July 8

July 8 - London

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This was our last day in England and we wanted to enjoy one more must-see, the London Eye.

The London Eye is like a Ferris wheel. Actually it is more like the very first Ferris wheel ever built. That one was for the 1893 exposition in Chicago by Pittsburgh bridge builder George Ferris in which a group of people rode standing in a large enclosure. With the London Eye, the enclosure is a glass egg holding a dozen or more people. There is a bench in the middle allowing those afraid of heights to sit or the ones who simply want to take a load off their feet. You may stand in a queue for a half hour or so before boarding and the ride itself lasts one hour.

The ride itself is not to be missed. It offers brilliant views of London. We heeded some good advice we were given. Tour around the city first, It gives you the advantage of knowing what you are seeing.

The plaza along the Thames leading up to the London Eye is lively. There were a number of living statues like the ones we first saw in Barcelona last summer. You might see street performers as well.

The Dali Museum, near the Eye, was our other destination for the morning. Salvador Dali created art that defines surreal. Here was a collection of principally his drawings and statues. Ellen and I are beginning to make connections in the art we see on vacation. Last year in Venice’s Doges Palace, we saw Bosch’s The Last Judgment with all of the hellish figures from a nightmare view of purgatory. This museum contains a series of drawings Dali dedicates to each of Bosch’s characters, adding a few of his own.

The afternoon was dedicated to shopping on Jermayn Street near Piccadilly. If a man wants a fine shirt, this is the place to go; but, alas, with the dollar weak against the pound, everything is extra expensive. Ellen gifted me with a dress shirt and tie. If you see me in pink, that’s the shirt.

Piccadilly Circus is London’s Times Square, but on a one-third scale. The center of the circus (circle) is an area where the young go to be seen and heard. Today was the turn for supporters of Italy and France’s soccer teams to be seen. The teams were to play each other the next day in the final game of the World Cup. Ellen’s favorite country, Italy, won.

Like Times Square, this is the spot to get reduced price tickets for stage shows. We got a couple in an excellent location for Whistle Down the Wind, the re-staging of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical first produced in London in 1998. I later found that this show, or an earlier rendering of it, first tried out in our native Washington, DC in 1996. (I thought it sounded familiar.) It was a doomed production and never made it to Broadway. However, a recording was made of the songs and that album went platinum in England. So, one can see a good show in London that may never reach our shores