We did a lot more in London than I’ve described thus far. One day CG and I took a ride over to see where we’d be seeing Hamilton and then walked all the way back to the flat. The walk took us past Buckingham Palace and up the Mall. It was a lovely day even if it was a bit cold. That didn’t stop us from trying to photobomb a few people while we were wandering. I know at least one older lady taking a picture of a nearby fountain inadvertently took a photo of me signaling a touchdown was made.
We also did a LOT of shopping, visiting H&M (where CG bought some clothes), Fortnum & Mason, and Selfridge’s. Selfridge’s was a huge store and I was on a mission to purchase something there for a co-worker at her request. The search for the perfect thing led us to go from the basement to the top floor (5 stories up) to the basement again and then the top floor one last time. In the end I found a lovely Royal Albert tea cup with saucer and plate almost within her budget (I covered the overage). It didn’t say “Selfridge’s,” but it was from there, which was the best I could do as they didn’t have any Selfridge’s branded stuff available! At Fortnum & Mason I bought some delicious champagne truffles for another co-worker (I can attest that they were delicious because she let me have one).
On one day we headed over to the National Portrait Gallery to look at some art and on another day we visited the Tate. It was during those visits that CG admitted that she hates all art except pop art (such as Warhol and Lichtenstein). But she did still ask me to take photos of a couple Van Gogh paintings that were on display at that National Gallery, even as she expressed disdain for Rothko and Mondrian, who are two mid-century artists I happen to like.
One thing we did on our last day in London was take a ride up the River Thames to see some of the buildings and bridges along the waterfront. From our vantage point we passed the Shard, the Gherkin, the Tower of London, London Bridge, and the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. The boat ride was notable because we had a VERY large foreign tour group on our boat, and they were all incredibly rude starting with when we were waiting in line. They easily had 60-70 people in their group, and as we loaded into the line to get on the boat, we arrived the same time as the middle of their group, and we just kind of absorbed into their group. The ones behind us (about 25-30) were clearly unhappy that two people stood between them and the other half of their group, and over the next 2-3 minutes as we stood waiting to board the boat, those 25-30 people slowly trickled forward until all 25-30 had passed us in the line. So pointless, since once we got on the ship we all dispersed to sit in different places all over the ship!
The other thing of note during the trip was how great the cabbies were. Nine out of 10 cabbies were friendly, curious, conversational and just pure fun to ride around with. Basically, they were the complete opposite of every New York City cabbie I’ve ever ridden with. While we were there, some environmentalists were stopping traffic to protest. Every cabbie was annoyed that the protesters were flying in from elsewhere to protest in a city that is taking great pains to reduce their impact on the environment, versus going to countries that have infinitely worse environmental situations. One cabbie told us he saw on the evening news a protester saying she protesting in London versus China or India because she didn’t want to get shot. Looking at the 2018 EPI results, United Kingdom is SIXTH BEST in the world for addressing environmental concerns, and yet the protesters felt it was a worth place to shut down traffic all over the city. Relatively safe countries they could have gone to to protest? Japan (#20), Canada (#25), USA (#27), Singapore (#49), Barbados (#93). But no, they went to the sixth most environmentally proactive place instead. Thanks, protesters, very helpful.
