this Hotel is as kind and conciencious as a person could be as she
sees to our meal.
Out to the tube and off to the Tower of London. It is a beautiful
sunny day and the lines are only one person deep. We walk right into
the tower and wait on the bridge over the moat for our Beefeater to
begin his tour.
Dressed in their signature black and red uniforms, these guys provide
a very funny and entertaining review of the history of events in the
tower. Generally, they focus on beheadings, murders and aristocratic
misdeeds, painting a sorry picture of midevil England.
We wandered through the tower after the tour, checking out the crown
jewels, bloody tower and Henry VIII exhibit, then exited and tubed our
way to St. Paul's Cathedral, arriving about one. We used the audio
tour to familiarize ourselves with the history and architecture, then
popped out to the cafe across the street for a shared lunch of Lasagna
and salad.
We walked across the river for a look at the Globe Theatre and a quick
walk through of the Modern Tate Art Museum, then back to St. Paul's
for evensong, a 45 minutes church service with two short sermons and
lots of choral and organ music. We wanyed to hear the organ play in
this massive arena of marble and stone We walked to the front of the
church to get a good seat where we could enjoy the music and before I
knew it Sally had taken a Hymn book and we were walking up into the
nave and alter area heading for the choir seats. We were not going to
watch the Evensong prayer session, we were now a part of it. The padre
(got that from Clint Eastwood in Grand Torino) came in leading the
choir. For 45 minutes the church echoed in glorious song and pipe
organ and we were completely enveloped in it. We had a cheat sheet
telling us when to stand and when to sit, and we even sang along (I
mumbled along) with the organ and choir at the end. Why watch when you
can participate? We walked out of the nave back into the rest of the
church and resumed out normal, humble lives.
We caught the tube to the Leichester area. This is where they sell
half price tickets to the shows on the day of the show. There were
about 10-15 store fronts set up claiming to sell half price tickets in
bold glowing signs, so we picked the one with no line. It was now 7
o'clock with shows starting at 7:30. We had been discussing all day
what to see from the 20 or more shows to chose from. Our top choice
was Wicked, but our ticket vendor consulted his computer and told us
it was sold out (it is Saturday night). Sister Act, the new adaption
of the Whopi Goldberg movie was getting rave reviews and two seats
were available, so for 39.50£ each we bought the tickets. Now, with 25
minutes to showtime we were about a mile from the theatre. The Tube to
the rescue! Take the Northern Line one stop to Tottenham Court Road,
then the Central Line one stop to Oxford Circle and tada! In the door
with 10 minutes to spare.
The show? Fantastic. High energy and very fun.
Out at 10:30, two Tube lines, a short walk and a stop for a chocolate
bar and we were back at the hotel.
Chuck
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