England : Travel Blog #22

LONDON

When I went to Ireland, nothing surprised me really. It was just how I’d always imagined it; England, was the opposite. 

Leicester Square

You would think that since I’ve grown up taking American history classes and obviously know that our country’s origins are deeply rooted and immersed in Britain, I would have seen it coming that we would be fairly similar to England. Yet I didn’t. I flew into Heathrow expecting to be culture-shocked, but it didn’t feel that way at all. London, and really all of the UK, felt like a bridge between Europe and America. It was distinctly European, yet it was also surprisingly familiar. 

This element of similarity allowed us to be comfortable enough and educated enough of the culture to have some really unique experiences and observations! 

If America were much much older, had a monarchy, existed on a diet of meat pies and tea, and was located in Europe, then it would basically just be England. With that, the things we especially enjoyed to experience in England were those things! We soaked up as much history as we could, toured several palaces, sampled quite a variety of local cuisine, and enjoyed all the benefits of European life (a major one being super convenient public transportation.) 

Westminster Abbey on Easter Sunday with my Godmother!

We were so impressed by the architecture of London, especially of Westminster Abbey and the Parliament buildings. My aunt worked hard to get us the incredible experience of attending Easter Sunday church service in Westminster Abbey itself! 

My great-aunt on her birthday!

Some of our favorite activities in London were taking a boat taxi down the Thames River, trying Scotch eggs, visiting the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels, seeing Buckingham Palace on my great aunt’s 60th birthday, and touring all of the iconic sites that we’ve heard of our whole lives! 

Kensington Palace

Holding up Big Ben

Platform 9 3/4

Abbey Road

Cousin friends in Buckingham

Buckingham Palace

The Iconic Tower Bridge

Angel Statue at Buckingham

One thing that stood out to us about London especially as we toured all of these ancient sites as well as more modern areas was the wealth. From its Crown Jewels, to its monarchs, to its department stores, to its rich history, England has a strong culture and heritage of wealth. It was interesting to observe.

ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE

After our big group dismantled, our core family went to Barnard’s Castle, England to explore the countryside. We stayed in an apartment in the middle of the cute town. There was a bustling farmer’s market right outside of our windows!! We love immersing in the local culture in this way. The people are so kind and welcoming! 

I love old English literature; I’m reading Great Expectations right now. It was easy to picture Elizabeth Bennett or Marianne Dashwood walking around a very similar English village! I visited or saw signs of many of the places mentioned in my books! It was so fun to see it all come to life.

In summary, I am so glad we visited England. Now I finally have images to put towards all of these things I’ve been reading and learning about my whole life! It was not what I had expected, but it was so incredible. 

Comment below, have you been to London? If you have, which of these foods did you get to try? We tried the highlighted ones! :)

Scotch eggs

Yorkshire pudding

Steak and ale pie

Cornish Pasty

Port

Tiffins

Black pudding

Clotted Cream

Sausage Rolls

Sherry

P.S. There was one final event that happened in London that managed to steal the show. It requires a little family story….

My Grampa Dan grew up visiting his cousin RJ a couple of times a year. RJ’s family lived in New Orleans where Grampa would visit for Mardi Gras. They would eat gumbo and have a grand old time living it up in the south. RJ would also come and visit my grampa in Detroit where my Great-grandpa was a Detroit cop, and they would go sledding (there’s no snow in Louisiana after all!). When they were in their early twenties, they fell out of touch. For fifty years, Grampa would mention his New Orleans cousins in stories, but he had no idea where they were now! 

“Dan, are you my long-lost cousin?”

Almost a year ago, my Grampa received an unusual text message from an unknown number. It read, “Dan, are you my long-lost cousin?” It was from RJ. RJ had been searching for years, trying to reconnect with his lost family members and had contacted many unsuccessful people along the way. RJ and Grampa were so excited to reconnect and swapped stories of their lives back and forth. RJ had moved to live in London years ago!

Left to right: RJ, Grampa Dan, RJ's wife

This is where things get really crazy. Grampa told RJ that he was actually going to be in London for the first time in his entire life in just a few months! Excitedly, they emailed back and forth that they should meet up. Once we arrived in London, Grampa sent RJ our Airbnb address so that they could find an easy spot for dinner together. RJ couldn’t believe it when he saw; somehow we ended up staying less than 2 minutes away from where RJ had lived all of this time. I’ve hardly ever seen my Grampa so excited. On our last evening of the family trip together, we walked with my Nana and Grampa to meet RJ and his wife, and got to witness as the two Casey cousins reunited in person after half a century of not hearing a word from each other. It was the happiest of happy endings.

The story is almost too perfect, it has the hand of God all over it! If RJ had contacted Grampa even a few months later, they never could have met in person. The fact that it all worked out so well was the most incredible Godwink that I’ve ever had the privilege of witnessing! There is not a soul who deserves this wonderful story better than my Grampa. He is a living, breathing angel to me and all of his kids and grandkids. I’m so happy that I got to witness this wonderful London ending! Thanks God.

P.P.S. Don’t worry everyone, I did make sure to find time to watch both the Great British Baking Show and Harry Potter while in England!