PJ, the owner of the bed and breakfast, is an Arsenal fan through and through. He is a carpenter and worked on the new stadium and the surrounding apartments. In the morning we had a lengthy conversation with us about the team. He is probably in his last 60s, and tears up when he talks about some of the famous players and his work on the stadium. Before we were able to get out of the door he wanted to discuss Arsenal and our stay in London in great detail. We would learn that we needed to schedule in an extra half hour for breakfast every day to discuss our day’s plan with PJ and Breda (his wife). The Emirates Stadium is only three stops from the bed and breakfast so we made that our first destination of the day. The stadium was glorious. It was built to create an atmosphere on game day and despite Steven’s loyalty to Chelsea, even he was excited to walk around. We spent a good hour at the stadium and also found out that tours were already booked for the next three days. Our next stop was Westminster Abbey. The abbey was very impressive, but was more of a royal memorial than a church. It actually felt cluttered due to the sheer number of royal tombs and memorials. It took away from the majesty and I couldn’t imagine worshipping there. Each royal figure was trying to outdo their predecessor’s tomb and the end result was more like a childish show of one-upmanship than anything.
We next headed to the Apollo Victoria theatre to attempt to get “day-of” cheap theatre tickets to see Wicked. I was more than excited and this was only augmented by the elaborate marquee posters outside of the theatre. Believe it or not, there were very cheap tickets available for that night’s show; however, there were also more expensive, much nicer seats available as well. And, well, we were in London at the heart of theatre district and who could pass up those seats? Certainly not me. Before Steven’s jaw had time to hit the floor the tickets were purchased and I had skipped out of the theatre.
We made our way to the outside of Buckingham Palace, and after seeing the admission charge decided that the outside was indeed very pretty. We grabbed some lunch from a convenient Japanese restaurant and headed to Green Park for a bit of a break.
Afterwards, we walked to the Tate Britain to view some historic works before our big theatre date. Being the thoughtful fiancé that I am I thought that perhaps Steven would rather experience modern artwork considering he had gotten his fill of historic works in Germany. The Tate Modern was on the other side of Thames and there happened to be a boat going there that left in two minutes time. With haste I led the way, barreling across the street and down the sidewalk to the boarding dock. At the site of the two tourists at full sprint the nice man at the dock held the boat until we arrived. We had a pleasant ride down the Thames and made it to the Tate Modern. Unfortunately, Steven was not impressed with the museum and honestly I was not either. I overheard one elderly woman say to her friend at one exhibit, “I think it’s like the emperor’s new clothes.” It was amusingly true. Steven’s breaking point in the museum came after reading the very cerebral artist statement accompanying a mirror hung on the gallery wall, mine came after seeing a trashed room with an artist statement that I did not bother to read. We made it through the museum in a record forty minutes making it to every floor while walking the stairs. Steven admittedly found a couple pieces he enjoyed. We got out of the museum and crossed another London landmark, the Millennium Bridge. Being attached to the Tate Modern, it too had a very new-age approach to its design. And, like the Tate Modern, Steven wasn’t too impressed with it either. We did get to experience our first London rain. Luckily I had purchased ponchos and an umbrella in Germany for our travels. In fact, at the time I had been very smug for saving money by getting an inexpensive, 1 euro poncho instead of a nice rain jacket. I eventually managed to get the trash-bag-like poncho over my head in an attempt to stay somewhat dry. It was Steven’s turn to be smug now, as he passed on the poncho while laughing at me and used the mini umbrella.
We made it to the Apollo Victoria and really enjoyed the musical. It was excellent. The set was the most amazing set we had ever seen, with moving gears and even an animatronic dragon built into the stage. The only distraction was the drop of water leaking from the ceiling onto the stage. The character that played the disabled sister was wheeled in chair directly under the drip. It seemed like more of a deliberate move than a normal stage position. When we were exiting the theatre the stairways had flooded and by the time we reached the door it was a downpour. We ran to our station and slightly damp made it back to our B&B rather late (12:00). It turns out that it rained more in the six hours that night than it had in months.
Signing off,
Soaking Steven and Lacking Proper Rain Coverage Libby
Traveling question of the day: Why is there a lack of raincoats for sale in a city that is notorious for rain?