Category: 2025 London+

Thursday, January 16 – Harrow on the Hill

I’m heading into the Capital today to attend another West End play. Like Barcelona, I booked this a few weeks ago because of its popularity, and the fact that the production is ending in a few days.

(Booking shows at full price goes against my cheapness leaning, I know, but I do make exceptions! Typically I’ll look for same-day discounted tickets – see website reference further on in this Entry.)

Of course, I did some walking around in advance of the show. Here are a couple views…

The play takes place in the Noel Coward Theatre, located near Trafalgar Square.

Okay, enough with the suspense! The play I’m attending is Dr. Strangelove, starring Steve Coogan. It is based on the film directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Peter Sellers starred in the film; playing three different roles. Well, Coogan tops that by one! Pretty impressive, considering it is much easier to portray multiple characters in a movie than it is in live theater! They cleverly used a stand-in for him at times, with the substitute actor’s back to the audience. But still, there were many quick wardrobe changes for Steve! A fun show!

Travel Note: Here are a couple websites I use for West End (last minute) theater tickets and seating advice…

TKTS London

theatremonkey

I have a feeling I might have recommended these sites previously; if so, I apologize!

Friday, January 17 – Harrow on the Hill

My plan is to go off the beaten path today. Let’s do this!

I’m starting out in East London, visiting a museum that peaked my interest.

My journey takes me to the Bethnal Green tube station. At the exit to the station is this memorial, entitled Stairway To Heaven. It is in remembrance of a tragedy that occurred here in 1943. In fact, it was the worst London civilian disaster of World War II, yet no bombs were involved. 173 were killed – 84 women, 62 children and 27 men, and over 90 were injured. Basically, this involved a panicked crowd attempting to descend a dangerous stairway in the dark. Please use the link above to read more about this sad story.

(I was disappointed that the base of the memorial was enclosed by a fence. Not sure why; it didn’t look like there was any work taking place.)

This is the Young V&A Museum. That’s right, it’s a children’s museum. What can I say, I’ve pretty much never grown up (as I’m sure most of you who know me will attest!)!

There are some amazing things on display…

Wow! I was pleasantly surprised to see this iconic Japanese print on display in the “Where are you going to go?” area of the museum.

Pretty cool museum, am I right?

My next stop led me back towards Central London, neat The Tower of London.

St Dunstan in the East was a church that is located in an inconspicuous alleyway halfway between London Bridge and the Tower of London. It was largely destroyed in World War II, and the ruins are now a public garden.

My next stop took me further west, near St. Paul’s Cathedral…

In 1900, the park became the location for George Frederic Watts’s Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, a dedication to ordinary people who died while saving the lives of others and who might otherwise be forgotten.

My final destination is a short walk away…

The history of the Charterhouse begins in 1348 with the Black Death. The site was a burial ground. In 1545 it was transformed into one of the great courtyard houses of Tudor London. Then in 1611 the property was converted to a school for the young and an almshouse for the old. The almshouse remains in occupation today, while the school was re-located in 1872 to Godalming, Surrey.

Here are a couple exterior views of the grounds…

Sidenote: You may have noticed that I’m including more links in the Journal this year. I hope you find them useful!

Sunday, January 12 – Harrow on the Hill

I braved the cold however and ventured out for a walk and to run some errands…

Tuesday, January 14 – Harrow on the Hill

A beautiful day is forecast, with high temperatures in the upper 40s. I think a walking tour is in order!

My area of focus is Hampstead Heath, to the north of the city. The walk starts at the Archway tube station in Highgate.

The Gatehouse pub in old Highgate village. The Bishop of London once owned a park here, and the pub stands on the site of one of the three gates that led into the park.

I am now entering Hampstead Heath, a park covering 790 acres. (for comparison, Central Park in New York City is similar in size at 843 acres)

A view from the Heath back to Highgate. That’s St. Micheal’s on the right. On the left is Witanhurst. At over 90,000 square feet, it is the second largest private residence in London, after Buckingham Palace.

Kenwood House (ca. 17th century) was a private residence as late as 1927; it is now a public museum.

For those of you that are fans of the film Notting Hill, these photos may look familiar. For a refresher, take a look at this clip of the movie within a movie.

It was a perfect day to visit the museum; barely any visitors. Even the curators were commenting on how quiet it was! And the best part? It was free!

I’m now departing the Heath and heading into the village of Hampstead…

This was a fun day! A lot of walking (29k steps), and a little muddy on the Heath! (I was provided with disposable shoe covers when I toured Kenwood House)

Thursday, January 9 – Harrow on the Hill

Only one night of jeg-lag-interuppted sleep? Maybe (hopefully!)? I got in a full 8 hours last night, straight through. Whoo hoo! And I ended up spending another lazy two hours doing some reading before I was finally motivated to get up and do something! Come on, I’m on vacation (sort of). Give me a break!

I attended a Harrow School event this evening with Mary & Tony. It was a conversation with Sir Gregory Doran in The Ryan Theatre. Sir Gregory is the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, amongst his many other accomplishments.

It was a fun event. Sir Gregory had interesting stories to tell, and there were some good audience questions, mainly from Harrow School students.

Subsequent to the talk, Sir Gregory was available for a signing of his book, and Mary ended up buying one as a gift.

Following the event, we made our way back to Byron House and sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Mary.

Thank you so much Mary & Tony for a most enjoyable evening!

Friday, January 10 – Harrow on the Hill

I’m back into the city today, mainly to attend a play this evening.

I made my way in early so that I could partake in a favorite activity – just walking around this picturesque city (even on a cloudy winter day!). I made a loop from Green Park into Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, then into Kensington and back to Trafalgar Square.

It was a little chilly, so I wore my Motion W stocking cap on the walk. Well, near Hyde Park Corner I got an “On Wisconsin” shout out! That was pretty cool. Badgers are everywhere!

Located in an obscure alley in Kensington is this classic car dealer. I like stopping by when I’m around to see what’s on display.

I also like checking out the Burlington Arcade, off of Piccadilly, to take a look at what’s on offer – mainly at the vintage watch shops. Classic cars and vintage watches. I can dream, right?!?

The play I’m attending didn’t begin until 8pm, and the theatre happens to be located near Trafalgar Square. That worked out nicely, because The National Portrait Gallery just happens to be open late on Friday nights. The perfect spot to roam while I warm up a bit!

And wow! My favorite piece in their collection is back on display! During my last two visits to London (last year and in 2020) it was in storage. This is a large piece, as you may be able to ascertain based on the size of the placard on the left: 64 in. x 61 in. Do you know who this is?

I think one of the reasons I like this piece is because of the title. Funny!

Okay, I’m off to the show!

I would say the main reason I chose this play was because it is the stage debut of Lily Collins. Folks of my generation will probably know her best as the daughter of Phil Collins. While most everyone else will recognize her from Emily in Paris.

The play takes place in a Barcelona apartment, and starts out as a possible one night stand between a Spaniard from Madrid and a tourist from the United States. It turns into much more though, as layers are revealed. It ran about 90 minutes with no intermission. I liked it! And was lucky to book a ticket, because the production ends tomorrow!

Travel Note: Another great night of sleep!

Saturday, January 11 – Harrow on the Hill

A couple items of financial note today…

I’m paying my rent in cash. That entails a few ATM withdrawals (due to daily limits, etc.). The notes I received were a mix of 20s and 10s. Of those about 5% were of this type…

Kait tipped me off last spring when the King Charles notes were introduced. However, here we are several months later and only a few are in circulation. Interesting…

And speaking of interesting, how about this?

A letter coincidentally arrived for me in the mail this week! I haven’t lived here since 2010, and I emptied my Barclays bank account in 2014. At least I think I did; maybe I should check! (watch this space) The letter is a request for me to fill out a tax residency form. Crazy!

Monday, January 6 & Tuesday January 7 – transit from Madison to London

Hello again everyone. Welcome back! Thank you for your continued interest in my winter travels.

I’ve returned to London, with a similar plan as last year – enjoy the city while using it as a base to visit other places in the region. A big thanks to Mary & Tony for welcoming me back to the very familiar Byron House. I’m thrilled to once again call Harrow on the Hill my home (for a few weeks)!

I’m planning on making a slight adjustment to the Journal Entries this year. I feel like I got too much into the minutia of my daily activities previously; nobody cares if I went for a walk or to the grocery store (boring!). So this year I may not have an Entry for every day of the week. I’ll only do a post if I see or do something of interest (hopefully that will be almost daily!). This will mainly apply solely to my time in London; I foresee being busy on a daily basis during my travels away from the Capital. And I hope to avoid posting pictures that are similar or identical to those from my time here last year. No promises though! I do have some favorite locations!

My itinerary from Madison to London was identical to last year:

• 6am departure from Madison to Newark
• Loooonnnggg layover in Newark
• Early evening departure to Heathrow, with a 6:45am arrival

Like last year, I used miles to upgrade to Business Class for the trip. It was especially nice because I had the use of the BC lounge in Newark during the layover. And there is also a little-known arrivals lounge at Heathrow that I also took advantage of! I utilized the shower facilities at both locations!

I had a nice nighttime (early morning) view of the Thames as we approached Heathrow. I was lucky – sitting in a window seat on the correct side of the plane. Lit up were the Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s, the Eye, and Big Ben. I know, a photo (or two) would be nice, but I was half asleep and just enjoyed the view (maybe it was all a dream?).

After spending some time in the arrivals lounge, I was on the SL9 bus for the ride to South Harrow. It had snowed a little before I boarded the bus, but stopped (and mostly melted) by the time I made the walk up to the Hill. It was wonderful to see Mary and Tony again, and we caught up over some tea and cake. Thank you Mary!

I had an Uber pickup in Madison at 4am on Monday, and coincidentally arrived at the doorstep of Byron House at 10am on Tuesday (4am in Madison). So, a 24 hour trip! Of course, only about 9 hours of that was actual flying time!

Wednesday, January 8 – Harrow on the Hill

I tried to stay up as late as possible last night, but failed miserably, falling asleep around 7:30pm. And then woke up around midnight. Ugh! Was back to sleep around 2:30am though, and made it all the way to 10am. Not terrible, I guess. Hopefully tonight will be better!

It was really tempting to just lay around the flat all day, but I eventually found the motivation to make a trip into the city. I mainly just walked amongst my favorite places around the parks and the Thames (did 20k steps for the day). I ended up in Trafalgar Square, with a visit to the National Gallery. While there I took advantage of their daily one hour tours, where a curator provides background on 4 different works in the collection. One of my favorite activities (and it’s free; another favorite!).