Mills Family
clanmills.co.uk

2025-02-20
2025 Events (5/13)  ABBA



We had a couple of unforgettable days in London, visiting for two reasons:

  1. The ABBA Voyage Concert
  2. Mary and David's Silver Anniversary

Mary and David are our neighbors in Camberley, and they have a beautiful apartment in Pimlico. They split their time between their residences. When Mary and David celebrated their Silver Anniversary last year, they invited us to an afternoon gathering of family and friends. To show our appreciation, we treated them to dinner at Jakob's on Gloucester Road. Everyone enjoyed a lovely meal, and the proprietors shared their inspiring journey from Armenia and Persia to West London.

For Christmas, our family gifted us tickets to the ABBA Voyage concert at an arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Alison and I planned to arrive around 5:00pm for the concert at 7:45pm. To make the most of the day, all four of us decided to visit the London Canal Museum near King's Cross. Brian, our tour guide, provided a fascinating tour, which I often interrupted to share what I knew about the canals of the United Kingdom.

The wharves and basins along the canal used to handle various materials arriving in the River Thames by ship. Cargo was transferred in Docklands to barges, which entered the Regent's Canal at Limehouse, about a mile downriver from Tower Bridge. The Regent's Canal connects the Thames to several significant canals, including the Grand Union Canal leading to the Midlands and the Kennet and Avon Canal, which goes all the way to Bristol on the Atlantic Ocean. The museum itself is housed in a former ice house that features underground ice stores from the days before refrigeration, when ice arrived from Norway each spring and was used by the food industry.

After the tour, we strolled along the canal to Granary Square, where we enjoyed lunch at Coal Drops Yard. This venue offers something fresh and unique in London's shopping and dining scene, with cafés, bars, restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues just a short walk from King's Cross and St Pancras stations.

David, who is interested in genealogy, wanted to visit Old St Pancras Church, where his many-great-grandfather was married in 1809. We were able to enter the beautiful church because a band was setting up for an evening performance. One interesting feature in the church was a board displaying past incumbents of the ministry. David was excited to see the vicar's name on his ancestor's marriage certificate.

We continued our walk west along the canal to Camden Lock, one of London's busiest tourist spots. The Victorian buildings surrounding the canal are home to shops, pubs, restaurants, and various attractions. I am unaccustomed to being in such a crowded place. Despite the wet February weather, Camden Lock was bustling with visitors.

Around 4:30pm, Alison and I took the train from Camden Road to Stratford to prepare for our ABBA experience, which elevated our day from “jolly good” to “one of the best.”

The ABBA Voyage Concert was out of this world. It was the best show we have ever attended, surpassing anything we have seen in London's West End, Las Vegas, Broadway, or San Francisco. This experience sets a new standard for entertainment in the 21st century. At the end of the show, I turned to Alison and said, “I don’t know what we just witnessed, but I do know we will never forget this concert.”


Photos: click here.  


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