Last days in London

Today is Day 80, our last full day outside the U.S., and our last day in London. We have been here for 7 pretty great days in all. I covered the first 3 days already, but we have seen and done quite a bit over the past several days: we saw a professional soccer (“football”) match, we went on a food tour of London’s East End, and we went to Cambridge and “punted” down the River Cam. Finally, because Zoe and I wanted to use every last minute of our time here, she and I went to Hyde Park and boated around “The Serpentine” lake in the middle of the park.

Gooooooaaaaallllll!!!!!!! At the suggestion of my law partner and friend, Dan Roy, we went to see a professional soccer match. It was a Championship League (as opposed to Premier League) game between Brentford FC and Hull City. It was SO much fun… the soccer itself was great, but the ambience and “crowd” were even better. The three videos below the pictures give a solid sense of the experience:

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The fans also have lots of colorful phrases, like:  “Wake up, you wanker!!” (when referee missed a call); “Oh, fer fucks sake!!” (when home team flubbed pass), and “Rubbish! He fell over!” (when a penalty was called on home team for clearly pushing opposing player to ground).

Food, glorious food! While English food is famously overcooked and generally uninspiring by tradition, London has a wonderful and rich history of stealing/adopting foods from every corner of the world. With this in mind, I arranged a “food tour,” which focused primarily in London’s East End (an area of town that has been the home to waves of immigrants and the downtrodden for hundreds of years). Happily, because it was Sunday and “summer” (such as it is in London), there were comprehensive and boisterous Street Markets just about everywhere. The first place we went “Beigel Bake” – a Jewish deli that has operated 24/7 for the past 50 years! They sell the MOST awesome salted beef bagel sandwich ever!

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The East End of London also has quite a bit of colorful graffiti.

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Punting down the River Cam in Cambridge: At the suggestion of friends, Jamey & Ruth Fawley, we went to Cambridge to go “punting” — shallow-river boating where the operator uses a pole to propel a flat-bottomed boat down the river. Never heard of it before coming here. The “punter” took us down Cambridge’s River Cam, and along the banks of the seven colleges that comprise Cambridge University. The City of Cambridge and the river views were really beautiful.

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Hyde Park: Though we spent a pretty tiring 8 hours getting to and from Cambridge, Zoe and I wanted to make the most of the last few hours of our time in London — so we headed out to Hyde Park. The park is enormous: some 350 acres in the heart of London. Initially, I wanted to go to the famed Speakers Corner (and we did) but nobody was up on a soapbox pontificating or speechifying — I guess rush hour on Monday isn’t “the time” for it. So we headed deeper into the park, found The Serpentine lake, and rented a paddle/peddle boat. It was a great way to end the day and our trip.

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While I did this blog largely for personal reasons — to download and collate our experiences and pictures in “real time,” before I forgot them — I have appreciated those friends and family who have followed along and enjoyed the pictures and commentary. I’ve also appreciated those of you who have shared your own thoughts/experiences/suggestions for things we should do — we have followed/incorporated many of those suggestions long the way. Thanks for coming along on the journey.

It has been a remarkable “sabbatical” for me, and a truly wonderful time being with Jackie and the kids traversing significant parts of this world. For those who said Jackie and/or the kids would kill me in my sleep, or push me off a cliff, or leave me for dead in a desert — Ha! I win! While there may have been a few sincere threats against my life, none were “credible” or truly worrisome. All in all, we did really well for living in such close quarters for 80 days… and someday, the kids may even laugh more, and cry less, about that! (;-)

So this brings me to the end of my penultimate blog post. After I get home, I plan to do one last blog entry — an epilogue of sorts — to sum up the trip. Stay tuned.