A Quick Stop in London

---

Continuing our journey through Scotland and England:

We shared a table on the train from Edinburgh to London with a young mother and her three-week-old baby. The mother was on a six-month paid leave from the British navy, and it was interesting to hear her describe how the navy is quite supportive of parenthood among their female sailors. The ride took a little over four hours, and we passed through Dunbar, Scotland, site of a battle in 1650 between Cromwell and the loyalists, one of whom was Wayne's ancestor, George Gray, who left Scotland for America after the defeat.

After passing through Berwick-on-Tweed and Newcastle and many other cities I can't recall, seeing many hay fields and bridges and one memorably huge nuclear power plant, we pulled into Pancras Station, Kng's Cross, London. From there we got an Uber driver to take us to our Comfort Inn near Victoria Station. We went out almost immediately to explore, walking past Buckingham Palace (two bored-looking guards); Hyde Park, where it looked like an office group were celebrating the end of the work week with a game of rounders (baseball precursor); Pizza Express(yum); Westminster Abbey; the Parliament Building with its famous clock tower and its view of the London Eye. Then we decided it would be worthwhile to take the See London by Night bus tour, so we practically ran up to Green Park to catch the 7:30 bus. This was a good decision, because we covered nearly the entire city in 90 minutes (in the bus, that is, not running to catch it) and enjoyed commentary and good views from the top of a double-decker. Highly recommended if you're short on time or just want to get your bearings in the city.

Since we visited with our family in 2000 there has been a lot of building, and I think the new skyscrapers actually add interest to the city without detracting from its old-world charm. The new buildings have nicknames that describe their shape: Gherkin, Cheese Grater, Walkie-talkie, and my favorite, The Shard, which looks like a broken piece of glass jabbing up into the sky. Very dramatic! Be sure to see the extra photos at the bottom of this blog.

It is clear that London is full of foreign money. Our guide kept pointing out Lamborghinis with Arab plates, penthouses owned by Hollywood celebrities, hotel suites going for $6000 per night,... It is attracting a lot of economic activity.

Tomorrow we start our tour down through the southwest of England to Cornwall.

---