London

Just got back from London last night. It was a pretty good trip and got to see lots of cool places. Last monday at the SA meeting Beth hit her head on a ledge at Gill's house and gave herself a mild concussion so that was interesting. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to come to London or not because her head was still hurting, but she came and was feeling much better as the days went by.

On Thursday we traveled to London and went to see the Tower of London. We spent most of the afternoon there. Got to see the crown jewels and where famous old people were buried or executed or imprisoned. Apparently the imperial state crown has 2868 diamonds on it, which seems crazy, but that is the number that I read on one of the information signs. Thursday night we went and saw An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre. We were pretty high up and far back, but it was a decent play anyways.

On Friday we went to see the Globe Theatre. It was kind of small, but I think it was basically what I expected it to be. It would be cool to get to see a play there, but they don't start their season until after we are gone. Plays in the winter don't go very well there I guess, because they have no roof to cover them. After that Beth and I ate lunch and then walked over to the Palace at Westminster to get a tour of the place. The walk over was nice (very windy). We got to see the London Eye, something that Beth wanted to go in, but it was expensive. Big Ben was as the title would suggest: very big. I have been to Parliament in Ottawa, and it was cool, but nothing compared to this. Mainly because it is a palace and everything is made of either gold, or shaped like a monarch. It seemed like every inch of space was incredibly detailed and nothing was very plain. The House of Commons was a bit plain, but it was bombed and rebuilt after WWII so it makes sense that they may not have had enough money to make it pretty. That night we went and saw The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, it took a little while, but I got into it and enjoyed the play.

On Saturday we checked out, went to Trafalgar Square, went to the National Portrait Gallery, had fish and chips for lunch, and then saw The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre with Beth. The Phantom of the Opera was very entertaining. After supper we just kicked around trying to figure out where people were and then we left for Charlbury. Overall it was a good trip, but it was slightly annoying that everywhere we went there was construction going on.