London

 

“The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is…”. Marcel Proust

The first time I believe that I read a paraphrased version of the above quote by Marcel Proust, was while reading The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghase.  He attributed the quote to one of his beloved characters.  I fell so in love with the quote, I sent it to friends who shared with me that it has been around much longer than my character, then sent me to do some exploration of the original.  Thanks Anne! 

What I actually read was “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes”.

 

This sentence, in the context of our most recent coming home to London, has been resonating and rattling around in my head ever since I read it. 

You see, when we first arrived in London having just crossed the Atlantic Ocean on our beloved Gratitude in 2019, we had this whole voyage ahead of us.  We had nothing more than the names of cities and countries, some marina ideas, a ton of cruising guides and guidebooks on the shelf as well as countless home education books and resources.  But the new eyes to which Proust refers, we didn’t even have a hint of.  I imagined that we would see new places and learn new ways of doing things, but I could never have imagined the “new eyes” that I would gain all these years later. 

The new eyes that we returned with made me aware that things were different – Subtle shifts in the way we viewed things 5 years ago, and even huge shifts were apparent.

5 years ago, I remember thinking that the entire tradition of a royal family and the belief that one can be chosen by God by birthright to rule other men preposterous.  But upon returning, I have new eyes.  I can see the ways in which the monarchy, at its best, is a unifying force for the UK during times of strife at 10 Downing.   The Labour Party arguing with the Torys, the Brexit and party gate nonsense, none of that mattered as the entire United Kingdom mourned the loss of a true public servant.  I don’t think either of our two countries has seen a true public servant in our politics in a good many years.  But the way that the Queen was able to unify her entire country was humbling and beautiful, and I ate my words that the Royal Family has no place in the 21^st century. 

 

Some of these revelations are a source of embarrassment for me, but I’m coming clean so that I can share with you the way that travel has changed me in a way that would have been impossible without leaving my country. 

I remember being very disconcerted by the Muslim women in burkas which are somewhat common in England, especially London.  Since it was fairly unusual for full coverings in the US, I grappled with this initially.  I can tell you that any sense of dis-comfort has totally dissolved over the past 5 years.  Nothing like living in a Muslim country for 10 months and making many more friends with women who dress differently to help you to see the humanity all around you. 

I am ashamed to admit that I had, 5 years ago, no desire to go to Germany.  I had read too many books about the Holocaust and WWII to be comfortable in a country that could allow their leaders to engage in such horrific atrocities.  Well, I have done more reading about my own country, and I have learned that though WWII was more recent than our miserable past treatment of African Americans and Native Americans, the truth is, we are still failing to come to grips with our past in this regard.  And I believe that sadly, with the right person saying the right things to stir up fear and anger, it would not be a stretch at all to imagine the entire thing happening again – in our country.    So, we went to Germany, and we were treated more generously there by Germans than at any of the stops along the way.  I now have utterly different eyes, not only toward Germany and Germans, but also toward my own country and leaders. 

 

I had some real reservations about Türkiye and Montenegro, but they remain 2 of our favorite places. 

I have new eyes when it comes to the way that I do things – laundry for example left to dry on lines looks so much more beautiful, lasts longer, and uses far less precious resources.  And manners… let’s talk about manners…

I read a book recently that inferred that the Carnegies were shunned from high society due to Mrs. Carnegies’ failure to understand the very vague guidelines of how long a sleeve should be.  Which brings me to a fairly big breakthrough I had a year or 2 ago.  Struggling to get to the bottom of why I was so irritated that dear friends failed to follow social norms and manners common in the US, I started inquiring about the many ways in which we are trained to treat people as “others”.  The ways that society has made “us” and “them”.  The way that countries do it, clubs do it, social groups do it.  Just to test my theory, I put my knife in my mouth in the presence of friends from England for whom such a faux pas would be unforgivable and truly, it honestly seemed to upset her.  My goal, of course, wasn’t to upset a friend, but rather to make the point that all of these “rules” are terrible dividers to friendship and peace and unity.  I’ll be honest, there are still times when I have to talk myself down when Im around someone from another country who doesn’t know the subtleties of American culture.  But the pause that I have learned to take between feeling the “slight” and recognizing that there was no slight at all intended, is the difference between who I was 5 years ago and the new eyes I have now. 

We returned to the beautiful St. Katharines Dock in London after another glorious summer of cruising and had the sense of “coming home” for all 3 of us this past October.  At once we couldn’t wait to discover old favorite places and restaurants.  But the joy of hearing one’s own language (even with a different accent) after years of funneling thoughts through “google translate” cannot be overstated.  The thrill of walking into a restaurant, understanding the menu and being able to order this without that, with even a modicum of confidence that the order would be understood, never mind processed correctly, was an entirely new experience for all of us. 

The reason we originally chose the UK for our first summer was that I thought we should get into the deep end of the proverbial ethnic pool gently.  It was a super wise thing to do since there are more similarities between the UK and the US then differences.    And for the same reason, Im glad that this is our final stop before heading home to the US in April.    It is providing a sort of gentle re-entry.  Jack ADORES London.  For most of the 5 years he told people it was his favorite.  The “favorite place” with Jack is a moving target but suffice to say, he is so happy to be back. 

 

We are planning to remain in London until sometime in February, we will come out of the water to do some bottom work in March and Gratitude is going to get to take a ride home to Florida in late March.  Originally, we had planned to cross the Atlantic on the Northern route to ME.  But the most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule.  And with Jacks first day of school likely in August, we couldn’t guarantee we would be back on time.  Rather than avoid the stress and potentially pushing our comfort in weather that was likely to be lousy heading Westbound, we made the difficult decision to ship her home.  On the upside, we will have a relaxing (relatively speaking) summer and return with time to settle in and catch our breath before Jack starts school. 

 

I’ll do another entire post on the city of London because it is such a fun, safe, clean and wonderful city.  9 million people live here with another 1 million visitors each day.  In spite of that, people are moved swiftly and safely through all of the boroughs and townships easily and efficiently with an amazing public transportation system.  There is a ton to write about and share with you about London but for now I’ll leave this here.