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Dec 2007
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Seniors 4 Travel
LONDON... De-ja vu all over again
A trip to London is never boring, always new and exciting, and seems to us a reverse deja vu experience – i.e. the feeling you’re seeing it for the first time when, in fact, you’ve actually been there before.
We’ve been in London at least a half dozen times, but with each visit, we always feel we’re there for the very first time. Perhaps it’s just as Benjamin Disraeli once described it, "London is more like a nation, not a city." There is always much more to see and do. And centuries of history to absorb. Which we did during our visit to the British Museum. We’ve been there several times before but there is never enough time to see everything. As the Museum guide asserts, "the museum collects, displays and stores the works of humankind and nature too." That's an awesome thought.
"The museum does not need to borrow, it can simply dip into its remarkable reserves… as diverse as gold from South America, Rembrandt drawings and Hindu religion." During our latest visit, we were exposed to the Rosetta Stone and to other Egyptian antiquities plus some of the greatest groups of Greek sculptures found in any museum. The museum also has a newly constructed wing called the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court containing exhibits, shops and restaurants - the latter a particularly welcome discovery which provided a respite between galleries.
Another museum we opted to visit was the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, preserved in the very place where the Prime Minister, his War Cabinet and members of his inner circle sheltered during WWII from the German bombing raids on London. We saw where they ate and slept, and where Churchill’s Map Room staff plotted the war.
On other site-seeing journeys about the city, we went to the Royal Palace and witnessed the changing of the guard (how could one go to London without doing so!). We included on our palace tour the Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace. We were touched by the tribute to Princes Diana.
We toured the Tower of London, and trekked to Covent Garden market. We enjoyed a boat trip on the Thames giving us a splendid view of the historic buildings near the river, including the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the newly famous London Eye - a giant Ferris wheel referred to as the "Millennium Wheel."
As we all know, the currency exchange rate is not at all favorable for Americans traveling abroad. That said, we want to emphasize that those activities upon which we chose to embark were not expensive, and all were convenient via London's superb surface and subway transportation. In fact, our first activity was to stop at the nearest underground station to purchase an "Oyster Card" which gave us access to all public transportation in and about London at a very reasonable fee during our six-day stay.
With column space used up, visits to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor we’ll save for future musings. As stated by one anonymous writer, "London, thou art the flower of cities all." True enough.