April 27, 2009 - London
Up early, caught taxi to Waverly station and train to London. UK train stations seem much more understandable than ones in Italy or Hungary, and not just for language reasons. They just seem to be laid out better, with clearer signs.
The train ride was ~5 hours, through some very nice Scottish and English scenery. Got into King's Cross station around noon, picked up our tickets for the upcoming train to Oxford, bought 3 day tube tickets and then caught the tube to Bayswater and found the hotel. The weather was the worst so far this trip - medium rainy with high winds at times, bad enough to reverse both our umbrellas and to break one rib on mine. Our hotel room wasn't clean yet, so we dropped of our luggage and headed out to find lunch. Ate lunch at Cafe Diana, nearby Kensington Gardens. Not terrible, but got great or cheap food.
After that, we caught the tube to Tottenham Road and walked over to the British Museum. The museum was amazing - great Egyption, Greek, Assyrian objects, easily accessible, including the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. In a weird coincidence, we ran into Stacey's cousin Jennifer there. She was on last day in London before heading for Paris.
After the museum, we stopped at a good comic store and I picked up a few collections that are hard to find in the US. Then we went to Leicester Square and picked up some discount theater tickets. We walked over to Covent Gardens, ate at a noodle place, and found the theater. The musical was at the Novello Theater, built in 1905, originally named the Waldorf but best known as the Strand. Very neat historical building. The musical was Spring Awakening, a relatively new musical based on a then controversial 19th century play. It was fun, very rock and roll, about some young kids exploring boundaries, etc. The first half was mostly funny, energetic and some what sexy. The second half was a total downer - pregnancy, suicide, abortion, reform school and death, but overall it was still enjoyable.
(pictures from London)
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