October 20, 2011

October 20, 2011

This morning we woke up at 7:30 again, had breakfast (eggs, tomatoes and cheese today, along with the other things) and headed out. I went to the Savoy Theatre where Legally Blonde is playing and stood in line for a “lottery” ticket to see the show this evening. When I had gone yesterday, then man in the box office told me that, if you go to the theatre at 10:00 a.m. on the day of the performance, they give out ten tickets for ten pounds and fifteen for fifteen pounds—and wonderful seats in the fourth row, center nonetheless! So I got there early and got my 10 pound ticket for the evening! Talk about good luck with theatre tickets on this trip! After that, I wandered around by the river for a while, got some Starbucks (I really miss coffee shops…they don’t have them in Italy) and then headed to Covent Garden where I met up with Franzi to show her around. I pointed out some of my favorite places and then we split off again for a while. I went and looked at the Royal Opera House (also home to the Royal Ballet) and, while I was there, students of the Royal Ballet School were there—just like Billy Elliot! After looking around there for a while, I wandered through a food-stand market outside of Covent Garden and bought a PUMPKIN CUPCAKE! It was delicious :) I met back up with Franzi around 12:30 and we went to Muffinski’s to get some lunch (another favorite place from my trip last January). After that, we split off for the rest of the day.

First I headed to Dress Circle, which is a theatre store where I went in January and loved. I still love it and I bought the soundtrack of Matilda the Musical, which I saw in January. After that, I walked to Trafalgar Square where there is a huge London Olympics countdown (281 days!). From there, I walked to Buckingham Palace hoping there would be a few less people there :P I walked through Green Park the whole way there and it was just beautiful. It was a bit chillier today and not as sunny, but it still didn’t rain and was still quite lovely. There were so many people eating lunch in the park and walking around, enjoying the day. When I arrived at Buckingham Palace, there were definitely people there, but not like on Tuesday. From there I walked to Victoria just because and, from there, took the tube to Embankment where I visited the National Theatre area one more time, as well as the took in the view of Big Ben and all of the other wonderful landmarks on the river. After that, I had tea and a scone with jam and clotted cream in the crypt of St. Martin in the Field…it was lovely, although a café in a crypt does sound kind of weird. I also encountered a choir rehearsing in the church itself, which was lovely. After that, I wandered back to Covent Garden and then to Oxford Street to see the lights. I also grabbed a bite to eat.

At 7:30 I saw Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, which was a lot of fun. I was also really close to it was wonderful to be able to see everyone and everything so well! I didn’t know a whole lot about the show, aside from a few songs and the plot line, having seen the movie, so it was fun to see something I really didn’t know about! Plus it was fun because Minnetonka is putting it on in the spring…I am definitely interested to see how it goes over. It’s a fun show but definitely has a specific audience. It’s very upbeat, silly and fun to watch, though, so I’m sure they’ll have fun with it :) After the show, I got on the tube, went home, and went to bed—not so ready for an early morning tomorrow and not liking the idea of leaving London quite yet.