We had dinner tonight with our great friends Scott and Laurie Slez. Scott put it to me to give him my top five things to do while in London. Here is my list:
#1 West End/Soho. As I learned from my old friend Matthew Hodges, Soho is London concentrate and the West End is everything that Midtown is trying to be!
#2 National Portrait Gallery. #2 and #3 are thanks to my step-father Geoffrey Caston whose knowledge of London is unparalleled. A long, slow walk through the Portrait Gallery is like looking through a window into humanity itself.
#3 The Trout Pub, Oxford. OK, I admit that Oxford is not London, but if Soho is London concentrate then The Trout is England concentrate. The pub is on the banks of a beautiful river and is sprinkled with peacocks. Go there in spring once before you die.
#4 Arsenal vs. Anybody. I am not a huge soccer/football fan, but for Americans in England soccer games are not really about the soccer - it is more like seeing the origin of our species.
#5 British Museum. Never in the field of archeology has so much been stolen from so many by so few...
I have a top 10 list, but to those require a guided tour (with airfare included ;-)