My First Full Day in London
I woke at about 7:30 a.m. (after a 12 hour sleep… much needed) and indulged in the Euro’s usual hearty breakfast. It’s a beautiful sunny day today… perfect!
I left the Euro at about 9:00 and caught the London Underground to St. Paul’s station. I arrived at St. Paul’s Cathedral and toured the Churchyard and grounds (unfortunately no interior photography permitted):
I was going to take the interior tour but the Cathedral galleries were closed that day, so I decided to return another day when they were open.
Leaving St. Paul’s, I crossed the Millennium Bridge…
… then went to Tate Modern, taking in the exhibits for several hours:
I was kind of interested in seeing the exhibit Pop Life: Art In A Material World, but the admission was £14.00… I’m not quite that interested, thanks. After a few hours here my camera battery died – I took that as my cue to move on.
Leaving Tate Modern I walked along South Bank, passing by Shakespeare’s Globe (plays were not running as it was off-season):
I continued walking along South Bank, then down Southwark Bridge Road, turning on to Southwark Street. From there I got on the Underground at London Bridge station and went back to the Euro to rest and recharge the camera’s battery as well as my own.
After resting a bit I left the Euro around 2:30 and walked a zigzag route down to Leicester Square. I stopped along the way at a gourmet burger place on Bloomsbury Way, near Shaftesbury Ave., and had a delicious burger with salad.
Continuing on, I found Leicester Square and cased out the historic St. Martin’s Theatre on West Street, where I bought a ticket for a performance of The Mousetrap that night at 7:30 (I know, I know… what a stereotypical tourist thing to do, but this is London, and it is Agatha Christie, so why not…). I hung around Leicester Square for quite a while, taking in the goings-on and eating ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s.
Here’s a few shots of Leicester Square and area as darkness fell:
I arrived at St. Martin’s Theatre at 7:00 p.m. and went in, whereby I discovered I had scored an excellent seat in the Stalls, Centre. It was a very good production that night.
The play finished at about 9:45. I hopped the Leicester Square Underground back to Russell Square, which is the closest Underground station to the Euro Hotel. I stopped for munchies at the convenience store on Marchmont Street, then headed back to the Euro for the evening. I did a Skype call with Vince at about 11:00 p.m. just to catch up on things and let him know I was OK.
Off to bed… exhausted again!
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