royalty!

While I was out and about one day I stopped at Buckingham Palace to gawk at the mass of well-dressed people filing into the palace gates. It was the afternoon of the Queen’s garden party, attended by the who’s who of British society but also normal folks, invited because of something special they’ve done for their community.

Garden party guests,

with invitations and passports in hand

Dressed to impress the Queen

After awkwardly standing around and staring at the guests for half an hour, and feeling like I’d seen something really special, I turned to leave. Before I could cross the street where cars enter the palace gates I was stopped by a policeman. He wouldn’t let us cross because a convoy was going to enter the gates. I thought that a “convoy” sounded pretty neat so I decided to film it, and look who I saw:

In case you can’t tell, that’s Prince Charles and Camilla giving us a wave. They're no Will & Kate, but I'll take it. So cool to be in the right place at the right time to catch a glimpse of royalty. 

In summary, go to England, it’s fantastic. London, the coast, or the countryside, you can't go wrong. If you’ve been, you probably agree that there’s always more to see. A big thanks to Graham, Alex, and Clare for their hospitality. The sights were amazing but it’s the people that made my trip extra special.