What we loved and one thing we hated

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London is the star of this story.

And the weather during our mid-January 8-day stay. Sunny and cold, with no precipitation until our Delta ride lumbered to the runway.

Rebecca and I were two of the 30 million visitors London will welcome this year.

It is an open-arms kind of place.

Even for two seventy-year-olds.

Here are some idiosyncratic highlights, and one lowlight, that might help you plan a visit or recall memories.

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Itinerary

We studied Rick Steves’ London guidebook about a month before departure to sketch a tentative day-by-day plan. We used his excellent maps, including the Underground, and extensive descriptions of tourist sites. One strategy emerged from this preliminary work. We decided, with one exception, to use nights for plays, musicals, concerts, and films to free up more daytime for London sites.

I put our actual London schedule at the end.

Our London Digs

That’s Rebecca outside The Celtic Hotel, pronounced Seltic, not Keltic. My bad for seven days.

The Celtic is located in north central London, two blocks from the Russell Square Tube Station.

It’s within walking distance (1.5 miles) of major tourist attractions such as The British Museum, the British Library, the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, and many theaters.

The breakfast was hearty, with porridge the highlight, which allowed us to skip lunch. The staff was friendly and accommodating. During a 2018 stay, Rebecca left a pair of shoes. We contacted the hotel, and the shoes were in the post soon after.

Getting from here to there

We walked about four miles a day. No rain or snow helped. As did the clear sky you see over Big Ben in the first photo.

On day two in the morning, we walked a mile to The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Then we hiked a few blocks to see the matinee play Best of Enemies. The Noel Coward Theatre was a stone’s throw from Chinatown for dinner. With new SIM cards in our phones, we navigated the 30-minute walk back to our hotel arriving at 10 pm. There were plenty of people along the way, the streets are well-lit, and we felt safe.

When we weren’t on foot, we used London’s Underground. After arriving at Heathrow Airport, we purchased Oyster cards ($100) and took the Tube to a station two blocks from our hotel. The Underground doesn’t service Gatwick Airport, but trains do. In 2018, we flew into Gatwick and took a train to St. Pancras Station, about a mile from The Celtic.

Most central London Underground stations included escalators and steps. About a third are step-free. Every car had designated seats for those who could not stand long.

Eight days on the Tube and one delay that we were warned about well in advance. We had a problem making our Oyster cards work at the turnstile on two occasions. Both times, a friendly public transportation worker fixed the issue.

The London Underground was not art, a play, or a museum. But it is a living testament to human creativity. Five million people bustle through it each day by following three rules. They mind the gap, keep right, and pay attention to the signs.

It’s my favorite part of London. And it does have a terrific museum, The London Transport Museum, that honors its history.

Three More Things I loved

Food

While Rebecca clicked away to produce this photo, I ate more than my share of St. Martin in the Field Café in the Crypt’s apple crumble with vanilla cream.

Greedy sod.

St. Martin’s is across from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. You enter the cafe through a glass door to the left of the church. It’s one of London’s hidden gems.

Rebecca kindly did not take photos of me eating Pappardelle alla Bolognese at Prima Sapori D’ Italia, Chicken Tikka Masala at Punjab, and Fish & Chips at Friend at Hand Pub.

The British Library

I have a soft spot in my heart for William Shakespeare. Father Kokjohn’s Shakespeare class in 1972, my 5th year of college, forced me to become a serious student.

The British Library has a funky little room with an unfunky title, The Sir John Ritblat Gallery. That’s where I took this photo. It is the first book (folio) of Shakespeare’s plays, published seven years after his death in 1623.

Doesn’t he look like someone we should still be looking at 600 years later?

The Tate Modern

Four years before I took that Shakespeare class, I earned a D in Art Appreciation.

Now, I’m doing penance.

And loving it.

We saw lots of art in London, including two visits to the Tate Modern, which occupies a former power station across the Thames from St. Paul’s.

One of my favorite paintings was René Magritte’s Man with a newspaper.

You can find many interpretations of this piece of art. What do I see?

Absence. The room continues without this man with a newspaper. The Celtic’s breakfast room exists without Rebecca and Paul sitting in their corner spot.

When my father died thirty years ago, I remember driving around the streets of my hometown thinking Davenport was now without my dad. It’s not quite the same. Look carefully at the curtained windows in Magritte’s painting. The perspective changes just a little. Genius.

One thing I hated

Harrods

Rebecca did, too.

Hate is too strong. And probably unfair.

One hundred thousand people visit every day. It presents itself well, as you can see.

It wasn’t just the $29,000 watch.

Or the private toilet stall locked and waiting for some Poobah.

Or the counter waiter in the Food Court who told us we could have these stools for 45 minutes.

Or the sullen wait staff who served lukewarm and weak hot chocolate.

Or the bland and perfectly formed scone

It was the feel of the place.

We couldn’t get out fast enough.

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We visited Harrods on our 5th day.

By then, London had worked its magic.

Opened its arms.

Expanded our horizons.

Harrods was anti-that London.

With arms closed.

Thank goodness we had more time.

To visit the Tate Modern. Twice.

The Anti-Harrods.

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This photo captures our sense of delight with our eight days and nights in London.

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Our actual itinerary

Day 1: Arrived at 7 am Heathrow; British Library; British Museum

Day 2: Trafalgar Square; National Gallery; Play: Best of Enemies

Day 3: Courtauld Gallery; Victoria and Albert Museum; Musical: Hamilton

Day 4: Tower of London; Vivaldi Concert at St. Martin in the Field Church

Day 5: Harrods; Parliament; film in Leicester Square

Day 6: Rabbie’s Oxford & Cotswold day tour.

Day 7: Tate Modern; London Transport Museum; Musical: Mama Mia

Day 8: Wiener Holocaust Library; Tate Modern; Play: The Unfriend