Our Last Full Day in London

We headed down to breakfast on our last full day in London. The breakfast buffet was lovely. Mark and Sam (below) are in a small men's Bible study group that meets on Wednesday morning. After Bible study, they go to Demetri's for breakfast. They took the photo below to send to the guys who were back home. We piled all of our food in front of Sam!

The breakfast buffet included a full English breakfast plus TONS of other choices.

Look at the beautiful bins of fruit!

They had all sorts of grains and cereals alongside the cooked food items.

Do you want bread? They had all kinds of bread!

They even had a breakfast bar for kids!

Mark decided to stay back at the hotel to rest his knee. We had tickets to the British Museum, so I grabbed my raincoat and headed out with several other folks. We walked a couple of blocks to take the Tube/subway/train to the museum. I realized that Mark had made the correct decision when we headed down our first set of steps!

Who knew Waze has not only driving directions, but also walking directions and subway directions??

Also, I have never been on an escalator with such a steep incline.

We rode the subway to a stop near the museum and tromped through the rain to stand in line until the museum opened. We had 10:10 am tickets.

We entered the museum and headed left.

We saw so many interesting items. For the first 30 minutes, the museum was not crowded.

I was excited to see the Rosetta Stone.

This exhibit was fascinating - the Royal Lion Hunt.

These were entire walls that were removed and transported to what was then known as Great Britain      . . .these walls depicted a Royal Lion Hunt in Ninevah! The hunting dogs back then look just like hunting dogs today.

I loved seeing the mummy exhibit. We were able to go to the museum in Egypt, which I loved! I wanted to see the parts that weren't in Egypt . . .

The only problem is that it was raining outside, which meant the museum was packed - seriously packed. Remember that first 30 minutes wasn't crowded. By this point, there were so many people. There were several groups of school kids on field trips, plus a lot of tourists, plus others.

I lasted about two hours, and the crowds were getting to me. I told Terrie and Duane that I was headed back to the hotel. Duane showed me how to use my phone to get directions to the subway and then where to get off. Ian was headed back to the subway, too, so we walked through the rain to the station. I was proud of myself for navigating my way back to the hotel.

I even took a selfie haha! I know it is a horrible photo, but I was trying to be discreet.

When I exited the subway, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to get back to the hotel. I did it! I truly felt like I had accomplished something major haha! When I entered the hotel lobby, Mark was sitting there talking to some of our other travelers. I was starving, so we went into the hotel restaurant and ordered a very late lunch.

Later that afternoon, DeeDee and I asked the hotel concierge to call a taxi for us. We rode in one of those darling London taxis. Why didn't I take a photo?? We had the most colorful character as our driver. He was a 40-year-old married man, but he was in the process of getting a divorce. He was also a dad. In our 40 minute (ish) drive to the theater, he used every curse word in the book (there is a book, right? haha!)

I borrowed this photo from NPR (thank you NPR for having such a cute photo-photo cred is Getty images).

The little cars are actually quite roomy!!

I posted the picture below several weeks ago - I took it in the Covent Gardens area. We had to walk through there on our way to meet our friends at a nearby French restaurant. Once again, Waze to the rescue as she gave us walking directions.

We met at Le Garrick French Restaurant. 

As soon as we entered the restaurant, we headed down a metal spiral staircase. Our friends were seated in the very back. It was the cutest place, and the longer we were there, the more people they crammed into the space.

This is from the internet:

• The Vibe. Classic Parisian bistro style with exposed brick walls, dimmed lighting, French-speaking staff, and intimate basement booths. (yes - French speaking staff!)
• Food & Drink. Focuses on regional comfort food from southwest France, including steak frites, beef bourguignon, cassoulet de Toulouse, escargots, and onion soup. They also offer popular pre- and post-theatre set menus.
• We did a popular pre-theatre menu. I ordered French onion soup (it was divine!!) and a salad. We had eaten a late lunch and I wasn't able to finish what I ordered.

I snapped the photo below right after we arrived. By the time we left, there was not a chair available.

We were taking a selfie and a young woman offered to take our photo. The youngest in the group is my boss's daughter who is a senior at University of Richmond. Terrie, DeeDee and I are on the front row with her. Behind us - Laura and Tish. Lu and Dave met us at the Fortune Theatre.

It is a small theatre and it was old - I loved it!

We saw Operation Mincemeat and it was the best thing I've ever seen. The five actors below played all of the roles - both male and female. They were truly amazing. I laughed. I cried. I actually cheered out loud. Such a good night!!!

Two folks took the Tube back to the stop near the hotel. Laura chased down a taxi, and the six of us rode back to the hotel together. One of those tiny cabs held 6 people comfortably.

We returned to the hotel and crashed for a few short hours. Our alarm went off at 4:00 am so that we could catch an early flight from Heathrow to Cork, Ireland. My next series of travel posts will be about our time in Ireland.

London - In All Her Glory

I've always heard that it rains a lot in London. We awoke to a rainy day! Our first quick stop was to see a John Wesley memorial - the Aldersgate Flame. This was across an elevated walkway on Aldersgate street - where John's heart was strangely warmed. This is the general area where the 18th Century Moravian religious society met. John's heartwarming experience was in May 24, 1738. 

We then made our way to Bunhill Fields Burial Ground where Susanna Wesley is buried. We couldn't see her grave, but it was actually a lovely old cemetery. This is a nonconformist graveyard, which also contains the graves of Daniel Defoe, Isaac Watts, William Blake and John Bunyan.

We were bundled up against the chill and rain.

The leaves were lovely!

We then walked across the street (not far) to Wesley's Chapel.

We actually arrived in time to participate in their short service of prayer. Here is a link to the prayer service that morning. You can actually see us as we moved into a pew at the 4:16 mark! It was a lovely respite to sit and pray for a few moments. Here is a link.

I wish I had taken a photograph of the restroom - it was from Victorian times and it was still in working order!!

Behind the church was the monument marking the gravesite of John Wesley (plus some other folks).

Since there were quite a few people from our John Wesley Sunday School class on the trip, we grabbed a quick photo. This is the class that I teach on a regular basis - probably at least 75% of every year. I've been teaching in this class since I was 33 years old . . .and I am much older than that now haha! Our class is very large so of course, we weren't all there.

We walked out the front door of the church and were able to tour John Wesley's house. It was small so we had to go in small groups.

This moved me - he spent so much time on his knees praying.

We took a group photo out front, but it is not on my phone. I need to get it from someone!

We were told to find some lunch or shop around for about an hour prior to our next tour time. I literally snapped a photo of this location (below) because this was where we were to meet! It looks so cool. Since it has to have a story . . .I thought I would share with you.

Here's the story (from Chat GPT)!

1. It was once the entrance to the City of London.

Temple Bar was built between 1670 and 1672, following the Great Fire of London in 1666. It replaced an earlier wooden gateway and marked the western entrance to the historic City of London.

It was designed in the style of Sir Christopher Wren and built by master stonemasons Joshua Marshall and Thomas Knight.

2. Look at the statues!

The four statues represent members of the royal Stuart family:

• James I
• Anne of Denmark, his wife
• Charles I
• Charles II

Charles II was the king when the gate was built. The statues celebrated the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

3. It has quite a travel story of its own!

This is my favorite part.

• 1672: Temple Bar was erected at the junction of Fleet Street and the Strand.
• 1878: It was dismantled because it obstructed London's growing traffic.
• 1889: A wealthy brewer, Sir Henry Meux, purchased it at his wife's request and had it reconstructed at their estate in Hertfordshire.
• 2004: It was brought back to London, stone by stone, and reconstructed at Paternoster Square, right beside St. Paul's Cathedral.

4. Why is it important?

For centuries, Temple Bar marked the boundary between the City of London and Westminster. Traditionally, when a monarch entered the City, the Lord Mayor would meet the monarch here and ceremonially offer the Sword of State.

It was a symbolic way of recognizing the City's historic privileges and independence

We headed down the street to a restaurant/pub. I can't remember the name of it! We only had a little time so we had to order quickly (which was confusing!) and eat quickly.

While we headed back to our meeting spot outside of St. Paul's Cathedral, Mark and Nathan headed off to a pharmacy. Have any of you used Voltaren cream? Well . . .in Europe, you could buy a MUCH stronger formula over the counter. Mark brought home several tubes - so did other people. They got back in time for us to tour St. Paul's.

Look at that ceiling. I always love looking up!

It was beautiful and Mark was able to sit down and rest his knee.

There are two of these huge crosses that commemorate the Great War - the "outcroppings" on the cross are models of cities ravaged by war.

I am looking up again - so beautiful.

About a year ago, our friend's grandbaby was born and he has had so many health problems. He was in the hospital having another major heart surgery. I lit a candle and sat down and prayed for that sweet baby boy and I texted this photo and a prayer to my friend.

It is so majestic.

The two photos below are in memory of Florence Nightingale.

Blessed are the merciful.

Our tour guide told us about this -- The man, whose name is below, was the first American killed during the war. He went to Canada and joined the Royal Air Force and was killed - before America entered the war.

In the evening, we walked to a Greek Restaurant - Vori.

I know that Mark's knee was bothering him, but I LOVE being able to walk to dinner every night.

Many of us ordered a traditional Greek salad. I love how different it is from the Greek salads we get at home. There was no lettuce!

I can't remember if I ordered anything other than the salad. Mark and someone else ordered the fish - it looks like the fish are kissing in the photo below.

We walked back to the hotel and everyone went to bed in our tiny hotel rooms!