If I Were Going...

The Black Dog in London; Right photo: Caty Stevens

I wrote briefly about Taylor’s Swift's Eras Tour when Caty and I saw the movie of the concert in Albuquerque last year. Caty had decided by that point that she really, really wanted to see the tour. And, of course, by this time, it was virtually impossible to get tickets to a U.S. performance unless you wanted to spend the equivalent of tuition for a four-year college degree.

So, Caty started looking at international dates and asked if I would go if she found tickets in a reasonable place. I was mildly interested in The Eras Tour and very interested in traveling somewhere fun with Caty, so I was in. Vancouver looked briefly promising (I even booked lodging), but that didn’t pan out. I put the kibosh on anything in South America. I just wasn’t comfortable with a huge event there. I am so glad I did because those concerts were plagued with deadly heat. Australia seemed like a good idea. But, no go.

Then, she snagged tickets (or so we hoped) for a concert in Cardiff, Wales. Cool! I had always wanted to go to Wales.

It was REALLY on!!

We had a plan that had us going to the concert and then continuing with a driving tour of Wales and England's Lake District based on Caty’s employers’ vacation plans. But they changed their plans (as they always do) and so we flipped the trip, leaving earlier and ending with the concert.

So, this is how it looked: Fly to London, arriving in the afternoon, pick up a car the next morning and drive north, exploring along the way, including the Cotswolds. Drive on to the Lake District and spend two days there. Then, swing over to Wales and spend five days exploring before arriving in Cardiff for one day of exploring and the concert. Then, take a train to London and fly home the next day.

Masterplan for our United Kingdon (UK) trip

Yes, it’s a pretty short trip for me, but Caty has limited time off. We were going to have to cram a lot in, but Wales and England are small countries and the travel distances are pretty short.

So, let’s go …

We had castles to see! This is Cardiff Castle

Getting There

We had booked three out of four of our original tickets using miles, so changing them to a new itinerary was a piece of cake. My return ticket had been paid for and I was not able to cancel for a refund, so now I have a pretty large credit with American Airlines that I need to use up within a year. No problem; I fly a lot.

But, our new itinerary was soooooo much better. Originally, we were flying to LAX and then to Heathrow, which meant flying directly over Denver to get where we were going. The new outbound was through DFW. And, our new return was less miles but business class. Whoo hooo!

On departure day, I drove up to Caty’s, picked her up and then drove back to Denver International Airport. When we were on the plane headed to DFW, we realized that our connection was much shorter than we had realized and, then, we landed a bit late.

This could have freaked us out

Then, our gate was blocked, so we had to go to another terminal (farther from our connection).

By the time we pulled in, we were a bit harried and we sprinted to Skylink to get to Terminal D.

What we didn’t realize was that while we were in the air, we had received a text telling us our flight was canceled and then another text telling us we were rebooked on another flight just a bit later.

So, we made it to the gate in plenty of time to stand in an enormous line, re-check-in and then wait while something went on with the new flight that made departure questionable.

Finally, we boarded. We lost our carefully selected two-seat row near that back, but we made it to London only two hours late.

London

While I know that the fiscally responsible move would have been to take the Heathrow Express (about $50 per) into Paddington Station and then cab or Uber to our hotel in Bloomsbury, we were tired, so we took a cab. It was the afternoon rush, so it took forever and cost a small fortune (about $150.00). But, we made it. We stayed at the Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury: serviceable but no charm and a loud crowd watching Rugby in the pub directly below us. But, by London standards, it wasn’t too expensive and it was walking distance to the two things we had planned for London: seeing The Book of Mormon in the West End and visiting the British Museum.

The first night we ate in the noisy pub, which was very good (I had a fish sandwich and chips and Caty had a meat pie ‘cuz ya gotta) and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

The British Museum

Outside the Museum

Back when our family visited London in 2002, Scott and Caty went (briefly) to the British Museum, but Becca and I didn’t because she had food poisoning. So, after all these years and several visits to London, Caty and I decided that that would be our main activity in London.

Caty had been before; I hadn't

We booked our hotel near the museum, but didn't think about making reservations (really? we should know better). So, when we finally thought about it, the earliest we could get was about 11:30 a.m. But, then we Googled more and discovered that reservations are encouraged, but not required. So, we decided to walk around in the morning (lots of pretty gardens) and check on the line before opening time.

Scenes from our walk

We accidentally went to the back entrance, which is the “wrong” entrance for reservations but the right one for walk-ins. A few people were milling, so we got in line.

The modern central court

We waited about an hour and were among the very first people to get in. In several exhibits, we were the only ones in the room. As the morning wore on, that dynamic changed and the museum got progressively more crowded.

By the time we decided to eat lunch, it was packed. We were going to try the nice restaurant at the Museum, but it wasn’t open as early as the website had said and it was fully booked anyway.

So, we ate very yummy pre-made sandwiches (mediterranean veggie and caprese) at the downstairs self-service restaurant. It was lovely. When we left, the line to get in was around the block.

I am glad we went early

The British Museum says that its purpose is to "document the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present."

Egyptian art

The British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge and has the largest collection in the world.

With 5 million visitors a year, it is the UK’s most popular attraction.

The museum was established in 1753 and first opened to the public in 1759. Over the next 250 years, as the British colonized the world, the museum grew and created branch institutions and independent spin-offs, the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881.

The British Library spun off in 1998.

From the late 1700s to the late 1800s, the museum acquired many of the world's most precious antiquities through donations, bequests and expeditions, often under less-than-honorable acquisition strategies.

Impressive displays

Artifacts include sculptures from the Parthenon; the colossal bust of Ramesses II; remains of tombs of rulers of ancient Lycia; and the 4th century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ownership of some of its most known acquisitions, notably the Rosetta Stone, is subject to long-term dispute and repatriation claims.

In 1882, the museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund, the first British body to carry out research in Egypt.

So much to see

Today, the original 1753 collection has grown to over 13 million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library. The Museum's online database has nearly 4.5 million individual object entries in 2 million records.

The Book of Mormon

Our next adventure was to attend a play in the West End. We had previously seen some great shows there: My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and Singing in the Rain.

This time we selected The Book of Mormon because we had heard that it was HI-LAR-IOUS. It wasn’t

The stage from our seats

Yes, it had some laugh-out-loud moments and the cast was talented. But, it was was surprisingly racist and far more raunchy than I expected.

I should have researched the show before booking. I didn’t realize it was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who created South Park! So, there.

The same night, there were plays starring Ian McKellen and Tom Holland that we probably would have enjoyed more.

Naked Bikers, a Black Dog and London

After the play, we decided to do the Taylor Swift thing and go to The Black Dog, subject of one of her songs on The Tortured Poets Department album. We Ubered over to the pub in Vauxhall and the driver warned us that traffic was crazy because of the World Naked Bike Ride.

Yep! Art: Cycling UK

Held every summer, the Ride has five objectives: protest global dependency on oil; curb car culture; promote real rights for cyclists; demonstrate the vulnerability of cyclists on city streets; and celebrate body freedom. According to Cycling UK, thousands participate (since there is no registration, exact numbers are impossible to obtain). We saw a couple of people riding, some more (full-on naked!) waiting to cross the street and several hundred in a park getting dressed after the ride.

Once we cleared that area, we arrived at our destination.The Black Dog is a lovely little neighborhood pub that seems to have lightly accepted the notoriety that comes from being featured in a Taylor Swift song.

The Black Dog; Photos: Caty Stevens

Photo: Caty Stevens

They have some lines from the song (allegedly about Joe Alwyn cheating on Taylor with a younger woman at The Black Dog) displayed on signs and they sell merch (most online and they were out of pub glasses that can only be bought onsite). The waitress, however, seemed to be in denial about what may be about to befall them in a few weeks when The Eras Tour would have three performances in London. I hope they were ready.

Black Dog fare

We had some appetizers and drinks – croquettes, burrata salad and a passion fruit/pomegranate "martini" – that were surprisingly fancy (and yummy) for a pub. We also had chips (not fancy, but good).

Then, we walked across town back to our hotel. The skies had cleared from earlier rain and it was a truly pleasant stroll.

Views on the way back; Photos: Caty Stevens

Trip date: June 6 - 20, 2024

This is part of a series about the Stevens Family Calendar (if you know, you know).

A Bald Eagle in Dutch Harbor, Sea Otters in Kenai Fjords National Park
and an island in the Bering Sea

We go to Alaska often (almost every year). You have already seen some of the Bears we photographed there and you will see more. Plus, there are scenics sprinkled across the the calendar.

But, July is dedicated to the beauty you can find in and around the cold, cold ocean. Most of the photos come from a birding trip Scott and I took to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands that also included time at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park (where we photographed a lot of the Bears in the calendar), and visits to Kenai Fjords National Park and Prince William Sound in our time between the major destinations.

The focus of both the cover and the calendar page is scenery, seabirds, marine mammals and Bald Eagles.

So, let's start with scenery, because Alaska is certainly stunning. On the cover, we featured an island that we passed while out on a small boat looking for pelagic birds in the Bering Sea. I was struck (as I always am when I encounter this phenomenon) by the heart-shaped opening. Scott thought the island looked like a giant stone Bear (his nose at the upper left of the heart).

We named it "Bear Heart Cliff"

The calendar page featured two more shots of Dutch Harbor's gorgeous scenery ...

Left: from our bird-watching boat; Right: along the coast

... believe me, selecting them was extremely difficult because we had so many pretty shots for that wild and wonderful place.

We passed over these four taken from the boat

I loved these two coast shots, but couldn't fit them in

These are from our birding excursions up in the mountains;
Left and upper right photos: Scott Stevens

The calendar page also featured a shot from Silver Salmon Lake ...

The original is much prettier than the cropped version

... the cover and back cover had some iconic pictures of Dutch Harbor ...

The bottom middle photo was on the cover and the right close-up of the cupola was on the back;
see the Bald Eagle on the cross?

It's a crabbing town, so there are colorful nets everywhere;
the photo on the right was on the back cover

The rejections included more scenics from Lake Clark National Park, as well as some from Cook Inlet ...

I actually like the left photo better than the one we used, but it didn't crop well

This spot in Cook Inlet was where we saw the Puffins featured in June

When we were in Kenai Fjords and Prince William Sound, we saw some calving glaciers, despite dreadful weather.

The photo of the Holgate Glacier from Prince William Sound was in the opening section
and the calving glacier was in Kenai Fjords; Right photo: Scott Stevens

This close-up of the Holgate Glacier didn't fit

This photo is just slightly different, showing more reflection

We went to Dutch Harbor for two reasons:

#1: To look for birds that are found only in the cold northern waters there.

#2: A birding trip was the most reliable, affordable and efficient way to get to a place that can be tricky to travel to.

Our target bird was the diminutive Whiskered Auklet, of which we saw hundreds, maybe thousands.

The left photo is featured in the opening section and we ended up not using these other ones

Capturing these fast little guys from a moving boat on the (blissfully calm that day) ocean, wasn't easy.

In addition to the Whiskered Auklets, we had many other good sightings in the Aleutians ...

This Black-footed Albatross was a treat (and Scott's favorite bird of the trip);
In this shot used on the July calendar page, it is feeding with Northern Fulmars

Another frenzied feeding shot, left, is in the opening, but we had to forego the goofy landing

We saw large flocks of Tufted Puffins (a different subspecies than
the Horned Puffins featured in June) in the Bering sea

We also saw lots of birds elsewhere in Alaska ...

In Kenai Fjords, we saw thousands of Black-legged Kittiwakes
(the rare Red-legged Kittiwake's very common cousin)

In Cook Inlet, we saw hundreds of Common Murres

I featured the top photo of Murres on the opening page, but didn't use the flock on the bottom

Of course, there are many other creatures in the sea. We certainly saw a lot of them.

These adorable Sea Otters that we saw in Kenai Fjords National Park
are featured on July's main page

We had a lot of photos of them; two more were in contention
(it was tough not to use that one on the left)

We also saw Sea Otters in Prince William Sound, upper left and bottom,
and hauled out in Kenai Fjords

This spinning Orca is on the July calendar page

We also had some great photos of Steller Sea Lions, left, and Harbor Seals from Kenai Fjords

What I didn't expect in Dutch Harbor was that my very best photos would be Bald Eagles. The town is packed with them (I saw seven in a single small tree one morning and we routinely saw about 50 a day). The best sighting was a nest on a a small island in the harbor that we cruised past as we headed out for pelagic birding.