The plan: eat breakfast at the "hotel", take the tube to the Tower gift shop, see the Bank of England Museum (gift shop), the British Museum, and Leicester Square for tickets to something.
Headlines from BBC 1: President Ford died @ 93; Blair, (BA209) overshot runway in Miami; HUGE sales today (which we have no intention of seeing).
We rode the Victoria line to Tower Hill, where we took some more pictures of the Tower of London, and shopped for pens and postcards, and were tempted by, (but did not buy) the paper model (working, mind you) of the executioner with victim.
Then we rode to Monument and walked underground (for quite a way) to Bank. The Bank of England museum was surprisingly nice, actually. I would have liked to take more pictures, but I noticed the no pictures sign half-way through. We got to stick our hands in a sealed plexiglass container and wrap our hands around a genuine gold bar. It was really cool. At the gift shop we bought a post card (for us) and a couple of 2006 proof sets (and there learned that the Bank of England only prints the money, not mints the coins).
Next we rode to Leicester Square via the Northern Line, found no tickets we were interested in, and walked over to the Orc's Nest (a game store, obviously). A short (and pleasant) walk later, and we were at the British Museum. (Across the street and west there is an antique bookstore. In the window was a copy of The Imperial Shakespeare for the low price of £650.)
Inside the grand, enormous, sweeping hall we bought a visitor's guide (£5 I think), and Karen told me she thinks she was smiling in someone else's picture out front. Room 1 was a replica of the arrangement of the museum in the time of George III (complete with fake (touchable) Rosetta Stone). We then walked across the Great Court (their description, not mine) to the REAL Rosetta Stone, a bunch of Assyrian stone murals and statues (and the dreaded Cat with Five Legs (dun dun dun)), some nice Egyptian busts (and even a little Egyptian porn).
An older lady also commented on my camera, as I was able to take some pictures (and know before hand if they were coming out) while she only had an older (non digital) camera.
(This is especially funny now, as it turns out that pictures that look fine (or mostly fine) small, look bad large. And Next time I will consider (strongly) a small tripod, as my hands start shaking fiercely.)
A remarkably reasonably priced (for a museum) cafe provided 1/2 and 1/2 roast chicken + avocado and cucumber cream cheese mint and 1/2 and 1/2 grilled veggies + goat cheese and egg salad + mayo + water cress, a decent-sized piece of apple strussel, and a bottle of Evian all for £10.50.
Almost immediately after our meal (which we took not because of hunger, but pain) our feet were on fire with pain. We looked around the Greeks (I really think I would have been a sculptor had I lived back then), then up the most painful (infinite) staircase EVER to see the mummies. It would have been really great if every step I took wasn't unmitigated agony.
We rode the lift down from 6 to 2 (the floor we entered on), sat for a little while, then walked through the gift shop. This part would have been great...if we were rich, but it did give Karen a chance to find the Vikings (their loot and weapons, anyway). Behold a pile of viking loot:
We rested (again) amidst some very shiny jewelry (circa the 1900's), then back to Leicester Square. Karen spotted Mary Poppins (tucked back behind Spamalot, off Charing Cross Road) so we walked over. The woman behind the counter had three seating options (£25, £15, £15) all for obstructed views. The last one, however, was only obstructed if you didn't mind leaning out over the rail a little and craning your neck a bit. We chose these. They ended up being high up on the third level, stage right, and with just a little leaning and craning, we could see everything.
After buying the tickets we rode back to Victoria and did a little shopping in the adjoining mall/shopping center. We bought a shirt for me and one for Monica (Karen's sister) and some generic post cards in case we felt obligated to send them to grandparents. Then we found an electronics store (a feat which required a great spot check from Karen that I missed) where I bought a 2 GB memory card (as the 1 GB card I had was filling up). I'll cut to the chase and tell you that we discovered (in Bath) that our camera couldn't read the 2 GB (£39) card. heh heh meh. We also stopped by Wittards of Chelsea to buy my mom a tea sampler.
Back to the "hotel" for a bit of rest and an opportunity to call Stratford-upon-Avon to get things cleared up. I had trouble with the phone, only to discover (to my great and abounding irritation) that it was a pay phone, so I was using the incorrect code on the calling card. At least the call let me get it out of my system, and move on. Plus, this way we get to see the Portobello Road Market on Saturday.
We left at 5ish (after writing a few postcards) and headed back to Leicester Square. On exiting we headed the wrong direction (swept up with the throng), but figured it out and reversed course. We tried to eat at Wagamama (a renowned Asian restaurant), but the line was out the (inner, subterranean) door. So instead we ate across the street at Chopstix. A medium meal with rice or noodles was only £4.50, and the large was £5. We got the large sweet and spicy with noodles and two (yes two) bottles of water for £1 each. Good Food. Then a little impulsive and decadent Hagen Das (1 Belgian chocolate, 1 Bailey's, and 1 Tiramisu scoop), then to the theater (program and souvenir book £10.50) to wait.
The house wasn't open at first, so we went upstairs and waited in the bar. After about five minutes they announced we could go in, so we did. The seats weren't bad at all. We had to lean and rest our arms, and I had no leg room, but they were ok.
The show was GREAT! Some staple magic tricks to amaze the younger fans, and some pretty nice wire stunts. I remember the books from when I was a kid, and they used a lot of the elements from the books that were left out of the movie. The story was also a lot better than the movie's plot, which was pretty cool.
Tomorrow (as in the 28th of December...): Bath
No comments:
Post a Comment