This morning, both Harris and I were awake by 6 AM. (Dad, this will not be a regular occurrence.) We hung out in the room until 7, when the hotel breakfast opened.
We met up with the whole group at 9:15 and started our walking tour of London. Simon, our London city guide, was very good. We saw interesting places around the city, saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and ended the tour by the Tower of London at 1 PM. After an unimpressive burger and very unimpressive IPA at a local pub, a smaller group set out to see some sights around London.
First, our adventure was toward the place where Diagon Alley was filmed. After a fair bit of searching and some wrong directions, we found the place.
Then it was off to the Globe Theatre, where some people stayed behind for a tour/exhibit.
Six of us split off to go buy tickets for a West End show. Stomp, our first choice, was sold out. However, we were able to get tickets for Sweeny Todd.
We then adventured out to find London’s Icebar. Due to how long it took to find the place and the timing of the performance later in the evening, Harris, Erin, and I split off to go take some pictures at Abbey Road.
At Abbey Road, we encountered some very drunk Englishmen in costume who were wreaking havoc at the crosswalk. Even so, we were able to get some successful pictures before heading back to the hotel for showers and different clothing.
We met up later to head out to the theatre. The map that the ticket place gave us was not great, so we were assisted by a homeless man who was able to successfully direct us to the theatre.
Overall, Sweeny Todd was a good show. The sound mixing wasn’t great, and combined with the fact that some English people are hard to understand when speaking quickly and at a high pitch, it was sometimes difficult to hear what was being said. Additionally, there was a mishap where an actor fell off a platform in the middle of Act I and the curtain was closed for a while to verify that he was okay.
We ended our night after the show so that we could get enough sleep to wake up by 5:00 AM.
Aside: The London Tube is fantastic. Fast, easy, and clean. However, there is a reason that “Mind the Gap” is well known; the carriage is often at a different height and fairly far from the actual platform.