Back from London

I woke up early this morning and ordered a Bolt (an overseas Uber) and arrived at Heathrow and went through their security with no issue. I had a British breakfast at the American Express lounge and our flight left on time and arrived an hour early despite the storm over the weekend. We were cautioned about strong winds and although cold upon arrival, the air was refreshing.

What a wonderful long weekend in London! It might seem nutty to go to Europe just for a weekend, but like my trip to Prague last year, it’s a great way to see and spend time with friends!

Thank you again Jessica and Nixon for hosting me as I enjoyed the quality time and seeing your life across the pond!

Happy Birthday Nixon!

Today is Nixon’s birthday, so Jessica baked him a cake! What a lucky boy!



Today was also a relaxing day. We woke up late and eventually walked around the neighborhood of Wapping which includes these canals:





There were a lot of ducks and swans and many runners enjoying the sun:



We also circled the Shadwell Basin where I took a photo of the city center to my west…



And of Canary Wharf to my east….



We returned home and I had some fish and chips takeaway for lunch and we watched movies and documentaries, including the latest Bridget Jones movie. For dinner, Nixon had a steak to celebrate!



We also had steak and chips and actually some beet kimchi that accidentally got delivered!



I did not know Jessica enjoyed so much kimchi….I guess something you learn on trips like these. What a relaxing day of celebrating sweet Nixon!

A London Saturday

A view from Jessica’s apartment - you can see the Gherkin building designed by Norm Foster…I learned that in a Foster architecture exhibit at the Hearst Tower:



This morning, I had arranged guest passes to visit Equinox Bishopgate, a new club in the city center and actually near Jessica’s office. We walked up and enjoyed a tour and workout in the new club! Here we are after the workout:



We then headed home and picked up lattes from a local coffee shop paired with their wraps. We showered and wanted to nap, but we had matinee tickets to A Devil Wears Prada musical at the Dominion Theater starring Vanessa Williams:



You can see Vanessa in the red suit and we were unfortunately in the last row since we bought the tickets last minute. The costumes were great, but the music a little forced and trite. However, I wanted to see something that was not playing on Broadway:



It was raining a little as it does in London, but the subway entrance was right in front of the theater and we returned to near Jessica’s neighborhood and to St. Katherine’s Docks. I’ve eaten around this marina several times as we’re not far from the Marsh and other insurance offices and we met an old colleague who is working in London for a few years. I hadn’t seen her since 2020 and we last enjoyed a meal at Goosefeather in Westchester sitting outside with other industry colleagues. We had a lovely dinner at Bravas Tapas and returned to Jessica’s where Nixon was very happy to see us! A selfie below:



What a fun day of hanging out and enjoying the Saturday!

V-Day in London

After watching a few episodes of the new show Paradise, I headed out to meet an old colleague and visit some museums. I walked over to Tower Hill and got on the tube to St. James Park. This park was lovely and is right next to Buckingham Palace:



I strolled through and made my way to The Churchill War Rooms, which is a part of the Imperial War Museum. It’s an underground complex that was a command center during World War II. It’s located beneath the Treasury building and was reinforced with steel, so that it could survive a bombing. It’s also where they have an incredibly well-curated biographical museum about Winston Churchill. Here I learned his mother was actually American! Indeed, its Valentine’s Day, but I learned about the victories of war!

At the entrance, I met my old colleague, Rupinder. She wanted to visit the war rooms with me and we found that we were quite compatible museum partners - equally enjoying but not lingering. As such, we were thoroughly informed with our audio guides, but also efficient in navigating the many rooms. Here’s a map when it was functioning as the command center - there are way less rooms now due to the museum:



Here are various cabinet rooms, meeting rooms, and the center of it all, the map room:







Here’s Winston Churchill’s bedroom and office:



I also enjoyed the museum which was created by combining a lot of rooms. Here’s a hat display as he was famously known for his headgear:



As we exited and walked through the Westminster neighborhood, we saw Big Ben - and I could just hear Chevy Chase’s voice from the movie, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, “hey kids look, it’s Big Ben!”



We also saw queuing for photos in iconic telephone booths, walked by Downing Street, and Dover House with these tough guards that bite:



We walked up to the Soho neighborhood and ate on Carnaby street at an Indian restaurant called Dishoom. We shared hearty briyani, lamb curry, chaat, and yogurt:



In walking around the neighborhood, we also walked through the lovely Burlington Arcade full of shops:



We had actually visited the arcade between two exhibits at The Royal Academy of Arts which is in Burlington House in Piccadilly. It’s an old private mansion that has several royal societies, like geological and chemistry, but it’s really known for the arts and their exhibitions:



The rooms were impressive and beautiful:





We first went to “Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism” where I learned about several pioneering artists that had Afro and indigenous influences while being exposed to art movements in Paris and New York. I particularly enjoyed this painting by Djanira da Motta e Silva:



Then we visited the smaller, but packed, “Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael” where they were extra precautious and our bags had to be screened. On display were highlights of the museum’s permanent collection which included Michelangelo’s “Taddei Tondo” or “The Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John” - its apparently the only marble sculpture of his in Great Britain:



Here’s a drawing by Raphael of the backside of the famous David sculpture by Michelangelo in Florence:



Also on display was Leonardo da Vinci’s largest drawing nicknamed the “Burlington House Cartoon”, but is really titled “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist”:



And with that, and appropriate for Valentine’s Day, Rupinder hugged me goodbye and said her signature sign-off from our conference / video calls, “I’ll love you and leave you….” A selfie of us in front of a whimsical art piece:



I rested in the permanent collection which had replicas of Raphael’s tapestries and Leonardo’s Last Supper, before I headed back to Jessica’s neighborhood and picked us up a bottle of white wine. Nixon was happy to see my return, considering he was not happy at all when I was leaving this morning. But he’s having fun here with my Popeye (a Hearst brand) toy that I brought from the US!



Jessica made a delicious dinner which included salmon and vegetables and paired with the white wine, we binged through more episodes of Paradise…



What a lovely day as the sun was shining, the conversations were marvelous, and I got to explore museums I had never been to! Indeed, it was a victorious Valentine’s Day!

Stonehenge

I arrived in London this morning! It’s the 4th time I’ve been here and as part of killing time and completing a bucket list item, I headed out to Stonehenge. It’s about 90 minutes west of Heathrow airport which is also west of London.

Stonehenge is iconic as a symbol of English heritage - it’s a prehistoric structure of stones that has been recreated with large lintels. It also aligns with the sunrise on the solstice and equinox. Apparently, it was constructed starting 3100 BC and they also believe it may have been a burial ground as excavations discovered remains. Some photos of my visit which started right when the site opened at 9:30 am:













There were lots of sheep on the various earth mounds:



Here’s the famous heel stone that leads up to Stonehenge Avenue which also is the path of the sunlight on the solstice as the arrow indicates:





I enjoyed listening to the audio guide downloaded on my phone and through my headphones under my earmuffs. It was a bit chilly, but not as cold as New York. I also didn’t do any sort of hippie dance which is apparently popular at Stonehenge:





At the visitor center, there were exhibits, stones, and recreations of the Neolithic villages:







Originally, I had thought about joining a tour group from the city, but that would be time-consuming. There were two Korean tour groups today and as I left, more coach buses were arriving of young students. I did find tour options to visit from Heathrow, but the drop off would be at the cruise terminal in Southampton. As such, I decided to rent a car and return to Heathrow (a one way return in the city was too pricey). I was upgraded to this yellow Mercedes and I was reminded to drive on the left in my third ever country in doing so - photos below:





My rental experience was uneventful and I was very cautious in my driving as I didn’t have anyone as a second set of eyes or coaching me - I did forget though when I was getting into the car to go to the right side! After my return to Heathrow, I hopped on the shuttle to the terminal and boarded the London subway called the tube - I even had an old Oyster card which I topped off. I was in downtown in about 35 minutes and saw many finance and insurance bros while transferring to the 100 bus to Shadwell which is where my friend Jessica lives. I had been texting with Jessica’s dog walker who had keys to the apartment, and Nixon went bananas when he saw me. He cuddled with me after my shower and as I napped:



Jessica arrived from work and we caught up, split a bottle of white wine, and cooked dinner. Nixon continued to give me snuggles:



What an active day as I return to London, see the sites, and spend time with friends! I’m really looking forward to the next few days!