We arrived in London tired but excited to start our adventure. Between retrieving our luggage, clearing immigration and navigating rush hour traffic, we arrived at our hotel, The Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge about 8:30 am, a good two hours after touchdown. Not surprising, our room was not ready so we breakfasted in the restaurant, sitting near a large window watching the joggers, dog walkers and horse mounted bobbies stream past. Feeling dozy, we were ready to walk off our jet lag and breakfast. We stopped at the front desk to stash our backpacks with the rest of our luggage, but were delighted to find that not only was our room ready but our luggage was there as well.
Our room was spacious and tastefully elegant with king sized bed, writing desk, small side table and chairs. Floor to ceiling windows looked out over Knightsbridge Street with its row after row of upscale shops. But the highlight of the room was the bathroom; not only did it have a spa sized tub and shower, but heated everything – towel racks, floor and toilet seat.
Welcome refreshment awaited us on the side table – three chocolate covered strawberries, a muffin sized hazelnut jivara chocolate cake and my personal favorite, a red dyed dark chocolate shaped like a London telephone booth. Two sparkling teas accompanied the sweets – jasmine and spiced Darjeeling, an amazing drink I will definitely track down at home given my love of tea and beverages with bubbles.
The morning was overcast, damp and misty but not cold. We walked the path along the edge of Hyde Park in the direction of Buckingham Palace, under the Wellington Gate and alongside the New Zealand war memorial.
The park was lush green with patches of daffodils pushing through the damp earth, just beginning to flower. Later, talking with a local, we learned that London was unseasonably warm for February and daffodils were blooming two months earlier than normal.
Crowds of people peering through an ornate wrought iron fence at a huge stone building clued us that we’d reached Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guards was in process; however, the soldiers were dressed in drab winter gray and absent their bright red coats and black fluffy hats, the pomp and circumstance was missing.
Continuing past the edge of St. James Park, we walked further into Westminster, stopping to visit the Westminster Cathedral, the largest Catholic Church in London. Completed in 1903, this cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster and has been visited by the former Queen Elizabeth and several Popes.
Mass was in progress so we paid 10 pounds to ride the lift to the top of the bell tower for a panoramic, scenic view of the city. At 280 feet, we were not high enough above the surrounding buildings to see the Thames but did get an appreciation of how much construction was taking place from the large number of cranes dotting the horizon.
The church itself was dark and somber, so dark that you could hardly discern the murals on the high vaulted ceilings. There were multiple side chapels dedicated to various saints and dead cardinals – the most interesting being the one dedicated to the martyrs in the 15th century – persecuted when Henry VIII renounced Christianity after the Pope failed to annul his first marriage. Exitting the church and readjusting our eyes, we continued through Westminster to its famed Abby – the site of coronations, royal weddings and burials of ancient kings and notable members of the English aristocracy.
Unlike the Cathedral, the Abbey was light and airy with beautiful stained glass windows, crowded with tourists, headphones on, audio guides around their necks, listening intently as they stopped at various notable landmarks. A lovely chapel and one of my favorites is the Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and constructed by Henry VII in honor of this predecessor, Henry VI.
Repair and refurbishment work was in process in several areas around the abbey in preparation for Charles’ coronation in May. The high altar, splendid with its golden screen was due for some refreshed detailing, as an artist carefully unrolled a drawing while perched precariously on a small step ladder.
We carefully followed our audio guides to the end of the tour, stopping to savor the ambience of the poet’s corner and play ‘Where’s Waldo’ searching on the floor and walls to find the memorial stones for some of my favorite English authors – the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling.
We exited the Abbey via the outdoor passage surrounding the inner courtyard, once again astounded by how green and lush the grass was for mid-February.
We continued towards the Thames for a look at Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. For as many times as I have been to London, I don’t ever recall seeing these magnificent structures without layers of scaffolding clinging to their sides. Looks like the years of refurbishment have paid off – the clock tower and Parliament buildings were clean, elegant and majestic, befitting the grandeur of this great city.
We made our way across the Westminster bridge through throngs of tourists and vendors towards the London Eye, recalling that in 2010 we’d stayed in this area while enroute to Ireland over Spring Break with our kids. Despite the area being heavily touristed, it was impressively clean. Sightseeing boats plied the river, the ferris wheel turned slowly and throngs of people stolled the waterfront, with the occasional jogger carefully weaving their way through the crowds.
Chilled and tired, we headed back toward our hotel looking for a pub or café for lunch. With all the parks, there were not many restaurants until we neared the shopping district on Knightsbridge. After a quick burger at Lobster and Burger Pub in the Harvey Nichols food court, we went back to the room hoping to take a nap before I had to teach on-line at 11pm. Much to my chagrin, I realized I’d left my laptop power cord on the plane, so instead of napping, we were cabbing through the theater district to one of the few computer stores in the area that had a Surface Pro power cord in stock thankfully verified by our persistent concierge. The cabbie let us out a few blocks before the store because the street was closed to traffic but assured us that the shop was just ‘a ways’ up on the left. Address in hand, we hurried down the street looking for the store only to realize that none of the buildings were numbered with an address. After two blocks, we stopped in a convenience store to ask its address just to make sure we hadn’t passed our shop and much to our amazement, the sales clerk could not tell us the street number. Same thing with the next store. It took three tries before we finally identified a shop address, then walked ‘a ways’, at least another two blocks to the shop. Eighty pounds later I had a Surface Pro cord, this time with a UK outlet, to add to my collection.
The next morning, we visited the Churchill War Rooms, the secret government underground office in Westminster where Churchill and staff led the UK war effort. Located beneath the floor of a non-descript building, the war rooms were the nerve center of WW2 strategy and decision making during the London blitz housing a cadre of military leaders, ministers and administrative staff. Although Churchill came and went, many of his staff spent weeks at a time underground so bedrooms, kitchen and shower rooms were part of the complex.
Additionally, an excellent museum is now part of the War Rooms giving us insight into Churchill’s personal and political history. Since American instruction in history about Churchill typically stops at the end of WW2, I was amazed to learn that he was voted out of office in 1945 r after Germany surrendered but before the end of war in the Pacific. His opponents were able to paint him as a leader unfit to hanlde domestic issues in peacetime.
Nonetheless, Churchill was re-elected again as Prime Minister in 1951 and continued to serve in Parliament until 1964, just a few months before his death at the age of 80 in 1965. I left the museum with an appreciation for this man who despite his flaws and setbacks, had the moral courage and fortitude to stand up to Hitler and destroy him.
We noticed as we left the War Rooms that the area around Buckingham Palace was packed with people – we assumed tourists, but a local informed us that the future king was visiting and many Brit royalphiles, himself included, were hoping for a glimpse. We wandered over to 10 Downing Street for a look at the Prime Minister’s residence, once again, to find a crowd at the gate. The entryway to 10 Downing passed between two white administrative buildings leading to a drab, red brick building, the Prime Minister’s residence, underwhelming compared to the grandeur of White House. Shortly after we arrived, a black vehicle with smoked windows approached the gate, the guards politely moved the crowd aside to admit it and once the car disappeared, everyone dispersed. A person we asked said the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was visiting, but we could not confirm this rumor.
From 10 Downing Street, we walked through the Royal Horse Guards parade grounds towards the Duke of York monument in search of an eatery, The Wolsley, that the Brit royalphile we’d met earlier, had recommended. Not touristy, he assured us and just past the monument. After a 20 min walk and two additional asks for directions from people on the street, we found the restaurant and enjoyed a great lunch.
Much to our delight while walking back to the hotel through the park, a line of mounted guards, golden helmet heads held high, red ribbons trailing in the breeze, pranced by on their horses. This impromptu parade was a fitting end to our couple day stay in London.
Tonight is the official start of our Crossroads trip with welcome dinner and orientation. Tomorrow we leave for Egypt!