First few days in London

We arrived in London on Day 74 of our trip, the last of our stops before returning home. We will be here for 7 days in all, so I thought I’d do a mid-London post.

I love London. It is such a fantastic international city with incredible history, but also a dynamic city that seems to change and incorporate growth in ways few other cities achieve. I was last here about 15 years ago to visit friends, and before that it was another 15 years since I was in London — it always captivates me. As international cities go, I love NYC as well, but the scale and street-level of London feels so much more inviting and accessible than NYC… not sure why… maybe its the pubs every 50 feet.

So far, we have walked around the West End/Leicester Square neighborhood of our Airbnb, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden; we’ve taken a Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour of the “sights” (Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Thames cruise, Parliament bldg and the sadly-covered-up Big Ben); we’ve had great food, and played some trippy ping pong. Pictures below.

Trafalgar Square: With Lord Nelson’s Column, commemorating Admiral Nelson who defeated the French & Spanish fleets at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, destroying 22 ships without any British losses… except, of course, Nelson, who was shot and killed during the battle. Win some, lose some, eh? (At least he got a nice column commemorating him out of it!)

Leicester Square: One of many open-space squares throughout London, it has theaters, shopping, cafes, and places to sit/rest, and converse with William Shakespeare

… but it also has a lot of street performers. Below is one of the more clever ones.

Tower of London: Originally built in 1078 by William the Conquerer to put the fear of god and death into those who would resist/challenge his rule, it has been added to by other of England’s monarchs over the centuries. By some accounts, the number of people put to death in the Tower ranges from 75,000 to 4x that number. Today it houses the Royal Jewels, though we didn’t want to stand in line for the hour to see those, but we did walk the place and see the Bloody Tower and the White Tower, among others. One fun fact: There are ravens kept on the Tower grounds and, by legend, if the ravens ever die/leave, the monarchy will fall. (So, Kip, you only need to come over here and hunt a few ravens if you want to get rid of the Monarchy).

Hop-on/Hop-Off sights: I took a number of pictures while on the bus tour around the city. Honestly, there was so much information about the sights (Parliament & Big Ben, Hyde Park Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, etc.) that I couldn’t recall the detail… it just leaves the impression that this place has seen/experienced a LOT of interesting, if bloody, history.

Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge (view from Thames)
Parliament
The London Eye
Dragon at London City limits
The Shard (1016 ft bldg)

What is this?! Oddly, there are still quite a few telephone booths throughout London. Neither Zoe nor Max has ever used a pay phone, a primary way to make calls when I was a kid. (So unused are the phones here that I won’t share how the homeless people apparently use them here! Ick!)

Pubs & Pong: My mission to have a pint (or two) with Max in every country continues, and London affords the greatest variation and opportunity. Among the places we found (credit to Jackie for finding it) was a place called “Bounce,” which asserts that it is on the spot where ping-pong was first created/patented. While one can play traditional table tennis there, they also offer a pretty trippy, special-effects version:

Rounding the corner for home: Only a few more days left of our adventure. While they mostly continue to humor me, Jackie and the kids seem ready to return home. Jackie is going to spontaneously combust if she doesn’t see her dog (Buddy) soon, and the kids are missing their friends. I miss the family and friends as well, but I feel like I could keep going… alas, only 3 days left.

suess.world

First few days in London

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