My brother, Scott, and I have been talking about a Europe trip for at least 10 years. For a variety of reasons, we never made it actually happen. With a major nudge & help from our parents – and a short-lived window to take this trip for real – we made it happen!
Given this was Scott’s first time overseas, the natural first stop was London. I’ve been to London 3-4 times before, so have a sense for the place, but never had time to do any touristy things.
We had an overnight flight from Chicago and cleared customs in the UK early in their morning. We took the train from the airport and walked through Hyde Park to our hotel. The room wasn’t ready, but they took our bags and let us use the lounge to grab a coffee and a breakfast. We set off to see Buckingham Castle and Big Ben.
It wasn’t our plan to walk so far, but we wound up walking 12-15 miles that day! After seeing Big Ben & Westminster, we walked along the Thames River to almost Millennium Bridge before turning north and then back – through Trafalgar Square & Piccadilly Circus where we had “meat pies” and ale at a proper pub before taking a rest at our hotel late in the afternoon. In the evening, we headed to see all of the fuss at Harrod’s and had some amazing Indian food in Victoria.
The next day, we got our tourist hats on and visited the British Museum – home to spoils of the UK’s long history of colonialism – and got to see artifacts from around the world dating back more than 5-10,000 years! We had a quick lunch along the way (I got to taste the vegan “McPlant” only available in the UK!) and visited Westminster Abbey.
That evening, we saw a sold-out show of mentalist, Derren Brown at the Apollo Theatre. We might have been the only Americans there. Scott knew and had watched many of Derren Brown’s shows, though I had never heard of him. The show was great! We saw some amazing feats, tricks, and hypnosis. I’m still trying to figure out how he did some of them. The final illusion/trick still boggles my mind!
On our 3rd day in London, we toured Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The original was burned down during a performance and a group, lead by a Chicagoan, built a replica in the 1980s or so, in nearly the same spot and same dimensions. It was a great learning tour.
We spent our afternoon touring the Tower of London. We joined a tour lead by a Yeoman, or “Beefeater”, and learned a lot about the history of London. The crown jewels are housed there – and we were blown away by the amazing shiny objects.
Our first stop in London was wonderful. We walked a ton. Saw the major sights. And got reprogrammed a bit to navigating a different world.