The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Three

The following is my journal entry (with pictures and movies added) for Day 3 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Today was a full day of site seeing and excitement. We started the day (after sleeping through the alarm -- we couldn't hear it through ear plugs)...luckily I woke up to check the time (a quirk of mine) and we were still able to get ready on time). We started the day with going on the excursion "Morning Site Seeing". We drove through London sites like these were pointed out to us: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Monuments, Cathedrals, the Mormon Temple (this one was down one street and by the time I turned to look, I was only able to see a corner of the building before we passed the street), Embassies, The West End (London's Broadway), the equivalent of Rodeo Drive with Harrods (I can't remember the actual name of the street), etc. We were able to take drive by pictures through the windows of the coach.

Parliament Square with Big Ben in the background

Parliament Square with Westminster Abbey
and Victoria Tower in the background

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Hall, Victory Tower, and statue of Winston Churchill

10 Downing Street (or the gates in front of it)

The Royal Courts of Justice

One of the many monuments to Prince Albert that Queen Victoria
put up around London after his death.

Harrods

Legally Blonde Theater on the West End

The Lion King Theater on the West End (above)


The building where Boy Scouts was first created.

A typical London Street

A street along the River Thames. Notice the "Look Left" sign painted on the street. These were at every pedestrian crossing for all those who are used to looking right first before crossing the street. Haha!

Other random buildings:

Note the barriers and fencing everywhere in this photo...
this was residual from the London Marathon the day before.

Note one of the narrowest buildings in London...Ye Old Cock Tavern

Notice the pock marks on the building...scars from WWII

We stopped twice -- the first was at St. Paul's Cathedral (where Charles and Dianna were married):

And the second stop was in front of Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard (or part of it at least). We saw two parades of soldiers: one of the soldiers going off duty and the other of the soldiers coming on duty.

St. Paul's Cathedral was cool. I have a fascination with old churches. Though I have to say I like the Catholic cathedrals in main land Europe better than these Church of England cathedrals. This one was a little more simple (but still with a lot of decoration and extravagance) just not as decorated as Catholic cathedrals. I still really liked it...don't get me wrong. I just noticed a difference. And the walk from the main door to the alter is a long, beautiful walk. That's why Dianna chose this cathedral...so her walk down the aisle would be remarkable. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so I bought some postcards instead.

Notice the expansive walk to the alter. Perfect for a grand wedding.

We arrived at Buckingham Palace a little early so we could get a good spot for the parades before the changing of the guard. As we were walking up to the right spot, my batteries in my camera ran out!! And my spares were in the bus. Kelli had to take all the pictures of the event. That was a little frustrating, but once the parades started with the bands leading the soldiers, I was so mesmerized, I forgot about the camera. Though I did suggest to Kelli when to take pictures and when to take movies.

I really enjoyed watching this first part of the changing of the guard. The next part was the inspection, but we didn't stay for that. The tour guide said it went on for an hour and a half and was really boring. Instead we continued through London and then ended the 1/2 day tour. We were dropped back at the hotel.

Kelli and I had about an hour before the afternoon excursion to Windsor Castle. This castle is about 20 minutes outside London. Eton College is near it too. The queen was actually in residence while we were there, but they still allowed us to see everything on the tour, specifically the state rooms (where the queen does her public duties). We were able to take pictures outside, but none inside. And I forgot to buy postcards after we finished our tour, so I don't have pictures of the beautiful rooms.

I enjoy exploring houses, castles, palaces, or any building for that matter. During this tour, we had an audio wand where we dialed in numbers on the device and listened to commentary while walking around the different rooms. We started with a to-scale doll house collected by the queen's grandmother. We saw the armory, the ball room, the king's bedroom, the queen's bedroom, the study, the offices, etc. This is the oldest inhabited palace in the world. The rooms we visited are often used for when diplomats visit. So it is fortunate we were able to go see them at all. Especially since the queen was there.

Windsor Castle above Windsor, the town

The queen was in residence. This flag is flown at any of her royal palaces if she is there.

The section on the other side of the gate is not open to tourists. It's the private area of the queen.

The entrance to the inside of the castle where tourists are allowed (see the people lined up on the left).

St. George's Chapel. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter.

Eton College in the distance

Once we returned to the hotel, we had about an hour and a half to find some food and get ready to see WICKED!! We had difficulty finding food since Kensington is a shopping district; there are no pubs and hardly any bakeries. We wasted a bit of time searching for food, but we were finally able to find something near the hotel almost when we were about to abandon our search for dinner.

After a quick freshening up in our hotel room, we took our chances in the Tube Station or Underground. We had to ask the ticket agent for directions and help, but after that, it was so easy. We only had four stops between Kensington and Victoria. We came out of the underground and saw the Billy Elliot Theater. We were a bit confused, but found a store clerk to ask where the Wicked Theater was. It was just down the street a bit. Later we realized there were two exits out of the Victoria station. If we took the main exit, we would have walked out right in front of the Wicked Theater. Oh well...at least we found it. :o)

We arrived in plenty of time before the show. We picked up our tickets from the window and headed into the theater.

Our seats were really pretty good. We were in the ground floor in the back middle section. We had a clear view of the stage, because 1) there was no one sitting in any chair of the four rows in front of us, and 2) because we were sitting in the section that was more like stadium seating so the floor sloped up more than it did closer to the stage. However, our row was pretty full so we were squished up by people we didn't know. For the first Act we stayed in our assigned seats. For the second, we moved down a couple of rows and Kelli took an aisle seat for more leg room. We still had an un-obstructed view. The main section was pretty full, but the back was only about 1/2 full. I am not sure about the balcony.

But enough about the seats!! Let me tell you about the play!! One word: A-MA-ZING!!!! The "Defying Gravity" scene almost made me cry!! I had chills almost all the way through. I am glad I listened to the music (I downloaded the original Broadway soundtrack) before watching the show so I could hum along and be more involved in the experience. That's what it was ...an EXPERIENCE!! I absolutely loved it! If I only had one complaint, it would be the girl who played Glenda the Good. She was cute and bubbly, but she didn't have the voice I was expecting. But no one can compare to Kristin Chenoweth (the original Broadway Glenda). The girl who played Elphaba was amazing! When she did Defying Gravity...I was speechless! My favorite songs include:

• Popular
• Defying Gravity
• I'm Not that Girl
• For Good

I am so glad we were able to go and experience this play in London on the West End!!

After we left, we braved the underground and the late night travelers. It wasn't so bad.

Someone else just came from Wicked too.

We got back to the hotel after 11pm. We are scheduled to leave on our official tour at 8am tomorrow. Our bags are supposed to be outside our door by 6:45 for the porter to pick up and take to the coach.

Tomorrow we leave London and head toward Coventry. We'll stop in Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon during the trip.

Fun Tid-Bit: Sunday was also the London Marathon, so there was a lot of marathon runners and dividers around town. There were even several runners in our hotel after the event was over. Traffic was horrible so it took us a bit longer to get anywhere, but it is still cool to say we were in London for the marathon! :o)