Yesterday and today were very fun and adventurous days! Yesterday we had a little later start, and began by going to the Box Office to see if we could get tickets for Phantom of the Opera, which was playing that night at Her Majesty’s Theatre. We were successful! Then we made our way to Hyde Park. On our way there we passed by a lot of war memorials, mostly for WWII, which was quite interesting to see. There was one that was even opened last week, for the Bomber Command during WWII. It was really cool to see that. After going past all these memorials, then you make your way into Hyde Park, which is really like a mini paradise in the middle of the city. Once you’re inside the park, it’s not even like you’re in the city anymore, you can’t hear any of the noises, and there are fewer people walking around. It’s really peaceful, and I couldn’t help but think that this was a place that I would love to come and just sit and read. Call me a dork, but those are the things that I think about when I got to places like that.
Lots of Theater!
Anyway, the main thing we wanted to see in the park, besides the natural beauty that was there, was the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It was really pretty! And you could even take off your shoes and walk around in the fountain. The water was cold though! Once our feet were rested from all the walking (the park is pretty big, plus we had to take a detour around the construction they were doing for the Olympics. I’m just going to say now that I’m really excited to watch the Olympics and be able to say that I was in the places where the events are taking place. It’ll probably really annoy my family, but I think it’s really cool). We grabbed some ice cream (because it sounded really good) and walked to the tube station, to make our way to Abbey Road. There were so many tourists there, trying to re-create the Beatles’ picture, while there was traffic on the road! And while it was on what they call a zebra crosswalk, which is where pedestrians always have the right of way, a lot of the people in the cars got really annoyed with the tourists trying to take pictures. It was quite amusing.
After Abbey Road, we went to find some place to eat. We ended up at a pretty nice Indian restaurant, which was exciting for me because I had never had Indian food before. It was delicious! Then it was time to go and see the Phantom of the Opera! This was really exciting because I had never seen the show before, and to see it on the West End in London was pretty sweet! Once we got out of the show, it was dark, and the first time that we had been in London at night. It has such a different atmosphere! There aren’t as many people milling about, and everything is all lit up and it looks so beautiful! I almost think I like it better at night.
Today I went to class this morning, where we discussed the play that we were going to see in the afternoon. Once again, I thought it was an interesting lecture, though this one was shorter than Tuesday’s. Then we had to make our way to London to the Globe, which was where we were going to watch Taming of the Shrew. Being in the Globe and watching a Shakespeare play was really, really cool for me! I was doing what people hundreds of years ago were going, standing at the edge of the stage and watching a play. And the play was really funny! I enjoyed the way the actors interpreted the play, and the way they interacted with the audience. It was amazing! Plus it was nice weather, and since the Globe has an open roof, that was especially nice. After that, I made my way back to my room in order to prepare for my trip to Ireland tomorrow. It should be really cool! But I probably won’t be posting again until I get back on Monday. So until then, happy reading! 🙂