For the first couple of weeks of August, the family and I finally took our much-delayed trip to the UK. This was originally to be a week-long trip we’d planned back for spring break in 2020, but was delayed time and again due to … well, you know.
I think the simplest way to sum up what we saw would be to quote Bilbo Baggins himself: “Lots, and none at all.” Over two weeks we traveled to four cities (Bath, Edinburgh, York, and finally London), and saw so much stuff, but still only barely scratched the surface.
My older child, who is fascinated by archeology and history, got the chance to see so many old viking sites and artifacts, visit WWII memorials, and just immerse himself in so much history. The younger one really enjoyed seeing some Harry Potter and fairy tale things, as well as visiting funny little book stores, shops, etc.
Me, I hadn’t been there in 22 years, and it was amazing to me how much had changed, yet inevitably how much stayed the same. The city of York is just fascinating to me: how you’re walking along the medieval walls of the city, and yet there are modern cars and houses right next to you. The city I live in in California dates back about 150 years, but the neighborhood I’m in was pretty much farmland until the late 1940s. The idea of having dinner in a pub in the UK that’s in a building literally ten times older than my house is strange, and fascinating to me.
There was plenty of interesting historical and cultural stuff to see, and as usual I had to take a dive into the “weird” here and there. On our first day, as we were wandering around Bath, my older son and I dipped into Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein. This is a multi-level small museum which is devoted to Mary Shelley’s life in Bath, as well as a bunch of Frankenstein-related stuff. The top level of the place is a few rooms showing clips from Frankenstein films, as well as displays of ephemera: posters, toys, etc. It was a fun diversion for an hour. Might be worth your time, if you ever happen to be in the area.
All in all a successful trip, and probably better since we had an extra couple of years to plan it. Doubt we’ll get back there any time soon, and I’m glad we were able to do it with the kids while they were still young.
Sadly, in addition to a backpack full of candy, “biscuits,” and various souvenirs, we also brought home COVID. So we’ve been in rotating isolation over the last few days, but thankfully none of us have managed to get a bad case of it. Thank goodness we all got vaccinated when we did, I suppose.