London, England

We arrived in London and were staying in Primrose Hill, which is a northern suburb of the city- kinda like a Wilmette or Glenview of London for my Chicago-area friends. We were half a block from the beautiful Primrose Hill Park, and only a 20 minute taxi, tube, bus, or bike ride into the heart of London (bikes were actually fastest). It was also easy walking to groceries and other amenities, and maybe a 15 minute walk to Abbey Road. Primrose Hill Park is adjacent to the expansive Regent's Park, which homes the London Zoo, an open-air theater, and much more. It was an awesome neighborhood and served us well for our week's stay.

Our first day, we had tickets to the National Gallery. This was probably the best "traditional" art museum experience we've had, in my opinion. They had some phenomenal pieces by very recognizable artists (Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Seurat, van Gogh), and some stunning works by artists that were less familiar, at least to me. They have a free audio tour, which we used to guide us along and that was really helpful and informative. Each of us picked a favorite piece, and I think Miles now has a subject for the art critique he's writing as part of his English studies this spring (van Gogh's "Two Crabs"). 

We did many of the typical touristy things: We took a walking tour and saw all of the key sites, including the Royal Palace and all of the nearby royal residences and historic buildings, as well as Big Ben and all the rest. We watched the Changing of the Guard procession, hopped in some red phone booths, took a black cab, rode the tube and in a double-decker bus. Nicole and Carter rode the Eye of London (a huge ferris wheel on the Thames overlooking the city) while Miles and I checked out 221B Baker Street (the Sherlock Holmes museum- Miles is a huge fan). 

I mentioned earlier that we had chosen to buy tickets to see Much Ado About Nothing at The Royal Theater back in December, before we left for our trip, as one of our "anchor points" for the European part of our adventures. This ended up forcing us to do quite a bit of juggling of our schedule to make this work, as heading to London at this point in our trip didn't really make logistical sense, especially once we had the Tesla to drive from place to place, so there was a lot riding on this performance. I can say with 100% confidence that it was totally and completely worth it. This was hands-down the best interpretation and execution of any Shakespeare play I've ever seen, and may be the best theatrical performance I've ever seen. Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell (also of Marvel fame as Peggy Carter) and the entire cast were simply phenomenal. It was a relatively contemporized take on the story, but very stripped down, with a very minimalist set and stage clothing, which really drew attention to the words - 100% Shakespeare's words - and they played it so, so well, complete with audience interaction, heckling, and everything else that was true Shakespeare. Both Miles and Carter were roaring with laughter from the get-go and enjoyed the show easily as much as we did. We saw the very last night of the eight week run, and the energy on the stage and in the audience was palpable. I really can't say enough good things about this production and I'm so happy we made the effort to plan so much of our trip around it.

Next on the agenda was a trip out to Stonehenge. Instead of hopping on a tour bus, we had decided to rent a car, figuring it might allow us some other freedoms as well. We had reserved a small economical car, but when I went to pick it up, it reeked of smoke, so the company upgraded me to a swanky BMW wagon. It was super disconcerting getting in behind the steering wheel on the right-side of the car, and I probably spent 15 minutes in the parking lot just trying to get my brain to adjust to the idea. Pulling out onto the road was so disorienting, and the trickiest part by far was making turns; the only thing that made it easier was driving behind other vehicles going the same direction, which was super helpful. After about an hour of being on the highway, things started to click, and by the second day of having the car, it was almost becoming natural (so much so that when we got back to France, I almost pulled onto the wrong side of the road). Stonehenge itself was pretty mesmerizing. We spent some time in the visitor's center first, which was well advised as we learned a lot about what we would be seeing with a free audio tour, and then took the shuttle out to the site, where we also walked around with the audio tour. Though it was a bit chilly, we were fortunate to have blue skies and were able to really take our time soaking in the history and basking in the wonder of this mysterious landmark. Scientists, researchers and anthropologists have learned so much about it over the years, but still so much is unknown, adding to the mystery and magic. We took a long walk back through the fields, exploring the barrows (ancient burial mounds that surround the landscape), and soaking up the sun. On the drive back to London, we stopped at an out-of-the way cafe for some awesome Fish & Chips before returning home.

Some other fun/ interesting things: Apparently, lots of people die every year from stepping out into the streets into oncoming traffic because they looked the wrong way to check for cars. As a result, at every cross-walk there is painted in large lettering: "LOOK RIGHT." Carter finally got a haircut - he had been waiting to get a haircut until we were in a country where the barber spoke English so he knew they would understand what he was saying. His stylist was awesome and we had a super fun chat while she trimmed him up (most notably about how basically nobody in the UK owns a gun). We visited Abbey Road, which was kind of hilarious. There are throngs of people just waiting to run out onto the crosswalk and have their picture taken, and traffic is very patient with the constant interruptions (can't imagine how bad it would've been on a weekend). Riding up front in the double-decker bus was super wild and we kept thinking we were going to hit things (and you could, in fact, see places on trees with red paint from where they'd gotten a little too close in the past :)). 

After our amazing experience with Much Ado About Nothing, the kids were pretty jazzed to see another show while we were in town, so we did some poking around and let them pick from the options. Miles is a huge Greek mythology buff, so we ended up getting tickets to Hadestown on our last night in London. It was an excellent show that we've continued to talk about and have been listening to the soundtrack on our continued travels. Definitely recommend if you get the chance. Early the next morning, we headed to Hethrow, flew back to Lyon, hopped in the Tesla and began our drive to Prague.