I’m back in the city today to check out the Frost Fair! It’s located just off the Thames, near the Tate Modern.Nice view of The Shard on the way to the fair.The artisan market at the fair. Many homemade goods and food & drink.A game of skittlesCarriage rides were offered too! (that’s the Tate Modern in the background)The horses were popular with the childrenThis was the highlight. A human-powered elephant! It’s getting ready to go on a short parade.On its way……followed by the Elephant Festival Troupe!
It was a beautiful day, so I did a little bit of walking around. Here are a couple sights from along the way…
St Dunstan-in-the-WestAn entrance to the Temple ChurchSomerset House (note all of the folks in the distance enjoying what remains of the sunshine!)Royal Courts of JusticeSt. Paul’s – a favorite
Monday, January 29 – Harrow on the Hill
Not a lot to report today. A little trip planning, a grocery run, went for a walk, and general laziness!
The Crown Auction update: With a little over a week to go in the auction, the NASA lot I’m interested in stands at £160. Probably going to be more than I want to spend. Oh well!
Tuesday, January 30 – Harrow on the Hill
Kind of more of the same from Monday. I did some additional travel planning, and now have three short trips planned for February. Where to? You’ll have to wait and see! And I also worked on this journal entry today. Not a total slug!
Steps Update: I’m trying to redeem myself this year after last winter’s disappointing average of 13.2k steps per day. Three weeks in and I’m averaging 15.5k per day, with a high of 25k. I’ll be happy if I can keep up this pace. A long way to go though!
That is the theme for today. Well, at least until tonight (more on that later)…
I’m visiting another auction house in London this morning. This time it’s Christie’s, for a viewing of The Mark Knopfler Guitar Collection. Hopefully you’ve heard of him? If not, he’s best known as the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the band Dire Straits. One of my all-time favorite guitarists, definitely top five.
He’s auctioning off more than 120 of his guitars and amps at the end of the month, and they’re on display for public viewing. Let’s take a look…
The entrance to Christie’sThis guitar caught my eye because of the autographs and the Teenage Cancer Trust logo. This is the UK charity that will benefit from the concert by The Who that I will be attending in March. The signatures on the guitar include Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Sting, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. The estimate is £20,000 – £40,000.This guitar has the highest estimate in the auction: £300,000 – £500,000. It’s a 1959 Gibson Les Paul. Note the original case behind it!To me though, this is the star of the show. Christie’s must think so too, because it is the only guitar hung on this wall, and it is displayed in its own room!It’s a 1983 Gibson Les Paul, but that’s not what makes it the star. It’s because it was used to record Money For Nothing and Brothers In Arms. The estimate is £10,000 – £15,000, which seems crazy low to me. It will be interesting to see what the hammer price brings.
Besides being one of my favorite guitarists, Mark Knopfler is also the artist responsible for one of my favorite songs, Brothers In Arms. If you’re not familiar with it, take a listen here.
Continuing with the Rock ‘n Roll theme, my next stop will be the Hard Rock Cafe, to hopefully take a tour of their vault (of memorabilia).
A quick stop at St. James’s Square on the way to the Hard Rock.The first Hard Rock Cafe, still in its original location, near Hyde Park Corner.
The vault is located in the basement of the Hard Rock Store, which is next door to the Cafe. I’ve taken the tour previously, but it’s been many years. And I’m in luck! Tours will be offered today, with the first one starting in about 20 minutes. (the tours are free of charge)
What followed proved to be an excellent argument for visiting London in the winter – I was the only one on the tour! And it got even better! My tour guide, Ash, was amazing. He provided me with some great background information on the items in the vault, as well as some wonderful stories from the early days of the cafe. He spent a half hour with just me. Unbelievable. I was so grateful I gave him £20 as we were about to leave the vault. Well, now he felt obliged to spend even more time with me! Brilliant! We talked some more in the vault, and then he took me next door to the Cafe, showing me some more memorabilia there. Finally, after spending a full hour with me, one of the staff from the store came over to the Cafe to grab Ash because he was scheduled to give the next vault tour!
Here are some pictures from the tour…
The items are literally in a vault……a very small room packed with many items.A rare Tim sighting in the Journal! And could I look any more dorky?!? Ash had me replicate a Ringo Starr pose on the bench (legs crossed, peace sign).The pose (I had my legs crossed the wrong way!)We’re now over at the Cafe. On Ash’s phone is a picture of John Lennon wearing the item that’s in the display case above.Above the bar at the Cafe. (I’ll be seeing him play in March!)Ash showing a picture of Townshend coming back to the Cafe decades later, taking his guitar off the wall, and playing it!
What an experience! Thanks Ash!
My last stop on the Rock ‘n Roll outing will be at Savile Row, to pay homage to the Apple Corp. building were TheBeatles played an impromptu rooftop concert.
The photo is taken at an odd angle because the sidewalk and half the road directly across the street were closed due to construction.
For those of you interested in seeing some great footage from the concert and the events leading up to it, I highly recommend the documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Here’s a link to an excerpt from the concert portion of the documentary (runs 4 minutes).
Okay, time to head back to the Hill to attend a production of Jekyll & Hyde by the Harrow School boys. This is a free performance, but tickets were required, which Mary obtained. It was just her and me tonight, as Tony opted to stay home to watch football.
Another excellent performance by the students!
Sidenote: Benedict Cumberbatch is a former Harrow School student. It would have been fun to see him perform during his high school days!
Thursday, January 25 – Harrow on the Hill
I remained on the Hill today to attend a couple Harrow School events this evening. I’m trying to take advantage of all that they’re offering!
The exhibition brought together many items from throughout the world to illustrate remote places and societies. The objects on display were drawn mainly from the Harrow School’s collection. A fun event!
It wasn’t very crowded, which was nice. Wine was even offered!Chinese Imperial Table Screen, c. late 18th / early 19th century (Qing Dynasty)The Bodhisattva Guanyin, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)I really liked this early 18th century sketch of the Sphinx. It shows the base buried in sand, and also disproved the 19th century theories that it was Napoleon’s troops who had destroyed its nose by using it as target practice!Not related to the exhibition, but of course Winston Churchill deserves his place here as arguably the most noteworthy Old Harrovian.
Following the exhibition, I walked a couple of buildings over to watch the Singing Prizes competition in the Speech Room. For this event a total of 40 boys in three categories performed with the goal of being judged the best in their respective category (junior, intermediate, senior). The adjudicator was James Gilchrist, a tenor specializing in recital and oratorio singing.
The Speech Room prior to the start of the competition
So, there are 40 singers, and after each round of competition Mr. Gilchrist would give a short critique of each one and announce the winner. This is going to take a little while! But it’s not like I have to get up and go to work tomorrow!
The choice of songs was from composers I pretty much expected: Mozart, Schubert, Handel, etc. However, there were a few that went with selections from musicals like South Pacific and Man of La Mancha. One even choose Elton John’s Your Song. Again, amazing performances by the boys. But I have to say that to me the most outstanding performer of the night was the pianist (a member of the Harrow School staff) who accompanied each of the 40 students. Wow!
Friday, January 26 – Harrow on the Hill
I’m traveling to Dulwich (the ‘w’ is silent) in the South of London today to view an exhibition of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Getting there took about an hour, using both the Underground and National Rail lines. It’s a beautiful day, so I’m also going to take a walking tour of the area, using the book that Tony lent to me.
The entry to the Rubens exhibit required a timed ticket (£15; can you believe I’m actually paying for something?!); I set mine up for mid-afternoon to allow me to take the walking tour first. Here are some of the sights along the way…
Dulwich College, founded in 1619. These buildings are from the 19th century. We’ll see the original college buildings later in the walk. This is now a boarding school for middle and high school age boys.Dulwich College.
A funny story behind this picture. I entered through an open gate into the grounds of the college. Well, it turns out visitors aren’t allowed on the grounds, and one of the staff happened to come by after I took the picture. He was very nice about it, and we ended up talking for a few minutes. What really peaked my interest was his mentioning that the college has in its possession one of the boats from Shackleton’s exploration of Antarctica. He wasn’t sure if it was open for public viewing, but I’m absolutely going to follow up on that. Watch this space…
Dulwich Toll Gate (£1.20). This is the only toll gate left in London and raises thousands of pounds per year for the College estate. Fortunately pedestrians are exempt from the toll! Not many animals pass through the gate anymore!The Parish Church of Saint Stephen (c. 1868)Enjoying the sunny day!I’m now in the Sydenham Hill Woods nature reserve.Cool fence!Dulwich Park boating lake. Not very busy this time of year. Obviously the geese like it though!College Lodge (c. 1889)Old Dulwich College19th century grammar school
An enjoyable walk in a picturesque village. I think I may have to come back here, especially if the Shackleton boat is available for viewing. Now, on to the Picture Gallery…
The Dulwich Picture Gallery is the first public picture gallery in England (early 19th century)A walk around the permanent collection before entering the Rubens exhibit.I like this Canaletto depicting the Thames in 1750, with London in the distance.Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window (c. 1645). Wow!Marchesa Maria Serra Pallavicino (c. 1606)The Virgin in Adoration before the Christ Child (c. 1616-1619)After viewing this 2nd century sculpture, Rubens reused this pose in several of his works.Diana Returning from the Hunt (c. 1623)
Saturday, January 27 – Harrow on the Hill
A minor disappointment today. St, Mary’s church here on the Hill was planning on holding a fundraiser they called Spire Cafe Winter Warmer. Running from 11am to 6pm, on sale were to be “Hot filled rolls, homemade soup and cakes, mugs of hot spiced-apple juice, plus stacks of scones, fresh from the oven.” Yum! There was also going to be a talk inside the Church, Treasures of St Mary’s, given a couple times throughout the day. Well, I walked up there mid-afternoon only to find a note inside the church stating that the event was cancelled due to an illness. Bummer! Hopefully it will be rescheduled.
So, plan B for lunch turned out to be making a run to the aforementioned favorite – Wenzel’s.
Tuna salad baguette and a loaf of bread (£6.45)
I spent the rest of the day loafing (no pun intended!) around and working on this long overdue journal entry!
A couple random vehicle sightings…
I like this vintage Land Rover that is parked in the neighborhood.EV charging on the Hill!
I want to lead off by thanking all of you who reached out to me today on my birthday. It’s great hearing from you when I’m away from home. And yes, I’m spending another birthday somewhere other than Madison. I’ve documented previously the various places I’ve been on my birthday, so I won’t go through it again. I’ll just say that to be in Madison on this day has been a rare occurrence over the past 30+ years! The exception would be the Covid lock down of 2021 (but that pandemic resulted in a lot of exceptions!).
So what’s the plan for the big day? I’m pretty excited to be heading in to London to attend a women’s football (soccer) match between Chelsea and Manchester United at historic Stamford Bridge (home to the Chelsea men’s team as well). Most of you know I enjoy women’s sports, so the fact that I won’t be seeing the men in action doesn’t bother me in the least. In fact, tickets to the men’s matches are extremely difficult to obtain and prohibitively expensive. The ticket to today’s match was £12 (and you all know how cheap I am!).
The match kicked off at 12:30pm, with entry into the stadium beginning at 10:30am. I really had no clue how crowded it would be, so I left my flat a little before 9 to catch the Piccadilly line into the city. And I must say I was surprised by how crowded the train was. On a Sunday morning! And it wasn’t because of the football match. I don’t recall this being the case when I lived here previously. Oh well…
I arrived a little before 10am……and I guess I didn’t need to get here this early! Not bothered though, because it gave me plenty of time to walk around the grounds and get some photos without many fans in the frame.The statue is of Peter Osgood. You can read about him here if you’re interested.Arriving early gave me time to check out the team store. No purchases though! (Note the short line on the right to enter the store. I’m glad I went in now, because after the match the queue was massive!)The Chelsea Football Club was formed in 1905, when they began playing at Stamford Bridge.This wall is all that remains of the original stadium. The venue has undergone major changes over the years, most recently in the 1990s when it was renovated into a modern, all-seat stadium.I did a little research about where to sit before I booked my ticket online. The two end zones were the least expensive, and each side had their own names – The Shed End and the Matthew Harding Stand. I subsequently discovered that the Shed End is where the visiting fans would be sitting (you can see that stipulated in the small print on the awning). It is also a standing optional area, which I wasn’t really interested in……I therefore chose a seat in the Matthew Harding Stand, with the home fans!I liked my seat – in the front row corner of the upper section.Another thing I discovered in my seat location research was the fact that the lower portion of the Matthew Harding Stand was, like The Shed End, standing optional. I took this photo during the match, and you can see that most of the fans are standing. They even have bars going across each row to keep everybody segregated when they’re not seated.Whereas the upper stands where I sat had no option for standing. Perfect! (I took this picture when I first arrived; the section was filled by kickoff.)A view of the West Stands from my seat.
I have to say I was a little concerned about what I was wearing to the match – specifically a maroon jacket and a red and black Wisconsin stocking cap – because the visiting team’s (Manchester United) colors are red and yellow. I wondered if that would be a problem since I was sitting in the home side end zone. But it turned out to be a non-issue. It was actually a very family-friendly atmosphere, with many children in attendance. Obviously the intensity level at the women’s matches is much lower than that at the men’s. Very enjoyable.
And we’re underway!
The stadium capacity is listed at around 41,000. I looked for an attendance figure for this match afterwards, but couldn’t find anything. I’m guessing it was around 1/3 full. It wasn’t a bad day to be a spectator – dry conditions with a temperature around 50 degrees.
Chelsea won the match 3-1, with all three of the home team goals scored by Lauren James. Impressive! Here she is (#10) after scoring her last goal on the end where I was sitting. If you look closely, you can see that she has a Chucky Hepburn hair color spot going on. (a Wisconsin basketball reference, for those of you wondering what the heck I’m talking about!)
The Chelsea women’s team is currently in first place in the Women’s Super League and has been very successful over the years. And in some good news for the U.S., it was announced last fall that the manager of Chelsea would be leaving her position at the end of the season (May) to become the new manager of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Nice!
Monday, January 22 – Harrow on the Hill
Sadly readers, today I’m observing another day of domestic bliss on the Hill. Did some travel planning, reading, grocery shopping, and went for a walk. Whoo hoo!
Tuesday, January 23 – Harrow on the Hill
It’s raining this morning; the first daytime rain since my arrival. A perfect time to get caught up on my journal! The weather cleared by the afternoon though, so I just went out for another walk around the area.
Apologies for the boring last couple days, but I do have some upcoming activities planned. So be sure to watch this space!
A rare occurrence this morning (at least to me) – both the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines are under severe delays. I guess my trip into the city will just be a little later. It’s not like I’m in a rush. Fortunately I can monitor the status of all the lines from the Transport for London website, or their app that I downloaded upon my arrival. And it’s probably best I didn’t get an early start, as I plan on attending a lecture in the capital this evening (more about that later).
Tony lent me a book on walking tours of London and today I chose a walk that covers Soho to Trafalgar Square. It’s bright and sunny today. Perfect for roaming. Below are a few pictures…
St. Patrick’s Church on Soho Square (the rare time that the view is better without leaves on the tree!)This mural is off of Carnaby Street, and depicts the colorful history of Soho. Carnaby Street was the place to be during the fashion revolution of the 1960s.
It wasn’t a coincidence that the walk I chose concluded on Trafalgar Square. There’s a guided tour at The National Gallery this afternoon that I plan on attending. The tours last an hour and the guide typically selects four pieces of art in the museum’s collection to discuss (history, technique, background, etc.). There’s generally some type of connection between the pieces chosen, but not always. If it sounds like I’m familiar with these tours, it’s because I took them often when I lived here.
One of the selections from our tour. This is Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire from 1838. It is considered such a national icon that the image is include on the back of the new £20 note…
Mary told me about a free lecture series provided throughout the year by Gresham College. There’s one tonight that I attended entitled The Art and Science of Tuning (musical instruments), taking place at LSO St. Luke’s in the city.
It turned out to be very interesting, and the lecturer, Milton Mermikides, was very good. Gresham College recorded the lecture. Here’s a link to it if you’re interested in watching.
Prior to the start of the lecture. A good crowd! Cool venue too.
Friday, January 19 – Harrow on the Hill
I have a day of music planned.
I’m heading into the city this morning, Covent Garden specifically, to attend a free Live at Lunch performance at the Royal Opera House (ROH). These events are only held on Fridays, generally two per month. The performance begins at 1pm, but I wasn’t really sure of the logistics, so I ended up stopping by the ROH around 11:50am to check things out. It turns out that there was already a small group queuing up, so I joined them! The doors to the ROH opened at noon. That allowed us to move the line inside, where it became more organized, and warmer!
I was 8th in line; able to snag a front-row seat. Nice!The soprano and her accompanist performed for an hour. It was wonderful. It consisted of several arias from various operas. The singer was excellent, and it was also nice that she took the time to explain the back story on each of the operas and the specific aria that she performed. (Note that the audience is also seated in the balcony behind the artists)This was taken after the concert from the balcony. I was seated in the front row just to the right of the center aisle. Perfect!This is a beautiful venue within the Royal Opera House. The roof is amazing.
After the performance I walked around Covent Garden a bit. Here are a few pictures…
Cute!Great idea!Here comes the train that will take me back to the Hill!
I mentioned at the beginning that I had a day of music planned. Well, this evening I’m attending another performance at the Harrow School. Tonight’s event is entitled Woodwind Evening. It consisted of ten individual student performances, mainly flute and clarinet, but also one bassoon solo! There were also two pieces played by a clarinet quintet. All included piano accompaniment as well.
The performance lasted about 75 minutes. Very enjoyable. The students are amazing. Sparsely attended though. Besides me, the audience included two parents, three school staff, and the other student performers. That’s it. In fact, it’s funny that afterwards one of the parents said hello to me and asked which of the soloists was my son!
Saturday, January 20 – Harrow on the Hill
Just stuck around the Hill today. Did some work on the journal, a little travel planning, went for a walk, and made a grocery run. Exciting stuff!
This evening though Tony and Mary invited my to join them for a concert in nearby Pinner (where they used to live). It was held in the Pinner Parish Church and consisted of works by Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and others performed by a chamber choir and small orchestral group. A fun event!
For those of you who are fans of the TV series The Crown, today’s post should be fun. And hopefully you’ll find this interesting even if you haven’t watched the series.
The auction house Bonhams is selling the sets, costumes and props from the series via live and online auctions. The items have been available for viewing in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and now London ahead of the auction. Attending the preview requires a ticket, but it is free (my favorite word!). I’m off to Bonhams New Bond Street location this morning to check it out. Let’s go!
A reproduction of Saint Edward’s Chair (The Coronation Chair). Estimate: £10,000 – £20,000.A reproduction of the Gold State Coach. Estimate: £30,000 – £50,000.A replica of the Coronation ceremonial garments. Estimate: £20,000 – £30,000.(in the background) The gates from the Buckingham Palace exterior set. Estimate: £6,000 – £8,000.A replica of the Number 10 Downing Street facade. Estimate: £20,000 – £30,000.A selection of Diana’s gowns (replicas)Princess Diana’s green Jaguar (similar to), 1987 Jaguar XJ-SC 3.6-Litre Cabriolet. Estimate: £15,000 – £20,000.A reproduction of Diana’s engagement ring. Estimate: £2,000 – £3,000.This is amazing. It is a scale model of the Queen’s funeral procession; being sold as a complete set (over 500 pieces). Estimate: £8,000 – £12,000.A foamboard model for St George’s Chapel. There are others like this in the auction. I thought they were kind of cool.I like the NASA stuff on the second shelf. I’m thinking about bidding on the lot, but my minimalist self isn’t sure where I would put it! The estimate is £200 – £300. The current online bid is £20, but there are another three weeks to go!
As you can see by the pictures, it wasn’t very crowded. That surprised me. I asked one of the Bonhams representatives about this, and she said it was packed on the weekend. She estimated they had 1,500 visitors over the two days.
Here’s a link to the auctions, if you’re interested in checking it out (Or bidding! I could be your agent!).
I happened upon this statue of Roosevelt and Churchill on New Bond Street. (Allies by Lawrence Holofcener)
It was another bright sunny day here; a great day for a walk. After leaving Bonhams, I made my way to Trafalgar Square and took a quick stop in the National Portrait Gallery. I was looking for my favorite item in their collection, but unfortunately it wasn’t on display. Curious what it is? Here’s a link to it (I think part of what I like about the painting is its title – Mike’s Brother).
Over to Leicester Square, and I noticed there wasn’t a queue at the Lego Store, so I decided to take a look.
Note to self: Based on the high volume of visitors at Bonhams and the Lego Store over the weekend, and the lack of same today, I’m thinking it’s best that I maybe avoid these types of places in the city on the weekends. (Although, in contrast, the National Portrait Gallery was still very busy today)
I have to admit, this is a pretty cool place.I was told this has over 600,000 pieces!And Big Ben has even more pieces than the James Bond Car!
Wednesday, January 17 – Harrow on the Hill
Had a leisurely day around the neighborhood today. Worked on the journal, did some reading, went for a walk, made a grocery run, and did some advance planning, including booking a couple London events for March.
Travel Note
I’ve mentioned making stops at some of the London Museums since my arrival. I’m happy to say that most of the museums here are free (my favorite word again!). This is probably just a reminder to some of you. The exception would be any special exhibitions that are taking place.
Along those lines, according to one source, three out of the top ten most-visited museums in the world reside in London (and 6 out of the top 20). Here’s the top ten (you can probably guess number one!):
Louvre Museum, Paris
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of China, Beijing
National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
British Museum, London
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
National Gallery, London
Vatican Museums, Vatican City (Rome)
Natural History Museum, London
American Museum of Natural History, New York City
If you’re interested, here’s a link to the complete list.
Time to get reacquainted with London. I’m heading into the city today! It’s rather overcast though, so I don’t plan on taking many pictures (be patient, I’ll be here for over three months!).
Travel Note
Where I’m staying is equal distant between two underground (subway in the U.S.) stations – South Harrow and Harrow on the Hill. The South Harrow station serves the Piccadilly Line, which stops at many of the popular tourist areas in Central London, including Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, and Covent Garden. It also provides service to Heathrow Airport.
The Harrow on the Hill station serves the Metropolitan Line. Stops on this line include Wembley Park and the King’s Cross & St. Pancras train station (with trains to Paris and other locations). This line can also get you into central London with less stops than the Piccadilly Line, but will generally require a transfer to another line, depending on your destination in the city.
It’s probably a 10-15 minute walk from Byron House to either underground station. The train ride into the city costs £3.50 ($4.40).
I’m not in a hurry this morning, so I’m taking the Piccadilly Line into the city. Once on the train it’s about a 30 minute ride.
I did a lot of walking today (London is a great walking city), passing by the follow spots:
Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A)
Hyde Park
Buckingham Palace
Trafalgar Square
The National Gallery
St. Martin in the Fields (where I took a rest stop)
Leicester Square
Russell Square
The British Museum (another rest stop)
And as I said, sadly I only took a couple pictures from my walk – things I found interesting…
I don’t recall every seeing a big “SALE” sign affixed to the outside of Harrods. Maybe I just never paid attention before!There’s a line to get into the Leicester Square Lego store! Not a very long one, but still. And they’ve got it roped off, airport security style, so it must be a common occurrence.
I ended up with around 22k steps today. Pretty happy with that.
Sunday, January 14 – Harrow on the Hill
I had a leisurely morning and then just took a walk around Harrow in the afternoon. Pretty low key folks (I warned you that this year was going to be less manic than last year! But probably more boring for you!)
One of the perks of living in Harrow on the Hill is the access given to the residents by the Harrow School to many of their student cultural activities (plays, concerts, art showings, etc.). It reminds me of the similar opportunities provided by the University of Wisconsin to those living in Madison.
The spring term has just begun and this afternoon I had the opportunity to attend their fist event open to the public – a Cello Masterclass. In this instance eight students participated in the class. Each individually performed a short piece and were then critiqued and instructed by a visiting professor, who was sitting in only for this class. The visitor was Lionel Handy, who I learned via his introduction spent 10 years as principal cellist of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and has been a professor at the Royal Academy of Music since 1982. Impressive! The class lasted nearly three hours, but I was never bored. The students’ performances were amazing, and Professor Handy was very engaging.
Professor Handy working with one of the students. As you can see, the class was lightly attended. I was the only member of the general public. The others in attendance were either students, family members of students, or Harrow School staff. Pretty cool that I was able to attend!
Sidenote: Those of you who are University of Wisconsin Basketball fans (isn’t everyone?!?), will be interested to know that two former players, Jordan Taylor and Sam Dekker, play for the London Lions, the local professional team. I’d definitely like to see them play, especially after I discovered that tickets can be had for as little as £5! However, I looked at a couple recent box scores and neither of the two played in those games. I’m not sure if they’re injured, or what. I’ll need to do some research, because I’d like to know that at least one of them will be playing if I show up! Watch this space…
Monday, January 15 – Harrow on the Hill
It’s a beautiful day today*, so I’m heading into the city to take some pictures!
* Well, the skies are clear, but the temperature is only in the mid-thirties (still better than Madison though, where the expected HIGH temperature today is going to be BELOW zero!!)
Below are some of the views from my day. I’ve included captions on each picture, even though I’m fairly certain you’re familiar with most of these attractions.
The National Gallery (with the shadow of Nelson’s Column looming over it!)The source of the shadow!Buckingham Palace (the Union Jack is flying, so the King is in residence)View of the London Eye from St. James’s ParkI like the fact that there’s a statue of Abraham Lincoln in London (near Westminster Abbey). A less common view of the Houses of ParliamentThe Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye (FYI, the London Eye is closed for annual maintenance during the month of January)This long wall along the south bank of the River Thames, across from the Houses of Parliament, is dedicated to those who died from Covid.Another view of HoP and BBView of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Millennium BridgeSouthwark CathedralTower BridgeTower of LondonCity Hall (foreground) and The Shard (background)St Botolph’s AldgateI made a short stop at the Tate Modern (to warm up!), and noticed that their gift shop had some items on sale. The result was the first souvenir purchase of the trip! Bought these two for a total of £1.75!
Travel Note: Remember all the issues I had last year regarding the requirement for having proof of return or onward travel before being allowed to enter a country? (including being denied boarding of my flight from Chicago to Panama City) Well, I had a one-way flight from Newark to London and nobody cared! (I did have a one way return booked though, just in case!)
You’ve been on edge, waiting to hear how I slept, haven’t you? Well, I have some surprisingly good news to report. By 7:30 last night I was done. Unable to keep my eyes open. So I gave in and went to bed. Fell asleep straight away. And then I woke up at 12:30am. Ugh! Fortunately though after about 30 minutes of reading I was ready to go back to sleep. I didn’t wake up again until 8:30am. Awesome! I wasn’t in a hurry to get out of bed either; spent the next couple hours there reading. A nice morning!
I spent the afternoon working on my first Journal Entry for this trip. It took longer than expected, as I ended up writing more than typical (sorry about that!). Also, getting things set up for the new separate London trip page took some time; especially since I had forgotten how I had formatted the pages for the other trips from when I did the editing last summer! I’m a mess!
I had a fun evening though. My hosts, Mary & Tony, invited me to join them for dinner. A home-cooked meal? Yes, please!
Mary & Tony as we prepare to sit down to dinner. It was a wonderful evening with a delicious meal. Thank you!
Friday, January 12 – Harrow on the Hill
Even though I left several years ago, I’ve remained on the emailing list of several London museums and entertainment venues. I guess I could have stopped the emails, but I kind of like reading them. And yesterday I received a very interesting email from The Royal Albert Hall. It announced two shows in March by The Who, to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust. I would definitely like to attend that! Tickets went on sale this morning at 9am. I logged into the RAH website at around 8:50 and was informed that I had been placed in a holding area with all of the other interested folks; at 9am we would then be placed in a random order queue to acquire tickets. Okay. Well, 9am rolls around, and my number is…4,000 something. Yikes! (not Taylor Swift terrible at least!). It took me about an hour to get to the head of the line, and by then I figured my chance of getting a decent seat was minimal. However, I ended up snagging one in the 7th row of the stalls, which I was pleased with. I imagine the fact that they’re doing two shows, and I only needed one ticket, helped get me to a good spot. So I now have two concerts to attend at The RAH during my stay here. Some of you know about the other one, but I’ll hold back those details for later.
After being a slug all day yesterday, I decided I needed to get out today and do some walking around. I went down to the South Harrow area and continued out further to Northolt. On the way back I picked up some groceries at ALDI. (This is exciting stuff, isn’t it?) The only two photos of (questionable) interest from my walk are presented below…
Here’s a belated picture of an SL9 (Superloop) bus; the type that was my ride from the airport on Wednesday.Those of you that have been following this journal for a while know that I have a weird fascination with fuel prices. I can’t explain it, I’m just off. Anyway, this converts to $6.81/gallon. Not so bad in the States after all, is it?
Travel Notes
In Journal Entries from past trips I’ve gone through some of the things I’ve done to prepare for an extended time away from home and outside of the U.S. Probably not worth repeated them here, other than to say I basically have done all of the same things, including items like using a VPN in conjunction with local wireless internet access, and purchasing travel medical insurance. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
One additional thing I’ve done for this trip relates to my phone. Last summer I finally upgraded from my iPhone 6. It was long ago no longer supported by Apple, and some of the apps stopped working. I gave in to planned obsolescence! In addition to the physical SIM card, the new iPhones now also offer the option of installing two eSIMs. I used one of those eSIMs for my AT&T service in the U.S., and for this trip I downloaded a U.K. data-only eSIM. This U.K. SIM cost $6, offering 3Gb of data with a 30 day validity. This compares to AT&T charging me $10/day for international service (with a maximum of $100 over a 30 day period). The caveat is that the U.K. SIM is data-only, so voice service is not included. But that’s not a big deal for me. (I can make cheap (or free) phone calls when I have WiFi access) Also, the 3Gb of data may not seem like a lot, but I have the option of topping it up if I run low before the 30 days are up.
While we’re on the subject of new electronics, I also bought a new laptop over the Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend. My previous one was 12 years old, running Windows 7 (also no longer supported). The wake up moment occurred in the fall when it booted up to the dreaded blue screen! I was able to restore its settings, but was a little concerned! (Remember when I dropped the laptop at the Bogota airport security checkpoint last year? And it kept on ticking? I have to say that laptop was a trooper)
The new laptop. A little bigger than I planned, but I loved the specs combined with the price. It’s the same brand as my last one – ASUS. (The desktop picture is from Barbados last year)
Final piece of housekeeping…
Here’s the extent of stuff I have in my check luggage this year. A little more that last year due to the cold(er) weather aspect!So I have the extra duffel bag this time. I probably could have got everything in the duffel, but I wanted to have the smaller piece for the side trips. You may also notice that I replaced last year’s haggard backpack!But I decided to keep my holey shoes! I bought these new for the Hawaii trip. Then wore them again last year. They’re rough, but comfortable! We’ll see how it goes…
These first two Journal Entries have been brutally boring, I know. But bear with me, I promise it will get better. I plan on heading into the city tomorrow and do some roaming around. Hopefully some good photos will be the result!
Tuesday, January 9 & Wednesday January 10 – transit from Madison to London
Welcome back everyone! Thank you for continuing to follow along as I once again escape a Wisconsin winter.
Before I begin to document this latest adventure, I wanted to make you aware of updates I’ve made to the website. This main page of the site remains unchanged; a continuous reverse chronological scroll of all of my Journal Entries dating back to day one (January 10, 2019) . Added though are some menu items. There are now separate pages for each trip I’ve taken since the origin of the journal (e.g., 2019 South America, 2022 Hawaii). These new pages are set up in a grid style for each trip, with each Journal Entry having its own individual link (no scrolling). The entries are identified by number, location, and date. Also, the Google Map created to track my island hopping last year was pretty popular, so I’ve gone back and developed maps for the previous trips too (and there will be one this year as well). In addition to the Journal Entry grid on each of the new trip pages, there is also a link to the Trip Map. Please let me know what you think of the changes. Hopefully you will find them helpful. And I’m open to any suggestions regarding other format changes.
Okay, let’s get on with it…
After last year’s manic pace (13 countries/territories over 100 days), I decided this year to base myself in one location and take short out-and-back trips from there. It required little contemplation to determine that London was the logical place to plant myself. Although it’s not exactly an escape from cold weather, it’s generally an improvement over Madison (as I write this it is 42 degrees here and 23 degrees in Madison). It’s definitely a less crowded time of year to be here. It provides easy travel access to a multitude of places. And finally, I really enjoyed my time living here and am thankful I have the opportunity to return for an extended stay.
I had an early departure from Madison on Tuesday (6:44am). This proved fortuitous, as a winter snow storm arrived overnight Monday and was expected to last into Wednesday morning. I decided to wake up at 1am on Tuesday to see how much snow had accumulated and check the status of flights. Fortunately there were only flurries at this time and no flight disruptions. The previous day I reserved a 4am Lyft ride to the airport; much earlier than I normally would for a 6:44 flight, but I wasn’t sure what the road conditions would be like, and I wanted to have time to put a contingency plan in place in case the Lyft driver bailed on me! Once again, luck prevailed as the snowfall remained light, my driver arrived on schedule, and the flight remained slated for an on-time departure. The only hiccup occurred after the plane pulled away from the gate. Since it had been sitting overnight, the plane had accumulated some snow and ice and required deicing. The wait for the deicing trucks and the actual deicing of the plane resulted in a one hour departure delay. But again, I lucked out because I had a massive layover of 8 hours in Newark.
Prior to DeicingDuring DeicingWing Deicing
As the airlines continue to devalue the use of their airmiles, I decided to cash in some of mine for a business class ticket to Heathrow on United. The one-way fare cost me 80k miles + $6 (I like the six dollars part!). In addition to having the business class seat, I was also able to access a lounge at Newark reserved for business class travelers on international flights. This was a nice bonus, considering my long layover.
The lounge was basically deserted when I arrived mid-morning, but was packed by late afternoon, as most of the transatlantic flights departed in the evening (mine was at 6pm).
The flight was comfortable, but uneventful. The meals were alright, but I thought the entertainment options were pretty thin. The interior of the plane seemed outdated too (a Boeing 767). And I didn’t sleep very much.
We landed around 6:30am on Wednesday (12:30am in Madison). One final advantage of the business class upgrade was the availability of an Arrivals Lounge that United has at Heathrow. It isn’t very big, but has many private shower rooms, which I am sure is its main drawing card. I definitely took advantage of this perk. Following the shower, I chilled out a bit in the lounge and then made my way to the Heathrow bus terminal for the ride into London.
A tube strike was planned in London for this week, so that transport option from the airport was off the table. I have to say though that during my time here I ended up taking the bus to and from the airport more often than not. When compared to taking the train, it’s much less expensive (cost: £1.75), requires no transfers, stops at the same place (South Harrow Station), and probably now takes less time with the Superloop express service to Harrow (thanks for the tip Mary!). It’s funny, at Christmas Holly and I were reminiscing about her visit here, with the late night arrival at Heathrow and our bus ride back to my place.
Sidenote: The tube strike was called off by the time I arrived in London, but as I noted above, the bus was the better option anyway.
Many of you who read this journal came to visit when I lived in London (specifically, Harrow on the Hill), and I’m thankful for that – a lot of great memories. Well, I’m very happy to say that my accommodation this winter will be in the same house in which I lived from 2007 to 2010 (can’t believe it’s been 17 years since I arrived to work in London, thanks again for recruiting me Ed!).
Look familiar to some of you? I lived in the two bedroom flat on the top floor of this picture.
I became friends with Mary & Tony, the owners of Byron House, during my time here and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. I last visited them during my Europe trip in January of 2020. Well, in addition to the two flats on the top floor of the house which are currently under long-term lease, they also have two smaller flatlets on the second floor. And one of those was fortunately available for me to rent from January through April. Perfect!
Living RoomShort stairway up to……the bedroomKitchen/Dining
A lovely accommodation! And the rent is a reasonable £850 per month, which includes weekly washing of sheets and towels and access to the washer and dryer for my personal laundry. Thank you so much Mary & Tony! (and for the arrival goodies!)
I arrived at Byron House around 10:30am and enjoyed catching up with Mary & Tony over tea. Following that I figured it would be best if I got out and did some walking around, to both enjoy the beautiful day and fight back any urge I had to fall asleep!
For those of you who haven’t visited, Harrow on the Hill is a quaint, historic village located northwest of London near Wembley Stadium. It is probably best know for being home to the Harrow School, a prestigious boarding school for boys. Founded in 1572, the school’s list of distinguished alumni includes seven former British Prime Ministers (Churchill amongst them).
To follow are some pictures from my walk around the Hill…
Harrow School – Old Schools BuildingHarrow School – LibraryHarrow School – ChapelI noticed these signs placed in front of many of the Harrow School buildings. These are new to me. Mary explained that they come as result of some abuse of the grounds and buildings by the public while the students were taught remotely during the Covid lock down. So sad…St. Mary’s Church (ca. 1094)I’ve always liked this cute little house on the Hill!The Old Etonian Hotel & Restaurant. Kari & Tom stayed here when they came to visit with my Dad. And I stayed here when I came back for business trips. Enjoyed a work Christmas lunch here too. Sadly, it is now closed (a Covid casualty).
For the rest of my walk I ventured down to Greenford, where I used to work. The next few pictures are from that area, and will probably only interest those of you readers who worked there. For the rest, feel free to scroll on past!
The Tower was sold several years ago and converted into flats.It looks like a 2nd phase of conversion is planned. It’s interesting that the Kellogg Tower sign is still in place!The Brokengate is still here! A popular lunch spot.
Surprisingly, the Wenzel’s sandwich, bread & pastry shop is gone. That was another popular lunch spot for us expats!
It looks like there was a fire at the Rising Sun…
Let me know if you’d like me to check out any other of your favorite spots from the past!
I spent the evening getting settled in, unpacking, and attempting to stay awake as long as possible! Was I able to avoid jet lag and get a good night’s sleep? Check back next time to find out! (quite the cliffhanger, right?!?)
I snapped over 3,500 pictures during the course of the trip. Here are a few of my favorites…
Panama Canal CruiseMy buddy Daniel on the Panama Canal cruiseOistins, BarbadosBathsheba, BarbadosPaynes Bay Beach, BarbadosGrand Anse Beach, GrenadaSt. George’s Harbor, Grenada (one of Holly’s favorites too!)With Anthony, on the rim of La Soufrière Volcano, Saint VincentPetit Piton, Saint LuciaGrand Baie Beach, GuadeloupeDeep Bay and Deep Bay Beach, AntiguaEnglish Harbour and Falmouth Harbour, from Shirley Heights in AntiguaFort James, AntiguaRunaway Beach, AntiguaMaho Beach, Sint MaartenMontego Bay, Jamaica (now the desktop photo on my laptop!)The Snorkeling Gang on Caye Caulker, BelizeCaye Caulker, Belize (Kari also liked this one!)
A lot of beach photos, I know. But come on, it was (mainly) the Caribbean after all!
Today is my last full day in one place as the trip draws to a close. Tomorrow I’ll be traveling back to Belize City, and on Wednesday to Madison. I’m thinking this will be a day of leisure.
I took a walk on the beach, worked on a journal entry and spent the rest of the day by the pool and on the patio (sound familiar?).
I’ve learned about Sargassum seaweed during my travels around the Caribbean. I’ve seen it on several of my stops. Some history: Beginning in 2011, unprecedented quantities of Sargassum began inundating coastal areas in Brazil, the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the east coast of Florida. These events cost millions of dollars in lost revenue for the tourism industry, especially hurting small Caribbean countries whose economies are highly dependent on seasonal tourism. Apparently there are three main factors behind the increased presence of the seaweed in the Caribbean: a) a nutrient influx into the seawater (from the Amazon, Congo and Mississippi Rivers); b) Trade Winds and Currents; and c) Human Effects (deforestation, waste-water runoff, and commercial agriculture fertilizer). For me personally, the beach here in Placencia is where I’ve seen the greatest presence of Sargassum on the trip.
Tuesday, April 18 – transit from Placencia to Belize City
I’m back on Tropic Air early this afternoon to Belize City; this time to the international airport.
A 10 USD taxi ride brought me to the Tropic Air “terminal” at the Placencia airport.Ready for boarding.Looking out from the plane. It kind of reminds me of a rural train station stop!A couple views from the flight…
Including the pilot, there were 4 of us on board. The flight lasted 25 minutes.
On the ground at Belize International Airport.I’m spending the night at the River Bend Resort……it’s located on a peninsula, and can only be reached by boat.Individual cabanas.96 USD for the night, including breakfast.The breakfast/reception/common area.I choose this accommodation mainly because it’s located close to the airport and provides free shuttle service. It has good reviews too!
Belize Information
Currency: Belize Dollar
Language: English
Vehicle Traffic: Drive on the right
Weather: Highs in the upper 80s, Lows in the upper 70s, moderately high humidity
Covid Entry Requirements: None
Mask Wearing: Rare
Electrical Outlets: U.S. Type
Drinkable Tap Water: No
Timezone: Same as U.S. Mountain Time
Wednesday, April 19 – transit from Belize to Madison
Breakfast was nothing special this morning, but I think Montego Bay raised my expectations!There’s a cute little puppy living on the property! Her name is Maya……I ended up playing with her a bit this morning before I had to depart for the airport.
I’m on American Airlines today back to Madison, via Dallas. I departed Belize around 1pm and landed in Madison at 11pm (home around midnight). Both flights were on 737s, and they were full! I again used miles for these flights; the cost was $78 + 36,000 miles. The Lyft ride in Madison was $30.
Travel Note: The line for immigration in Dallas was massive! However, I have Global Entry, and there were zero people waiting there. I walked right through! Awesome! Much of the time though the weak link in the Global Entry process is the baggage claim. You might get through immigration quickly, but there is still that wait for your luggage. Not today! Non-stop through immigration….and my bag is waiting for me! Wow! Full disclosure however: When I entered the U.S. in Fort Lauderdale a couple weeks ago Global Entry provided no advantage; there was no wait at immigration for the travelers without GE.
Another Travel Note: I was going to mention this earlier in the journal, but didn’t want to jinx myself. Have you noticed the lack of rain days during my trip? Like Hawaii last year, I’ve been unbelievably fortunate. Crazy! I might have had a couple days of rain this year, but that’s it.
In case you were wondering…
…my shoes survived the trip……and so did the backpack. Barely!
This has been an amazing trip! I know it could have been better if I had done some advanced planning, but I’m happy with the way it turned out. There’s been a LOT of moving around though. I foresee next winter’s escape being based in one place, with short out and back trips from that location.
Thanks to all of you for following along. I hope you haven’t been too bored, or felt obligated to read all of the entries. That’s not my intent. And much appreciation for all of your comments and questions, via this website and through phone calls, emails, and texts. While traveling solo the interaction with you means a lot to me. Until next year…
Epilogue
Throughout this journey I’ve compiled some trip-related lists. One caveat: While reading them over please remind yourself of my weirdness! The lists are random and in no particular order.
Favorite Experiences
Panama Canal Cruise
Volcano Hike
Using the Public (mini)Buses
Mantego Bay B&B
Caye Caulker Snorkeling
Favorite Places
Grenada
Beachside Grilled Fish Meals
Picturesque Harbor
Waffle Cones
Roti Stand
Antigua
Amazing Blues of the Ocean
Beautiful Beaches
Good walking/hiking
Hiking around Nelson’s Dockyard
Caye Caulker
Atmosphere
Snorkeling
Fellow Travelers
Favorite Accommodation
Montego Bay B&B (duh!)
Favorite Airbnbs
Barbados
Great Porch
Nice Breeze
No Mosquitos
Nearby Café
St. Lucia
Great Hosts
Provided food due to my late arrival
Homemade Soup
Dominica (1st time)
Good Host
Nice Patio/View
Least Expensive!
Favorite Meals
Grilled Fish Sandwich and Rum Punch from a food truck on the beach in Barbados
Mahi Mahi and Kale & Mango Smoothie at Ma Cherie Café in Barbados
Grilled Fish and Rum Punch at Beachside Market in Grenada
Roti in Grenada
Grenada Chocolate Ice Cream in a Waffle Cone
Grilled Fish at Dantie’s in Dominica
Homemade Soup from Airbnb hosts in St. Lucia
Rum Punch at Top Bar in Dominica (& Rum Punch in general!)
Coconut Water following the Volcano Hike in St. Vincent
Plantains and Sea Moss drink with Airbnb host in Dominica
Akee & Saltfish Patty in Kingston
All of the breakfasts at the Montego Bay B&B
Smoothies in St. Kitts
Pineapple-Ginger Ice Cream in Jamaica
Least Favorite Experiences
Dominica Ferry Terminal
Dominica Taxis
Taxis in General (no change for minor large bills, among other issues!)
Saturation (This is a travel-related term Xavier introduced me to – he experienced it during a month-long trip in Europe. It describes repeatedly seeing amazing things and becoming immune to the “wow” factor, which is absolutely a terrible thing to have happen. Unfortunately I experienced some of that on this trip – in regards to forts, beaches, & greenery. I’m not happy about it, and desperately fought against it.)
Least Favorite Airbnb
Dominica (2nd time)
Mosquitos
Noisy
Otherwise though, good
Location
View
Host
Top Bar
I’m sure I forgot some things, so feel free to call me out if you notice any oversights!
Let’s Look at the Data
Below I’m going to list a bunch of statistics, both from this trip and from all of my previous winter escapes (yes, I’m a dork). Please remember that you’re under no obligation to grind through this stuff!
Countries Visited
I visited 11 new (to me) countries and 2 new territories on this trip. I feel incredibly lucky to say I have now been to 81 countries. Below is a breakdown of visited countries by continent (and the % of countries I’ve been to on each continent):
Africa: 3 (6%) – much yet to see in Africa!
Antarctica: 0 (0%) – maybe this will be my 100th country?
Asia: 20 (44%)
Europe: 29 (60%)
North America: 19 (83%)
Oceania: 2 (14%)
South America: 8 (67%)
Trip Length
2023 Caribbean: 100 days
2019 South America: 77 days
2022 Hawaii: 66 days
2020 Europe: 33 days
2020 South America: 30 days (cut short due to Covid)
Trip Cost
Total
2023 Caribbean
2022 Hawaii
2019 South America
2020 Europe
2020 South America
Per Day
2022 Hawaii (shocking!)
2019 South America (skewed higher by Galapagos Islands and Easter Island)
2023 Caribbean
2020 South America
2020 Europe (skewed lower due to the use of frequent flyer miles for the transatlantic flights)
Steps
Total
2023 Caribbean: 1.32 million (that’s roughly 600 miles!)
Least: 1.3 thousand on the day after the St. Vincent Volcano hike
Postcards
I mailed 11 postcards to Oliver on this trip. Two are still in transit; but as of this writing the shortest delivery time was 12 days from Saint Martin ( a French Territory – I mailed the card during my day visit there from Sint Maarten), and the longest delivery time was 29 days from Dominica.
Planes, Ferries, Buses & Trains
I took 22 flights on this trip (not a great carbon footprint, I know…) totaling a little over 10k miles. The longest flight was from Toronto to Panama City, the shortest from Dangriga to Placencia in Belize.
I also traveled 5 times on ferries/water taxis; twice on buses; and once on a train (Fort Lauderdale to Miami).
Trip Map
The update to my trip map is now complete. The link to it is here.
Favorite Photos
I plan on going through my trip photos over the next few days and uploading a few of my favorites here. Please check back if you’re interested. Thanks!
