Adventures Online: London, the Story of a City

Our group leader was very knowledgeable and engaging.

Excellent presenter.

Very well organized and detailed history of many centuries in London. Good interactions with other course participants. Excellent program!

This is a fantastic program! Ruth is very knowledgeable and has the ability to make many hundreds of years of history engaging.

Excellent program. A quick yet extremely informative survey of London history from Roman times through the 2012 Olympic Games. Our expert instructor, Ruth Polling was superb, presenting clear, organized, fast-paced and well-thought-out lectures and virtual field trips. A wonderful introduction to London!

This program offers an indepth study of the history of London right up to current day. It describes how various events impacted the city, its growth and development. It is extremely interesting. It would give anyone who is planning a real trip to London, a wonderful foundation on which to build their trip.

Excellent presentation of the fascinating history of London either as an introduction the city or as additional information for those who already know and love London

This program can be looked to as a prerequisite to a visit to London!

The guide, Ruth created a very enjoyable program with the lectures and the prerecorded videos making up the field trips. The program was well thought out and planned. She answered the questions well and people felt encouraged to ask. She was very personable and informative. The guest speakers added much information also. It was good to be able to interact on zoom.

Dense with information on London past and present, well organized, well illustrated, and enthusiastically presented.

This program was very good. My husband and I have been on a number of programs at least partially in London, and I really just wanted to experience a virtual visit there. I did enjoy that, but also learned an amazing amount about the city and its history. This video "class" made an excellent companion to the in-person tours that visit sites. Ruth was a very good presenter and talked about an interesting variety of eras and locations. I really enjoyed the program.

A comprehensive overview of how London developed into the city it is today. This would be a great way to understand the history of the city before a visit.

Three hours a day takes some schedule planning but is totally worth it. You certainly do NOT have to stay glued to your 'screen' the whole time.

This program is incredible Ruth is excellent, and makes a long and complicated history fascinating. The week sped by. Do sign up!

If International travel is not an option at this time, this online comprehensive view of London is perfect. Ruth Poling and her team were full of knowledge and the ability to articulate it in such a way that it truly was the next best thing to being there. GO!!!

This is an excellent program for anyone who wants to learn more about one of the most interesting cities in the world.

Five stars. Ruth Polling is a wonderful lecturer. I already had studied London history and have been to London many times, but I learned a lot from taking this program.

I tried to take “London: the Story of a City” 3 times as an actual, on-site program (in Sept. 2020 and April and Sept. 2021), but it was cancelled (the first time due to a “scheduling conflict” and the last 2 times due to the Covid pandemic). So I’m glad I had the opportunity to take it as a virtual program with the same instructor who would have given the actual program, the inimitable Ruth Polling. Ruth is a “walking encyclopedia” about London and figuratively speaking, has “written the book” about London. So does this virtual program diminish my desire to take the actual program, “London: the Story of a City.” No, quite the contrary — it makes me want to take it even more where one has a full 10 days with Ruth in London. Hope that Road Scholar offers the actual program if not in late 2022, then in 2023 for sure.

One of the best trips ever -- online or in person!

This was an amazing online tour. Ruth is a outstanding presenter. She had a mix of lectures, virtual field trips, and Q&A. Alyce was a great group leader, also very knowledgeable. She made us very comfortable with the online format. If you are considering an online trip, this one will not disappoint you.

Website: easy to navigate. One frustration: to get to anything, on iPad i had to sign in at least twice.

Fantastic week that tells the story of London in a way that makes you think and provides a wonderful basis for a trip to London or facilitates further individual study of areas of interest. Plus it is done in a manner that is serious when appropriate and fun when appropriate. Plus everyone involved made sure all attendees could ask their questions or provide personal perspectives. Plus the schedule was honored. Thank so much for a worthwhile and fun week!

This is a fabulous on line virtual trip to London. I learned so much about its history, the instructor was outstanding and overall is was so well done. I highly recommend it and I will be doing other virtual trips with RoadScholar.

This program was wonderful! There was such a wide variety of topics that it was continually fresh. I learned so much even though I have been to London several times. Ruth Polling is an excellent presenter with both lectures and field trips and had relevant and interesting slides.

This was definitely the next-best thing to being there! Perhaps I learned even more about the history of London, and less tiring than actually walking the distance (especially in the rain, which it often is for me).

I was hesitant to take an on-line RS class: would the cost be worth it? I was pleasantly surprised that this class closely matched my in-person experiences with RS. I not only learned a great deal, but felt like I got to know my "fellow travelers." The leaders, Ruth and Alice, were amazing! I will be signing up for more on-line classes with RS.

The on-line virtual London tour was almost as good as being there in person. By not having to battle traffic and walking, we were able to see and discuss as much as one could in a 10 day trip.

Really excellent and informative exploration of the history of London. Full of fascinating little-known stories and facts about Britain’s capitol and first city. 2000 years of history in 5 days - amazing! A really good value.

This is my 6th virtual adventure and it was OUTSTANDING! I have never been much of an anglophile, however this adventure is changing my mind. The amount of information and the ability to ask questions was great. Everyone's questions were answered. Alice's moderating skills were great. You can tell Ruth loves her

If you've never been to London, or if you've been there often, this program will give you insights and information that will make any future visits even more meaningful.

Although we've done several on site programs, this was our first virtual program. The content, presenters and format were first class. During Covid it enriched our lives for five days and enticed us to explore London with RS in the future in person.

Since travel will be a challenge in the next year, Road Scholar's on line programs keep one from getting too depressed about feeling immobile!

Excellent!

I did not really know what to expect when I signed up beyond the fact that I loved London. Sign up for this program! It was fantastic; very educational, very engaging and lost of fun. I enjoyed it very much and will definitely sign up for other virtual RS programs. The key was the guide - Ruth Polling. She is a real gem.

While I have been to London a few times and enjoy British television, movies, and literature, I often find myself wondering at the larger context. From this class, I was hoping for an overview of London that would provide me a broader perspective. This class turned out to be perfect for me. Ruth is an amazing teacher. She is very knowledgeable, well organized, a wonderful speaker and story-teller and has a warm personality. The subjects were broad-ranging, from key historic events to underlying social concerns. We “traveled” from Roman London, the Reformation, Great Fire of London, port development and empire, the Victorian era, WW 2, and into the future, where the Olympic Park is being developed. The presentations deepened my understanding of these time periods, including some of the serious problems that occurred. Watching the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics on our own before the last class was great fun. It pulled together a lot of what we learned, and led to an interesting discussion. I don’t think I’d have appreciated the opening ceremonies near as much without this class! In sum, the class was really enjoyable and I learned a lot!

There is so much to see and learn about London, and Ruth Polling does an amazing job of exploring a diversity of places and subjects in a way that is interesting to absorb. She is very personable, and in the Road Scholar tradition, makes you feel cared about and interested in our comments. A very good program, no matter if you have been to London often or just have an interest in learning something about it.