A foggy day in London town...: No Place Like London: Day 3

Given the crazy amount of running around on Sunday (and the fact that I stayed up late watching Shakespeare in Love on TV in my hotel room) I indulged myself to a sleep in on Monday. I was off on the road by mid-morning with the Albert Memorial as my first stop for the day. Immediately behind the memorial is the Royal Albert Hall: performance venue to some of the biggest acts in the world (The Beatles and Queen shared the stage one night). When I was walking out of the box office door I saw a familiar face! I can’t recall his name but he was a pianist for QYC’s VoiceWorks at one stage. There was a glimpse of recognition between us and a nod and ‘hi’ but his name escaped me and he was in a conversation with someone. You travel 12,000 miles and run into someone you can’t remember the name of...brilliant!

Around the corner from the Royal Albert was the V&A Museum which houses the collection previously held by the Theatre Museum in West End. In the collection were some original librettos, programmes, banners, costumes, sets, models and props from various productions over the past 100 or so years. An interesting exhibit.

I met up with Andrew and another friend, Missa, at Covent Garden for lunch. One overpriced and over-stuffy meal later and we wandered around the markets watching some of the performers. Andrew and Missa headed off for the museums and I stuck around at the Gardens. I stumbled across a string quintet busking away so I felt that it was necessary to order a hot chocolate and sit and watch them.

Aunty Viv, Uncle John, Aunty Elizabeth and Uncle Ken you made a wise investment!

Once the quintet finished up I headed over to the Tower Bride and Tower of London to get a few pictures of the landmarks and the River Thames. Entry into them is on my list of things to do on my next trip down to London!

By now I was pushing it for time to get back to the train station. I raced back to the hotel from the tube, grabbed my bags then headed back to the tube. Halfway to the tube I decided I wouldn’t make it to the train station in time given the number of line changes I had to make on the tube. So I completed a quintessential requirement of visiting London. I hailed a London cab! It was an exciting experience and I followed our route on the map thoroughly to make sure he didn’t rip me off…I’ve heard stories!

I made it to London Euston station on time, jumped on my train and said goodbye to London…for now!