Eight Beautiful Days and Nights in London
What we loved and one thing we hated.
London is the star of this story.
And the weather during our mid-January 8-day stay. Sunny and cold, with no precipitation until our Delta ride lumbered to the runway.
My partner Rebecca and I were two of the 30 million visitors London will receive this year.
It is an open-arms kind of place.
Even for two seventy-year-olds.
Here are some idiosyncratic highlights, and one lowlight, that might help you plan or remember a visit.
Itinerary
We studied Rick Steves’ London guidebook about a month before our departure to lay out a tentative day-by-day plan. We used his excellent maps, including the Underground, and extensive descriptions of tourist sites. One strategy emerged from this preliminary work. We decided, with one exception, to use nights for plays, musicals, concerts, and films to free up more daytime for London sites.
I put our actual daily schedule at the end. And three London stories that also helped in our preparation.
Our London digs
That’s Rebecca outside The Celtic Hotel, pronounced Seltic, not Keltic. My bad.
The Celtic is located in north central London, two blocks from the Russell Square Tube Station.
It’s within walking distance (1.5 miles) of major tourist attractions such as The British Museum, the British Library, the National Art Gallery, Trafalgar Square, and many theaters.
The breakfast was hearty, with porridge the highlight, which allowed us to skip lunch. The staff was friendly and accommodating. During a 2018 stay, Rebecca left a pair of shoes. We contacted the hotel, and the shoes were in the post soon after.
Getting from here to there
We walked about 4 miles a day. No rain or snow helped. As did the clear sky you see over Big Ben in the first photo.
For example, on day two in the morning, we walked a mile to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Then we hiked a few blocks to see the matinee of the play Best of Enemies. The Noel Coward Theatre was just a stone’s throw from Chinatown for dinner. With new sim cards in our phones, we navigated the 30 minutes back to our hotel arriving around 10 pm.
When we didn’t walk, we used London’s Underground or Tube. After arriving at Heathrow Airport, we purchased an Oyster Card ($100) and took the Tube to a station two blocks from our hotel. The Underground doesn’t service Gatwick, but trains do. London has 20 train stations. Including St. Pancras, about a mile from The Celtic.
Most central London tube stations included escalators and steps. About a third are step-free. I wrote about London’s public transportation accessibility policy here. Every car had designated seats for those who could not stand long.
Eight days on the Tube and one delay that we were warned about well in advance. We had a problem making our Oyster card work at the turnstile on two occasions. Both times, a friendly public transportation worker fixed the issue.
The London Underground is not art, a play, or a museum. But it is a testament to human creativity. Five million people bustle through it each day by following three rules. They mind the gap, keep right, and pay attention to the signs.
And it does have a terrific museum, The London Transport Museum, that honors its history.
Three more things I loved.
Food
While Rebecca was clicking away to produce this photo, I ate more than my share of St. Martin’s in the Field Café in the Crypt’s apple crumble with vanilla cream.
Greedy sod.
St. Martin’s is a church across the street from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. You enter the cafe through a glass door to the left of the church. It’s one of London’s hidden gems.
Rebecca kindly did not take photos of me eating Pappardelle alla Bolognese at Prima Sapori D’ Italia, Chicken Tikka Masala at Punjab, and Fish & Chips at Friend at Hand Pub.
The British Library
I have a soft spot in my heart for William Shakespeare. Although I went on to study politics, Father Kokjohn’s Shakespeare class in 1972, my 5th year of college, forced me to become a serious student.
The British Library has a funky little room with an unfunky title, The Sir John Ritblat Gallery. That’s where I took this photo. It is the first book (folio) of Shakespeare's plays published seven years after his death (1623).
He looks like someone we should still be looking at 600 years later.
The Tate Modern
Four years before I took that Shakespeare class, I earned a D in Art Appreciation.
Now, I’m doing penance.
And loving it.
We saw lots of art in London including two visits to the Tate Modern which occupies a former power station.
One of my favorite paintings was René Magritte’s Man with a newspaper. You can see a photo of the painting below.
You can find many interpretations of this piece of art. What do I see?
Absence. The world continued without this man with a newspaper. Just as The Celtic Hotel’s breakfast room exists today without Rebecca and Paul sitting in their corner spot.
My father died 30 years ago. As I was back in my hometown for his funeral, I recall thinking the world is now without my dad. It’s not quite the same. Look carefully at the curtained window in each of the frames. The perspective changes just a little.
One thing I hated.
Harrods
Hate is too strong. And probably unfair.
100,000 people visit every day. It presents itself well, as you can see.
It wasn’t just the $29,000 watch.
Or the private toilet stall locked and waiting for some Poobah.
Or the counter waiter in the Food Court who told us we could have these stools for 45 minutes.
Or the sullen wait staff who served the lukewarm & weak hot chocolate.
Or the bland but perfectly formed scone.
It was the feel of the place.
We couldn’t get out fast enough. You might like it.
We visited Harrods on our 5th day.
By then, London had worked its magic.
Opened its arms.
Expanded our horizons.
Harrods was anti-London.
With arms closed.
Thank goodness we had more time.
To return to the Tate Modern.
The Anti-Harrods.
This photo captures our sense of delight with our London adventure.
Paul & Rebecca’s Eight-Day London Itinerary
Day 1: Arrived at 7 am Heathrow; British Library; British Museum.
2: Trafalgar Square; National Art Museum; National Gallery (closed for renovation); Play: Best of Enemies, matinee.
3: Courtauld Art Gallery; Victoria and Albert Museum; Musical: Hamilton
4. Tower of London; Vivaldi concert at St. Martins in the Field Church, Trafalgar Square.
5. Harrods; a tour of Parliament; film in Leicester Square.
6. Rabbie’s Oxford & Cotswold’s day tour. We met Rabbie’s van at Victoria Station.
7. Tate Modern; London Transport Museum; Musical: Mama Mia
8. Wiener Holocaust Library (three blocks from Celtic); back to the Tate Modern; Play: The Unfriend.
Three helpful London stories
Claire Elizabeth was right about there being more to the UK than London. Claire reinforced our interest in a day trip to the Cotswolds. You can read her article here.
Darren Weir wrote about his 14 hours in London here. After I read his story, I said to myself, this is the best kind of tourist mentality, to fill one's days up and not waste a moment.
John Welford reminded us London is about art and described “London's Best Art Galleries” here. John uncovered the Courtauld for us. Speaking of uncovering, you can read about Modigliani’s Nude picture below here.
