this little life of mine

So after a couple days outside London, we decided to stay in the city on day four. We started by sleeping in a bit, but still making it up in time for the amazing buffet breakfast the hotel  provided every day. There was every kind of cereal you could want along with milk, coffee, tea, cocoa, orange and other fruit juices, fruit, yogurt, a variety of breads for toast, croissants, deli meats and cheeses, and heated items as well such as eggs two ways (scrambled or sunny-side up), pork bacon, smoked fish, roasted tomatoes, baked beans, sausage links, and hashed brown potatoes. I promise you will NOT go hungry at this hotel!

After breakfast we headed down to Shakespeare's Globe Theater for a tour of the theater followed by Afternoon Tea. Because they weren’t rehearsing at the time we were able to go inside and actually tour the stage area itself. The Globe is an open air arena, so if it rains and you're on the "yard", you're going to get wet! Luckily, although it was cloudy, it didn't rain. The original Globe Theater was built in the late 1500s, burned down in 1613 then was rebuilt and used to entertain people until the Puritans closed it - and all other theaters - in 1642. By 1644 it was demolished. The idea to rebuild The Globe came from American actor Sam Wanamaker who spent many many years of his life working to get The Globe rebuilt. Sadly he died in 1993 and didn’t get to see the project finished. Shakespeare’s Globe Theater opened in 1997. Someday I hope to come back and see a play here!

After our amazing tour, we headed next door to The Swan Restaurant for our Afternoon Tea. We had a great table by a window with a view of the Thames. It was A Mid-Summer’s Night Dream themed, and the plates featured drawings of Bottom and Puck. The tea was delicious (I had Earl Grey, my favorite,), as was the glass of Prosecco, and there was a lot of food - finger sandwiches and a mini quiche, scones with clotted cream and jam, and delicious desserts! I added the Love Potion cocktail as well and it was fantastic!

After our fantastic tea, we strolled down the Jubilee Walkway back towards the hotel. It was a Bank Holiday, so there were lots of people out and about, and there were food trucks, and street performers (we met Charlie Chaplin!!), and even a merry-go-round! It was a lovely walk, and I think I could spend a whole day just exploring that area with all the shops and restaurants!

When we got back to Westminster Bridge, we were checking out the Hop On/Hop Off double-decker bus tours when Darlene spotted a bike taxi and said, “Let’s go to Soho!” So we did! We thought it would be fun to do a pub hop, and went to a few different pubs and bars and had some very good cocktails. As we walked around one corner we found ourselves in Piccadilly Circus across the street from a theater ticket kiosk. Did we want to see a show in London?? Of course!! So we checked out what was available and settled on three tickets for Wicked! 

Excited but exhaused, and knowing we had another big day coming up, we hopped on the Tube back to the hotel. 

Stay tuned for the next exciting stop on our amazing adventure!!