London, England

Cleverly, we'd timed our arrival in London to coincide with another major sporting event: Wimbledon. Thus, hotels were scarce, but before too long we were ensconced in the Hotel Oliver, near the Earl's Court Tube station. We dropped our bags in the tiny room, then headed back out to the Imperial War Museum.

Navigating the Tube proved to be an experience (and it wasn't even rush hour yet) but eventually we did make it to the museum. Among the typical war museum exhibits (tanks, guns, planes, etc.), two stood out: the Trench Experience and the Blitz Experience. The Trench Experience was a walk-through reconstruction of a World War I trench at night. Realistic touches like the sounds of gunshots and tapes of soldiers speaking to one another made it feel authentic. Even smells were added, of gunpowder and meals cooking. Thankfully, the designers omitted the squish of mud underfoot.

The Blitz Experience was even more elaborate. Our group of about twenty visitors was first ushered into a bomb shelter, which shook with an explosion as we "survived" a German raid. Exiting the shelter, we emerged into smoke and confusion as the warden guided us past bombed out shops and homes, dust and debris scattered all around.

From the museum we walked to Blackfriars Bridge over the Thames to meet up with a walking tour. This tour was right up our alley: the "Along the Thames Pub Walk" from London Walks. Since it was a Friday evening, the pubs tended to be crowded, but we were still well able to enjoy the ambiance and the pints. Our tour took us backward in time, stopping first at a relatively modern bar right on the river with a great view of the city's skyline. Next we came to an 18th century labyrinth of a pub called The Anchor, not far from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Lastly, the George was renovated in the 17th century and has remained essentially unchanged since then. We had our dinner there, then, tired and sleepy, took the Tube back to our hotel.

The next morning we struck out intending to visit both the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. We decided to save St. Paul's for another day as the Tower was too fascinating to leave any of it unexplored. We spent the whole day there, beginning with a guided walk by one of the Yeoman Warders, the military guardians of the Tower. The tour led from the main gate, past the Traitor's Gate (where prisoners were brought into the fortress), under the Bloody Tower and all through the complex. The guide's script was very entertaining and contained a great deal of humor, but it was mostly made up of stories of barbaric torture and imprisonment and executions, executions, executions.

That tour finished in time for us to catch another entitled "Attack the Tower." This tour was by reservation to a limited group, so only nine of us got led around the Tower complex to examine its defenses. We saw the walls, both inner and outer and from inside and outside, the arrow loops, the murder holes and the two remaining portcullises. (Or is that portculli?).

We also saw the Tower's Armoury and its collection of weapons and armour as well as a demonstration of how a medieval knight's armour was worn. The poor chap who had to wear it was sweating buckets from the weight and the heat, but he still gave an entertainingly humorous spiel. Of course, we stood in line to see the Crown Jewels and all the Coronation regalia, but the most enjoyable part of that display was the video of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation shown to the line of people waiting to get in. All of the rituals with their attendant artifacts were depicted, the Sword of Offering, the Royal Orb, and so on. Elizabeth looked like she was ready for a long nap by the time it was all done. By the time we were done with the Tower, we, too, were ready for a long nap.

The next morning we partook of another London Walks offering, the "Old Westminster" walk. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey; all the London highlights were on this tour. We heard many interesting stories, including coronation debacles: crowns put on backward, lords falling down drunk, parts of the ceremony skipped over, new monarch nodding off, etc. Then through St. James's Park for a look at Buckingham Palace, albeit only from the outside. Our timing coincided with the Changing of the Guard, so we watched as the band came down The Mall. Our tour continued through Trafalgar Square, home of Nelson's Column and several thousand pigeons. We finished up at Covent Garden with a pleasant lunch.

We had been fortunate enough the day before to purchase tickets to see "A Comedy of Errors" at Shakespeare's Globe. Seats had been sold out long ago, but standing room spots in the pit in front of the stage were available. The play was a delight, proof that Shakespeare shouldn't be just read, but seen. Since we were "groundlings," standing in the pit, sometimes the action took place all around us as the actors made their way on and off the stage. It was a pleasure to take in some local culture while still having it in our own language. (Well, almost.)

Our last full day of vacation took us to St. Paul's Cathedral, our last church of the trip. We climbed (and climbed and climbed) to the top of the dome for striking, yet overcast, views of the city. Back on ground level, we toured the inside of the church and saw monuments to various British notables from history, most (all?) of whom are buried in the crypt below. Down in the crypt, we saw the actual tombs of those memorialized above, such as Admiral Lord Nelson, Christopher Wren, and many others.

After lunch (mmm, pub food!), we took our last London Walks tour, this one in the British Museum, a thoroughly incredible place. It seems as though everything famous is here. There are friezes from the Parthenon, mummies from Egypt, rooms full of artifacts from civilizations throughout history, even the Rosetta Stone. Our guide told us that there is so much in the museum that if one was to read every exhibit label, allowing ten seconds each, it would take 38 years to see the entire collection. Using those numbers, we calculated that in our two and a half hours we saw 0.00002% of the museum. It is simply staggering. If we lived in London, I'd be there every day.

Another pub dinner, this one at the Orange Brewery, a 200 year old pub, followed by a farewell pint at the Rat & Parrot near our hotel, and we were back in our room to pack. We awoke the next morning both happy to be going home and sad to be finished with this grand vacation. At Heathrow, we boarded our plane for home.