The Screech Owls on Agatha Christie

In Attack on the Tower of London by Roy MacGregor, a Canadian children's ice hockey team travels to London to compete in an inline skating hockey game. Like Paddington Bear, Travis can't help but be a little in awe of London's premier transit system, known as the Tube or the Underground. He loves the life and energy of the station, all the people and shops, and how automated and efficient everything is. But all that pales next to the train ride itself.

On and on the train rattled and shook, screeching to a halt every so often, jerking to a start again. The girls kept calling out the name of each station--"Notting Hill Gate!" "Kensington!" "Victoria Station!" "St. James Park!"--and Travis, with his eyes closed, imagined how much his grandmother would enjoy this. She was forever reading English mysteries, forever talking about Agatha Christie and Miss Marple and pushing them on Travis when he was up at the cottage. She would have loved this. It was like traveling through the pages of one of her books.

I felt much like Travis on my first trip to London back in 2011. So many familiar names and places, and finally, I was there! Three precious days in this historic city.

Naturally, I had to visit Florin Court, which served as Whitehaven Mansions, Poirot's residence in the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot. But then, if you're a fan of Agatha Christie's books, and you've visited London, you know what Travis and I are talking about, right?