London

I lived in England as a kid for two years when my dad was stationed there for work. We made a trip to London then, and I vaguely remember watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Or at least, I remember the picture of my brother and I standing outside the gates at Buckingham Palace.

This trip was officially about me seeing theatre that I had cast. Which we certainly did. It was tough to have to see Deathtrap the night we got there (jet lag and all), but that was the closing performance and therefore our only option. I was tired, but it was good. The next day we saw them loading up the lights and the set for the next show to move into the theatre. I was able to snap one of the last possible shots of the Deathtrap marquis.


As always, we just did a lot of walking around, picture taking and soaking it all in. It was gray and rainy, but at least it was in the 50s. We liked wandering around Covent Garden.




Bought some licorice all-sorts here. Yes, I am one of the few people in the world who actually like licorice.


Had actual tea at the Covent Garden Hotel. Like you do.


I know I've already talked far too much about thi cheese shop, but it's awesome and I can't help myself. I love cheese.


We also spent a morning in Notting HIll.







Walked all along Portabello Road. On Saturdays there is a huge market here. Usually with masses of people, I would bet. We were there on a Sunday and had it relatively to ourselves, which was also kind of lovely. In one of my favorite Disney movies from childhood, Bednobs and Broomsticks, Angela Lansbury sings about Portabello Road - "the street where the riches of ages are sold." And boy, are they ever. I could not stop taking pictures. I wish I had had the money and the room in my suitcase to buy all these things and SOOOO many more.


Found someone selling Geoff's initials.



We (meaning I) had a minor "I'm too hungry" meltdown on the way to lunch at Harrods (overrated, though their gelato in the candy shop was good), rode a double decker bus where I lost the adorable grey beret that Alison made me (sadness), but at least some lucky Londoner now has an Alison original.

Evensong at Westminster Abbey was cool only because of the men's choir. Well, ok, and the Abbey itself. We could only stay 20 minutes without being late for the theatre and the priests didn't seem too pleased with that when we told them in advance. But the building was pretty amazing. And the choir sang an amazing song as we were walking out, which was super cool. Next time, I'd spend a little more time walking through and reading/learning everything about the history of the Abbey itself.


Our last day we did the Tower of London. I'm such a sucker for how much history there is in London period, and the Tower was chock full of it, obviously. Our visit there also happened to coincide with the 1 hour of sunshine we had in London. You can see our shadows in this picture.




I just like that there is a full trunk of grit on hand.



I called this a Catapult. Geoff was all fancy and knowledgable and called it a Trebuchet. Show off.




Tower Bridge. Also pretty cool.


As was London. I thought it was pretty charming. We didn't do curry, or fish and chips or see Buckingham Palace, but we feel we had a fairly full fledged London experience nonetheless. And despite facing a few of the challenges I've mentioned before, we really enjoyed it. I would certainly go back