Gosh, that was great. My daughters and I ended our summer with a performance of Hamilton in London. Yes, seeing a biographical play about an American Revolutionary in London was a bit weird, but economics drove us to it. I tried to get tickets for our family when we were in New York City at the end of July, but the prices were exhorbitant. In fact Hamilton tickets were so expensive on Broadway that it was cheaper for us to fly round trip from Munich to London, stay for two nights in reasonable accomodation, enjoy the sights of one of the world’s great cities, and see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Broadway tickets were more expensive than all of that.
To put it directly: It. Was. Awesome. Brought me to tears, in fact, because it let me know that whatever the faults America has, we haven’t completely forgotten our most important history. In our quest to show our expat children their native land, we’ve seen a ton of American history sites this summer: The Alamo, Savannah, Gettysburg, [Edit: Yorktown], Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City. And then to tie it all together with a visit to London - where, like it or not, it all began - was absolutely fantastic. Hearing Washington’s farewell address played out against the backdrop of the incredulity of King George III while sitting in a theater named for Queen Victoria brought it all home, at least to me. Meanwhile, my daughters left the theater wondering if Thomas Jefferson really looked and sang like Prince. ;-)
We left London the day after, but before leaving we had the privilege of touring St. Paul’s. We explored the whole place, and went up in the dome. At the end of the tour we visited the east end of the Cathedral. Behind the altar, in maybe the most important place in the Cathedral, is a memorial to the 28,000 Americans who died in Britain during WWII. We’re tied to the UK by more than a common language.