London Trip 2024

 Tuesday, August 13th

Drove from Hanover down to Dulles and parked remotely. (One of the big hotels near the airport.) James deeply concerned about the possibility of long security queues, body searches, and forgetting luggage or passports. He might have actually been a little disappointed that it all went so smoothly. Those Diary of a Wimpy Kid books prepared him to run from TSA security or something. Easy and excited conversation bubbling between everyone on the trip down. Found food and coffee with over two hours until departure, alternated long walks around the terminal. James and I tried to match obscure country flags with names. He is better at this than I am.

Waiting for the shuttle from the hotel to the airport.

Finally on a plane!

James was nervous about riding a plane. (He flew to Atlanta as an infant, and hadn't been on one since.) Held his breath and clenched his hands through takeoff, then settled in easily with Despicable Me and many episodes of The Book of Boba Fett on the iPad. I read my Kindle and J never had a working TV screen in front of her. (James and I did both offer to switch, but the flight attendant promised she'd reset it any minute now...)

Wednesday, August 14th

Arrived at Heathrow at 7 AM local time, which felt like midnight to our bodies. Easy passage through Passport Control (just a scan of our passport) and then several trains to get connected to the Underground. Our Airbnb was in Islington, so we didn't need to change lines from the airport. About an hour ride (managed to stay awake), and then the hairiest hour or so of the trip for direction-finding since we didn't have any cell service and the offline maps hadn't downloaded correctly. Managed to find our key drop and then got pointed in the right direction to find our flat. J and James immediately sacked out, I went out again and tracked down some basic provisions from a Waitrose about 1/2 mile away with newly downloaded offline maps.

James was pretty much cooked for the rest of the day, but we all did get up and walk down to Camden Market to find a dinner out. Had some "Mesopotamian" ice cream (apparently made with orchids to give it an unusually stretchy/stable texture) and a shawarma wrap. James inhaled chicken and chips, J found a healthy grain bowl. 

Doom Bar from the can once back. (Cheers, Strike.) Everyone in bed by 8. Up in the middle of the night, but managed 8 hours in pieces.

"The Cornish beer tasted of home, peace, and long-gone security."

Breakfast at the flat

The view from our flat. (3rd story) The spire is St. Luke's.

Everyone is just trying to stay awake until 7 pm.

J didn't order any, but the man running the shop gave her a free sample and then came outside to find us and gave her a free dish. Confirmation that she DOES look great after 36 straight hours of traveling with hardly any sleep.

"Take a picture for Felix"

The canal at Camden Market

Dinner outdoors

Market fare

Thursday, August 15th

The first real day. James up around 10, and we had breakfast together in the flat. Took the Tube to Tower Hill and found the old Roman wall right away, then did the Tower of London Beefeater tour. The host (Yeoman Darren) was one of the highlights of the trip. It was an hour of continuous Dad jokes about medieval history. Found out at the end of his tour that his military background was actually as a musician (flute) in one of the bands. Walked through the St. Peter ad Vincula chapel after the tour, then did the entire White Tower. Skipped the Crown Jewels line (thanks for the heads up to Calvin) and Beauchamp Tower to find coffee and food. Ate by the Thames, crossed Tower Bridge, and found the Borough Market. (The note I have in my little writing pad is "J in paradise.") James had a mango smoothie, J bought a fancy jar of olive oil. Went to Waitrose again and did pizza and Prosecco at the flat for supper.

cum Trajano

Roman remains

The organ in St. Peter's chapel. Lord Wellington very much in evidence here.

One of the tower ravens.

The White Tower

Some of the armoury.

Jameses

Incongruous modern art in an 11th century building

Something to do with Taylor Swift.

James on the Thames

Crossing Tower Bridge

Glad to be out of the crush of people packed into the Tower sites

HMS Belfast

Not exactly ubiquitous anymore, but we did see some phone booths

Mango lassi. This kid missed his smoothies while we were away

Cozy dinner in the evening

Friday, August 16th

Slow morning (lots of reading), and then took a double decker bus to Tottenham Court Road. (Was surprised to find that James and J both preferred the bus to the tube!) Celebrating throughout that J was in shoes that held up to walking all day. Found Denmark Street and the Flying Horse, but they were not serving food. Made our way into Soho and ate pub food at the Three Greyhounds. Some people very nearly hangry by the time we ate. Went to the British Museum, which was hot and overcrowded but absolutely amazing. Did most of the Egyptian architecture, the Parthenon marbles, Egyptian mummies, and made a glancing pass through Greek coins, Cyprus, European coins, clocks, and the Sutton Hoo treasures. Took a walk with J in the evening to replenish stock of seltzer water.

On Denmark Street

Formerly the Tottenham

James' burger at the pub

J's fish and chips

Unexpectedly found an Amorino and relived some Paris memories

Summer in Soho

Library goals

The Rosetta Stone

The plaque says "Statue of Roy"

James found a cat

We were criminally rushed. Could've spent weeks in there. For some reason there are a bunch of cool photos that I took of the Astrolabe and the Sutton Hoo treasures that aren't showing up on Google photos. Will upload them later if I can figure out how to make it work.

Tash the Inexorable

Saturday, August 17th

This was J's great day. We were at the Borough Market all afternoon and basically just walked around buying food, splitting it three ways, and eating it. It was incredibly hot and crowded, so there was a short 45 minute respite in Southwark Cathedral. One small adventure that we had was finding that our toilet was running continuously that morning. I did a few of the small tricks that I knew to address it, but the actual plumbing for the flush mechanism was tiled off inside the wall. We messaged the flat owner about it, and she said this had never happened before. I promised myself (and James and J) that I would not spend any part of our vacation fixing a toilet. It ran all day when we were gone, but them somehow healed itself overnight. 

"If this is a land where toilets fix themselves, we are MOVING here." 

Not pictured in the food crawl are the loaf of sourdough potato and garlic bread, the pain au chocolate, and the strawberry soft serve.

Black Pig sandwiches

The line for these was bigger than the audience for most concerts I play

Sturnus vulgaris. It pooped on the sleeve of my white shirt.

Three minutes-old incredible donuts. (Especially the creme brûlée one)

We chanced upon a knitting circle

Peace in the midst of a sea of humanity

James was a great sport about the food crawl

Paella and sparkling rose. I took photos of the paella process, but they are somehow missing again...

Introverting

Choir rehearsal started about halfway through the escape

Replica of the Golden Hinge, Francis Drake's vessel for circumnavigating the globe

James with a bow chaser. (A long 9?)

In the Great Cabin

Up by the bowsprit. Not allowed on the rigging. 

Back for even more food--salt beef sandwiches.

Sunday, August 18th

We didn't have anything on the schedule today except for a 3:45 dinner reservation (for a traditional Sunday roast) at Blacklock, so we decided to take a long walk in the morning. We'd been taking public transportation to get into the heart of the city for every other trip, but made the 3-ish mile walk down to Covent Garden by foot. Despite trouble finding bathrooms we had a lovely time poking through the souvenir stalls and James found the Pooky he'd been looking for. We walked back and had to hurry to get changed into our Sunday best, then took the tube down to Philpot Lane for a roast. We hadn't eaten lunch on purpose, and then there was a long wait for our table. We ordered some drinks, and then received some more drinks when the waitress realized that our order hadn't gone into the kitchen. But then the food came and it was incredible. 

J popped in to the Church of the Holy Ghost to say the collect, but we otherwise skipped Sunday AM church

Heading up the spiral staircase at the Moomin Store in Covent Garden

Little My

I did not get a souvenir on this trip. But I stood in front of these old brass telescopes for a long time...

A year ago I ordered a martini in France and was given a tumbler of vermouth with a little gin splashed in, half a lemon peel, and ice cubes. I got some closure for that drink at Sunday dinner.

We're really happy but also really hungry.

Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, duck fat potatoes, roasted veggies. It was glorious.

Monday, August 19th

Today was the Eye day. This was the first and most important item on James' to-do list, and the line/process for it was formidable. Incredibly, we hadn't actually seen the Eye at any point yet--the curves of the Thames and the skyline kept it obscured. But Monday was all about the iconic views of the Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. After James and J rode the Eye (I did a big circuit up to the Millennium Bridge and back while they did the ride) we all walked the South Bank up to Blackfriars Bridge and then headed back towards Parliament along Fleet Street and the Strand. We read for a bit in Hyde Park, snacked on nuts and fruit, then grabbed a pint and the use of some bathrooms at The Two Chairmen. Then it was 5 and time for Evensong at Westminster Abbey. We were all impressed with how quickly a tourist attraction became a functional house of worship. J agreed to watch the first episode of Slow Horses that night once we were back and was immediately hooked. 

First glimpse of the Eye

First glimpse of Big Ben/Parliament

"I think they copied this from Big Bentley in Cars 2..."

View from underneath the Eye

Meanwhile, I went off to find Boadicea

And to see where Wardle/Ekwenski/Murphy all work...

Battle of Britain memorial

First pass through Trafalgar Square

(Dead) Lions

England expects that every man shall do his duty...

Meanwhile, James and J were very high

Very, very high up

And they found me waiting for them

Thinking of Aunt Martha...

The hall of justice

There were bird droppings all over Dr. Johnson

Thinking of Jane

James and any cat

Watching the Horse Guards from Hyde Park

J craving beauty and taking pictures

James craving something else, and turtling

Time for evensong

Our last glimpse before heading down into Westminster station

Tuesday, August 20th

Our last full day, and James was pretty much done at this point. The final "have to do" item on our agenda was to get the boys' LEGO passports stamped, so I walked back down to Bloomsbury while James and J spent the morning at the flat. I came back up through Mayfair/Regent's Park and had such a nice time of it that we all went to the park in the afternoon. Told that he could choose whatever in London he wanted for dinner that night, James opted for the same chicken and chips that he'd had the previous Wednesday, so we went home via Camden Market. (And I had really good duck lo mein.)

Quidditch statue

A two-story LEGO Big Ben

And a close to life-size LEGO double decker bus

Chinatown in Soho

The statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus

Did not buy a suit. But had fun window shopping

No riots. Fortunately, in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.

Regent's Park

Prepped for the last adventure out

We always find an Aldi when adventuring

Reading at the park

We basically just all took turns walking the circuit 

James insisted we take a picture of this panda for Owen's benefit

J's red curry at Camden Market

My duck lo mein

And a strawberries and cream for dessert

Wednesday, August 21st 

We had enough time in the morning after cleaning the flat to go out to a local diner and get a traditional English breakfast, and then took the Piccadilly line to Heathrow. And that was it! We spent 8 hours on the plane watching Slow Horses, then stood in a line, stood in another line, stood in another line, took a shuttle to the hotel, and finally got our van. We were back in Hanover before midnight.

It was a lot of things, as a trip. I don't know if it was what James expected. But he's definitely going to remember it. Owen and Felix were very happy to see us. And James was SO happy to see them. He lit up every time we FaceTimed them, and if nothing else, going to London told him a lot about how much he loves being home with his brothers. And we are glad to be back with them too.