“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs. And prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.” William Hartnell as Dr. Who
When I wrote about my adventures in Scotland in 2017, I concluded my writings by making a list of all the places we went to, rating them each, and it was a lovely artifact to have. I decided to do the same thing with this trip, but I was quickly overwhelmed with how to accomplish such a task. I wasn’t sure if I should count the London Eye as something we “saw,” for example. Indeed, we saw it as many times as we saw Tower Bridge (if not more), but we didn’t go into either site. But, I felt that I should count Tower Bridge as a legitimate site that we “saw” since we at least walked across it. But then on that merit alone, this means I would need to count the Water Meeting Bridge as something we “saw” since we walked across that. So, I had to come up with two lists. And this post will cover items on the first list, which I will call the “Grown-Ups Table List.”
In order for a site to be included on this list, they must meet at least one of the requirements below:
(1) We paid tickets to go see the site or spent money at the place.
(2) The site wasn’t part of something larger. In other words, the Chapel Royal in the Tower of London (while quite lovely and an experience of its own) won’t count as a separate place, otherwise I’d have to count all the individual towers within the Tower as separate places. Also, if I did that, then I would have to include, for example, the Golden Gallery in St. Paul’s or that gift shop at Shakespeare’s house as separate places, too.
(3) We interacted with the site in a meaningful and purposeful way. This one is slightly subjective, I know. Did we really interact with Tower Bridge in a meaningful and purposeful way despite not going inside it? In my head it feels like we did because we: walked by it/across it; were on foot and stared it it for awhile without calling it dumb; took at least two pictures of it; and made a conscious decision to go out of our way to interact with it. So, “meaningful and purposeful way” here will mean that it meets all four of those subset requirements of this third requirement. This means the Golden Jubilee Bridge will not count since we crossed it because it happened to be the nearest bridge available to cross and not because we went out of our way to cross it. Nor will Oxford University or Brighton Pavilion count since we weren’t on foot when we saw those sites. Sadly, however, this means I can’t include the Pont Royal or the Assemblée nationale in Paris as much as I want to, since we encountered those entirely by accident, and we didn’t know what they were until we looked them up later. But honestly, this list would take forever, otherwise. (And the consolation is those sites will be on the next list.)
Lastly, here is how the rating system works, taken directly from the ratings I used for our trip to Scotland. I added a little clarification to ratings of 2 and 3, however (in parentheses). Also, the item that has three stars next to it indicates that it was my favorite thing within the particular category.
5=absolutely perfect; would come back again and again and again and never tire of seeing the place
4=really quite wonderful; I’d maybe visit again one or two more times
3=cool; glad I saw it but probably won’t come back (and I won’t be bothered either way if you go or don’t go)
2=okay; I’m glad I can tell people not to go here (unless they find they have lots of extra time and money and want to feel bored)
1=absolutely pointless; I want my time and money back
Everything clear? Yes? So, are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then we’ll begin
20th Century Landmarks
Abbey Road Studios (3.5)
British Library (3.5)
Camden Market (2.5)
Earl’s Court Station Police Box (3.5)
Maida Vale Studios (3.5)***
Platform 9¾ (3)
Southbank Centre (3)
Abbeys, Cathedrals, Churches, etc.
Cathedral of Our Lady and Saint Philip of Howard (Arundel) (3)
Holy Trinity Church (Stratford) (3)
Parish and Priory Church of Saint Nicholas (Arundel) (3)
St. Paul’s Cathedral (5)***
Westminster Abbey (4.5)
Antiquity
Rollright Stones (3.5)
Roman Baths (4)
Stonehenge (4.5)***
Bridges
Millennium Bridge (3)
Tower Bridge (4)***
Westminster Bridge (3.5)
Cafes
Jeff de Bruges isn’t really a cafe; this just seemed the best category for it, I suppose)
Bensons (Stratford-upon-Avon) (2.5)
Caffe Nero (London) (4)
Jeff de Bruges (2.5)
New Armouries Cafe (London) (4)***
Supreme Court Cafe (London) (1.5)
War Rooms Cafe (4)
Castles and Castle-like Structures
Arundel Castle (3.5)
Hastings Castle (3)
Hiorne Tower (3.5)
Tower of London (5)***
Historical Sites
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (3)
Buckingham Palace/Changing of the Guard (3)
Churchill War Rooms (5)***
London County Hall (3)
Royal Observatory (3)
Shakespeare’s House (3)
Iconic Sites
Arc de Triomphe (4)
Avenue des Champs-Élysées (2.5)
Eiffel Tower (4)
Globe Theatre (4)
Hastings Pier (3.5)
Louvre (3)
Marble Arch (3)
Palace of Westminster/Elizabeth Tower/”Big Ben” (5)***
Speakers’ Corner (3)
Monuments
Animals in War Memorial (3.5)
Holocaust Memorial Garden (4)
Princess Diana Memorial Fountain (3.5)
Victoria Monument (3)
Parks, Natural Landmarks, Squares
Arundel Park (4)
English Channel (4)
Greenwich Park/Prime Meridian (3.5)
Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens (4)***
The Mall (3)
Picadilly Circus (2.5)
Trafalgar Square (3)
Plays and Performances
(really hard to choose between Richard III and Witness; the Christie won out by a hair simply because Christie is easier for me to understand, I think)
A Christmas Carol (Old Vic) (1)
Evensong (Westminster Abbey) (1.5)
Ian McKellen on Stage with Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others, and YOU (Harold Pinter) (4)
Richard III (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) (5)
Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall) (5)***
Pubs
Albion (Hastings) (2.5)
The Clown (Hastings) (2.5)
Dingwalls (London) (2)
Dirty Duck (Stratford-upon-Avon) (3.5)
General Havelock (Hastings) (3.5)
Greencoat Boy (London) (1.5)
Lamb and Flag (London) (4)
The Old Bell (London) (3.5)
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (London) (4)***
Restaurants
(Bear and Ragged Staff is technically a pub, but I included anything on this list where we had a server take our orders at the table)
Banh Boa Brothers (Waterloo, London) (1)
Bear and Ragged Staff (Cumnor) (4.5)
Bills (Bath) (3.5)
Blue Posts (Soho, London) (2.5)
La Calèche (Paris) (5)***
Farzi Cafe (Covent Garden, London) (4)
Goat (Chelsea, London) (3.5)
Motte and Bailey (Arundel) (3.5)
Owl and Pussycat (Hastings) (2.5)
Pelican Diner (Hastings) (3.5)
Riccardo’s (Chelsea, London) (1.5)
Rivington Grill (Greenwich, London) (4.5)
Rustico (Hastings) (3)
Swan (Southwark, London) (4)
Tea Shops
(really hard to choose a favorite; Twinings won by a hair mainly because it’s in London, I think)
Tea and Biscuit Club (Arundel) (5)
Twinings (London) (5)***
So there we have it! Next post will go over the sites that didn’t make this list.