25 Jan 2007: London Tour & "Rock 'n' Roll"

St Olave's Church Hart Street dating from 1056
(notice the skulls on the spikes); new Lloyds of London
building designed by Richard Rogers; Mom and
Amy self-portrait
Braved the almost 40 degree weather to go on a tour of historic London. We found the ad for The Original London Walks at our hotel, and their range of walks and witty descriptions intrigued us. Some of their night walks were very appealing, but freezing weather with no chance of sun put us off: we chose the morning "The Famous Square Mile—2,000 Years of History" tour. Two hours with a lively and knowledgeable guide gave us an overview of the oldest part of London. We learned that the Romans built the first bridge in 43AD at the approximate site of the current London Bridge, that the Great Plague of 1665 followed by the Great Fire of 1666 decimated the cities population and buildings, and that the term 'tips' came from the coffee house practice of leaving money in a cup "to insure prompt service" and a better table (the first coffee house in London was opened by Henry Lloyd in 1688; the company later became Lloyds of London) .

After the tour we Tubed it to the Victoria & Albert museum to see Sixties Fashion exhibit. I didn't realize the vastness of its South Kensington museum's collections: the self-description reads "the world's greatest museum of art and design, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity." I have to make a few return visits!

Thursday night found us back in Trafalgar Square to see "Rock 'n' Roll"—Tom Stoppard's captivating and memorable play, set in Cambridge in Prague over a 22 year period, about politics, rock 'n' roll, love, death and how long one can remain silent as freedoms are removed or loyal when so little of what one deeply believes in remains. I hope to see it again with M* before it ends in late February. Mom dined on a typical English meal before the theatre: take away from Pret a Manger.