London Day Five - click for pictures

We walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park again this morning as we made our way to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We stopped by Princess Diana’s Memorial Fountain, which was a little disappointing. It was like the Royals felt like they had to do something, so they just put this here. My pictures can describe it better than I can in words. It’s supposed to be symbolic of her, but it just didn’t seem to do justice. We got to Buckingham Palace in time to get some great spots to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony. It was a lot less pomp and circumstance than what I thought would happen, but it happened. The most surprising thing to me was hearing the the military bands play songs from Mama Mia! and Hairspray. It just didn’t seem to fit, but the crowd loved them. Rikki and I were expecting something more along the lines of “God Save the Queen” if you know what I mean. It went kind of longish – especially since we had timed tickets to the London Eye, but it ended right about the time we needed to leave. It seemed like half the people left before the whole thing was over. We walked across the Thames to get to the London Eye, passing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We arrived a half hour early and they still let us right on, which was great. The London Eye was a large ferris wheel with glass pods where you can fit around 20-30 people in each. Then in 30 minutes it makes one revolution around. It was a neat experience to see up and down the Thames from so far up, but we’d already seen a lot of London from the top of St. Paul’s. On our way to the Tube stop to get to the Tower of London, we stopped and watched a street performer who was dressed like Charlie Chaplin. It was great fun. He did an amazing job and watching a little four year old get into his act was even more fun. I couldn’t quite get my video camera to capture the kid, but the entertainer was worth stopping for. We arrived just in time to take the last Beefeater tour of the Tower of London. Our guide was funny and witty and I enjoyed him. I learned a lot about the Tower which was really a series of buildings that started from medieval times. Kings added things here and there as time passed, all within the walls of the Tower. The most famous things here were the Crown Jewels which were resplendent. I learned that the world’s largest diamond sits in the Queen’s scepter. I’m sure there’s a name for the scepter but I can’t remember that right now. All the different crowns and thing-a-ma-jigs had names, but I have no recall what they were. Sir Walter Raleigh was a famous resident here, and his jail room looked quite comfortable, complete with desk and chair, bed, fireplace, etc. Elizabeth the 1st was also a resident while her sister Mary was on the throne. Henry the VIII beheaded two of his wives here. The famous ravens were still here, and jumped/hopped along the grassy areas. I didn’t hear our Beefeater say anything about the ravens’ prophecy, so I’m not sure if it’s still believed or not. Supposedly when the ravens leave the tower, than the tower will fall – so England has taken great pains to have the ravens’ wings clipped. The Beefeaters are retired military men and they have to live in the Tower to work here. They still bring down the 2 ton iron spiked gate every night and no one passes through it after hours unless they have a password from the Queen. We ate dinner in Chinatown this evening before seeing Wicked. I loved seeing the market stalls with all the different kinds of vegetables that I didn’t even know existed. I don’t remember seeing these types of things in DC’s Chinatown or San Francisco’s. I took pictures of a Chinese candy store and a bakery, plus a shop that hung plucked chickens up in the store front window for your pleasure. Most of the restaurants had their menus posted outside, and chicken feet were served regularly. Whatever. Just give me sweet and sour chicken, thanks, preferable off the bone in chunks. The restaurant we chose was pretty full so they seated us at a large table for 8 that already had a couple sitting there, and a single man joined us later. New experience. Wicked was sensational – it was everything that people had said about it. I loved the story, but didn’t fall in love with the music. It was very unfamiliar to me and maybe I should have listened to some selections before I saw the musical. I only recognized two, and one I knew I didn’t particular care for. I was extremely happy about the ‘happy ending.’ I worried (a little) throughout the show how they were going to get a happy ending out of the wicked witch melting in water, but they managed it! And Galinda’s character was perfect and laughable. Rikki got our tickets before we left, and when I asked her how much I owed her, she said Happy Birthday! Sweet. Our Tube ride home was very crowded and very entertaining this evening. Four stops before ours, we admitted a group of rowdy, drunken young men who enchanted us with drinking songs or school sport songs or something along those lines. I thought it was amusing since I’m not used to that atmosphere at all. A fellow rider – probably hoping they’d immediately leave – mentioned he’d just been to Mexico, and all the guys laughed uproariously and started singing “If You Know You’ve Got the Swine Flu, Clap Your Hands,” except they were banging the ceiling. Cheap entertainment, but I preferred Wicked. Thank you, Rikki, for the Wicked ticket as a birthday present. I told her she could buy me theater tickets in London any birthday she wanted. What a memory.