Our London Diary
Monday, February 5th
We got to London around 1:30 in the afternoon after a 10-hour flight. Wasn’t too bad. Watched “The Prestige” on the plane. We were still pretty tired, so we just chilled out at the hotel for a little while. The room was pretty small, but it didn’t really matter. I suppose if you do a vacation right, you’re hardly at your hotel anyway. Later on in the afternoon, we headed into Central London to find dinner and something to do. We took the Tube (subway) to Trafalgar Square, which is pretty cool.
After finding some pizza (yeah, really English, I know…), we checked out a bunch of the theatres on the West End to see what’s playing while we’re there. We decided to grab tickets to “Avenue Q” for that night. It’s an awesome show! If you don’t know anything about it, it’s basically a puppet show for an audience who enjoys R-rated movies. It’s a ton of fun. After that, we were still pretty tired from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday, February 6th
Tuesday we headed out early. The very first thing we needed to do was head to King’s Cross Train Station. Since the explosion of the Harry Potter books and movies, we head there was a Platform 9 3/4, so we had to check it out. Sure enough, there it was, right before Platform 10.
After Micha took a fan-girl picture by it, we headed over to the British Library. To name a few, we checked out the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s First Folio, a first edition of ‘Richard III”, Jane Austen’s original manuscript of “Persuasion”, and a bunch of other manuscripts. All in all, pretty cool. After that, we went to the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone. They also had an amazing Ancient Greece wing that we spend many hours in. In the afternoon, we went to Harrod’s. You have to check out Harrod’s. Even if you don’t by anything (though we DID buy some stuff), it’s a huge store and you feel pretty swanky just being ther. That night, we went to the theatre again. (This will be a recurring theme…) The Royal Shakespeare Company was doing the un-cut “Antony and Cleopatra” with Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter playing the leads. I suppose it goes without saying that it was mind-blowing. After the show, we waited by the stage door in the freezing cold, hoping to catch Jean-Luc Picard himself on his way out. And we did. He was incredibly sweet and he was nice enough to sign our program. A big highlight of the trip for me.
Wednesday, February 7th
The first thing on the list was Westminster Abbey. It’s huge! I know that’s a really touristy (Is that a word? Yes, it is… now.) thing to say, but when you’re standing inside, it’s a fairly awe-inspiring thing. Standing no more than four feet from a sign that said “No Photography”, Micha snapped a shot of the interior that could have gotten us thrown out, but they took pity on us and just made us promise to not do it again. Aside from the amazing architecture, the tombs are interesting too. Most of the royals have likenesses of them that were modeled on their death-masks, so it’s neat to get an idea of what people like Henry V, Elizabeth I, or Mary Queen of Scots looked like without a painter adding their own creative license.
After the Abbey, we went to place called the London Dungeon. Basically, it’s an interactive show of different dark times in London history- the Plague, the Great Fire, Jack the Ripper- with actors playing scenes from each period. Pretty neat. To follow that, we had a walking tour that evening called the “Blood and Tears” tour. We met our tour guide that night at a local Tube stop and he spent the next two hours taking us and about twelve others around London, showing us places where different bad things happened. It was really cool. The tour guide’s name was Declan McHugh and he really knew his stuff. He’s been researching this material for around ten years, so he had all kinds of stories to tell. Incidentally, he’s finishing up two books on the subject- one concentrating solely on Jack the Ripper- which should be published within the next year. If you’re into this stuff at all, I’d definitely recommend you check him out.
Thursday, February 8th
On Thursday, we woke up to snow! We heard it was the heaviest snow London had seen in three years. Strangely, it didn’t make things too much colder, so we headed out to the Tower of London. Since we got there right when it opened and because I’m sure the weather made some people stay inside, we practically had the Tower to ourselves! I don’t know if a place like the Tower, with all the history it has, should be considered beautiful, but it really was. We took a ton of pictures and met a great tour guide who gave us a ton of stories about the place. Also at the Tower are the Crown Jewels. I had to keep reminding myself that they were real. They’re so huge and elaborate, that they almost look like theatre costume pieces, but no, it really is a crown with 500 karats of diamonds on it!
After the Tower was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which was totally amazing. The original theatre burned down, but they’ve been able to reconstruct it to be exactly how it was in Shakespeare’s day (not including the new sprinkler system). We helped sponsor a prop, so we’re part of the reason Malvolio can have a writing box!
We took a walk in Hyde Park that afternoon. J.M. Barrie had a statue of Peter Pan there that we wanted to find.
That night held more theatre. Thursday, it was a musical called “Blood Brothers”. Micha had seen it before, but I’d never heard of it. Evidently, it’s a huge sensation in the UK, running for twenty years, that’s never made it big in the US for whatever reason. It was okay. The story was interesting (twins separated at birth, one grows us privileged, one poor, lots of 80s social commentary), but the music wasn’t really memorable. Not a bad show at all, just not one that I’ll feel the need to revisit the next time I’m in London.
Friday, February 9th
Friday was a lighter day. We started at the Tate Modern. They’ve just installed the new pieces that are huge slides from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floor to the Ground Level that they were letting guests slide on. So we did.
After the Tate, we stopped by Buckingham Palace to check out the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Then, we headed to the Museum of London, which had a fanstastic wing on the history of London going back to when the Romans lived there. A quick stop at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we headed back to the hotel to rest a little.
That night, we went back to the West End to see “Wicked”. Now that’s a memorable show! Neither Micha or I had seen it before or even head any of the music, so we were brand-new to it and were totally impressed. Definitely the highlight of the three musicals we saw.
Saturday, February 10th & Sunday, February 11th
Our last full day in London was another light one. We spend the morning checking out the Portobello Road Open Market in Notting Hill, which was fun. Great food.
After that, we spend a few hours at the National Gallery.
After that, back to the hotel for a rest before seeing “Twelfth Night” at the Old Vic. The troupe that was doing it was an all-male trouple and their staging of it was very modern and very cool. Saturday night was tough, since we only slept for a new hours. Sunday morning, we had to get up bright and early to go back to London Heathrow Airport. We left London Sunday morning around 11:30. Watched "Man of the Year" on the plane. We got back to LAX around 3pm local time. While we had a great time and will have even more stories when we see you all in person, it feels really nice to be home.
We got to London around 1:30 in the afternoon after a 10-hour flight. Wasn’t too bad. Watched “The Prestige” on the plane. We were still pretty tired, so we just chilled out at the hotel for a little while. The room was pretty small, but it didn’t really matter. I suppose if you do a vacation right, you’re hardly at your hotel anyway. Later on in the afternoon, we headed into Central London to find dinner and something to do. We took the Tube (subway) to Trafalgar Square, which is pretty cool.
After finding some pizza (yeah, really English, I know…), we checked out a bunch of the theatres on the West End to see what’s playing while we’re there. We decided to grab tickets to “Avenue Q” for that night. It’s an awesome show! If you don’t know anything about it, it’s basically a puppet show for an audience who enjoys R-rated movies. It’s a ton of fun. After that, we were still pretty tired from the flight, so we headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday, February 6th
Tuesday we headed out early. The very first thing we needed to do was head to King’s Cross Train Station. Since the explosion of the Harry Potter books and movies, we head there was a Platform 9 3/4, so we had to check it out. Sure enough, there it was, right before Platform 10.
After Micha took a fan-girl picture by it, we headed over to the British Library. To name a few, we checked out the Magna Carta, Shakespeare’s First Folio, a first edition of ‘Richard III”, Jane Austen’s original manuscript of “Persuasion”, and a bunch of other manuscripts. All in all, pretty cool. After that, we went to the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone. They also had an amazing Ancient Greece wing that we spend many hours in. In the afternoon, we went to Harrod’s. You have to check out Harrod’s. Even if you don’t by anything (though we DID buy some stuff), it’s a huge store and you feel pretty swanky just being ther. That night, we went to the theatre again. (This will be a recurring theme…) The Royal Shakespeare Company was doing the un-cut “Antony and Cleopatra” with Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter playing the leads. I suppose it goes without saying that it was mind-blowing. After the show, we waited by the stage door in the freezing cold, hoping to catch Jean-Luc Picard himself on his way out. And we did. He was incredibly sweet and he was nice enough to sign our program. A big highlight of the trip for me.
Wednesday, February 7th
The first thing on the list was Westminster Abbey. It’s huge! I know that’s a really touristy (Is that a word? Yes, it is… now.) thing to say, but when you’re standing inside, it’s a fairly awe-inspiring thing. Standing no more than four feet from a sign that said “No Photography”, Micha snapped a shot of the interior that could have gotten us thrown out, but they took pity on us and just made us promise to not do it again. Aside from the amazing architecture, the tombs are interesting too. Most of the royals have likenesses of them that were modeled on their death-masks, so it’s neat to get an idea of what people like Henry V, Elizabeth I, or Mary Queen of Scots looked like without a painter adding their own creative license.
After the Abbey, we went to place called the London Dungeon. Basically, it’s an interactive show of different dark times in London history- the Plague, the Great Fire, Jack the Ripper- with actors playing scenes from each period. Pretty neat. To follow that, we had a walking tour that evening called the “Blood and Tears” tour. We met our tour guide that night at a local Tube stop and he spent the next two hours taking us and about twelve others around London, showing us places where different bad things happened. It was really cool. The tour guide’s name was Declan McHugh and he really knew his stuff. He’s been researching this material for around ten years, so he had all kinds of stories to tell. Incidentally, he’s finishing up two books on the subject- one concentrating solely on Jack the Ripper- which should be published within the next year. If you’re into this stuff at all, I’d definitely recommend you check him out.
Thursday, February 8th
On Thursday, we woke up to snow! We heard it was the heaviest snow London had seen in three years. Strangely, it didn’t make things too much colder, so we headed out to the Tower of London. Since we got there right when it opened and because I’m sure the weather made some people stay inside, we practically had the Tower to ourselves! I don’t know if a place like the Tower, with all the history it has, should be considered beautiful, but it really was. We took a ton of pictures and met a great tour guide who gave us a ton of stories about the place. Also at the Tower are the Crown Jewels. I had to keep reminding myself that they were real. They’re so huge and elaborate, that they almost look like theatre costume pieces, but no, it really is a crown with 500 karats of diamonds on it!
After the Tower was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which was totally amazing. The original theatre burned down, but they’ve been able to reconstruct it to be exactly how it was in Shakespeare’s day (not including the new sprinkler system). We helped sponsor a prop, so we’re part of the reason Malvolio can have a writing box!
We took a walk in Hyde Park that afternoon. J.M. Barrie had a statue of Peter Pan there that we wanted to find.
That night held more theatre. Thursday, it was a musical called “Blood Brothers”. Micha had seen it before, but I’d never heard of it. Evidently, it’s a huge sensation in the UK, running for twenty years, that’s never made it big in the US for whatever reason. It was okay. The story was interesting (twins separated at birth, one grows us privileged, one poor, lots of 80s social commentary), but the music wasn’t really memorable. Not a bad show at all, just not one that I’ll feel the need to revisit the next time I’m in London.
Friday, February 9th
Friday was a lighter day. We started at the Tate Modern. They’ve just installed the new pieces that are huge slides from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floor to the Ground Level that they were letting guests slide on. So we did.
After the Tate, we stopped by Buckingham Palace to check out the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Then, we headed to the Museum of London, which had a fanstastic wing on the history of London going back to when the Romans lived there. A quick stop at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and we headed back to the hotel to rest a little.
That night, we went back to the West End to see “Wicked”. Now that’s a memorable show! Neither Micha or I had seen it before or even head any of the music, so we were brand-new to it and were totally impressed. Definitely the highlight of the three musicals we saw.
Saturday, February 10th & Sunday, February 11th
Our last full day in London was another light one. We spend the morning checking out the Portobello Road Open Market in Notting Hill, which was fun. Great food.
After that, we spend a few hours at the National Gallery.
After that, back to the hotel for a rest before seeing “Twelfth Night” at the Old Vic. The troupe that was doing it was an all-male trouple and their staging of it was very modern and very cool. Saturday night was tough, since we only slept for a new hours. Sunday morning, we had to get up bright and early to go back to London Heathrow Airport. We left London Sunday morning around 11:30. Watched "Man of the Year" on the plane. We got back to LAX around 3pm local time. While we had a great time and will have even more stories when we see you all in person, it feels really nice to be home.
posted by Vincent Kirk at 5:22 AM
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