January 5. Departure from Baltimore. 2050: BA 228 departs Baltimore

January 6. Arrive in London. 0920: Arrive Heathrow, London. You will be met at the airport by your tour manager/guide and transferred to your hotel in London. We commence the day by visiting the Museum of London, adjacent to London Wall. The Museum of London is the world's largest urban history museum with 1.1 million objects and Europe's largest archaeological archive. We will continue with a double decker bus tour of London. We will have a welcome dinner together this evening.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.
1900: Dinner at Savoir Faire, 42 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1EP

January 7. Kings and Queens of England. We will make a morning visit to Westminster Abbey where English kings and queens have been crowned since 1066. We will visit the Royal Chapels, which hold the tombs of monarchs from past centuries. We will also visit Poets' Corner to see the memorials to famous literary figures. We then walk past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben before taking a River Trip to the Tower of London where a Beefeater will guide us through William the Conqueror’s magnificent bastion that displays a thousand years of English history. During our visit we will see the new Crown Jewels exhibit.
Dinner will be by your own arrangements today.
1930: Theatre performance: Harold Pinters Betrayal.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January 8. Day Trip to Stratford. As we arrive on the outskirts of the town we visit Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, an Elizabethan farmhouse that was the home of Shakespeare’s wife. We will get to know the town that Shakespeare called home. Our sightseeing will begin at the Shakespeare Center, where the gardens are planted with flowers mentioned in the plays. We continue to Shakespeare’s Birthplace, a half-timbered house preserved to reflect family life in the 16th century and containing a museum dedicated to the bard’s life.
This afternoon we will attend a matinee at the Swan Theater. Time permitting, we can walk along the riverside passing the Royal Shakespeare Theater, to Holy Trinity Church where the poet is buried under the epitaph, “Blessed be the man who spares these stones/ and cursed be he who moves my bones.” Return to London, dinner will be by your own arrangements today.
1930: Theatre performance: Alls Well that Ends Well.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January 9. This morning we will visit St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren's wonderful Renaissance masterpiece. We will make an ascent of the dome to the Whispering Gallery for an impressive view of the concourse below. Continue to the area of the Inns of Courts, visiting the Middle Temple and Gray’s Inn. We walk in Lincoln’ Inn Fields through the mock Tudor Archway and then see the Old Curiosity Shop, a rare 17th Century pre-great fire of London building. View the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. In the afternoon we take a fascinating Walking Tour of the Historic Theater District followed by a Backstage Tour of the Royal Drury Lane Theater, where British theater was born 300 years ago. Since its construction in 1663, the Theater Royal has triumphed over tragedy, fire, bankruptcy, argument - even murder! Few who stand in the theater today can fail to be moved by the sheer weight of history surrounding them.
Dinner will be by your own arrangements.
1930: Theatre performance: The complete works of William Shakespeare (Reduced Shakespeare).
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January 10. Shakespeare's London. We dedicate today to Shakespeare, the world's greatest playwright. We begin with a visit to the Shakespeare Globe Theater Museum, where we will enjoy a Workshop (often on the museum's theater stage) on theater in the 16th and 17th centuries. Shakespeare spent most of his adult life in London, and time permitting, we will follow in his footsteps as we cross the River Thames over the Millenium Bridge enjoy a Walking Tour of the Southwark, once the Elizabethan theater district. We will visit Southwark Cathedral where many actors and playwrights attended services and where Shakespeare’s brother is buried.We will see the spot where Chaucer’s Tabard Inn once stood, and visit the George, one of Southwark’s original coaching inns, still with galleried courtyard intact. We will also visit the sites where The Rose and the Globe Theaters originally stood.
After purchasing half price tickets from the Leicester Square theater booth, for an evening performance of your choice (own expense). This will be an ideal area for your choice of dining this evening.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January 11. London Free Time. Today you can make your own arrangements for discovering the City and its many attractions.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January 12. Art and Artists. Today's sightseeing will commence at the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square, where we can view a portrait of William Shakespeare (with a gold earring) by an unknown artist that bears the claim of being the "most authentic contemporary likeness" of its subject. One of the most famous pictures in the gallery is the group portrait of the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne) by their brother, Bramwell along with Sir Joshua Reynolds's first portrait of Samuel Johnson ("a man of most dreadful appearance"), Nicholas Hilliard's miniature of handsome Sir Walter Raleigh, and a full-length Elizabeth I, and the Holbein cartoon of Henry VIII. On our final evening of this tour, we will have dinner together.
1700: Dinner at Salieri 376 Strand, London WC2R.
1930: Theatre performance: Tom Stoppards Jumpers.
Overnight at the Strand Palace Hotel, 372 The Strand, London WC2R 0JJ.

January13. Departure from London. 1400: BA 229 departs Heathrow.
1740: Arrival at BWI