The day began with our hotel breakfast. I would remiss if I did not complement the Brits on their bacon. It is truly excellent but in my world we call it ham. I can't say that I see myself ever becoming a fan of the bangers though. These are fat, juicy, somewhat slimy sausages.
We headed out for a Saturday morning Brittish flea market. We originally planned to go to Portobello Road but opted instead for Camdentown. Perhaps we should have stayed with Portobello Road where they specialize in antiques. Linda and I have a bit of a problem -- shopping. We both like to do it too much! We took the tube to Camdentown with no problems. Exiting the tube we stepped into the largest crowd we have seen so far. According to the folks who live there this flea market is the fourth largest toursit attraction in London I personally think it could move up the list based on the attendance we saw last Saturday. The place was packed with people up and down both sides of the street.
At first we were not too happy with what we saw. Linda actually paid full price for her first purchase. Then we started dickering with folks on the price. It ended up being slightly akin to buying a new car. I think we got some good deals -- but who knows.
Any way we exhausted our funds and headed for the tube and back to the hotel to dump our packages and find an ATM. While we were dumping the packages, we had a lovely video chat with Katie, Chris, and the boys. We then headed to Leicester Square in search of theater tickets for that night when the Great Sunami of 2012 hit London. We were at the bus stop waiting when the wind began to howl. Linda bravely opened our one umbrella to shield us from the rising waters while we hid inside the bus shelter. For a few moment our lives flashed before our eyes -- well maybe we were the ones doing flashing. Water, water everywhere! We were drenched! We somehow boarded the bus and made it to the ticket booth where we got tickets to Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Wizard of Oz at the world famous Palladium Theater.
We then had a leisurely supper at a local Italian restaurant chain, Bella Italia. Both Linda and I chose the "Norma" dish from the menu in honor of you guessed it -- Grandma Norma.. We made a stop at a large bookstore on Charing Cross Road in the publishing district and also a stop at Hamleys, the world's largest toy store. Then we were off to the theater. Developed from the ever popular MGM screenplay this new production containsed all the much-loved songs from the Oscar winning movie score, all the favourite characters and iconic moments, plus a few surprises along the way, including new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The show featured Danielle Hope, the 18 year old winner of the BBC talent contest Over The Rainbow in the part of Dorothy in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which began performances in the West End at the London Palladium in 2011. This girl is a real talent. However the concept of a white Toto was troublesome to those of us who are Oz purists.
This production had some amazing technical aspects. The wicked witch of the west, unexpected flew into the middle of the theater and began wise cracking with the audience. The monkeys even flew -- for a while. About ten minutes into act II, the curtain went down and it was announced that they were experiencing technical difficulties. Linda and I suspect the technical issues dealt with the monkey who was unable to fly away with Dorothy and Toto at the command of the wicked witch. All in all, we highly enjoyed The Wizard -- technical difficulties to boot!
We headed home via the bus to Waterloo Station. We were a tad nervous about walking home in the dark. Our fears were needless, the path was clearly lit and not at all intimidating. We went to bed straightaway intending to rise early and head to Speakers Corner!
We headed out for a Saturday morning Brittish flea market. We originally planned to go to Portobello Road but opted instead for Camdentown. Perhaps we should have stayed with Portobello Road where they specialize in antiques. Linda and I have a bit of a problem -- shopping. We both like to do it too much! We took the tube to Camdentown with no problems. Exiting the tube we stepped into the largest crowd we have seen so far. According to the folks who live there this flea market is the fourth largest toursit attraction in London I personally think it could move up the list based on the attendance we saw last Saturday. The place was packed with people up and down both sides of the street.
 |
| Camden Town Market |
Any way we exhausted our funds and headed for the tube and back to the hotel to dump our packages and find an ATM. While we were dumping the packages, we had a lovely video chat with Katie, Chris, and the boys. We then headed to Leicester Square in search of theater tickets for that night when the Great Sunami of 2012 hit London. We were at the bus stop waiting when the wind began to howl. Linda bravely opened our one umbrella to shield us from the rising waters while we hid inside the bus shelter. For a few moment our lives flashed before our eyes -- well maybe we were the ones doing flashing. Water, water everywhere! We were drenched! We somehow boarded the bus and made it to the ticket booth where we got tickets to Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of The Wizard of Oz at the world famous Palladium Theater.
 |
| The Wizard Curtain Call |
This production had some amazing technical aspects. The wicked witch of the west, unexpected flew into the middle of the theater and began wise cracking with the audience. The monkeys even flew -- for a while. About ten minutes into act II, the curtain went down and it was announced that they were experiencing technical difficulties. Linda and I suspect the technical issues dealt with the monkey who was unable to fly away with Dorothy and Toto at the command of the wicked witch. All in all, we highly enjoyed The Wizard -- technical difficulties to boot!
We headed home via the bus to Waterloo Station. We were a tad nervous about walking home in the dark. Our fears were needless, the path was clearly lit and not at all intimidating. We went to bed straightaway intending to rise early and head to Speakers Corner!
No comments:
Post a Comment