London Calling

Vast, sprawling, magnificant London awaits us.
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We arrived at London Gatwick Airport on the 4th of July, returning to the Old Country in an inverted homage to Independence Day. We were lucky to have exact instructions from our friend John as to which trains to take to reach their house in the southeastern suburbs. But navigating still proved complex in the somewhat creaky and shockingly expensive commuter rail system, grafted into Victorian-era rail infrastructure and mixed here and there with freight trains rocketing past. Given the high prices and the incredible strength of the pound sterling, it also set us back about 50 bucks.

Jason settles in at our friends' lovely house.
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But we did make it to our hosts' door and, carrying pre-arranged keys delivered in Berlin, were able to secure Chinese takeout, extra beers for the house, a greeting card and a pair of 7-day rail passes to ease the cost of travelling throughout the London area. (That part was about another 100 and yes, that still represented quite a savings over the piecemeal cost of each trip.) London will cost you a fortune - it is worth one as well.

By far the high point was our stay with our hosts

London is an enormous city, rich in museums, culture, nightlife and sightseeing, and proud enough of its history that even mundane modern bridges and rail viaducts ususally come with plaques commemorating their inauguration by a member of the royal family or a forgotten 70s-era transportation minister. In four full days and two travel days, we were able to see a few highlights, walk the city heavily, taste a bit of nightlife and take in a few museums. But by far the high point was our stay with our hosts, whom we had not seen together in 7 years and who gave us a delightful view of daily life, traditional English Sunday dinner,and a hilarious sampling of indiginous television and film culture. Another old friend from our time in Washington DC, now living in the center of the city, treated us to a home-cooked dinner with his partner during one night of the visit, with ended with a nostalgic piano singalong straight out of a 19th century comedy of manners, but with updated music. Delightful.

With such a short trip we had to be careful to manage our energy and not attempt to see all of London, but we saw more than enough to know where we would like to focus in a future, longer visit.