My Mom came for a visit. We took the opportunity for some mother/son time by drinking deep of the history, sites, and beverages available to the intrepid in London. Rather than draw the siteseeing out over a succession of days we ripped it like a bandaid.
Promptly at 11am we took a walking tour from London’s famous London Walks. We heard tales of monuments, alleys, statues, churches, and of course, Cleopatra’s Needle. In the process, we worked up an appetite. Fortunately we were able to satisfy lunch cravings and literary history leanings with a light lunch in the Cheshire Cheese pub. It was frequented by Dickens, enjoyed by Twain, and located around the corner from Samuel Johnson’s house. Lunch was light and the history imposing. Already a full day right?
Hardly. With our insatiable curiosity and sturdy shoes we had only just started.
Where’s Helen? You’ll find her. In the back-middle, listening carefully.
After lunch we took a walk up Fleet Street and noticed some open top tour buses trundling past. My mother, who is a spry freshly-minted senior, suggested we jump on the next one.
And we did. We toured the streets of London – the High Streets – in a Big Bus, before disembarking by Cleopatra’s Needle to take a jaunt up the Thames by riverboat. Besides being a pleasant boat ride, we enjoyed seeing all of the main (and stylistically unrelated) London bridges (including London Bridge) from underneath. Of course, we also got to see and hear about Cleopatra’s Needle.
Within the hour we had made our way to Trafalgar Square to start on another walking tour. This one, fortunately, included a number of pub stops, and only the briefest glimpse of Cleopatra’s Needle.
Walking tour number two.
Our last stop of the evening before home was a delicious pub dinner at The White Lion by Covent Garden with some of our new friends from the tour. We finally arrived back at the flat around 11pm. This concluded our 12 hour whirlwind of London landmarks, buses, pubs, tales and – let’s not forget – Cleopatra’s Needle
The next day involved zero siteseeing. Which is fine, because we had bagged more than our quota the day before.
But London, I’m not done, I’m just resting.
And thanks again for the great day, mom.
