DAY 5 - DAY 4 LONDON

Shortly after we posted yesterday, we saw the second play of our visit and second play in less than 24 hours.  This time it was Wicked.  No, it wasn't "wicked", the name of the play was Wicked and it was wonderful indeed.

In several ways, we felt as though we knew portions of the storyline of the play,  since on Crystal Cruises a couple of the songs are performed in one of the Production Shows and of course we are familiar with the Wizard Of Oz.  In fact, we were discussing how when we were in our youth that it would normally be shown once or maybe even twice a year and we would watch it annually.  Yes, those were the days before VCR/DVD.  

We enjoyed the play.  One of the highlights was the actor who played the Wicked Witch whose voice was just outstanding.  

The theatre was quite a bit larger than the one we attended the night before, and since it was a matinee and given the play and that school is still out until next week there were quite many children in the audience.    We had great seats located almost precisely mid-stage and about eight rows back from the stage.  This theatre was only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel and when we first booked the tickets we didn't even know it was so close to where we would be staying.

As we were returning to the Hotel we also passed relatively close to  where we attended the performance of Billy Elliot.

We decided to have a casual dinner last night and ate at bBar where we had lunch on the first day in London.  It is located right next door to our Hotel and it is also part of Red Carnation Hotels, owner of the hotel we are staying at.    

We each began our meals with salads.  Keith had a chopped salad which was uniquely presented in a glass but accompanied by a plate so Keith could put portions of the chopped salad in the plate before eating them.  

We each had the fish of the day which was a lemon sole.  We thought it was very tasty.  After dinner, we relaxed back at the Hotel.  

Today, we are spending our last full day in London.  We enjoyed a light breakfast at the Executive Floor Lounge and then got ready for another day in the city.  

The forecast for the day was overcast skies and the forecast was correct  In spite of this, the weather was still a delight.

When we left the Hotel we headed off towards the Churchill War Rooms but at that point since it was still quite early we realized that we wouldn't be able to get in at that point.

We walked by the Guards Museum and watched the soldiers drill.

We continued to walk towards the Churchill War Rooms.

We got to an intersection close to Big Ben, Westminster Hall and Houses of Parliament.

Then we decided to walk along the Victoria Embankment along the River Thames.  Initially thought we would walk for about 20 minutes and then turn around and go back to the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms.  However, since we have been the War Rooms on other occasions and the weather was nice, we decided to continue walking along the Thames and at one point we decided let's go all the way to the Tower Of London and the Tower Bridge.

We did pass a monument with a quote from Winston Churchill.

We passed by several bridges and also we could see the Shakespeare Globe Theatre across the Thames River.

We eventually could see the Dome Of St. Paul's  Cathedral.

Eventually we arrived at the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

On our return walk we headed towards Downing Street.  We walked by the Defense Ministry and this building was directly across the street from the Ministry   

From this spot we turned our heads right and could we 10 Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister.

 A few minutes before we arrived back to the Hotel we picked up salad entrees which we took back to the room.  We walked just under 10 miles.

We are both fans of The Beatles, although Keith is the more avid fan.  It's interesting to note that while they made over 240 songs, they released their last album (if you don't count the chronology album or the ones that have been revised) almost 44 years ago, yet their songs are classics that will hopefully live on for many years to come with each succeeding generation become fans of their music. We still hope to get to Liverpool to see their roots.  In the meantime, we did take a Beatle Tour this afternoon called London Rock 'N Roll Tour: Beatles and Beyond which we booked with a company called London Cab Tours.  This is really a one person company and the driver is Graham Greenglass who is both driver and tour guide.

Graham is a Licensed London Taxi Driver (Black Cab) and has been a tour guide since 2001 and is originally from London.

Our tour included:  Abbey Road to West End Homes; A Hard Days Night to the Apple Shop Scene of that legendary roof-top gig; Where John met Yoko; Studios, Record cover shots; Weddings, Offices and Clubs and more.

This was a home of Brian Epstein, Manager of The Beatles.

This was the vehicle we were driven in.

This was a Flat that Ringo Starr first lived in.  Over a couple of year span Ringo Starr let other use it including John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix  To have a blue sign placed on a building one has to have been famous and been deceased for 20 or more years which is why the sign on it shows John Lennon.

This is the Abbey Road Studios.  For many years it was called the EMI studios but after the Beatles came out with the LP (Record Album) Abbey Road the name was changed to Abbey Road Studios.  Many of their songs were recorded at this studio which is where George Martin, their producer for most of their albums, worked.  Administrative offices are in this white building which is a former house.  There is a brick building built behind the house where gardens used to be which is the actual studio.

The famous crosswalk on the cover of Abbey Road.

This house was first purchased by Paul McCartney before he married Linda McCartney and then this was the house where they raised their family.  Paul McCartney still owns this home.

The tour also included some sites that were not just about the Beatles.  The home on the left was one of the homes that Jimi Hendrix live in between 1968 and 1969.  The home on the right is where George Frideric Handel, a composer, live in from 1723 until his death in 1759

The Beatles lived in one of the top floor flats for a short while together while recording in London.

Original site of Apple Records.  Studio was under ground.  It was on the top of the roof of this building where The Beatles performed songs for 45 minutes from Let It Be.   Those on the street could not see them playing.  They could only hear their music.  The police asked them to stop playing because of a complaint from one of the nearby businesses that they were making too much noise.

All in all we enjoyed the tour.  We saw some other sites where we did not take photos.  For example, we have stayed at The Landmark Hotel on two different occasions.  Right across the street is a train station and the movie A Hard Days Night has some famous scenes filmed outside and inside the train station.

Tomorrow, we board Crystal Serenity.  We can't wait.

Keith & Anne Marie