Saturday, March 22 – Harrow on the Hill
I’m heading into the Capital tonight to attend a concert at St. Martin in the Fields.

Concerts are regularly held here, and I’ve been to a few in the past. In fact, one of my favorite memories from my time living in London is attending a performance here with Linda & Chuck when they were visiting. That was a fun evening…

A beautiful setting. Tonight’s concert is a Mozart Requiem, performed by St. Martin’s Chamber Orchestra and Voices (choral group).

I was in a side box with a semi-obstructed view. It was perfectly fine though, and the concert was wonderful. The cost of the ticket was £16. (It was fully attended by the way. I was just early, as usual.)
I have to say it seems really busy in the city tonight. It’s the weekend though, and it is getting warmer. I’m guessing it’s just a case where the number of tourists are increasing as the weather improves.
Tuesday, March 25 – Harrow on the Hill
Tonight’s event will be another concert, this one taking place here on the Hill, in the Harrow School Speech Room.


I attended the concert with Mary & Tony, and a few of their friends. And prior to that we gathered at Byron House for drinks. Thank you!
This was a special performance, because it included not only the boys from the Harrow School, but also guest soloists, guest orchestra members, and the girl choirs from schools in London. As such, this was the rare occasion when a Harrow School performance charged an admission (£12). But it was well worth it. An enjoyable evening!
Wednesday, March 26 – Harrow on the Hill
It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day, so I have an ambitious walk planned. I’m going to head east along the south bank of the Thames out to Greenwich. Once there, I’m going to do a walking tour, using the book that Tony loaned me.
I ended up taking the tube to the Bermondsey Station, which is just east of the Tower Bridge. I wanted to start the walk on that side of the bridge because it’s away from the tourists! (It probably seems odd that I keep denigrating tourists, when I’m actually one myself! I don’t really feel like one though. But maybe I’m just delusional!)
I’ve done the walk out to Greenwich a few times in the past, the last time being during my visit in 2020. And I actually have a journal entry from that trip describing it. So I won’t post a lot of pictures from the walk this time.

Situated on the bank of the Thames, the present Angel Pub building dates back to the 1850s, but the original inn was built in the 15th century by monks at the nearby Bermondsey Priory for use as a guesthouse called the Salutation. After the Reformation, it was renamed the Angel in honor of the local lord of the manor.

St Mary’s Church, Rotherhithe (ca. 1747)
Sidenote: It was from Rotherhithe that the Mayflower sailed in 1620 on the first stage of her epic voyage to (what was to become) the United States.

Across the road from the church is the Rotherhithe Free School, founded in 1613 to educate the sons of seafarers. Still displaying a pair of weathered figures of schoolchildren, this schoolhouse dates to 1797.
To the right is a 19th century Watch House. Here a watchman would be stationed to guard against body snatchers. Corpses were regularly stolen from the adjoining former burial ground for medical research at a nearby hospital.




Approaching my destination…the Cutty Sark and the Old Royal Naval College can be seen in the distance. The walk took about 2 hours, but was at a very deliberate pace!

The walking tour starts here, at the Cutty Sark. Originally a 19th century clipper ship, it is now a museum.






Amazing view of Central London from Greenwich Park. To the immediate left is the Old Royal Observatory. Down below is the Queen’s House and the National Maritime Museum. Along the river is the Old Royal Naval College.

The Shepherd Gate Clock at the entrance to the Royal Observatory. It displays Greenwich Mean Time all year round.









Sidenote: I’m wearing my UW baseball cap again today, and received two more “Go Badgers” while walking around Greenwich! I should be keeping track…
29k steps for the day. Not bad!
Thursday, March 27 – Harrow on the Hill
It’s déjà vu! In a repeat from last year, I’ll be at The Royal Albert Hall tonight to attend a concert by The Who in support of The Teenage Cancer Trust. This will be fun!

It was a beautiful day. I arrived in the city a little early and did some walking around Kensington Gardens.




This year’s concert posters (1 for each night of their 2 night gig). They’re nice…

…but I like last year’s pair better. In fact, I ended up buying one (not on the night of the concert though; later via The Teenage Cancer Trust website), and Chuck generously framed it up for me.







Another great performance! I think I went on and on about it last year, so I’ll spare you this time. I will say that Roger Daltrey is amazing. He turned 81 this month, and his voice still booms! He and Pete Townshend were pretty funny; they had a lot of interaction with the audience, which I liked.
If forced to choose, I’d say last year’s performance was a little better. (Roger admitted during tonight’s show that they only had 4 days of rehearsal; maybe that prejudiced my decision!)

They pretty much stuck to the schedule, and I was back at Byron House around midnight.
Friday, March 28 – Harrow on the Hill

My trip is now 75% complete, so let’s do a…
Steps Update: I’m currently averaging 16.7k steps per day. That’s World Record pace people! (Well, personal best anyway!) My previous best was 16.2k steps per day while in Hawaii during 2022. Technically though, I feel like I’ve already broken the record. That’s because the Hawaii trip only lasted 66 days, while I’m already on day 82 here. Will I be able to maintain the pace for the final 4 week stretch? Watch this space…
Sunday, March 30 – Harrow on the Hill

This year marks The London Eye’s 25th Anniversary (first passengers in March of 2000). To honor the occasion, here are some fun Eye Facts:
- On a clear day, the visibility is 24 miles
- There are 32 pods on the Eye, one for each of London’s boroughs
- The Eye weighs 2,100 tons; equivalent to 1,272 London black taxis
- Who holds the celebrity record for most trips on the Eye? Jessica Alba with 31!
- With a height of 443 feet, the Eye is the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel
- The Eye travels at 0.6 mph; so slow that it never has to stop to let people on and off
Monday, March 31 – Harrow on the Hill
I’m traveling today to central Africa. I’ll be visiting Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia over a period of two weeks; returning to London on April 14. Eight days of the trip will be on a group tour. I generally try to avoid those, but it seemed like a good option in this case.
No laptop again, so the Journal will be dark for a while. Devastating, I know! In fact, I’m guessing I won’t be uploading any Africa-related Entries until after I return to Madison on April 24. Sorry about that. But it is a good excuse for me to drag this thing out a little longer!
I’ll be back in touch in a couple weeks…