May 15-18, 1984

May 15-18, 1984

I flew to London with a classmate arriving at Gatwick airport early in the morning of the 16th. Since Dave and I were neophyte tourists (I had never left the country before) we planned to start in England where we supposedly knew the language, next to France, which I had recently studied, and then to Italy by which time we should be seasoned travelers. After arriving we took the train to Victoria station in London. Luckily for us we ran into a guy hawking cheap hotel rooms so we didn’t have to learn how to find inexpensive accommodations in Europe while jetlagged and still half asleep.

Once checked into the hotel, we took a short nap and then headed out to see the sights. Like Boston, London has a nice subway system (The Tube) to get around town easily. Much of the famous sights are concentrated in the center of the city along the Thames River. We started at the Tower of London. It is a large castle with a famous keep called the White Tower in the middle. The White Tower was built by William the Conqueror to ensure his reign. It still contains an early Norman chapel. In the basement are housed the famous British crown jewels with probably the largest precious stones you will ever lay eyes on.

A mile to the west is St Paul’s Cathedral. It was designed by the famous architect Christopher Wren after the 1666 Great Fire of London. We climbed to the top of the dome for a great view of London’s center. Nearby is the foundation of the Roman Temple of Mithras, a reminder that London started out a Roman city.

At the western end of downtown is Trafalgar Square with its Lord Nelson Column honoring his 1805 naval victory over Napoleon off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. It is guarded by four immense lions cast from captured French cannon. It is notoriously also guarded by thousands of hungry pigeons.

Just south is the House of Parliament and its Big Ben clock tower. Both were under renovation. Big Ben was behind scaffolding and half of Parliament was clean and bright while the rest was heavily stained black from years of London pollution.

Next-door is the gothic cathedral, Westminster Abbey, where royal coronations and weddings take place. In one of the court buildings we watched a trial in progress for a few minutes. The judge and barristers (lawyers) wore their famous white wigs.

Across St James Park is Buckingham Palace, home of the Queen. Outside the gate is the Queen Victoria Memorial. We watched a horse guard parade pass by, and then later a Changing of the Guard.

At Covent Garden we watched some street performers in action and then bought some cheap same-day tickets in the adjoining West End Theater District. The play was about Chicago during the gangster era. It seems Chicago will never live down that infamous period of time.

We spent time at the British Museum, famous for its treasures that the Brits plundered from all over the world. A testament to when the British Empire stretched around the world. The museum is especially known for the “Rosetta Stone” that cracked the code of Egyptian Hieroglyphics and the “Elgin Marbles”, the decorative frieze of Athens’ iconic Parthenon. It is a spot I could go back many times.

At the other end of the cultural scene we stopped in Harrods department store famous for selling just about everything you could imagine. It is truly a shopper’s paradise. We also took a tourist cruise down the Thames to Tower Bridge.

The English are wonderful people. I was amazed how many times I opened the map just to get my bearings and somebody would immediately come up to help. Unfortunately their food is pretty bland and they live in a country with lousy weather. It has been almost a week and we have yet to see the sun.