We arrived in London, and were so relieved to have some familiarity. I have been to London twice before, and truthfully just hearing English and being able to read the signage was comforting. We got set up at our hostel and walked to the Tower of London. Several people had recommended doing the Yeoman tour, and I am so glad we did. Our guide, Beefeater Dave, was hilarious and a great story teller. He told stories of many of the people who had come through the Tower of London for their final days.
On our second day we spent the morning in the British Museum: The Rosetta Stone, tons of Egyptian artifacts, The Assyrian Lions, and the sculptures off of the Parthenon. After we left the museum, we decided to walk around London and just take in the city. We made our way toward Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. We found a small street lined with book stores full of first editions of all the classics. Victoria loved seeing all the 19th century books. We also went to Fortnum & Mason, a very posh department store established in 1707. We walked around looking at all the high-end and classic British goods.
After that we took a few day trips outside of London. First to Stonehenge, you can read more about that on Victoria’s post. Then we went to Worcester to visit Ashley & Traci. Words fail me to express how wonderful it was to feel at home. We have missed them so much, since they were called to England; and after weeks of traveling in foreign places it was so restful to be with such dear friends. I can happily say that those short days were very uneventful. We just spent time with them, and got to see their new home, new friends, and life. Spent time talking around the dining room table, going to the grocery store, drawing, and playing games with the boys. Traci also showed us around Oxford, where she is attending University. It was so exciting to walk those old streets, and see the life that this family have begun to build.
Ashley drove us back to London on Saturday. We got to our new AirBnb, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum in the Holocaust exhibit. It was a sobering reminder of the atrocities of the Nazi party, and what lay before us on our trip: The Anne Frank House and Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
Later that evening we were sitting in our flat, and heard an unusual amount of sirens in the area. We pulled up twitter to find out that something horrific was happening at London Bridge. At the time we knew very little, but sat in front of the TV as the news began to trickle in. I am not one to say “we could have been there” because we weren’t there. But I will say that being only a 15-20 minute walk from Borough Market has made the tragedies that we are faced with every couple months now more vivid. Hearing the sirens fly by outside of our window, made the pictures that we saw following the news reports that much more in focus. It is a reminder that we must reach out to our neighbors. These people are living amongst us. They are lost and confused; and an outstretched arm of sensible friendship may make the difference.
Sunday morning we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was hard to see much with the crowd, but the outside of the palace is always an exciting place to be. After that we went to Hillsong Church and enjoyed a church service inside of an old theatre. We capped off the day at a small theatre, The Criterion. We saw “A Comedy About A Bank Robbery”, and it was hilarious and creative. The play had Victoria and I laughing all the way home.
Our last day in London we went to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Westminster is such a cool place, where so many legendary figures in British history are buried. We walked down Whitehall which passes 10 Downing Street and several other great British political locations. Lastly we went to the Churchill War Rooms. It was a very cool exhibit about the life of Churchill, and you get to tour the bunkers that he and his staff worked in during World War II, when London was under constant siege. They also had an Enigma Machine on display!
We really loved our time in England, and it was great chance to recharge with good friends, and familiar language. Now we are officially past the half-way point of the trip and off to Amsterdam!