This morning a little after one a.m., we arrived home from our latest adventure. It’s the last as a family before our oldest gets married and we made the most of six days in London. I love exploring new to me places, but I appreciate the perspective shift that can come with travel.
One of the things I wanted to do this time was to see a show. London’s West End is famous, and we haven’t made it to Broadway or to West End, so it was one of our experiences. There were so many options (Wicked, Hamilton, Jersey Boys, My Fair Lady, etc.) that it was hard to make a choice, but when we saw the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it became easy. It’s a classic story we all love and it was fun to see it translated to the small stage. It truly was so well done, and a great way end our first full day in the city. My husband and I saw a couple shows while we were in Berlin, and I think we will have to make this a regular part of our trips. This one was magical!
Since I’m talking books, we also drifted in and out of many bookshops, and our luggage was substantially weighted down with new book acquisitions. It’s fascinating to see how book covers morph in other countries. There are slight tweaks and big adjustmments, but this one caught my eye as pretty clever. A cover of covers. All different. For the same book.
One of the parks we wandered by had this statue of Mary Poppins (and next to it one of Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain). I’ve learned when I’m traveling to always keep my eyes open because you never know when you’ll stumble across something like this. I’m honestly not sure if this referenced the book or the musical since that was playing a couple blocks away, but it was charming!
One of the last things I saw on this trip was the new WWII exhibit at the Imperial War Museum. One small part of that was this little arrangement about the woman who is the focal character of Kate Quinn’s new book Diamond Eyes. I had just listened to the book before we left, so it was fun to find this tie to the real woman who did the things acknowledged and brought to life in that novel.
When we travel we go to a lot of museums and this trip was no exception. We got the London Pass so that we could pop in and out of museums without the accountant in me going “no, we have to stay for at least two hours because we just dropped XX pounds to get in.” Many museums are free, but others are quite pricey, so this was an experiment that worked pretty well for us. While we were at the Tate Modern (free), we created our own modern art of our tired feet. I think they should hang it on the wall!
As with all our trips, I’ve learned to look up, down and around, because you never know when the next thing will surprise you like this building with Hello Darling scrawled across the front. I’m not sure if it was a cafe or what, but I loved the happy scrawl near the Waterloo (I think, or maybe it was Wellington) station.
It was London, so we spent a lot of time in the Tube. With the novellas I’ve been writing, that had my often thinking of the people who lived and slept in them during the Blitz in WWII. It truly is incredible to walk around and experience centuries if not a millenium of history as you explore Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, and the Tower of London. As Beefeater Dave told us, all that history could have been ours too. I’m just glad I got to share it with my kids.
Have you traveled anywhere this summer? I’d love to hear about your adventures!
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What wonderful photographs, Cara! It looks like you had a wonderful time with a wide variety of experiences. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe must have been wonderful. I think that would have been my pick as well. 🙂 And that status of Mary Poppins . . . practically perfect in every way. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!
The show really was so well done!
No real life travels for me, just armchair travel
Books are a marvelous way to have armchair travels.
What a fun trip! Bookstores are especially fun on vacation. On our trip to Scotland this summer we searched out several and came home with too many books! 🙂 So glad y’all made fun memories before life changes to a new season of adding kids by marriage.
Our luggage was so much heavier on the way back!
“All that history could have been ours too.” Oh, my! Hadn’t heard that one before. I do love British history (and it IS mine too because my great-great-grandparents came over from York, England) but despite our struggles, I must say I’m very thankful to live in these United States. But oh, I would love to follow in your footsteps and visit London someday!
Cara, What fun adventures you had in London!! I love going on vacations and exploring new places though I have never been to the UK. On a whim I looked up Hello Darling on Google Maps to see what kind of business it was and found out it was a cocktails & drinks plus plates place. (https://goo.gl/maps/1je9XnBjzAds9vd7A) It’s now permanently closed but here’s a link to their website (https://www.hellodarling.london/) where the character of the building’s interior look just as quirky and fun as the exterior, and it advertises their going out of business sale.
So much fun! I love London! We are headed to Montreal in October, so not much traveling this summer.
I loved reading about your trip. We have loved traveling with our family to Europe, South America and Africa. This month we are traveling to Indiana via Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. We are visiting family along the way.
Lord willing we get to Indiana tonight.
I’ve been to London 3 times and it’s one of my top favorite cities.
The London Pass is worth getting (free pick up at their Leicester Sq. kiosk!) and you can visit all the great attractions around the city at a reduced entry price.
Welcome home. In all the times I’ve been to London, I’ve not really toured the West End. Other than watching The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, which must have been amazing, what was your favorite thing about that area of London? Sure hope you had an Oyster card with all the areas you covered.
Especially, though, thank you for including the information on Kate Quinn’s “Diamond Eyes”. I love when a familiar era is covered in a unique way. I’ll have to add that to my WWII book club list.