Author: Mary Lou Taylor (Page 1 of 3)

Our last day in England was spent largely with two friends Elaine and I met on our first camino in 2022. Originally, our travel arranger, Garry, was going to walk with us the first 4 days—I figured Amy would feel better if we were with someone who knew what they were doing while going over the Pyrenees. Then Garry said he had another client, Chris, who was starting the same day, and asked if he could join us. Of course. Then a while later he said he had a friend coming to visit him, and did we mind if he walked with us. Ubaid was English, with parents from Pakistan, and he looks like a Pakistani George Clooney, he said. We said of course, of course. And then Garry got covid, and Elaine and I walked with two guys we never met, who both turned out to be great travel companions.

We met Chris at the train station when he arrived from Sussex. He is an Aussie who has lived in England most of his adult life. At 79, he bikes, hikes, runs half-marathons and does qi gong. Not bad for a geezer.

We went to the National Portrait Gallery, recommended by Hilary. Mary was in the first throes of her cold and wanted to just rest in the cafe, so the rest of us explored, getting through a tiny portion of the exhibits. We saw some of the portraits of royals, but they were not as interesting as the portraits of other people—writers, politicians, suffragettes, etc. And there was a special juried exhibit of portraits submitted by people from all over, and that was fabulous.

Then we walked through Chinatown to SoHo to find a place to eat, ending up in an indifferent pub. We should have eaten in Chinatown.

We had to say goodbye to Chris, as he had a train to catch, then walked to Regent’s Park to meet Ubaid. Ubaid works for the Royal Bank of England, but only comes into London a couple times a week, working mostly from his home in Oxford. He is a smart, gentle soul, and I wish I could get to see him more often. It was good to hear that he was out of his former (bad) relationship and with someone who makes him happy. We were able to spend a couple of hours walking around a sculpture exhibit and the beautiful rose garden, stopping for coffee along the way.

We all walked back to the Baker street tube station, dominated by a statue of Sherlock Holmes, of course, then said goodbye.

Mary, Elaine and I quickly got the underground to our next activity, another play, stopping into a food hall to grab something quick to eat, then going to Matilda. It was cute, but not my favorite. It is a musical about a bright little girl with special powers, played very slapstick. It didn’t help that I missed the majority of what the lead child said—a combination of a high-pitched voice and a thick English accent.

We got home in time to trade photos of the day, eat a few snacks and have a final glass of wine. The next morning we rose early, leaving the apartment at 7 for our journey home. It was 17 hours door-to-door, by the time we got through the Chicago airport, took a Lyft to Mary’s and then drove home.

It was a wonderful trip, though probably the pace was a little too ambitious for three mid-70’s women. We went 24 days with no downtime—maybe it’s not a fluke that we are all coughing and sneezing? Anyway, I feel very lucky to have two friends with whom I can travel that long and still have a good time to the very end. Lucky, indeed.

This is our new home, till Wednesday, at least. On Sunday we drove to Heathrow (big roads!), returned our car (no scratches or dents—and we drove 1,328 miles!) and took the tube to Victoria Station.

The London tube system always amazes me. It is complex, extensive and efficient. Now you don’t even have to buy actual tickets—you just tap your credit card at the stile and tap it again when you get off.

Our first tasks were checking into our Airbnb, finding a grocery for provisions and finding a place to eat—delicious Turkish food this time. Then we went to the Tate Britain, a museum of British artists. It is a beautiful building, jammed with art—in some cases, floor to ceiling. My favorite part was a room of late era Turner pieces, but I failed to take photos of them.

We spent a lot of time there, then found a pub for a snack of baked Camembert, watching a football (soccer) game between Manchester City and Arsenal. (I only knew which teams by googling the different uniforms of the premier league.) It’s such a fast-based sport, and very exciting on a big screen.

Exhausted, we came back home, eating more snacks for dinner, settling in and planning for our time in London.

On Monday we got up and organized quickly, then took the tube to Leicester Square to see what theatre tickets we could get at the half-price booth. We scored tickets for Hamilton and Matilda, then walked to the National Gallery, taking in the sights along the way on our first real blue-sky day in Britain.

The National Gallery was one of the best museums I’ve ever known. We spent hours, but we could have spent days. We were most interested in the impressionist and post-impressionist areas, but also went to see the amazing collection of Dutch artists, Caravaggios, Rueben’s, and Rembrandts, as well as many others. We were happy to see one of van Gogh’s sunflowers, but this one was a knockout:

It was so dynamic, you could almost see the clouds moving. Some of my other favorites:

And the building itself was grand.

We ate lunch in the museum cafe, went back to the exhibits, and finally, reluctantly, left to walk to Covent Gardens, stopping in to St. Martin-in-the-Field Church, renown for its music program. Covent Garden (not a garden at all, but a lively collection of markets and shops and restaurants) was a surprise delight. There was a string quintet that was playing really professional music for donations. After a while, an opera singer replaced them and sang several arias, then the group (plus a new violinist) returned. We sat and had a glass of wine and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Finally, we stopped for a bite to eat before going to the Victoria Palace Theatre to see Hamilton. It was a great performance—actors, set, choreography all great. It made for a long night, as we walked home and sat and talked for a while. But altogether a memorable day.