Greater London

We’d booked our tickets to see Windsor Castle way back when we were still in Portugal: with the holiday season in full swing, coupled with reduced capacity as a result of COVID, we wanted to make sure we were able to pay a visit to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during our time in the greater London area. It was a wet and cold day, but fortunately most of the castle’s sights were indoors. Quite cool to arrive to see the castle’s flag at full mast, indicating that the Queen was in residence in the southern wing of the State Apartments when we visited. The castle grounds and the castle itself were huge, the eleventh century project of William the Conqueror a testament to more than a millennium of architectural history. At the time of writing, Windsor Castle was the largest inhabited castle in the world and the longest-occupied palace in Europe. As of 2006, around 500 people were living and working in the castle. The Queen has increasingly used the castle as a royal palace as well as her weekend home.

As was the case when we visited the Spanish Royal Palace in Madrid, photos weren’t allowed in most portions of the State Apartments (a little disappointing, especially given the cost of the entry fee!). Even so, the interior of the castle’s living quarters was incredible, the ornate decorations were just amazing to see up close and the self-guided audio tour provided an excellent history of the British royal family over the centuries. We all learned that a significant portion of the State Apartments had burned in a 1992 fire, which destroyed nine of the principal state rooms and severely damaged more than 100 others. If not for the plaques and history of the fire from the audio tour, it would have been impossible to tell which portions of the castle had been damaged. The craftsmanship was stunning, amazing to think that there were masons and architects still able to repair the Gothic castle during the twentieth century. Unfortunately Queen Mary’s Doll House was closed when we visited, which meant we weren’t able to view the British Crown Jewels, but we’d seen the Spanish version in Madrid, so not all was lost. I think our favorite fact of the State Apartment portion of the audio guide was the discussion of the love life of King Charles II: he constructed bed chambers adjoining his own for his queen as well as a handful of mistresses, never producing an heir with his queen but siring no less than 14 children with his mistresses!

Saint George’s Chapel occupied the western portion of the castle walls and was quite a sight to behold. The fifteenth-century structure is considered by many historians to be one of the finest examples of English Gothic architecture. The chapel has been the site of many royal weddings over the centuries, particularly of the children of Queen Victoria and more recently that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. Also no photos allowed in most of the chapel areas, but we were kept busy by the rich history lesson from the audio guide to which we all listened whilst inside. The floor of the entire structure was littered with tombs, with no less than 12 kings laid to rest within the chapel’s walls. The intricate woodwork within the chapel’s central naive was probably the most ornate we’d seen anywhere in Europe.

One could easily spend a week in central London exploring all the city’s museums, the markets, political landmarks and performances of the West End. As it was, we’d visited a hell of a lot of cities in the prior seven months so tried to hit a few hotspots during a single full day in the city. As with all the cities across Europe, there were a ton of tour buses from which to chose, but since arriving in England in November we’d all been wanting to hitch a ride on one of the red double deckers that traverse all the cities and large towns in England. Without a doubt one of London’s best kept secrets was the route 11 bus that crossed the city on the northern banks of the River Thames (thanks for the hot tip Deirdre!). The bus route provided excellent views of many of the main sites: Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden, the Royal Courts of Justice, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, to name a few… And it was a lot of fun to be able to sit on the top deck with seats at the very front for the kids. A must do if ever visiting London as a tourist.

A lot of places we’ve visited on this trip of ours were crowdsourced: the result of suggestions from friends and relatives who have lived in Europe at some point in their lives. London’s Borough Market was a spot that featured on quite a few lists of our friends’ and relatives’ favorites, so we planned our lunch around a visit to the markets just next to London Bridge. We all actually followed our noses to the markets once we were a couple of blocks away, smells of all the street food vendors wafting into the surrounding streets made finding the markets a no brainer. There was so much delicious-looking food on offer, a testament to the melting pot of cultures that can be found in London. The produce available within the market was really fun to explore, everything from exquisite British cheeses to local baked goods and a diverse array of game and seafood. As with our visit to the Kirkgate Market in Leeds, it was a case of choice overload for the four of us when trying to pick lunch. Lisa’s masala dosa was exceptional, as was the slow-cooked goat pita wrap I picked up from a Turkish vendor. A great spot for lunch.

The kids are big fans of the Monopoly board game and had a grand ol’ time identifying all the landmarks around London featured in the game, tube stations in particular. Our hosts in Fleet suggested we take the kids to Hamleys Toys on Regent Street, along the way we took a stroll down bustling Oxford Street and past Oxford Circus. Hamleys was a lot of fun, it reminded me of the store in which Tom Hanks worked in the movie Big. There were store clerks demonstrating toys all over the store like something out of a fair sideshow. Soho and Carnaby Street were also a feast for the senses, so many restaurants and boutique stores at which to gaze as we explored.

We enjoyed all the buskers in Leicester Square, in particular a youth who was playing the flute to modern pop anthems. He was quite impressive, but the real crowd draw during his performance was an older Indian gentleman dancing to the flute with hilarious Bharatanatyam-inspired steps (pictured below in a pink shirt). We weren’t sure if he was part of the flute act or was just a crowd member that had just found inspiration from the music, but I lost count of the number of onlookers filming him. We made sure to stroll past Big Ben and Westminster Abbey on the way back to the train, the area around Westminster Bridge was very photogenic during the early evening hours with the London Eye all lit up.

Looking back on the last seven months, there were very few disruptions to our travels or changes in plans we’d had to make as a result of COVID. In London, however, we chose not to attend one of the plethora of musicals at one of the West End’s 38 theaters given the Omicron craziness that was enveloping the world. Not because we were worried about COVID itself, but more due to the implications of testing positive during the period when we were transiting in Australia. At the time writing, we have two PCR tests each to look forward to in the coming week. And unlike the non-existent controls on self-isolation in the US, testing positive for COVID in Australia will make for a very unpleasant couple of weeks to start life in our new country. I was disappointed we didn’t attend a musical, especially given the choice of shows when we visited and how much we enjoyed the pantomime whilst in northern Wales, but spending a few hours in a packed theater was something that just wasn’t worth the risk. Thank you COVID. Something for next time…

For our time in the greater London area we shacked up with Trevor and Deirdre in Fleet on the outskirts of the city. We’d actually never met them before arriving on their doorstep on Boxing Day, but they’d stayed with Lisa’s parents in California as part of the JAMERS hiking group and had also traveled to Ecuador as part of the same cadre. They were exceptionally welcoming, so generous of them to open their home up to us for our last stop in Europe. Deirdre was quite the hiker and took us into Surrey for a hike to Devil’s Jumps in nearby Surrey on our last day in the UK. It has become quite the tradition for us to finish our hikes at one of the excellent pubs littered across the country when it comes to hiking in England, so our walk was capped off with a few pints at The Barley Mow in quaint Tilford. The pigs along the hike were without a doubt the biggest domesticated pigs I’d ever seen, I’d hate to think how many hundreds of pounds the sow below weighed.

Our entry into Australia following our time in London required us all to return negative PCR test results in the 72 hours prior to boarding our plane. Fortunately we’d booked our fit-to-fly tests weeks prior so had slots secured, but as we were in London the UK NHS actually ran out of PCR tests for a short period due to the Omicron surge. And private test providers like the one we had to use were completely booked in the greater London area all the way into 2022. There was a lot of anxiety within the Valtenbergs ranks as we awaited our PCR test results on December 27, all of us were second-guessing the stomach bug Max and I came down with a few days earlier in Edinburgh, and of course one always wonders about asymptomatic cases. It would have been a massive inconvenience had any of us tested positive, as the logistics associated with securing an alternate flight into Sydney on short notice would have been a royal nightmare. Not to mention the conundrum of being in a foreign country and having to isolate for a week. And we’d have felt horrible dumping ourselves on Trevor and Deirdre. As it was, when the email came through during the evening of December 27 with four negative results we all cheered, such an anxiety relief. Australia here we come!