London

"No person can be said to know London. The most that anyone can claim is that he knows something of it."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes



This past weekend Sam and I decided to absorb as much of London as we could in a 48 hour period. We hopped on a double decker tour bus in the city that invented such vehicles and made our rounds. The two-hour ride was a fresh reminder of what a remarkable city this is. There is literally something for everyone here. If you like history, you can visit the Tower of London, now over a millennium old, where Henry VIII offed a couple of wives and Richard III disposed of several heirs to the throne. If you like theatre, Shakespeare's globe has daily performances of some of the world's greatest works. If you like fashion, there's Saville Row. If you like military monuments, there's the Wellington arch to commemorate a fairly significant victory over the French. If you like music, you can listen for the song of a nightingale in Barkley Square. If you like literature, you can walk along the same paths traveled by Oliver Twist. If you're interested in medicine, you can visit the hospital where the profession of nursing was born. If you like adventure, you can look for James Bond at MI6. If you like politics, you can stand in the speakers' corner in Hyde park and listen to the latest ideas. If law enforcement is your interest, there's nothing like Scotland Yard. If you enjoy being terrified, I recommend the Jack the Ripper tour. If you like chick movies, they've all been filmed here (so I'm told). And if you like to worship, there's really nowhere like Westminster Abbey. Truly an international city, I managed to have dinner this weekend with people from Australia, Japan, Singapore, Holland, England, Boston, Kansas City, and Michigan. I have to confess, the more time I spend here the more I feel the need to retract my long-held belief that New York is the city by which all others are measured. In fact, I'm pretty sure they even have more Broadway shows here than on Broadway itself.