Day 168, 19 December 2012, London (in all it's glory) - Changing of the Guard, Bond Street (old and new), Lunch at the Coach & Horses (Bruton St), Carnaby Street (pictured), Liberty's (department store - frightfully expensive don't you know), National Gallery in Trafalgar Square - Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Covent Garden Markets, Dinner on Whitehall, WICKED! at the Victoria Apollo Theatre. Bed. Finally. Yay!
It was (obviously) one of our big days! Had outstanding fun all day. Started out with the Changing of the Guard (only every 2nd day at this time of year so a big crowd turned out). We walked through Green Park amazed at the difference 5 weeks has made - all the golden, crunchy Autumn leaves are gone and the trees are starkers - freezing their roots off. We went down Bond Street (both old and new) and our eyeballs nearly fell out looking at diamonds the size of, well, eyeballs. Walked past the House of Graff. Famous for it's diamonds and, apparently, being the most robbed shop on the street - every couple of months on average (can only imagine the insurance premiums.....) We had bought all day Tube tickets for £7 each and as James just reminded me I am obsessed with getting maximum bang for buck (and we managed 7 rides during the day - would otherwise cost over £4 per ride!) We visited the National Gallery and we finally got to see Van Gogh's Sunflowers. (We have seen many Van Goghs on our travels - but the Sunflowers series had eluded us). We visited the wonderful TKTS booth in Leicester Square and got cheap seats to WICKED! at the Apollo Theatre (been hoping to see this for years). We nipped to Covent Garden (back on the Tube) and the decorations were sublime - as was the opera singer busking famous arias in the Gallery - absolutely stunning. From Covent Garden (back on the Tube - raining hard by now) it was off to a favourite Wetherspoons pub on Whitehall for dinner then off to Victoria Station and the Apollo Theatre for WICKED! Could not believe how packed the theatre was - not a sell out by any means, but pretty full. The show was an extravaganza and as fresh as a daisy - never once got the impression that the cast were bored of the same old scenes night after night, year after year. Could not have had more fun in a day if we'd tried. Suspect will be a quiet one tomorrow.