Travel: London, UK April 15-20/2026
- Apr 20
- 8 min read
A day after returning back from a family vacation in Maui Hawaii (here) and right on Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 14th) our crazy travel schedule directed us back to the airport for a flight to London, UK
It was also the week just prior to Israel's 78 Independence Day Celebration ,(04/22), though there is not much to celebrate, with antisemitism on steroids
engulfing the entire world, only 85 years since the murdering of Jews in WW II, and since 2026 is the year in which Israel became a full US's vassal, loosing its liberty to freely determine the fate of its National Security interests. especially
after the sacrifice of so many dead and wounded during the last 2 years of war.
Spring has already made its come-back to the city, bursting into its captivating nature bloom, enticing a friendly luc- warm sunny weather. along with thousands swarming tourists mobbing the city's highlight interest spots.
Both nature and visitors seemed to be oblivious to the latest US/Iran rolling war developments, the failed negotiations or the fragile ceasefires, also imposed by Trump ,who "pulled the plug" on the vassal state, at the Lebanon Front
Israelis speculate that PM Netanyhu had compromised Israeli independent National Security interests, as to evade his trial and get Trump's endorsement for his pardon .
Dangerous Liaisons
In addition to the on-going "War and Truce Charade" during which Trump said that he "may not extend ceasefire with Iran if no deal is reached" and to which Iran's response was that it would "reopen the Strait of Hormuz with conditions and threatens to close it, if the US blockade of Iranian ports continues". Iran reversed course, blockading the strait again,and Trump resumed military attacks on Iranian ships (April 18th)
Also the Israel/Lebanon 10 days ceasefire (taking effect on April 17th) has showed strains as IDF remained in South Lebanon.
<< The "theater of bloody Absurd"
is also highlighted in the provocative posting of the Polish PM
Trump may not realized that the Chess Game which was invented in the East, and which Iran is much longer experienced and proficient at playing, will further smear his reputation and drag US army chessmen for the long run. through many maneuvering schemes
The Indian game called chaturanga, played in India by at least the 6th–7th centuries CE; and was used an 8×8 board and pieces representing four divisions of an army (infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots), which later became modern pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks.
From India the game spread to Persia, where it became shatranj, and then into Europe, where the rules were gradually standardized into the version we play today.
However such rules seem not to apply, likewise in the military reality by the crafty Iranian, a key point blindly missed,. by the American Administration and rather be ignored by the lame European countries.
Furthermore, during our third day visit in London this piece of news was also circulated
UK police investigated security incident near London's Israeli embassy
after a Iran linked Ashaa al- Yamin terrorist group reported online, that it had targeted the premises with drones carrying "dangerous substances".
The alarmed investigation was linked to a video posted online (apparently part of the psychological propaganda warfare claiming that" the Israeli Embassy was going to be attacked with drones carrying "radioactive and dangerous carcinogenic materials"
In the midst of all these related crazy war upheaval, our escapism transmitted us to the imaginary realm of great British Live theater, and to exploration of new sites of interest,
Victoria & Albert - V&A East Museum and V&A Storehouse
branches of the Victoria and Albert Museum
in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford
A bustling hub for shoppers and tourists, Stratford City of East London, is home to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Westfield Stratford City shopping center, the new V&A museum and Storehouse and good restaurants serving up food from across the globe, .
Part of the Lower Lea Valley,Stratford has gone through a dramatic facelift since hosting the London summer 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. for which Stratford's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, part of the large, multi-purpose Stratford City development, was the principal venue.
The Westfield Stratford City ,opened in 2011. and is one of the largest urban shopping center in Europe,
Stratford is 6 miles northeast of Charing Cross, last Tube station on the Jubilee line.
Bus 388 from the Tube station takes to both V&A locations , if one choose not to walk
Stratford grew rapidly in the 19th c after the railway came to the area in 1839,
and after some decline it became East London's primary retail, cultural and leisure center, the second most significant business location in east London after Canary Wharf.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
V&A East forms part of the East Bank development at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford,
the V&A East Museum and the V&A East Storehouse, which, along with the original South Kensington site and the Young V&A, comprise two of the four London venues of the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A also has two other branches: one in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent; and another in Dundee, Scotland).
V &A East Museum. just opened officially to the public on Saturday 18 April 2026.
It consist of two free permanent galleries, with over 500 objects from the V&A’s collections spanning art, architecture, design, performance, and fashion.
We visited there on Friday, April 17th when the museum was open, but alas to only museum member by appointment. Thus as we were denied entrance to the museum .
we rented, instead, city-bikes, and enjoyed riding through the great bikes' trails of the park and to the V&A Storehouse which is about 15 minutes (walking) away from the museum itself.
situated inside the Here East building in Hackney Wick, Elizabeth Olympic Park,
opened on 31 May 2025.
This huge like "Art Ekea" Warehouse establishment houses over 250,000 artefacts, 350,000 books, and 1,000 archives in a four-level complex with 16,000 square ...
The Storehouse includes the David Bowie Center, which will feature a series of rotating displays and installations relating to the English musician
Theater
This spring the theater season was great and offered a large selection of very good plays (which we prefer over musicals) and too many we had to miss.
We did see the following which the first three, I highly recommend
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - (National Theater)
Choderlos de Laclos's scandalous, provocative French novel about seduction, manipulation, and betrayal on stage in this thrilling adaptation directed by Marianne Elliott.
(The Film version 1988)
Aidan Turner and Lesley Manville star as the scheming, power-hungry Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil in this darkly witty satire of pre-revolutionary French elite society in all its glamour and social vice.
In pre-revolutionary France, the wealthy and elite scheme and backstab in the glittery salons of Paris, where reputation is everything. The Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil and the Vicomte Sebastien de Valmont are a pair of amoral, scheming, and power-hungry lovers-turned-rivals who amuse themselves by ruining others. The Marquise is determined to corrupt the young Cecile, the fiancee of her former lover, while the Vicomte sets out to seduce the virtuous and married Madame de Tourvel. What follows is a deadly game of love, lies, and psychological warfare.
SHADOWLANDS- (Aldwych Theatre).
Hugh Bonneville (best known from TV serie Downton Abbey) stars as C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) the British author, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian who held academic positions in English literature in both Oxford and Cambridge and who is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia,
In this true story about love, loss and pain, that begins with his unexpected relationship, late in life, with the Jewish American poetess and writer Joy Davidman. (1915 – 1960) 17 years his junior Referred to as a child prodigy she earned MA degree from Columbia University in English literature at age twenty in 1935.
Written by William Nicholson, the award-winning play became a West End and Broadway hit and was later adapted into a celebrated Shadowlands film.
This acclaimed revival is most moving.
Joy Davidman Together C.S. Lewis
I'm Sorry Prime Minister - at the Apolo
final chapter of British political satire — and it is as cunning, cutting, and catastrophically funny as ever.
Brimming with razor-sharp wit, nostalgic brilliance, and more double-speak than a press briefing, this is political comedy at its most timeless — and timely.
The "final chapter" sees Jim Hacker as the Master of Hacker College, Oxford, facing a modern crisis after being "cancelled" by his college committee, leading him to rely on his old rival, Sir Humphrey, to navigate the mess
The Price - Merylebone Theater
The powerful new production which just opened, by the American actor and play-writer of 20th-c Arthur Miller 's play is riveting family drama starring two-time Olivier Award-winning Henry Goodman (Yes, Prime Minister, Fiddler On The Roof,
On the eve of selling their late father’s possessions, two estranged brothers meet in a cluttered New York attic for the first time in years. What begins as a simple transaction becomes a fierce emotional reckoning, as decades of resentment, sacrifice and buried truth erupt into the open.
In the Print -King's Head Theater Islington
The play about the mid-1980s print workers' dispute at Wapping illuminates a fraught piece of London history.
Rupert Murdoch, newspaper man. in combat against the workers-led by Brenda Dean, the first woman to head a major British trade union – SOGAT, Acronym for the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (as almost no one knew).
Their combat zone was Murdoch’s new print site in Wapping, historically an East End maritime area on the North Bank of the Thames but, for 54 weeks, shorthand for an industrial relations war in the second term of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain amid a regenerating London Docklands.
Islington - North London
(20 minutes Bus ride # 19 from Piccadilly Circus to Angel Tube Station)
The small King's Head theater is located in Islington - an inner-city area of North London, part of the historic county of Middlesex., which we got to visit because of the play and had stroll around, for the first time.
In contrast with London commercial mobbed heart., Islington's Victorian homes and quiet backstreets, are devoid off the massive tourists crowds.
It is populated mainly by middle class families, slew of theaters, trendy clubs, pubs, indie stores and independent boutiques. as well as great affordable eateries.
We had great lunch in this very good small local traditional French Bistro situated on a "Restaurant Row"
18 Theberton St, 020 7354 2618
Other places we enjoy eating-in, by Piccadilly Circus
Milos Eateries Estiatorio - Greek Restaurant, off Piccadilly Circus
1 Rwgent. 020 78392080
Good for lunch, otherwise very expensive.
The Delanunay (by Aldwych theater)
55 Aldwych 020 7499 8558
A European style atmospheric café and restaurant in Covent Garden Inspired by great cafes of Europe
All-day brasserie in elegant grand cafe surrounds, serving modern and classic European menu
A charming place for a great breakfast off Piccadilly , which I absolutely loved is:
Brumus - Breakfast place - inside the Haymarket Hotel
6 Haymarket 020 7470 E.Brumus @haymarkethotel.com
The Haymarket is a small beautifully artistically decorated high-end boutique hotel at a great location, part of Firmdale Hotels which is owned by Tim and Kit Camp - a British interior designer, and founder of Firmdale Hotels, a chain of eleven hotels in London and New York.
Moxy by Marriott off Piccadilly Circus (1 Jermyn Street,)
Recently opened (Feb.2026) the more affordable and trendy Moxy London Piccadilly Circus is situated in the heart of London's West End, The stylish, 532-room hotel , offers compact, tech-savvy, and soundproofed rooms, featuring a 24/7 bar, self check-in at Bar Moxy, and a prime location for nightlife and shopping.
As usual, we stayed at the Dilly on Piccadilly (also mentioned in my previous London posts) which is one of Piccadilly's iconic historic landmarks, known for over a hundred years as The Piccadilly Hotel (opened in 1908), It was bought by Le Méridien in 1986 and renamed Le Méridien Piccadilly The building was designed by Richard Norman Shaw
In 2022, Archer Hotel Capital sold the hotel to Israel-based Fattal Hotels,which announced plans for a £90 million renovation to convert the establishment into a luxury hotel. Since March, the new entrance and lobby has been under construction... on going..
With great spring weather and fantastic theater, plays seen our short stay was wonderful!
In St. James Market Agatha Christie Bust By Barclays Hotel
To be continued.....
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