Monday, April 25, 2005

England Scotland Travelogue - Day Three

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 London

Today was another tiring one. We started off toward Hyde’s Park looking for a breakfast place, but never found one and ended up at Burger King, which made us wish we’d picked McDonald’s.

From there, we hit Paddington, then Charing Cross Station to get our tickets for the trips to Dover and Canterbury tomorrow, then Oxford on Thursday. It took awhile, but we finally got it all straight. Then back to Piccadilly for a gift, then to the British Museum.

We got badly turned around and were headed completely the wrong way on Oxford Circus, finally turned back, and eventually ended up at the Museum. It was neat, but there was a lot of construction going on so it wasn’t very nice looking. We saw Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Celtic treasures. Probably the best for me and Sheryl were the Parthenon pieces, an almost completely restored Naiad temple, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Rosetta Stone. There was more, but it got tiring after a while.

We made our way to Harrod’s. Tottenham Court Road Station was closed for some reason, so we walked to Leicester Square, then tubed to Harrod’s. This was amazing; a full London city block devoted to a store! 5 Stories! Unbelievable. I got some cigars and Sheryl wandered. We didn’t get to see the Diana memorial, but that wasn’t too disappointing.

We headed back to Barry, rested, then ate dinner at Aberdeen Steak House. It was good, and then we saw Les Miserables. Beautiful. Outstanding. The first half didn’t do much for me, and I almost fell asleep several times. It wasn’t that it was boring; it had merely been a long day. I got a drink and was much better. Then the relationship between Marius and Eponine came up and her unrequited love, then death to be with him nailed me. I was hooked from then on to the end. We came home, called some family, and retired.

Tomorrow to the White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury. Should be fun.

2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro

2 comments:

Tony Arnold said...

Phil, been out on vacation last week myself. Great to read about your London trip. One my fondest memories is the week my wife and I spent in England, even though I was on business. We saw Les Mis too. I wasn't as impressed as you. Problem for me is I have usually read the book before seeing a movie or play and they never measure up to the book experience. Hard to cram a book into a few hours of drama.

If you get the chance go see Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. Awesome mystery. Longest running play in history if it is still going(52 years in 1994). I was able to fulfill a life long goal when I went to see that play. Being a huge A. Christie fan as a teenager, I always wanted to see Mousetrap. Finally got to do it.

I also enjoyed a nice British Ale and a good book on several afternoons, one of my favorite downtime activities. Fond memory of sitting outside a pub on a rare, sunshiny day in Manchester, next to a canal with a good brown ale and a great book.

Have fun,

Tony

Tiffany said...

Phil, you're making me homesick!

When I went to London with Harding, every week our Bible class consisted of a trip to the Brit Museum to look at something relating to the Bible. It was an amazing thing to do. I learned so much, and it especially put a lot of the OT in context (ask me about the lion's den sometime!) You really should try to stop in while we're there and see the end result of all that construction. It's beautiful.

looking forward to tomorrow's post!

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