Your faithful columnist has just returned from an epic 11-day family odyssey across the pond. My daughter Liz, son-in-law Peter, granddaughter Adeline, and I revisited two of our favorite cities and also took a sensational side trip into some territory I’ve long wanted to explore.

Along the way, I learned so many things.  I saw my first ha-ha fence, climbed too many narrow steps and walked along the roof of a church to enter a ringing chamber, and learned that even the best-laid plans can be screwed up by a computer and yet everything can turn out wonderfully well.

So, where to begin?  We chose Newark Airport, where, despite the TSA drama, we were able to get checked in and through security without a hitch.

Then we were off to the lounge since my son-in-law travels the world for his work and has miles and points aplenty, which he generously shares.  By the time our flight took off, I was ready for some shuteye. It was an overnight flight, and we arrived at Heathrow bright and way too early to get into our London hotel rooms, but Liz suggested that we go to the Arrivals Lounge and get ready for our day there. We were able to get some much-needed coffee and even take a shower. Having a place to pull myself together after a flight was a first for me!

At the top of my to-do list in London was a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the highly acclaimed Marie Antoinette exhibit. It did not disappoint. On display were some of her magnificent gowns, including a wedding dress quite similar to the one she wore. When 14-year-old Marie married, she had an 18-inch waist. After giving birth, records show that her waist was never bigger than 23 inches, thanks to the whalebone corsets that women in the royal court wore.

Also on view were Marie Antoinette’s eyewatering jewels. She did like her diamonds. Nothing succeeds like excess, one presumes, until it most certainly doesn’t. 

The exhibit featured the blade of the guillotine that beheaded her as well as the linen smock she wore to her execution. There is also her death mask, made by none other than Madame Tussaud. Her final note was also on display, written in the early morning hours before her death. “My God, have pity on me! My eyes have no more tears to cry for you my poor children; farewell, farewell!”

Peter noticed a nearby gallery of casts, so we checked those out. There was a plaster cast made of Michaelangelo’s David, the famous marble sculpture that is in Florence. This replica was gifted to Queen Victoria by the Duke of Tuscany in 1857. Notably, on the back of the statue’s pediment was a large plaster fig leaf encased in a frame.  Victoria had this made for modesty’s sake, and David was thus adorned during the Queen’s reign. Heaven forfend that decency should not prevail during the Victorian Age! Egads!