Another day in cheery London

Well, as it is becoming a habit, I slept longer than intended. I just didn't feel like getting up when my alarms went off! But i was still up and going by 11:30. After grabbing some water and a sandwich for lunch, I headed back to the tube to go over to the theater area and the TKTS booth. I wanted to see if there were any cheap discounted tickets for either We Will Rock You or The Lord of the Rings as I can't see either back in the states (WWRY plays in Las Vegas but I doubt I'll be there in the next few years!) After waiting about an hour in different lines, I discovered that WWRY only had the full priced tickets and those were a good 60 pounds, so I went with the much cheaper ticket to Lord of the Rings for tonight's show.

After that, I hopped back on the tube and made my way over to the Globe theater. After paying for admission, I headed in the exhibition center to wait for my tour to start and took a peak at the cool stuff on display regarding the theater itself, the reconstruction, and things from recent productions made in authentic manner. At 2 pm my tour started. It was incredible to be standing in a reconstructed Globe theater and seeing the building. It's actually not built on the original site and slightly larger than the original but it was still amazing and built as close to the original as they could figure out and in the original manner as well. We saw it from the floor like a groundling would have, as well as from the middle level of seats. It was definitely worth the admission!

After that, I decided to walk up the river Thames to the Houses of Parliament and other places of interest in Westminster. It was a long walk but rather relaxing and being a Saturday afternoon it was busy with tourists and just being out for the day - though it was an overcast and windy day. Thankfully it didn't rain! When I got about halfway there though, my camera batteries died and the cheap ones I bought in Glasgow for one pound didn't even last long at all. So I had one new battery and I mixed it with almost dead ones and then just turned my camera off after every few pictures.

I looked at buying batteries but I had no notes on me and there wasn't an atm in sight, and naturally most places take a minimum to charge something. So I just made do as I knew the same process worked before on Loch Ness. So I kept walking along, making my way around the London Eye which would've been cool but the line was way too long! Walking across the Westminster bridge and seeing the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were amazing and of course I took a bunch of pictures! Then I kept walking around the Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey. I had opted to go see another show tonight instead of seeing Westminster Abbey but when I got there I found out that it closed early in the afternoon so I couldn't have gone in if I had wanted - oh well! It was still a gorgeous building from the outside and I can only imagine the inside from the various cathedrals I've seen so far in Europe.

From there, there wasn't that much more I wanted to do and as it was getting late in the day as well, I walked over to St. James Park to see Buckingham Palace. I kinda got lost on the way over because apparently the road I chose to follow wasn't a popular route over there. But with the aide of my map of London, I got myself over there. It was a great place, and of course very busy with tourists. There weren't many guards at all out and of course I wouldn't see the changing of the guards as that's in the morning and during the winter months they only do it full out every other day - I didn't know if today was even the day for it! But after a bunch of pictures around there and of the fountain in front, I headed from there to Hyde park by walking up the one main road.

Before coming to Hyde park though, I had to go through the Duke of Wellington Place with the Wellington Arch which was cool to see. There were some war memorials around it but they really didn't interest me that much. So I kept going to Hyde Park. Now this is a big park! Granted the main park in Dublin is three times larger than Hyde Park - it's the largest I've been in and of course more famous! There was a bunch of people just walking around or having fun in the park. I ended up walking around the lake there - and I think there were more birds on that lake than people in the park! My main goal in there was to see the Peter Pan statue, but I quickly realized with the aide of the maps in the park that it was technically in the Kensington Gardens across the road.

So, I crossed the road! Once I came to the statue, I was a little disappointed because I thought it was much larger and more of a fountain. But it was getting dark out as the sun had set already, so I kept going up the Kensington Gardens to see Kensington Palace which has the Round Pond in front - which is full of white swans! Those were gorgeous to see and very used to people too. After taking some pictures of Kensington Palace, I proceeded to the nearest underground station to figure out my way to the theater for The Lord of the Rings as it was going on 6 pm.

Once I got that figured out, I arrived at my station and walked to the theater so I knew where it was. Once I got that situated, I set off to find an ATM to get some banknotes out for programs and stuff, as well as grab a bite to eat. However there was not an ATM to be found in those couple blocks, nor a fast food place for cheap either. What I did find was a bunch of cafe's and restaurants with full course meals, and at least 7 other different theaters including the one for Lion King, Buddy, Dirty Dancing, Importance of Being Ernest, Joseph, and a few others. Naturally I got pictures of those marquees! I ended up grabbing a sandwich and drink in the only supermarket/grocery store in the area and ate that while walking back to the theater.

I wanted to be in my seat early because I was told there was a pre-show when I bought my ticket. I went to buy my traditional poster, souvenir book, and program (apparently you have to buy those in London - I didn't get one for Billy Elliot) but the kiosk didn't sell programs or souvenir books and the only place to buy the program didn't take cards. I was told that I could try at intermission and they will sell any programs they have left then and I can use my card. So I headed up to my seat in the Grand Circle - which was very good seats!

The stage was very interesting as it was a curtain with the ring in the center and tree roots fanning out into the audience and on the walls - very elaborate. I was hesitant about the show as I've been told that it's not that great but I figured I might as well make that decision for myself! The pre-show ended up being a bunch of the hobits coming out on stage and having fun - trying to catch fireflies that were flying around the theater. Some even came up on our balcony for a bit! When the show started, it was by the one hobbit tossing the caught fireflies into the ring on the drop. The show itself was good in aspects but not so great in others. The costumes were amazing - especially for the fantastical creatures like the Ents, the Orcs, and even the hobbits themselves. I still haven't figured out how the hobbits were so short compared to the men unless they either were cast being short or the others were on some kind of platform boots. But another thing that was incredibly was the set and the lighting. Both seem incredibly complicated and interesting as the stage was a revolve that had three circular sections which were then divided up further into blocks - all of which could be raised or lowered separately thus being able to create a ton of different arrangements. The lights were very well planned out and really helped the effects. There was even some acrobatics in the show as the Ents were on stilts, they flew characters every now and then, and the orcs had spring limbs to help them tumble and move.

During intermission, I headed down to get my program and souvenir book, which they had! Then back to my seat to watch the rest of the show. There was a break between the second and third act but not one for us as there were two orcs in the grand circle scaring people and just being there and crawling around - was rather cool! The music was very theatrical and also movie like in that there was a lot of underscoring but not much actually singing. And the songs that were sung were more either chants or folk songs by the hobbits. The story was not the best as it was very basic and left a lot out. The acting was good for the most part, some were much better than others. A few times it felt as if there were dead spots, including the very end - oops! And aside from the end being a traditional happy ending and big climatic finish, it was a semi-happy ending with a rather dismal finish. But they made up for it during the curtain call!

After that, I headed back to my hostel just to relax and get ready to leave and go back home in the morning. The girls where back already like last night, and they were playing what ended up looking like charades! I found out that they're all dancers and here for a short time taking classes at a studio here in London. While they were doing their game, I sat down to do this blog and upload my pictures from today and yesterday as I forgot to do so yesterday with the pics.

That lead to problems and a huge disappointment... it took forever to get my computer to read the pictures enough to copy them all over. Plus, all of my pictures that I took from when my batteries died and I started using one good one and the whole turning it off right after one pic bit... not there at all! After a few tries I couldn't even find them on my camera... so I lost all my pictures of the Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and St. Jame's Park, the Peter Pan statue, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace, plus all the theater marquee's I saw tonight.

If anyone knows me and my pictures I take... that's a lot that I lost - probably a good 400. I go by the idea that I'd rather have more to pick from in order to get the good pictures. Part of why none of my pictures have been uploaded. Unfortunately, I leave London tomorrow morning so I can't even go and retake them! But hopefully I shall be back in London and I can take all those pictures again when I come back plus but most of my souvenirs. I didn't get much because I figured I'd be back at least one more time to London as it's so close to me in Lille.

But anyways, my winter break is almost at an end as I head back to Lille tomorrow at 10 pm on the Eurostar going under the chunnel. But till tomorrow when I update and hopefully get all my pictures uploaded, Night!