London - Round Two
This past weekend we spent in London seeing some of the city highlights we missed on our last quick trip in January.
We started things out with a 2 hour guided Jack the Ripper walk seeing the neighborhood this infamous serial killer tormented back in 1888. I did this walk 10 years ago with my family and remember it being much more scenic and scary then this second time around. Though Matt and I enjoyed the history lesson - and there definitely is a creep factor retracing the steps and even having a drink in the Ten Bells pub where it’s said the Ripper suspect frequented.
One of the few Jack the Ripper clues was found here on this street, in the alley way behind the pink door.
We rounded out the evening with a 3 hour “Historic London Pub Tour.” We were fortunate enough to be the only 2 on the tour, so we had our own personal guide. Lawrence, a 60 year old London native, is a teacher by trade so his stories were packed with fun facts and mixed in with good ol’ fashion British humor. It’s important to note that the pub tour was not a bar crawl but more aimed at familiarizing us with the incredible history behind the London’s oldest establishments as well as common sayings, such as:
-On the wagon
- Bottom’s up
- Hangover
The George Inn is over 500 years old and was frequented by Charles Dickens
Just ask Matt or me and we’ll tell ya the story. So while it wasn’t a bar crawl, we did get a chance to stop into the 500 year old pub called George Inn and sample a proper British Ale. We finished out the night with a stop at Lawrence’s local fish and chips joint, yum yum.
Outside the British Museum
Sunday morning started with a breakfast out, a rare thing for Matt and me these days since that’s not really Zürich’s thing. After we went on to the oldest museum in the world, the British Museum, which is almost entirely why we made a return trip back to London. Throughout our travels over the past 18 months, in and out of museums, and particularly our trip to Athens, we’ve noticed many significant treasures had gone missing. In their place are signs stating that said treasure is now housed in the British Museum. This intrigued us, so we had to come and see for ourselves. Indeed, the Museum is an impressive collection, and its fantastic there’s no admission charge for entry. But we did question the signage placed in front of these astounding artifacts. There were several stating that such and such explorer brought this back to the UK by way of a supposed permit signed by some foreign official. Yeah right. I’m sure Egypt really wanted to hand over a chunk of the beard off the Sphinx.
The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum
The Egyptian collection at the British Museum
The beautiful foyer structure in the British Museum
After the British Museum we had time for a fantastic lunch at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, another thing Zürich doesn’t do so well. Burgers. Afterwards we went on to a matinee at the Lyceum Theater. We saw The Lion King, and it was incredible. I was very excited to go as this was a Disney movie I loved and a show I’ve been wanting to see for awhile. While the singing wasn’t top shelf, the costumes and set design were the best I’ve ever seen.
With the matinee wrapping up by 6 pm, we still had plenty of time to ramble around the busy streets near Piccadilly. After popping into a Cheers bar to watch a little NFL (sounds silly I know, but we’ve missed sports bars) we visited Amora. I had read an article about this just opened “love, sex, and relationships museum” which cost 7 million pounds to build and thought it sounded interesting. While its state of the art interactive displays were good, some were already broken after only being open after a few months and the information was mostly common sense. Amora was entertaining. Just overpriced.
One last day in London began at Westminster Abbey. There have only been a few churches in Europe that I recall charged an admission fee, but Westminster charges an astounding 10 pounds per person. That’s no audio guide, no tour, no taking pictures, nada. It was nice to see, but not the best value I must say. While I tried to not let the overpriced admission ticket taint the experience, Matt reminded me they receive no subsidy from church or state. But it still costs too much.
The Coronation Chair for the King's located at Westminster
Our last stop before heading to the airport was my favorite surprise of the trip. I had read a quick blurp on the Rick Steves’ website about the “Treasures” room in the British Library. Here some of the world’s most historic documents live and it was a pleasure to visit. To name just a few:
- The Magna Carta
- Leonardo’s Notebook
- Handel’s Messiah
- The Gutenberg Bible
- Original lyric scratches from the Beatles
The rather modest main entrance to the amazing British Library
It’s rare to see such an outstanding collection, let alone have free admission to it all. A round of applause for the British Library!
Now it’s time to gear up for the holidays. My folks arrive on Thursday and we’re off to Baden Baden Friday morning. Cheers.
We started things out with a 2 hour guided Jack the Ripper walk seeing the neighborhood this infamous serial killer tormented back in 1888. I did this walk 10 years ago with my family and remember it being much more scenic and scary then this second time around. Though Matt and I enjoyed the history lesson - and there definitely is a creep factor retracing the steps and even having a drink in the Ten Bells pub where it’s said the Ripper suspect frequented.
One of the few Jack the Ripper clues was found here on this street, in the alley way behind the pink door.
We rounded out the evening with a 3 hour “Historic London Pub Tour.” We were fortunate enough to be the only 2 on the tour, so we had our own personal guide. Lawrence, a 60 year old London native, is a teacher by trade so his stories were packed with fun facts and mixed in with good ol’ fashion British humor. It’s important to note that the pub tour was not a bar crawl but more aimed at familiarizing us with the incredible history behind the London’s oldest establishments as well as common sayings, such as:
-On the wagon
- Bottom’s up
- Hangover
The George Inn is over 500 years old and was frequented by Charles Dickens
Just ask Matt or me and we’ll tell ya the story. So while it wasn’t a bar crawl, we did get a chance to stop into the 500 year old pub called George Inn and sample a proper British Ale. We finished out the night with a stop at Lawrence’s local fish and chips joint, yum yum.
Outside the British Museum
Sunday morning started with a breakfast out, a rare thing for Matt and me these days since that’s not really Zürich’s thing. After we went on to the oldest museum in the world, the British Museum, which is almost entirely why we made a return trip back to London. Throughout our travels over the past 18 months, in and out of museums, and particularly our trip to Athens, we’ve noticed many significant treasures had gone missing. In their place are signs stating that said treasure is now housed in the British Museum. This intrigued us, so we had to come and see for ourselves. Indeed, the Museum is an impressive collection, and its fantastic there’s no admission charge for entry. But we did question the signage placed in front of these astounding artifacts. There were several stating that such and such explorer brought this back to the UK by way of a supposed permit signed by some foreign official. Yeah right. I’m sure Egypt really wanted to hand over a chunk of the beard off the Sphinx.
The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum
The Egyptian collection at the British Museum
The beautiful foyer structure in the British Museum
After the British Museum we had time for a fantastic lunch at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, another thing Zürich doesn’t do so well. Burgers. Afterwards we went on to a matinee at the Lyceum Theater. We saw The Lion King, and it was incredible. I was very excited to go as this was a Disney movie I loved and a show I’ve been wanting to see for awhile. While the singing wasn’t top shelf, the costumes and set design were the best I’ve ever seen.
With the matinee wrapping up by 6 pm, we still had plenty of time to ramble around the busy streets near Piccadilly. After popping into a Cheers bar to watch a little NFL (sounds silly I know, but we’ve missed sports bars) we visited Amora. I had read an article about this just opened “love, sex, and relationships museum” which cost 7 million pounds to build and thought it sounded interesting. While its state of the art interactive displays were good, some were already broken after only being open after a few months and the information was mostly common sense. Amora was entertaining. Just overpriced.
One last day in London began at Westminster Abbey. There have only been a few churches in Europe that I recall charged an admission fee, but Westminster charges an astounding 10 pounds per person. That’s no audio guide, no tour, no taking pictures, nada. It was nice to see, but not the best value I must say. While I tried to not let the overpriced admission ticket taint the experience, Matt reminded me they receive no subsidy from church or state. But it still costs too much.
The Coronation Chair for the King's located at Westminster
Our last stop before heading to the airport was my favorite surprise of the trip. I had read a quick blurp on the Rick Steves’ website about the “Treasures” room in the British Library. Here some of the world’s most historic documents live and it was a pleasure to visit. To name just a few:
- The Magna Carta
- Leonardo’s Notebook
- Handel’s Messiah
- The Gutenberg Bible
- Original lyric scratches from the Beatles
The rather modest main entrance to the amazing British Library
It’s rare to see such an outstanding collection, let alone have free admission to it all. A round of applause for the British Library!
Now it’s time to gear up for the holidays. My folks arrive on Thursday and we’re off to Baden Baden Friday morning. Cheers.
posted by Jill Nachtman at 8:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home