We met my childhood friend, Deb, without a hitch pretty much in Heathrow airport. She graciously took our luggage and sent us off to the big city. We headed there via train, got the Original Tour Hop on/Hop Off bus to see some sights and get our bearings ‘round the city (kind of), and stopped at the Tower. As in The Tower of London. Made our way to see the fortress it is, the “keep” that is the White Tower, and the crown jewel of all—the Crown Jewels. Those are some gems! It was a gorgeous day, enjoyed lunch there, too, then traveled more on the tour bus. But by afternoon, jet lag was catching us, and we headed out SE of city to Esher, where we’d be staying with our friends.
What a lovely little town, and our hosts have a lovely, really beautiful, home! With a whole third floor for our use. Kids were asleep before 8 p.m.! And we weren’t far behind. Early London impressions: Clark—a lot of young(ish) people in city and the men dress well (for work, we think). Eli—it’s peaceful (we all kind of agreed, less loud, busy, and hectic than NYC, for example). All of us—everyone is super nice/helpful.
Thursday morning we awoke well-rested and ready for new day - first up, British Museum. WOW! It’s impressive! Art, fine art, history, science, natural history, politics, all in one really!! The Rosetta Stone, two-headed serpent, Easter Island statue, cuneiform fragment from Ur, Parthenon and Halicarnassus pieces....splendid artifacts. And the building/setting itself! We were bowled over. Loved it!! Then, we took a cab to the Westend for what we knew would be a highlight of this adventure for us. Our taxi driver, John, was super—fun, informative, sharing info about sights on the way—really cool. And got us to....
“What Time Is It?...Showtime!” —Indeed!! “Hamilton” at Victoria Palace Theater. It was sensational!! Best musical I’ve ever seen. Truly! And King George—the guy who played him—seeing him/his interpretation of the role was worth the ticket price. It was such a treat for us as a family! And on July 4th. Pretty ironic. Too wonderful really!!
Then, huge bonus: we were outside, figuring out what was next, and ended up in a line of people without knowing/realizing we were in such a line. It was where the cast came out to greet audience members, shake hands, take pics, sign programs!! OMDL! So, Clark got photo of kids with “Hamilton” himself 😀!! Wild and fun.
As if all that wasn’t enough, then we went to the Thames, and we enjoyed an early evening river cruise. Lovely way to see city, especially bridges, particularly Tower Bridge. And finished with dinner at an English Pub—Hung Drawn and Quartered. Great name and traditional pub atmosphere. With good ale and pretty decent food!
That’s some way to do Day 2, if you ask us!! Headed South to Brighton (the Coast) tomorrow for a couple days. ~
What an amazing start to your adventure!! I’m glad Hamilton was as incredible as expected. At moments like that you don’t know whether to watch the show, or watch your kids’ faces as they watch!! Blessings abound!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome! Sounds like that unexpected cast visit was exciting. Love the name of the pub. Like the pictures with Paul!
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