International

It’s been a fascinating two day visit to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. We managed to pack in tours of the HMS Warrior, the HMS Victory as well ast Victory Live: The
Big Repair, and finally the Mary Rose. All were incredibly informative and well presented.

From London we made our way to Tunbridge Wells in Kent to dance to the strains of The Jive Aces and later enjoyed the opportunity to hobnob with the band members at The Ship and Castle in Portsmouth. Two fabulous experiences!

Our last day in London this trip we ventured underground on the Hidden London Charing Cross: Access All Areas Tour for a peek into the workings of The Underground a bit of its history and the uses of the Jubilee Line Charing Cross Station that no longer serves passengers but still has usefulness including as a filming location for movies including Skyfall and Paddington.

A half-day bus tour from London to Stonehenge gave us enough of an opportunity to gaze in awe at this ancient sacred monument, learn a little more about its history and construction and make us want to return for perhaps a more intimate experience.

On the Hidden London Tour today we visited a number of curious places relating to the history of public transportation hidden in plain sight.

Off the beaten path is Hampstead is the more than three hundred year old Burgh House with a fascinating history. It’s now a community center, local museum, gallery, concert venue, event space, and more open to the public four days a week. We popped over for a bite to eat and to peruse the galleries to learn a little more about Hampstead history.

Ever since its debut on Broadway the two of us have wanted to see “Wicked the Musical”. Today we realized that dream. In the Apollo Victoria Theater in London’s West End we were witness to the incredible prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the story of the Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

London’s National Portrait Gallery’s temporary exhibition, “Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens” presents an amazing collection of portraits, jewelry, personal effects, books, costumes, and more to illustrate not only the lives of the six women who married the second Tudor king, but the effort across five centuries to keep their memory alive.

The purpose of our trek to Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham in the southwest of London was to see a recently recovered bronze bust of the Emperor Caligula but we discovered so much more in the recently restored 18th Century “little Gothic castle” built by Horace Walpole.