Our London experience continues…
For those of you who have been following my London journey, welcome back. If you are just joining, allow me to fill you in. The Philadelphia Eagles would be playing the Jacksonville Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium as part of the NFL UK series. London and the Eagles—obviously a recipe for an amazing vacation. Of course I felt it necessary to be a part of this experience.
This is where I say, “Go Birds!”
Anyway, picking up where my previous post left off, we were now half-way through our third day in London. We had accomplished quite a bit to this point, yet so much remained ahead. We spent our morning in Westminster checking out Parliament, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister), Scotland Yard, the Ministry of Defense—you know, the government stuff. We then discovered Gordon’s Wine Bar. If you like wine, then you must check it out. In the event that you don’t like wine—well, you must check it out. Yeah, it’s like that. It’s cave-like sitting is simply stunning—I promise you won’t want to leave. Who knows, you just may discover you like wine after all.
I could have easily been persuaded to remain at Gordon’s until they kicked us out, but . . . alas, it was time to move on. Later that evening we would return to our hotel for a spirits tasting (that’s a story for another post), but In the meantime there was time to kill.
My first thought was to visit Covent Garden, a must-see shopping destination that was on my list, and only a short distance from Gordon’s. It seemed to be the perfect place to kill a few hours. Glancing at a map, however, I realized Trafalgar Square was only a block away in the opposite direction. It only made sense to check that out first before moving on to Covent Garden.
TRAFALGAR SQUARE
This famous public square was named to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory during the Napoleonic Wars. Situated in the square is the iconic Nelson’s Column, built in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson who led the British to victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.
- The area formerly known as Charing Cross has been significant since the 13th century. The King’s Mews (Royal Stables) were located at the square (present site of the National Gallery) until they were moved to Buckingham Palace in the 1820’s.
- The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on October 21, 1805.
- The square opened in 1844 after the area was redeveloped by John Nash. If Russell Crowe just came to mind you’re thinking of the wrong John Nash. The “British” John Nash was an architect who designed several important areas of London.
- Nelson’s Column, situated at the center of the square, was constructed between 1840 and 1843. A statue of Admiral Nelson stands atop the Corinthian column—the top of his hat measures 169 feet 3 inches from the base of the pedestal.
- Four bronze Lions surround the base of the column. Though they were part of the original design, they were not added until 1867.
- Hitler had planned to move Nelson’s Column to Berlin upon defeating the United Kingdom during WWII. Well, it hasn’t been moved yet!
So we found ourselves standing in the square, like so many other tourists, taking pictures of the surrounding landmarks. We were only there a few moments when Kathie said, “look at that sign!” What sign, I thought? She then pointed to the buildings on the other side of the street. “Look,” she said, “There’s an Eagles banner outside that pub!” Naturally, with the Eagles in town during the upcoming weekend, we were bound to stumble upon locations welcoming fans who made the journey. I must admit, however—standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square, in the middle of London, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean—it took me by surprise.
We had already seen so many wonderful landmarks, most of which we intentionally set out to see. There is certainly an added level of excitement when your discovery is unexpected. Kathie asked, “are we going in?” My response . . . “Absolutely!”
THE ADMIRALTY
With childlike excitement we entered this British pub draped in Eagles paraphernalia. I certainly can’t say anything negative regarding the feel of this place. For a pub, this place felt grand. And it was here that I was first introduced to cask beer. If you’re unfamiliar with cask beer, I highly recommend familiarize yourself with it. Cask beer is manually pumped from a cask rather than poured from a pressurized keg.
I ordered a pint of London Pride, took my first sip—and in that moment, an old saying I have heard all my life became a reality—the beer in Europe is warm. Now let me clarify: This is not bad, it was just unexpected. I have often heard people talk about the warm beer in Europe, and it has always been spoken in a negative context. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I admit, at first it took me by surprise. Not because it was bad; I just wasn’t ready for it. I will also point out that the beer isn’t necessarily warm, it’s just not ice cold. I would call it, chilled. As it turns out, beer doesn’t need to be cold if it’s full of flavor. Crappy beer needs to be cold. You see, the cold numbs the senses, therefore you don’t realize just how bad it is. If it’s quality, no numbing is necessary. The fact that there’s no carbonation is an added bonus. Imagine drinking beer all night, no belching or feeling bloated . . . glorious!
Despite being showered with Eagles decor, it was early in the week—still five days from the game—and the pub was yet to be filled with Eagles fans. We wouldn’t stay long—or so I thought. We’d go in, check it out over a pint, then move on to Covent Garden as planned. As we stood gazing at the Eagles banners, a local gentleman named Paul approached us and asked if we were in from Philly for the game. We chatted with Paul while he awaited the arrival of his friends, and before we knew it, we had three new friends.
I often find our greatest experiences in life are the ones that are unplanned. Sometimes we just stumble into them. A majority of our week was spent on the go, visiting must see places. Though I take great pleasure in these journeys, there was something special about just hanging out in this local pub, embracing the culture with a pretty cool group of guys. Covent Garden was on our checklist, but it was evident we were going to have a better time with our new friends.
Truth be told we couldn’t have met a better group of guys. We were made to feel very welcomed to be in their company. Paul spoke about his own travels; that he travelled to the United States regularly—yearly if I recall correctly. He explained everywhere he went people treated him with kindness and always made him feel very welcomed. He went on to say that he made it a point to return that favor when he encountered visitors—in this case, us.
My apologies, but for the life of me, I cannot remember the names of the other two gentleman. I most certainly blame that on the beer. The one gentleman was from from Glasgow, Scotland, which meant he had a slightly different accent than the others. When Paul introduced him he said, “he’s from Glasgow, so you won’t understand a word he says!” Ironically enough, a co-worker of mine is from Glasgow. Perhaps at first I struggled with the dialect, but the past five years have made me fluent in Scotch-English. I joked, “I will understand every word he says, I just don’t understand anyone else!”
We enjoyed great conversation over several rounds of wonderful cask ales, everything from traveling to music—which I would discover their tastes in music was similar to my own. I had a moment of clarity when the gentleman from Glasgow asked me if I liked the band Rush. Well, as it turns out, Rush is a band I’ve seen ten times, more than any other band. They are arguably my favorite band, and perhaps the greatest contribution Canada has given the world. In that moment I realized why we were getting along so well. These guys were awesome!
Before we knew it we it was time to go. We had to get back to the hotel for our whisky and gin tasting. Generally I’d be excited about that, but I have to say, I was disappointed our time at the Admiralty was coming to an end.
I’d like to give a special thanks to the three gentlemen who provided us with one of the more memorable experiences of our trip.