London, touched it.
June 18th, 2022
After a brief stopover in Chicago to spend time with a few friends, we hopped on an Iceland Air flight to London. The way the flight was broken up made sleeping a futile endeavor, instead, we spent the time catching up on movies or in thought. I (G) found myself reflecting on all that had happened since our first attempt to travel and anticipating with cautious hopefulness all that the coming year of world travel might bring.
Soon we arrived at Heathrow airport, the favorite airport of a pilot friend we know, and were off to find the tube and make our way to the King’s Cross station stop. In no time we had arrived and checked into our hostel, the Alhambra, just a block or so away from the station. Our private room was on the top floor, which while rather tight, provided all we needed for the basic necessity of sleep. Shortly after arriving, I had received word from a dear friend that recently moved to London, being severely jetlagged we let her know that we would be glad to meet for dinner, but were in desperate need of sleep first.
After a 90-minute nap, we rallied, T and I headed off to Covent Garden and met up with my friend and another visiting friend of hers. We made an original attempt to eat at Dishoom, but the wait was greater than two and a half hours. Instead, we took the advice of an old co-worker, a charmingly snarky gentleman with excellent taste in food, who pointed us in the direction of the Cinnamon Bazaar. It was excellent, and we were fortunate that they had a table available right away.
After enjoying a fantastic meal together, we wandered the Covent Garden area for a little while and found a pub to grab a drink in and continue chatting. Too soon though, the time arrived for us to go. We meandered a little as we made our way back to tube and our respective accommodations.
June 19th, 2022
Still battling jetlag, we awoke late and made our way out to find breakfast. We found a spot called O’Neill’s situated directly across from the first stop on our list, the British Library. I can appreciate that a library may not be top of the list for most people, but after breakfast, we ventured forth to view the Treasures of the British Library. This consists of spectacular historic works of significance, beautifully preserved and on display to be enjoyed by all for free. Things like the Magna Carta, scientific writings of Da Vinci & Michelangelo, and holy writings from nearly all major and a few minor religions. My inner nerd rejoiced.
After departing the library we headed to the British Museum. On the way, we became sidetracked by a pub with a ghost story past and decided to stop for a pint. The Mabel Tavern, named after the original owner, held a mysterious tale. Little was truly known about Mabel, other than she had an orange tabby cat named Felix, but it is said that she can occasionally be heard operating the dumbwaiter, even though it has been removed for a fair few decades. The story was intriguing enough to lure us in like a couple suckers. With only having to pay the cost of a pint for the price of our curiosity we got off easy.
Resuming our original mission, we pressed on to the British Museum. We arrived and spent a few hours enthralled by the treasures of ancient people. Immaculately preserved, things found in museums never fail to inspire at least a small sense of wonder. At one point, these things were all new and used in one way or another by people just like us. How odd they may have thought it or perhaps how loudly would they have laughed if we could tell them then that their cutlery would be expertly guarded and preserved while providing a spectacle for millions of people each year. Another thought that passed my mind as I examined the objects of so many people and cultures here in a British Museum was simply how fortunate it is that they were preserved.
Next we headed off to the Tower of London, as we approached through a tunnel we found eclectic, but beautiful art displayed on the tunnel walls depicting historic places, people, or deeds from British history. Here are a few of the pieces.
As we left the tunnel, we were surprised to see the moat surrounding the tower full of flowers in full bloom. dubbed the Superbloom, this horticultural masterpiece was arranged for the Queen’s Jubilee. We spent time circling the moat before heading into the tower itself. Within the tower, we saw the graffiti left by various prisoners and the Royal jewels. While the jewels were brilliantly crafted masterpieces, I must admit that I personally preferred the blooming flowers to them.
After this, we headed off to meet with our friends for another dinner at Northumberland Arms, a charming little spot that still operated a manual dumbwaiter to receive food from the upstairs kitchen. Here we spent the evening enjoying each other’s company and discussing our next move on our trip, The West Highland Way. After saying our goodbyes and hugging in the London rain, we returned to our hotel.
June 20th, 2022
The next morning, we gathered our belongings and made our way over to King’s Cross Station, where we passed through platform 9 3/4 to board the train to Hogwarts…erm…Glasglow (The Hogwarts train came along for us later though!). We didn’t get to spend much time in Glasglow itself, which is a treasure of 1930’s art deco architecture, but what we were fortunate enough to see proved to encompass all the class of that age mixed with the grit of a truly industrial town.
June 21st, 2022
We made our way from Glasglow up to Milngavie (pronounced Mill-guy) and spent the day preparing for the West Highland Way hike!