London

Wow, London! Again, we have been so amazed to be looking at things in real life that we have been seeing in pictures for years. In London, there is more recognition flashes than anywhere we have been as so many English things are part of things we know. For example, our first underground ride took us to Liverpool St station and we walked down Pall Mall tonight on our way back from the theatre. Actually, I think we have seen signs, at least, for pretty much every stop in the Monopoly board.

Thankfully Simon met us off the train from Darlington yesterday as, once again, we managed to coincide our arrival with peak hour (big note to self for our next trip!). We left our bags at his workplace and then met Narissa for dinner before heading off to the Westend for a show that they had managed to get cheap last minute tickets for. The show was called Avenue Q and it was a scream - if you ever get the chance to see it, make sure you do. It is billed as "Sesame Street for grown-ups", but really it is impossible to describe. Very, very clever and very, very funny.

Today we started off with a walking tour of London Called "Secret London". It was a fascinating wander through streets and alleys to gardens and plaza's that you would have no idea existed unless somebody took you there. The tour finished outside a cool old English pub called the Black Friars and - given that it was another gorgeous day and we had earned a rest - we stopped for a pint.

Refreshed, it was then on to our next stop - the museums. Because we only had half a day, we picked two from the many that are in close proximity to each other and decided to visit the Natural History museum first. What an amazing place! No show of seeing anywhere near all of it in less than a week, but we loved the dinosaur exhibit. Also, it was absolutely gobsmacking to see the mammal hall and get an understanding of the actual size of a blue whale. I mean, you know it is big, but when you see it in context with a very large elephant you comprehend that it is ENORMOUS! We decided to move on so that we had a bit of time to see another museum (they are all free), and chose the Science museum. We would love to go back to this too and I would love to see the motorcycle exhibition that is coming up. Ah well, maybe next time.

There was just enough time before we met Narissa for dinner for a wander through some of Harrods. What do you know, it happens to be their sale week! Unfortunately, even on sale,
Harrods doesn't really fit into our budget; but it was really cool to have a look through. The food hall is amazing and the Diana memorial a bit creepy - particularly given the very strange woman who latched on to me a bit while we were down there.

Dinner was at a very posh restaurant and we were probably a little underdressed after wandering around London all day in our shorts and tee-shirts but we can do that sort of thing, we're tourists. Then it was onto a musical at the Westend called Wicked - again, really impressive (the whole thing was so well done, I think it may have spoiled us for going to see productions at the Court Theatre).

Lastly was a walk past Buckingham Palace - apparently the queen is in residence at the moment so we waved and called out but I don't think she heard. Anyway, it's off for some more walking today with Amelia and Mike - you never know, we may find some more shops!