I first arrived in London in 1971, here in Grosvenor Square, adjacent to the American Embassy, and stayed in this hotel. There are statues of Roosevelt and Regan in the square as this has always been the center for Americans in London. There are now three Marriott properties nearby.

I am staying in one on Marriott “points” or I would not be here in Mayfair which today is full of wealthy Arabs and expensive beyond my means ..  in these post expense account days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London was fascinating to me but a sad place in the early 70’s. All the buildings were black and the street lighting was poor. Everyone wore black clothes. London was cheap for an American.

Today London is super wealthy. And expensive. Russians and Arabs and Indians and other superrich store their money here in the leading financial capital of the world. The city is crowded with tourists, very multinational, and clean and beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

They even have American Burgers.

 

 

 

 

 

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You can easily walk all around London.  And use the underground system. It is easy to master and will take you anywhere. Today they have stored value (Oyster) cards so you simply press the card on a reader to enter and exit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London has so many truly historic sites and they all are worth a visit.  To name a few:

The Tower. Seat of power for the royalty since the time of William the Conqueror and his Normans.

 

 

 

 

 

St. Paul’s Cathedral. Christopher Wren’s masterpiece.

He also built numerous local churches to replace those destroyed in the great fire of 1666. And they are worth tracking down.

 

 

 

 

Westminster Abbey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 900 year old houses of Parliament buildings. Plus Big Ben. (not my photo)

 

 

 

 

Greenwich. And the Royal Observatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This city is ground zero for Play enthusiasts. Unfortunately, they are no longer inexpensive. But you can go down to Leicester Square in the afternoon and buy half priced tickets for shows that have not sold out for that evening.

The plays can run for up to 2 and a half hours, and the evening performances finish quite late. I like to go to the afternoon matinees, get out between 4 and 5, and have a pint to decompress and discuss the experience and then have dinner.
There are over a hundred plays on offer in London as I write this. We saw three this visit. All excellent with “The Ferryman” being the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CAMarchand is on her own today with plans to visit three art museums. This old Engineer could never endure such an exposure to art.  But I do love two of the Museums here:

The British Museum (World History)

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The Victoria and Albert Museum (Natural History)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there is history everywhere here that you can absorb simply walking around.

Famous persons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Military History

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The construction of the city itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Some things that occupied me this week included a few pre-reformation churches.
One here that was the local church of Samuel Pepys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here one still displaying the coat of arms of Charles the First.

 

 

 

 

 

Every one holds some surprise. Here quite by chance where Robert Browning was married.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting little pubs are everywhere. In fact still everywhere in the country.

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And of course, endless shopping. Like on Saville Row.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Or, just enjoy the many peculiarities of the British

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Two little personal anecdotes just for the fun of remembering them.

I stood outside my hotel in Grosvenor square in a three-piece suit happy with the high 70’s weather until my new director arrived with his wife to meet me over dinner. His tie askew he informed me of the relentless and terrible heat wave underway. Funny like Alisdair Cooke’s recalling his all time favorite British weather news headline: “80 again today. No relief in sight”

Living in the UK, I travelled on business throughout Europe. After 4 years all of my clothes were wool and totally unsuitable for the Ohio river valley where I showed up to supervise the manufacture of Neoprene .. in a hand-made suit with huge lapels and bell bottomed trousers, two tone shoes, a rabbit fur coat and a natty brown leather purse.  The plant manager took me to lunch and drank milk. We each thought that the other had beamed in from mars.