With the London Marathon happening today, April 27th, much of central London will be quite busy, so our plan is to explore another area of London, and on my birthday, Stephani had the great idea to put me in a cemetery, a delightfully wicked idea I might add.
Running up that hill
We made several changes on the underground to get to Highgate, and once we were there we were tested again with a massive hill that had both of us huffing and puffing. We made frequent stops to catch our breath and eventually made it to Highgate Park, which is where the famous cemetery is located. You can see from this picture that both of us are no worse for wear from the horrendous hill climb.
Famous Graves
Of the famous, the first grave I recognized was that of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB defector, who was poisoned by Vladimir Putin in London with the substance polonium. A photograph of Litvinenko and fresh flowers sit next to the headstone, which has a cut column design where the column is cut at the top at a slight angle to signify a life cut short too soon. So much symbolism.
A few steps away from Litvinenko is the grave of Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou aka; George Michael, the incredible British singer and songwriter who sadly passed away in 2016. His song "Round Here" was on my mind the whole day. In it he sings:
"Every time I try to leave this place, Something inside says "You can do better", yeah Round here"
It's a beautiful song, and so fitting that this beautiful man is buried in such a quiet and peaceful place, steps from his former London home.
Book editor Norman Dalziel Warne is also buried there. Warne, who was engaged to Beatrix Potter, but never got to marry her, is buried there. He passed away at the young age of 37 from Leukemia. Her family was opposed to the union, and he died within weeks of proposing marriage.
Thankfully, I am not buried in Highgate and very much celebrating another birthday in a macabre and interesting way with my wonderful wife, who very much wants me to not be buried in Highgate ;-)
Struck Out at The Flask
Bookings for lunch at The Flask, the most haunted pub in London, were extremely filled up, so we decided to walk a short distance to The Gatehouse, where we embibed on cold beer and delicious Fish n Chips. It was definitely a posh pub with great service and great food.
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