Sunday, July 7, 2019
Our Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to London is uneventful
and on time (and not all flights are which is why I like to point it out when
things go well). We arrive at around 6:30pm, collect our bags and head for the
taxi queue. The preferred route from Heathrow to London is the Heathrow
Express, a high-speed train that goes directly from the airport to Paddington
Station in London in 21 minutes rather than the typical 1-hour ride by taxi.
It’s awesome, but it requires a bit of a walk, then you take the tube at
Paddington to your ultimate destination in London and that requires more
walking, long escalators, etc. With all of our luggage, it’s just not practical
to take the train, so we resign ourselves to a taxi. Quick word about that – taxis
in London are fantastic. They are old-style, large vehicles where all of your
luggage can fit in the seating area with you and the seats are roomy and
comfortable. If taxis everywhere were this style, Uber and Lyft would have to
revamp their business model.
We are dropped off at our AirBnB, which will be our home for
the next week. It is on a quiet street and is a 5-story building. Naturally,
our unit is on the top floor, but, thankfully, there is an elevator.
Unfortunately, the elevator only goes to the fourth floor requiring us to haul
our bags up the 5th and final flight of stairs. Compared to some of
our previous rentals, this is wonderful.
What is not wonderful is the unit itself. Perhaps the
smallest one-bedroom in all of London and it is not in very good condition. We
struggle to find room for all of our bags and the two of us, but eventually we
work out an arrangement that allows for both of us to move around and get done
what needs to get done.
And one final point about the AirBnB, it is in the Mayfair
district which is central to everything – Hyde Park, Green Park, St. James’s
Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, the Thames, theatre district, etc. It
turns out to be a great home for us for the week.
After dropping off our bags and a quick freshening up, I
call my son, Travis. He is in London for three weeks with his wife, Stephanie,
and three children – Jayden (13), Addison (11) and Riley (7). Travis runs the
retail business for Microsoft and is in town for the grand opening of a massive
new store at Oxford Circle, one of the pre-eminent shopping locations in all of
London. Liz and I have timed our visit to London to coincide with their time
here. We will tour the area with Stephanie and the grandkids while Travis
works this week and then, in two weeks, we will catch up with them in Northern
Spain while they vacation.
We make our way over to their apartment near St. James’s
Park to say hi, give the grandkids a hug, briefly catch up, before they have to
settle the kids. Liz and I return to the Mayfair district and eat a late dinner
at the bar at Claridge’s, a swanky hotel that we were under-dressed for, but,
hey, we were hungry. We finally get to bed around midnight after a day that
started in Southwest Ireland, included tours of multiple spots in Kilkenny, a
2-hour drive to the Dublin airport, etc., etc. In spite of our
micro-accommodations, we are asleep the moment our heads hit the pillows.
Monday, July 8, 2019
The next morning, we are up early and meet Steph and the
kids for breakfast at a mutually convenient place. Our first stop today is the
British Museum. This is my favorite museum in the world. When the sun never set
on the British Empire, they were busy assembling the most impressive collection
of artifacts from all over the world. As the first public national museum in
the world (established in 1753), with a collection of over 8 million works, the
British Museum seeks to document the story of human culture from its beginnings
to the present. At nearly 1 million sq ft, the museum itself is a massive
building.
After entering the building, we make a beeline for my
favorite item in the museum – the Rosetta Stone. Yes, the Rosetta Stone, and it
is the first item you see when you enter the Ancient Egypt section of the
museum. The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799 in the port city of Rosetta
(now called Rashid) in north-east Egypt by Napoleon’s army. Two years later,
the British conquered the French at Alexandria and, as part of the treaty of
surrender, turned over the stone to the British.
The stone is inscribed with three versions of a decree
issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC by King Ptolemy V. The top and middle texts
are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and demotic scripts, while the
bottom is in Ancient Greek. The decree has only minor differences among the
three versions, so the Rosetta Stone became key to deciphering Egyptian
hieroglyphs, thereby opening a window into ancient Egyptian history. It is one
of the most remarkable documents anywhere.
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| The Rosetta Stone |
After examining the Stone, I challenged my three
grandchildren to find the oldest item in the museum. While the actual oldest
item, the Olduvai stone chopping tool, dates back nearly 2 million years ago,
the oldest item in the Egyptian collection is the Mummy of Ginger dating to
3400 BC – over 5 thousand years ago! Jayden, a 7th grader, had
recently studied Ancient Egypt in school, so to be able to actually see real
sphinx, statues, mummies, etc. from Egypt was pretty exciting.
Next we went to the Ancient Greece collection to visit the
Parthenon collection. Liz and I had visited the Parthenon in Athens on June 16th
and I had previously written about that experience and the dispute between the
Greeks and the British Museum over the Elgin (Parthenon) Marbles. In
brief, in 1801, Lord Elgin of Scotland had been given permission from the
Turks, who were ruling Greece at that time, to remove artifacts from the
Acropolis. Elgin removed over half of what remained of the Parthenon, at that
time, and they are now beautifully displayed in the British Museum. From the
point of view of the British Museum, these artifacts were taken with the
approval of the ruling government at that time (the Turks) and from the Greek
government, they were stolen and they want them back. There has been no
compromise on either side and it wouldn’t appear this will change any time
soon.
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| Elgin Marbles |
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| Elgin Marbles |
Following the passing of my first wife, Wendy, due to cancer
in March 2011, I spent the summer in London where my company, Bentley, was
opening a major new office. While I was there, for three days in August, there
were riots and looting which began in the London suburb of Tottenham and then
spread throughout London and other parts of England. The initial cause for the
riots seemed to be the shooting of police suspect, Mark Duggan, but that didn’t
adequately define the scale and ferocity of the riots. Others suggested it was
recent government cuts that sparked the anger and there were lots of other
theories. I recall one journalist writing at the time, “if you want to
understand how so many young people could participate in freely participating
in the looting of thousands of stores, go visit the British Museum, we have
been doing this for centuries!”
With that said, no visit to London is complete without a
visit to the British Museum. It is spectacular even if a bit controversial.
After the museum, we walked to St.Paul’s Cathedral for a
visit of this magnificent church designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The Great
Fire of London occurred in 1666 gutting the medieval City of London inside the
old Roman city wall destroying over 13,000 houses and the original St. Paul’s
Cathedral. Wren was commissioned to rebuild St Paul’s and it is a masterpiece.
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| St Paul's Cathedral |
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| View of St Paul's from Millennium Bridge |
We then walked along the Thames, heading east, passing by
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship, the
Golden Hinde, in which he circumnavigated the world in the late 16th
century, and eventually reaching Borough Market, a large outdoor farmers
market, where we had lunch. After lunch, we walked back over the Thames on
London Bridge (yes, that London Bridge and, no, it was not falling
down). From here, we caught the tube at Cannon Street and headed back to St
James’s Park where we walked the park and fed the parrots.
It had been a long, exhausting day, covering nearly 10 miles
of walking. I was impressed that the grandkids held up so well. They were
chasing parrots while I was dozing on the grass of St. James’s Park. What a
great day.
Today, we would be heading to Hever Castle, the ancestral
home of Anne Boleyn. In addition to Stephanie and the three grandkids, we were
also joined by Travis, who was taking the morning off from his preparation for
Thursday’s grand opening of the Microsoft Store. We met at London Bridge
Station where we caught a train to Hever, about a 1-hour ride. From Hever
Station, we than walked 30 minutes to the castle through the very remote,
bucolic countryside.
Originally constructed in the late 13th century,
Hever Castle was owned by the Boleyn family from 1462 to 1539 and is where
Anne, who would become King Henry VIII’s 2nd wife, spent her
childhood. Over the centuries, the castle changed hands many times until it was
purchased by the American millionaire William Waldorf Astor in 1903.
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| Hever Castle |
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| Stephanie, Travis, Addison, Riley & Jayden at Hever Castle |
King Henry VIII and His
Six Wives
The tour of Hever Castle, as well as several other visits in
England and Scotland, highlights the impact that Henry VII had on England and
the world. He is perhaps best known for his six wives – 2 of them divorced, 2
of them beheaded and 2 of them died.
The first of his wives, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (yes, the same folks who commissioned Christopher
Columbus) was first betrothed at the age of only three to Henry’s older
brother, Arthur, who she married when they both turned 16. Sadly, Arthur died
five months later, and she then married Henry eight years later. Henry had
become King of England two years before (1509) at the age of 17. The marriage
of Catherine, daughter to the King and Queen of Spain and Henry, King of
England, served to consolidate the power of Spain and England, both of whom
were firmly part of the Catholic Church.
Now, young Henry was a bit of a philanderer, and shortly
after his marriage to Catherine, he began an affair with one of Catherine’s
lady-in-waiting, Mary Boleyn. And, can you even believe it, Mary is the older
sister of Anne, who when Henry met her, he simply had to have her for his wife.
But first, there was this unfortunate circumstance of already being married to
Catherine, not to mention he was having an affair with Anne’s sister (and
rumored to have fathered two children with Mary).
So what do to? You are married to the daughter of the King
and Queen of Spain, you are in love with the younger sister of the
lady-in-waiting to your wife and which younger sister you have been conducting
and affair for a long time, you are the King of England with a sworn obedience
to the Pope and the Catholic Church who frowns on this behavior and refuses to
grant you an annulment (divorces are illegal). Indeed, what a pickle.
Enter, the shrewd and devious mind of Oliver Cromwell, who
suggests that you reject the Pope and the Catholic Church, you establish a new
church – the Church of England, and you put yourself in charge of this new
church because, after all, you are the king.
Now all of this didn’t happen quickly. Henry and Catherine
were married for 24 years, but she had failed to produce a male heir during all
of this time, so what is a king to do, but graze elsewhere. And so, at the age
of 41, Henry is married to Anne Boleyn after decrees are signed annulling his
marriage to Catherine.
As it turns out, Anne was a strong-willed woman who didn’t
care much for the delicate life as the wife of a King. Eventually, this began
to grate on Henry, but even more disturbing was the fact that she had failed to
produce a male heir, just as Catherine before her. With that said, Catherine’s
daughter, Mary, and Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, each turned out to become
rulers of England. Mary spent much of her reign trying to reverse Henry’s formation
of the Church of England and return England to the Catholic faith. Elizabeth,
the Virgin Queen, succeeded her and re-established the Church of England, died
without heir and thus ended the rule of the House of Tudor after 118 years.
After only three short years of marriage, Henry was tired of
Anne having taking notice of one her ladies-in-waiting, the beautiful Jane
Seymour. And, so, a case was fabricated against five men, including Anne’s
brother George, and Anne herself, of having participated in treasonous adultery
and incest. The six were found guilty, sentenced to death and, summarily,
beheaded in spite of little to no evidence.
One day after Anne’s execution, Henry was engaged to Jane
and married ten days later. She was 28 and he was 45 years old. Within a year,
Jane succeeded where the two previous wives had failed and produced a male
heir, Edward, but the birth was difficult and Jane died shortly after. And
Edward, at the age of nine, succeeded his father as King of England. However,
at the young age of only 15, he became terminally ill, and named as his
successor his first cousin, Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen upon Edward’s
death. Within a few days of becoming Queen, she was dethroned by the
aforementioned Mary (King Henry’s daughter by Catherine), found guilty of
treason and beheaded.
After three years without a wife, it was time for Henry to
get married again. Without the benefit of online dating services, Henry was
shown a portrait of the young Anne of Cleaves, 24-years his junior. Believing
her to be a beauty, he agreed to the marriage and in 1540 they were married. As
it turns out, she was not all that beautiful and the King quickly grew
wearisome of her and within only a matter of months, the marriage was declared unconsummated,
she was given a generous settlement and was, thereafter, referred to as the
King’s Beloved Sister. In retrospect, she was the most fortunate of Henry’s six
wives, outliving them all and financially secure.
In less than three weeks, Henry was married to his fifth
spouse, Catherine Howard, another of Anne Boleyn’s ladies-in-waiting.
Catherine, at only 17 year’s old, was 31 years younger than Henry. That age
difference proved to be fatal, as Catherine quickly had romantic eyes for
others roaming the palace. Apparently, there were two such affairs and when
Henry learned of them, he was not pleased. Within 16 months of their marriage,
Catherine and the two consorts were beheaded.
And that brings us to Henry’s sixth and final wife and the
third Catherine among the group, Catherine Parr, a wealthy widow and only 20
years younger than Henry. Apparently, at the age of 52, Henry had learned that
a happy marriage wasn’t all about chasing the next young thing that wandered
through the palace. Catherine was practical and pragmatic and helped to
reconcile Henry with his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, which paved the way
for their being placed back in line for succession to the throne. It was Henry
who died four years after their marriage. Catherine was married again, this
time to Thomas Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife (I
know, crazy). Sadly, Catherine died shortly thereafter as a result of
complications in childbirth. She was only 36.
So that’s it. Six wives. Three named Catherine, two named
Anne and one named Jane. Two divorces or annulments, two beheaded and two died
from complications with childbirth. As for Henry, he died at the age of 55,
likely from complications due to obesity (his waist measured 54”) and he was
buried in Windsor Castle next to wife #3, Jane Seymour.
English Reformation
Beyond the soap opera that was Henry and his wives, Henry
was also a central figure in the English Reformation marking England’s break
with the Roman Catholic Church. Prior to Henry, there was growing
dissatisfaction in Europe with the Roman Catholic stranglehold on religious
thought and political power. A reform movement was brewing based upon a couple
of key religious differences.
The Reformation was a clash of two opposed approaches to
salvation. The Catholic Church taught that good works was the key to salvation.
Catholic worship was centered on the Mass, the church's offering of the
sacrifice of Christ's body and blood. The Mass was also an offering of prayer
by which the living could help souls in purgatory. Protestants taught that
fallen humanity was helpless and under condemnation until given the grace of
God through faith, not good works. They believed the Catholic emphasis on
purgatory was an obstacle to true faith in God and the identification of the
Mass with Christ's sacrifice a blasphemous perversion of the Eucharist. In
place of the Mass, Protestant worship was centered on the Bible either read or
presented in sermons.
Along comes Henry and his deep desire for a male heir and
the need to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, so that he could
then marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused to grant the annulment thereby
aligning the interests of Henry and the Reformists. Among Henry’s advisors,
including Cromwell, were leaders of the Reform movement and they seized the
opportunity. While Henry was delighted with the outcome to then marry Anne and
pursue a male heir, he was somewhat conservative in his religious beliefs as
compared to the movement leaders.
Nevertheless, the movement picked up momentum due to
political reasons rather than religious theology. England’s treasury was in
need of additional revenues. Eliminating the need to pay taxes to the Vatican
was a good start, but the Catholic Church also owned an estimated 20% to 33% of
all of the land in England. Confiscating this land and selling it to the upper
class was a convenient way to bolster the treasury while co-opting the wealthy
to the movement.
These actions did not go down easily and set neighbor
against neighbor as the Catholic Church had been an integral part of community
life for centuries. This led to rebellion that needed to be crushed and often
this was done in the harshest of forms backed by new laws, trials and
executions. Monarchs also waffled, some preferring to return to Catholicism,
others with a strong defense of the Church of England while still others, like
Henry, fell in the middle. Eventually, in the mid-17th century,
there were the English Civil Wars that ended with James II, a Catholic
sympathizer, being deposed and replaced with William and Mary as joint
sovereigns and ushering in the English Bill of Rights which, among things,
limited the powers of the monarch and established a clearer separation of
church and state.
And while it is likely that the English Reformation and
Protestant Movement would have progressed without Henry’s political ambitions,
it certainly is the case that Henry accelerated the movement and the demise of
the Catholic Church in England and elsewhere in Europe.
Wednesday, July 10th
Today was Harry Potter day for us. Several months before
arriving in London, we had arranged tickets to see the play Harry Potter and
the Cursed Child. The play is in two parts comprised of a matinee
performance and an evening performance and, essentially, you must commit an
entire day if you plan to see it. Well, we did and we would be going with
Stephanie, Jayden, Addison and Riley, each of whom have read all or nearly all
of the Harry Potter books. Liz and I, on the other hand, have read none of JK
Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books. I started the first book many years ago,
read several hundred pages and then had to put the book down. I never returned
to it. It just wasn’t my thing. But the opportunity to see this play with my
grandkids, who are actual Harry Potter enthusiasts, was too good to pass up.
The story for the play was co-written by Rowling and Jack
Thorne, who then wrote the script for the play(s). Without giving anything away
to you Potter loyalists, the play is set nineteen years after the conclusion of
the final novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and focuses on
Harry’s younger son, Albus, and his unlikely friend, Scorpius Malfor, the son
of Harry’s nemesis, Draco Malfoy, as they are now enrolled at Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (Just writing a sentence like this brings back the
memories of why I couldn’t finish reading book #1.)
No surprise the play has been an artistic and commercial
success. At the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards, the London production received a
record-breaking eleven nominations and won an again record-breaking nine
awards, including Best New Play, Best Actor, Best Actor in a Supporting Role,
Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Director. At the 2018 Tony Awards, the
Broadway production won six awards, including Best Play. And, of course, it has
set records at the box office as the highest grossing play ever.
We met Stephanie and the kids in Green Park prior to the
start of the matinee for a picnic lunch and then were off to the first play.
After the matinee, we headed to Covent Gardens for a little browsing and
dinner, then back to the theatre for Part Two. Travis was able to break away
from work for the evening performance and met us at the theatre.
Here’s my review of the play. Go see it. It is magical. And
to be able to experience this with my grandkids was extra special.
Thursday, July 11th
This day was dedicated to the grand opening of the Microsoft
store in the heart of Oxford Circus, the world-famous intersection of Regent
Street and Oxford Street, Europe’s busiest shopping street. Travis, who is the
General Manager for Microsoft’s retail stores worldwide, along with his
extended team, has been working on this store for a couple of years and this
opening is a big deal for Microsoft and for him.
We were there for the opening at 10am and the place was
mobbed. Travis gave us a personal tour of the space and the kids got lost in
the gaming department.
Here’s how The Verge, a tech publication, described the
opening-
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| Opening of the Micorsoft Store at Oxford Circle |
“Microsoft has more than 80 retail stores worldwide, but
none of them are quite like the company’s new London flagship store. It’s the
best demonstration yet of CEO Satya Nadella’s reinvented Microsoft. Set across
three floors, Microsoft has laid out everything it has to offer. That includes
Surface devices on every floor, HoloLens headsets, a big Xbox gaming lounge,
and even a real-life McLaren Senna sports car that’s hooked up to Forza.
Microsoft has spent more than two years developing the
Oxford Circus store, and the ground floor serves as a welcoming party to
Microsoft’s world. There are giant 4K video walls everywhere you look that are
just as striking as those found in Microsoft’s other stores.
Tucked away in the corner is where you’ll find the McLaren
Senna. The steering wheel and foot pedals are all connected to Forza Motorsport
7, and visitors will be able to jump in and race around the Silverstone track,
just in time for the British Grand Prix this weekend.
The second floor is where things get even more interesting.
There’s the regular support Answer Desk (Microsoft’s version of Apple’s Genius
Bar) and areas to showcase Xbox hardware, laptops from Asus, HP, and Razer, and
Surface accessories.
The real star of the second floor is Microsoft’s gaming
area, though. It’s filled with 15 Xbox One stations, fitted out with
Xbox-themed gaming chairs, the latest Turtle Beach headsets, and there’s even
Acer’s absurd Predator Thronos gaming chair. If you’ve always wanted to sit in
a chair that reclines and vibrates in sync with the games you’re playing on
three 27-inch monitors, now is your chance.
Microsoft’s third and final floor of this store is where
things start to get different. Instead of the usual retail space, it has been
transformed into an enterprise floor, complete with meeting rooms and event
spaces. Microsoft is using this floor to meet with its business customers to
demonstrate new services and hardware like HoloLens 2 or Surface Hub 2. It’s
less of a retail space and more of a sales pitch to big businesses that operate
in London and across Europe.
The second and third floors really highlight Microsoft’s
focus with this new store. At its heart, it’s a retail space, but it’s also a
way for the company to let people see this latest hardware and software in
action.”
As we left the store, I couldn’t help but be just a tab bit
proud of Travis (OK, maybe super proud is more accurate).
Friday, July 12th
For our final day in London, we would be heading out of town
to visit Stonehenge and Windsor Castle. I had done this tour years before and
it was totally worthwhile. Liz and I met Stephanie and the kids at the tour
company’s offices and boarded a bus that would transport us to the two venues
and have us back in London by 6pm.
Stonehenge
The bus ride from London to Stonehenge is approximately 2
hours. From the parking lot you can either walk the 1+ mile to the site or take
the shuttle. We take the shuttle.
Although I have been there before, the site of Stonehenge
takes your breath away. You can’t help feeling that you are standing on holy
ground and witnessing something miraculous. While everyone has seen pictures of
this iconic landmark, I will briefly describe it here.
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| Stonehenge |
Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to
2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, the earliest phase of
the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests
that the first stones were erected between 2400 and 2200 BC.
One of the most famous landmarks in England, Stonehenge is
regarded as a British cultural icon. The site and its surroundings were added
to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.
Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written
records. Many aspects of Stonehenge, such as how it was built and which
purposes it was used for, remain a mystery. There is little or no direct
evidence revealing the construction techniques used by the Stonehenge builders.
How the stones could be transported, some as far as 200 miles, by a prehistoric
people without the aid of the wheel or a pulley system is not known. The most
common theory is that they created a track of logs which the large stones were
rolled along with a team of 100 people pushing and pulling the stones. Another theory
involves the use of a type of sleigh running on a track greased with animal
fat.
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| Jayden, Riley, Stephanie & Addision |
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the site and visitor’s center and highly recommend it on your next trip to the UK.
Windsor Castle
The bus ride from Stonehenge to Windsor Castle takes about
1.5 hours. The town of Windsor is adorable and the castle, with its accompanying
grounds, is spectacular.
The castle, one of many royal residences, is impressive and
we just happen to arrive on a day when the Queen was there which is signaled by
the flying of the Queen’s flag above the castle.
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| Windsor Castle |
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| St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle |
That night, our final in London, we were joined by Travis for
dinner and enjoyed a lovely Indian meal. The Indian food in London is
outstanding – one of the benefits of India once being part of the United
Kingdom – and a treat for all who visit because British food, otherwise, is
unremarkable.
And that completes our visit to London. Tomorrow, Liz and I
will drive north for a week of travels in northeast England and Scotland.
Musings….
London - what’s not to like? One of the coolest cities on
the globe. Lively. Intoxicating. Crowded. And it was extra crowded given we
visited in mid-July - us and the one million other tourists. And, yes, we did
all the touristy things (even though Malcolm and I had done most of them
before). I think his grandkids enjoyed the parrots in the park as much as
anything else. Fun to be with them and get to experience it through their eyes.
We continued to be blessed (there is that Irish thing again) with glorious
weather. Warm, sunny, but not too hot to walk the city.
And we got to visit with Tarun & Sheela - so fun to
catch up on their lives and hear what’s happening next. Totally impressed with
Sheela completing the Camino walk!
We have now completed 1/3 of our trip, and yet we still
have 5 months to go (5 more months!). As you can imagine, sometimes it feels
like we just got started and other times that we’ve been living out of a
suitcase for years. Most days we don’t even think about the process - we just
enjoy our fantastic adventure. But, I have to admit, there are other days
(you’ll hear more about them so stay tuned) that I want to cry uncle;). Then I
remember all the great parts of the adventure still in front of us…smile.
Some curiosities I’ve begun to take note of:
90% of the showers in Europe leak - what’s with that?
8 countries so far and not one has half & half for my
coffee - someone needs to import the stuff or just come here and buy a few cows
(I’m convinced you could make a fortune, they just don’t know what they’re
missing)
No top sheets - they just throw a heavy comforter on the
bed - and I know that all the hip Americans who have visited Europe adopted
that - we’re just not that cool, so I miss a top sheet.
All tourist places now have you exit through the “shops”
- even all the churches have adopted the Duty Free strategy and have you walk
by hundreds of rosary beads and bibles on your way out (just in case you
converted, I guess).
Spending a week in London you see all the "movers
and shakers" bustling about, dressed in their work clothes, cramming into
the Tube, gathering for drinks after work, etc., and I realized that I am so
glad that’s not me anymore;)
Thanks again for following us - till next time - ciao!
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