We arrived in London on a Friday.  That morning dawned quite early in York and, as with most of the days we have spent primarily on a train or indoors, brought with plenty of sunshine and cool temperatures.  We rode the LNER (London North Eastern Railway) from York to King’s Cross, wishing one final time that we could have ridden the Scotsman for this leg of our journey, but enjoying ourselves nonetheless.  Upon arrival in King’s Cross, we made our way via Tube (nickname for London’s underground metro system) to the Natural History Museum.  This museum is one of the many national museums in Britain and therefore is free to enter; however, it is recommended that you book a ticket online (still no cost) so that you can be assured entry on the day you desire.  There is always a vast number of people visiting the museum – lines can be quite lengthy with tourists, pickpockets, and school children – but only ticket holders are actually guaranteed entry.  It’s a common way to manage popular locations – particularly those in a city the size of London – in order to control crowds.  We later learned that the entire city of London is closed down on New Year’s Eve – no cars, no trains, no busses, no shops open, etc. – and the streets are completely opened to pedestrians.  The area where citizens can easily see the firework show (down on the banks of the Thames) has become so popular that the city has started issuing free tickets to limit the crowds.  They only issue 100,000 tickets for visitors to that particular area on the holiday evening.  Wow.  

Now is when I feel I should take a moment and talk about London just a little. You can skip this bit if you like. As you probably know, London is the biggest city and capital of England (and the United Kingdom). Before Brexit, it was the biggest metropolitan area in all Europe – but the English decided to leave the European Union so I don’t think it gets to have that title any longer. That said, it’s still a massive place that has been around for thousands of years and is now home to somewhere between 10 – 15 million people depending on who you ask. For Allita, who thinks Phoenix is large, London was like a NASCAR race – fascinating, exciting, disgusting, thrilling and a little bit horrifying all at the same time. London is made up of 32 different “boroughs” and each one is basically a district, village, neighborhood, suburb or town. There is, in short, nothing small about this place but it is fairly well-organized, all things considered. That said, if you do decide to visit London, I suggest you spend a little bit of time studying the transit system and familiarizing yourself with the layout of the city. The good news is there are plenty of very popular and famous landmarks you can use for orientation and, everyone does speak some form of English (for the most part). London is located on the Thames River, which runs almost entirely across the lower half of England from east to west, so it has lots of bridges and plenty of water-based activities. Because it’s so old, populated and important, London has lots of history and, honestly, if you want to know more about it, I suggest you read Peter Ackroyd’s London: the biography, which was so well written that the BBC made a documentary about it (I’m not kidding – google it). MOVING ON!

The Natural History Museum is a British tribute to all earthly things – those dead, those alive, and even those that never really lived.  We checked our luggage in the clock room then toured the museum in its entirety over a five hour period, stopping only once for a quick break and bite to eat.  The halls are filled with dinosaur skeletons and pre-historic exhibits, plant specimens and creatures from various biomes – such as marine, desert, savannah, rainforest, and plains, incredibly informative displays about the formation and behavior of the earth’s crust and atmosphere, and finally, an awesome and colorful array of stones, gems, and other minerals.  All her life, Allita has been an enthusiastic admirer of history in almost all forms: natural, world, ancient, imperial, mythological, aeronautical, etc.  To say that she enjoyed her visit to this London museum would be a gross understatement.

For our week-long stay in London, we reserved a one-bedroom flat in one of the new high-rise skyscrapers in the Docklands of Southwark, London, very near Elephant and Castle.  While I did a fair amount of research, including a cost-benefit analysis, on where best to stay, even I was surprised at just how fantastic this particularly location suited us.  We had easy access to TWO different Tube lines (Northern and Bakerloo), the network (commuter) rail line, the Thames link rail, and a plethora of busses.  In addition, the Thames was extremely close so many of the places we visited were only a quick walk down the road and over the river. Right around the corner was a market where we could purchase all our groceries and supplies and the building had a 24-hour concierge and keyless security system.  One point I will make is that this particular area of London remains in the process of being redeveloped (especially Canary Wharf) so it is not uncommon to find a beautiful new building next door to an absolute dive and a number of lots under various stages of ongoing construction.  Thankfully we were on the 12th floor, so none of the street or construction noise ever bothered us, and we had phenomenal views of the city skyline from our glass-paneled walls. 

DAY 2

To say “meet you at Victoria Station” is a tad inadequate.

Our second day in London took us completely out of London to Wiltshire, England and Stonehenge (prehistoric megalith about which I am certain you already know) for an all-day adventure hosted by Evan Evans Tours.  Sticking with the whirlwind pace of this trip, we chose the “express” visit.  We left Victoria Coach Station at 9am on a direct bus, stopped only at the site and had about 2 hours to visit the place, which was more than enough time really (even with listening to the entire audio guide, reading all the signs, taking a zillion photographs, and poking around the gift shop).  We returned to Victoria Train Station at 4pm and spent some time figuring out where we were and exploring the area a little before returning to our flat for a late dinner.  Allita and I are especially interested in British pubs – not for the purpose of eating or drinking as much as the entire idea of pubs, their age, unique history and decor, their significance in society, and, of course, their names.  Therefore, on this trip to London, we made a special effort to see as many pubs as possible and even toured inside a few of them. 

DAY 3

The last day I will tell you about in this post is also the last of our “least busy” days. We woke up a little later than normal – enjoying a British lie-in (a term I fully intend to add to my every day lingo) – and then walked about a mile from the flat to the London Eye Pier.  Do you know what the London Eye is?  It’s that relatively new and massive construction on the river Thames that is basically a modern ferris wheel with glass and steel pods for cars so that you share a confined space with around 12-15 strangers as you rotate in a vertical circle, snapping photos and pointing out the things you recognize in the distance.  Fun fact: the British Ministry of Defense is located immediately across the waterway from the London Eye and initially strongly opposed the construction of this attraction.  In court, the Ministry presented the strategic location of the wheel and the glass construction with clear views would allow some foreign intelligence member or potentially nefarious individuals to spy on the Ministry from across the water.  Supposedly, the judge threw the case out of court with a “you’re the ($%&@#!) Ministry of Defense – put up some curtains!” type of response.  We used binoculars provided as part of our London Eye fast-pass tickets but we weren’t even able to see the curtains, so I guess the judge had a point.  

That day, we took a cruise on the river Thames starting at the pier and drifting down and under Tower bridge so that we got a good look at Westminster (Parliament) and Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), many of the museums along the Thames and the waterfront, Saint Pauls dome, almost all of the new financial district, Waterloo bridge (built entirely by women), Golden Jubilee walkways (pedestrian bridges built by Queen Elizabeth in honor of her golden jubilee and to promote walking in that area), London Bridge (the new one – as the old one is at Lake Havasu City, AZ and we’ve already seen it), the Tower of London, and the Tower bridge, of course.  From there, we had our London Eye experience – it was fun but not particularly exciting and honestly, not something I would recommend unless you have young children. Then we ate some fish and chips at a dockside restaurant, and toured Sea Life Aquarium, which is a large marine museum and zoological experience.  We don’t visit aquariums everywhere we go, although we both appreciate such experiences as a general rule.  However, there are a number of sharks – including rare freshwater sharks – that dwell in the River Thames and other U.K. waters, and are available for viewing at this particular aquarium, which necessitated our visit.  We were inundated with families – as anticipated and much like our trip to the Natural History Museum – but we had fun navigating the waters (so to speak) with everyone and learning about so many new and different fish and marine animals (including penguins!) on exhibit there. Afterwards, we made our way back under ground for a much-anticipated tour.  

The Leake Street Arches are a unique and grossly-overlooked London experience that Allita discovered quite by accident while researching the history of graffiti and urban art in her spare time. So, what are they?  Basically, there are eight pedestrian arches (subway entrances) connected to an old railway tunnel beneath the Waterloo station that have been turned into an ever-changing underground urban art canvas and gallery also known as London’s longest legal graffiti wall. The long “Banksy” (Leake Street) Tunnel now connects to the pedestrian walkway leading to Westminster bridge to create the entirety of the Leake Street Arches. The entrance is clearly marked and quite visible if you know what to look for and are aware of your surroundings.  We caught a faint whiff of spray paint on the breeze and knew we were in the right place.  The passageway is used by businessmen as an underground shortcut between offices, by pedestrian and bike tour guides as an easily accessible example of local London flair, by artists composing work or admiring the efforts of others, by entertainers demonstrating their musical or vocal skills with a vibrant backdrop, and even a couple pubs (of course!) that offer traditional British and American “light fare” such as: salads, sandwiches, burgers, and a good selection of beverages.  More importantly, this collection of old pedestrian tunnels is a place for freedom of artistic expression unlike any other we have previously seen. 

Most of you know that Tucson is home to a wide variety of incredibly beautiful urban art – just about everywhere you look in the city, you can see different sizes of colorful, fantasical, graffiti-style, spray-painted art gleaming in the sunshine.  However, there is nothing in Tucson that even comes close to what you can see at Leake Street Arches.  Furthermore, during the daytime, this area is perfectly safe to visit and every visit will be unique since the walls of the tunnels are forever changing as more and more art is layered on them.  I was also happy to discover that regular air movement through these tunnels helps keep them constantly circulating so the fumes aren’t unsafe or overwhelming (although the faint smell of paint is unavoidable).  For my budding artist, this was an inspiring and encouraging experience, and for myself, a humbling one.  It is amazing to see what someone can create with a few cans of paint and their hands.  I marveled quite a bit watching an artist spray a portrait on the walls with such unbelievable skill and precision.  As someone who generally struggles to intentionally spray paint onto surfaces other than my hands, face, or the ground, I was heartily impressed.  But then, art has a way of doing that to you, doesn’t it?