Thursday, September 20, 2007

Wednesday, September 19


It was too late last night to post, so here is the update. We took the tube to Leicester Square and bought tickets for Mamma Mia, then back on the tube to Victoria Station. We walked up to Buckingham Palace, but there wasn't a changing of the guard that day. We marvelled at the size of the building and the fact that the queen is seldom there. We didn't go in, but instead walked in Green Park to Apsley house, where Wellington had lived. We debated about going in and decided to go to Harrod's instead. Wow. I wanted to take a picture of the doorman wearing white gloves, but the crowds made it hard to stand still. We walked around the store some. Saw a nice necklace for L48,000, but no one would take us seriously in DeBeers. We did buy a few little things, and then went into the food area and bought sandwiches, and took them to Hyde Park to eat. I had thought of going back to take the picture, but the crowds, traffic and construction made it too difficult. We walked through the park to Kensington Palace instead. We had coffee, scones, clotted cream and jam at the Orangery (yum!) before the tour. The first part was quite disheartening as it was room after room of multimedia stuff on Diana. But the rest was great. It is one thing to see representations of rooms, clothing etc, but to actually see where Victoria was sleeping when called to become queen, or where Queen Mary actually ate, with the exact furniture, pictures, etc was really interesting.

We walked to the tube and went back to Marble Arch area. It is so much quieter than Victoria or Kensington area where our agent wanted us to stay (expensive too.)

After a rest, we took the tube back to the West End for the play. really fun. I realized I didn't know many ABBA songs, but the performances were great. We grabbed some supper at a Japanese place called Wagawama or something (one of our best meals) and then took the tube home. People on the tube were openly drinking beer, even gin. It was 11:30, but the streets and tube were packed.

Interesting and full day.

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