August 3-4, 2026

August 3-4, 2026

We had been trying to do our part with the closure of the Hormuz Strait and limiting our travel. So when oil traffic resumed a month ago, we jumped at a last minute travel deal. That month flew by and this morning we awoke way before the sun. Our 6am flight left on-time. In Atlanta, we used the long layover to take the showers we missed this morning.

In the late afternoon, we boarded our overnight flight to Europe. After watching one movie and a quick dinner, Aimee and I tried to sleep. I thought I was merely closing my eyes until the pilot rudely awoke me saying he was starting our descent to London. We again approached Heathrow from the east flying over the main sites of the city.

Surprisingly customs in the UK is fully automated and we were through in seconds. The Tube now extends to the airport and is also Tap & Pay with credit card. As a result we were at our hotel way earlier than I thought possible. Nothing is open this early. So we stashed our bags with the hotel and rode the subway around town. Our first stop was at Abbey Road Studios of Beatles fame. Since we are celebrating our country’s 250th anniversary, our next stop was in Grosvenor Square to see where John Adams temporarily lived while he was the first minister to England.

We ride the Tube to the Victoria & Albert Museum when it opens at 10am. It is the largest of its kind devoted to the decorative arts and design. It was built during the Victorian Era to help improve the art education of the British people. Apparently it still serves that purpose as we saw lots of students doing sketches throughout the museum.

To serve the education purpose, the museum staff collected artwork from around the world. We wandered most of the halls. It seems to have examples from almost everywhere in the world covering almost every subject that you can imagine. You could easily spend days here. Humorously we kept running into period beds that reminded us that this is a very long day and we are barely able to stay awake. We took a break in their garden cafe to have some caffeine. We have to make it through the day.

When the museum couldn’t purchase original artwork for the museum, they bought plaster copies. I really enjoyed the Great Hall of Plaster Casts. It was a great reminder of many of the places we have been to around the world. It includes the required Michelangelo’s and Donatello’s Davids, but surprisingly items like the entrance to St Petronius Cathedral we saw in Bologna in 2023, and an Irish Celtic Cross we saw in 2024.

The hall is dominated by a replica of Trajan’s Column from Rome that we saw in January. It looks so much bigger up close. It is also easier now to see the details of Trajan’s Dacian Campaign illustrated in this ancient cartoon strip.

Aimee is having art overload, so we leave and try to peek inside the Natural History Museum next door. The line to enter is a block long. So instead we find a Thai Restaurant to have a quick Green Curry. Our feet need the rest.

Around 1pm, we Tube east to “the City”. We check out the historic Blackfriars Pub, but Aimee says a beer will cause us to crash. Instead we walk across the new Millenium Footbridge that connects St Pauls Cathedral with the now trendy shore across the Thames River. The South Bank or Southwark area has always been a seedy entertainment district.

Aimee and I just finished reading the book Hamnet about the death of Shakespeare’s son and his writing of the play Hamlet, so we got tickets to see Much Ado about Nothing at the new Globe Theater. Like us, most of the audience is standing in the yard in front of the stage. We are up close and personal with the actors. It is well-done but a little too realistic for us. Between the thick English accent and the Old English script, we can’t understand the story very well. Plus it is hot in this open air theater and our legs are dying. We leave after only watching for some thirty minutes.

We return to our hotel, check in and have a quick and tasty Doner Kebab wrap across the street. We are in bed at 7:30pm.