London is fabulous. We have had to see much of it by peeking out from under an umbrella, but as fellow New Mexcians understand...rain is an attraction in and of itself. Thus far, we have visited the National Gallery and Tate Modern Museums. Both are free museums that only request donations. Both are exquisite. I would have thought that after seeing as many museums as we have in the last few months that we might grow weary of them, but alas, we have not! We still have plans to see several more while we are here! We not only adore seeing our old favorites, but we discover new artists all the time. Today we add artist Bridget Riley to our growing list of favorites.
Other London highlights have been the Clink Museum and The Tower. Both offer up delicious servings of gruesome history. In The Tower, we saw the famous Crown Jewels (actually we saw them twice because they were too amazing to see only once). We saw the infamous ravens, numerous torture devices, tons of armor, the locations where many famous people were imprisoned and/or executed (Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, poor Lady Jane Grey and Thomas Cromwell). At the Clink we were able to put our heads on the chopping block, try out life with a ball and chain, and hear about the horrors of being a prisoner there.
We have already seen so many things; Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, The Monument, Lloyd's of London, the Jubilee Walkway, Fleet Street, Victoria Station, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Leicester Sqaure, the Royal Opera House, Somerset House, Cleopatra's Needle, 221b Baker St. and for Harry Potter fan's...we have been to King's Cross Station.
However, most evenings we tear ourselves away from the glorious sights and go see a show. The West End theatre is astounding. We went to see Shrek, The Musical (very silly, but lots of fun) and Billy Elliot. Billy Elliot was amazing. I have seen numerous Broadway shows that feature children, but the young man we saw perform in this show put them all to shame. He gave a remarkable heartwarming performance, has a lovely singing voice and also managed to be an incredible dancer and acrobat. Wow!! This guy could do a perfect tours en l'air, but could also tap dance with fluidity reminiscent of Gregory Hines. Incredible! To top it all off, we learned dozens of curse words in local vernacular.
Beth and Emma,
ReplyDeleteDid you find that toy shop in Covent Garden-Its in the plaza of shops on the Strand side of the garden, second floor on the tube side. Also on the Covent Garden tube stop when you get to street level just across the street is a little alley that will take you to a place called Neals Yard where there is the best little botanical store and if you find it and pick me up a container of the rose cream I'll pay you back. Honest.