A Favorite Place

Keith here. We're down to two weeks before we return to the States and we're beginning to feel a little urgency about what we've been intending to do, but haven't -- or going back "one last time" to do something.
I'm hoping that our excursion today wasn't one of those "last" things, but it's definitely one of my favorite places to go in London, or on the planet for that matter. We visited Trafalgar Square.
It's one of London's iconic locations, a must-see for any visitor to the city, and a place I've loved since our first visit to London in December 2000. We spent that New Year's Eve there, a celebration equivalent to ringing in the new year on New York's Times Square in America.
Our main destination today was the National Portrait Gallery for a look at a special exhibition of photographs by Annie Leibovitz, best known for her work in American magazines like Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. But the gallery also has lots and lots of portraits of famous Britons, from the royal family to authors, athletes and war heroes.
Trafalgar Square is one of those places where there's something to see everywhere you turn. It's named for the Battle of Trafalgar, in which Admiral Horatio Nelson led a decisive 1805 naval victory over the French. Nelson, who died in the battle, is memorialized by a statue perched atop a 169-foot tall column in the middle of the square. Statues of lions made from melted-down French artillery ring the Nelson memorial and are a favorite photo opportunity for anyone nimble enough to climb aboard.
Another of my favorite London churches, St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, is a fixture in the area since 1726, about 100 years before the actual square took shape. It's famous for its choir and also notable for the Cafe in the Crypt, where you can have a tasty and cheap lunch dining over 200-year-old grave markers and memorials to members long gone -- not nearly as creepy an experience as it sounds. (The name of the church, by the way, made literal sense back in the 1720s, when it was surrounded by green space.)
A little digression here. I don't think we've discussed this topic much, but the difference in American and British society is especially notable in the two nations' approach to religion. Religion (and religiosity) is pretty ingrained in American public life, but despite all the beautiful churches in London and elsewhere in the UK, England has a reputation as a pretty secular country. It was surprising to me on our first visit here to come to St. Martin's for a Wednesday night service and to be one of about a dozen worshippers in that vast and beautiful sanctuary.
The other main attraction on the square is the National Gallery, bigger and better known than the underrated Portrait Gallery, and another essential site for the London visitor. We didn't get there today, but we're definitely returning before we leave. It's an easy place to spend a day and there's something for every art lover, whether you prefer medieval Madonnas (the Biblical kind) and saints, or the French impressionists.
Our afternoon out continued with some more favorite sites and sights -- a walk across Leicester Square up to Picadilly Circus where we lunched at Ponti's a favorite sandwich shop of ours. This was one of those London days where, as we've noted a few times, it wasn't raining, but looked like it had just finished raining. We strolled on down Picadilly (the street) in an actual sprinkle to Hatchard's, booksellers since 1797, and the magnificent department store and food emporium Fortnum & Mason's, open since 1707, where we enjoyed tea, coffee and some scones and pastry.
It's always interesting to us to note how long some of these more famous London businesses have been in operation. As a comparison, Macy's, the granddaddy of U.S. retailers, has "only" been around since 1858.
And that's what we'll miss about this place -- the history and the fact that there's something interesting to look at everywhere you turn. Jayne and I both wish American cities and towns were more aware of their own history, and it reminds me of the criticism of the city of Charlotte, where we live -- and where government officials and developers often seem determined to tear down anything that was built before 1975.