London One Last Time

Becky and I headed off the next morning to go back down to London for one more time. We just felt we needed to see some of the sites and ride the tube and immerse ourselves in the city another time before we headed back to the states. Fiona dropped us off at the 9:07 train and we rode on down to St. Pancras station, or at least that was supposed to be where we were to get off. Instead, we rode it down to the next station, the Barbican.

We got off here for no other reason than we just wanted to. This is an area that Becky has read about in the books called the “Slow Horses”. It is also a TV series, and the books and show take place down around the Barbican. We both needed something to eat and drink so we found a Paul’s coffee shop and had something there. We then just walked a bit around to a restaurant that some of the filming takes place at. We then headed to the tube.

We rode the tube to the Tower Hill station and got off. Becky had heard that they had put out poppies around the tower again. Turned out they are only being displayed inside, and we were not going to pay to go inside. We walked around the outside and the moat area around the castle is being turned into a walkway and there are many wildflowers growing in it, and it is gorgeous. We then walked over to St. Katherines’ Dock area to see the replica of Christopher Columbus’ boat the Nao Santa Maria. We wanted to tour it, but they were only accepting cash payments due to a technical problem. It was still impressive to see the boat.

Next, we got on the tube and rode down the Circle Line to South Kensington station and walked the underground path to the V&A Museum. Becky has been reading a book about the building and history and one of the key items talked about was something called the Gloucester Candlestick. We found it after a bit of searching. We also got to see the main courtyard open and with the tree’s all leafed out. The first time we saw it was back in January, and it was not even open. We even saw the cafeterias that Becky had read about.

Finally, we walked over to the Daniel House. It was so strange to have to ring the doorbell to be let in. We met up with Tom Crosby and then we headed off with Tom to the Duke of Clarence to have lunch together. It was wonderful to get caught up on all that has happened at the DH, with Beth and George, and to share what we had been doing. After 2 1/2 hours we said goodby and headed off.

We then just walked over to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon, and the area was full of people. To remember back to January and walking these same paths in the cold, blustery weather and how I walked around just marveling at being in London. I remember wondering what this area must be like in the summer with the trees all green, people eating in the cafe and sitting on the grass, boats moving across the Serpentine, and people everywhere. Now, I was actually experiencing all of that. God has been so good to give us this opportunity. We stopped and had an ice cream at the cafe on the water.

We both were feeling the impact of this trip coming to an end and all that we have been through. We both could not think of any place particular to still go, except one. Becky had gone to the monument of the London fire and kept saying I should see it. We hoped on the tube and made our way there. It really is an amazing object. It is so tall and imposing but squished in amongst so many modern buildings. The fire really had a great impact on the city and this monument was to remember it, but in reality, I am sure very few people have actually seen it and many people really don’t even know how devastating that fire was.

We had planned to have dinner downtown and then head home, but now it was going on 7:00 and we had walked over 20,000 steps and were both wiped out mentally and physically. We decided it was time to begin our travels back to the train station. We rode the tube one more time to King’s Cross and then walked over to St. Pancras. We knew our original train had been canceled, but we found one about 30 minutes earlier and took it.

As we rode back to the Royston station where Fiona would meet us and take us back to their house in Bassingbourn, I just sat on the train reflecting on all the many things we had done since January. There is nothing else I can say, but it was the most amazing experience of my life. All the people and places that Becky and I got to do in London went beyond what either of us thought we could or would do in the time we had there. Now we were down just a few more days and we would be flying back home. A couple of more days with Abigail and Jamie and then they would head home and then a day to pack and we would be off.