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London turned on beautiful weather for our return visit. I took Dale to Covent Garden, which was busy with street performers and shoppers, and every table outside the cafes and restaurants seemed to be full. We walked by some of the Covent Garden institutions - the Punch and Judy bar, Rules (Winston Churchill's fav!), the Maple Leaf (obviously Canadian) and Walkabout! We ended up on the Strand and continued our walk around the Monopoly board by continuing on to Trafalgar Square. Around the corner is the National Portrait Gallery where we spent a couple of hours working our way from the portraits of the Tudor family (Henry VIII, his wives, children and advisors) through to modern day celebrities (Elizabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney, and Princess Diana). There were also some lovely photographs of the Queen (a little English girl was admiring them with her mother, as we passed them the girl said "I'd love to be friends with the Queen!")
Later that evening we passed through Leicester Square on our way to the Lion King. There were crowds of people, red carpet and chandeliers all ready for the world premier of Anna Karenina. As we continued down the road past security, we saw sleek black cars with tinted windows slowly approaching. But we couldn't stick around for a glimpse of Jude Law or Kiera Knightley since we had only 45 minutes to find some food and take our places at the Lyceum Theatre. Fortunately there was an upmarket burger bar a block from the theatre - Byron burger - where we were served fantastic burgers (made from Scottish Angus beef) and boutique London brewed beer.
The Lion King was as entertaining as I remembered from my first viewing of it five years ago. This was Dale's first time at a London musical and it was fun for me to watch him wowed by the rich African singing and drumming, the cleverness of the animal costumes, and the energy of the performers. Lions, giraffes and zebras swayed on stage accompanied by Elton John's familiar soundtrack played by a live orchestra. In the second half, coloured birds were spun around our heads and people dressed as grass and bushes slithered about the stage. Although at times we felt the singing of the lead characters suffered due to the vigorous choreography, overall, we were impressed by the spectacle of it all.
The following night we had no complaints at the quality of singing at The Phantom of the Opera. Neither of us had seen the show before, and given the length of time it has been running I wasn't sure whether it would still be able to dazzle. However, all my expectations were exceeded by the stunning performances given by all the cast, and particularly by the pitch perfect voice of the Audrey-Hepburn lookalike, Christine, (she gave me goosebumps every time she held those beautiful high notes in her crystal clear voice). Although I have heard the soundtrack many times before (it is still one of my parents only albums!) nothing beats seeing all those familiar anthems performed live in a grand old London theatre. Sitting next to us was a German couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Their children had shouted them a week in London plus tickets to the show as a present to them. In typically direct German fashion the wife asked Dale how much our tickets had cost as she wanted to know how much her children had spent!!
The rest of our time in London passed in a blur. The weather was so good that we mostly walked places instead of taking the tube, and we managed to cover a lot of ground - the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Miseum, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, and Notting Hill. Visiting the Buckingham Palace State Rooms was a real highlight. After passing through airport level security we got to walk the hallways where Kings, Queens, Empresses, Presidents, Statesmen, celebrities (and Wills and Kate) had walked before us! I loved the Queen's art collection on display, as well as the diamond exhibition (why don't I have occasions suitable for wearing a tiara?! Sigh!). The crowds moving through the Palace were enormous and it was frustrating having to contend with such a large press of people all wanting to admire the object that you are trying to catch a glimpse of. I will now have to aspire to a palace invite if I ever want to have a proper look at the place!
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