Are there any good views in London?

Sometimes you overhear other travelers ask really dumb questions, and they rapidly becoming running jokes. Our time in and around London consisted of plenty of beautiful views, and a wonderful week and a half spent with my family, some of whom I’d not seen since I was fourteen (thankfully they still recognized me, despite the beard.)

The Houses of Parliament from atop the London Eye.

It’s hard to argue when Mom and Sara combine their boundless enthusiasm together for a common purpose…in this case, taking a ridiculous family picture on the Prime Meridian. Thankfully there were no jazz hands 😛

Our nightly (and afternoon… and early evening…) tradition: when you’re in England with a Brit during the World Cup, you don’t consider any alternatives! (Although the mood in England palpably darkened as the tournament progressed…)

*Editor’s note: Leaving England for Germany before the final was a good choice… 😛

The quintessential London theatrical experience: Shakespeare’s Globe. The small, wooden, outdoor venue seems to beg the audience to shout and jeer like the unwashed masses of Shakespeare’s time. For £5 each we were able to stand with our elbows on the stage as Achilles’ sweat literally splashed down on us…it was awesome! (Note: this was not our only London theatre experience, but the other will be saved for another post.)

Midway through the week, we packed up the whole gang for an overnight trip to visit Wendy, a family friend in Glastonbury. We appreciated Wendy’s hospitality and the authentically Glastonbury experience to which we were privileged. Most famous for its epic music festival that gave birth to the likes of Lollapalooza, we saw it as the El Bolson of England, complete with men dressed as monks, women dressed as druids, and markets selling everything from homemade wool saris to A Modern Guide to Dousing. We climbed the Tor, the towering hill that watches over the town and provides space for sheep and solstice celebrations alike, and visited the Abbey which, even after weeks of ancient Roman ruins, did not fail to inspire the imagination.

Some of the Tor’s more colourful visitors, complete with robes, drums, and lutes.

Glastonbury’s magical roots go deep: here lay King Arthur & Guinevere.

Us and our sibs (well, some of them, at least) watching the almost-solstice sunset.

Finally, we bid adieu to the Dixons and set out towards the tiny town of Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Our invitation here was thanks to our friend Elly, whom we had met in Antarctica, which is the kind of invitation you really can’t pass up. We arrived by taxi (after every train in western England inexplicably stopped running and Elly somehow knew which station to contact to ensure that we were put into the appropriate cab, paid for by the train company. We felt very taken care of, to say the least!) and enjoyed a lovely day meeting her family, drinking tea, and reminiscing about penguins and icebergs. There’s a very small selection of people on earth with which we can do that, and we hope to do it again some time!

Elly’s place in Nailsworth: a dramatic change of pace from chaotic London!

A huge thank-you to Elly, Wendy, and the Farnham Dixons for their hospitality; and to the Alma Dixons for bringing us along on their Tour de England!