Even though getting our visas for China isn’t in the cards, there is plenty to keep us busy in London. After all, nine million people call London home—and 40% of them weren’t born in the UK. Add the visitors from around the world and it isn’t surprising that English isn’t one of the more common 250 languages spoken in England. I actually did a double-take when I heard the little girl ask, “Daddy, can I have some more?”
We are staying at Courtfield Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, just around the corner from where we stayed in December. It’s an upscale neighborhood of traditional “terraced” houses, so posh that there is a Morgan dealership in one of the nearby mews with a dozen new and vintage cars costing up to $175,000! Our studio flat is on the pricey side, too, but it has a real kitchen with an oven and induction range and I have been cooking up a storm! And with two metro stations just minutes away, we can go anywhere easily.
A straight shot on the Circle Line took us to Jewel Tower, strategically tucked away between the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Not to be confused with the Tower of London’s Jewel House where the Crown Jewels are stored, Jewel Tower was built in the mid-1300s and has served many roles, from housing the personal treasures of England’s monarchs to storing and testing the official weights and measures of the kingdom. Henry VIII had the treasures moved elsewhere but some of the original weights and measures that make the metric system so logical are on display. The Cubic Centimeter, for example, can be converted directly to liquid volume and weight. One cubic centimeter of liquid equals one milliliter and 1000 ml is a liter. If the liquid is water, one cc or ml will weigh exactly one gram so a liter weighs in at one kilogram. Why the Brits weigh themselves in stones is still a puzzlement.
With umbrellas held high we walked past the recently scrubbed Elizabeth Tower with its clock and the 13 ton Great Bell called Big Ben, stopped for a photo of the London Eye and continued up to Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square before the cold rain sent us scurrying back to the Tube and home.
