Destination London
Well, here I am in the dreaded Heathrow airport for a longer than anticipated stay since our original fight was canceled.
We have been on a group trip that began in the north of England to perform a show. We have been in London for four nights. I hadn’t been to London since 2016. August is of course the busiest month to visit London, but our agenda means we had to be here at this time. I have only been to London in August once before, so I would try to come in the off seasons otherwise. It is wall to wall people everywhere …just compare it to to Times Square area when the theaters empty out.
So here are some updates…..the most convenient way to pay for anything is to put your credit cards in an Apple wallet. Almost everyone we observed paid this way and we did too. Many places do not accept cash.
Theatre tickets are much much cheaper than on Broadway. We prebooked tickets see Abba Voyage-and it was fantastic.
We had already seen many of the shows on Broadway, so not repeating was a challenge. So we booked Back to the Future one night anyway since we were tired and it was just a few doors down from the hotel. You can book online on the day or visit the theatre to buy tickets.
On recommendation from one of our fellow travelers, we saw Mnemonic at the National, our first time there, wonderful modern theater. The play was one of those thought provoking shows and featured the actor who played Dodi Fayed in the Crown. He was totally nude for about half the show.
A group of fifteen of us prebooked a guided tour of Highclere Castle…Downton Abbey. The bus collected us from the hotel with a guide who had worked on the Downton set, so he gave us lots of entertaining stories about the actors and show. Another movie is being made right now. We stopped off in the Cotswolds at Bampton village where many scenes were shot. It takes 90 mins to two hours to get there.
One day, we went to Hampton Court Palace. A long time since our last visit. It’s incredible to think you are walking right where Henry VIII once trod. The gardens there are stunning and if you love tennis, there is the original ‘ Real Tennis ‘. Court. At least three hours to do this site justice..
Another day, we went to Borough market for the atmosphere and lunch and looking at all the incredible fresh foods. I like the spices store there.
Always find time to just stroll around London, you can find hidden gems everywhere. There are restaurants everywhere and dress is tourist casual.
For any train/underground travel, we recommend buying an Oyster card which is so convenient when changing trains. Ubers and taxis are plentiful.
Meanwhile, here I am at Heathrow 😀
Comments
British - Is that your childhood home?
You didn't get a chance to visit Midsomer or Causton?
How about the Portobello Road Market yesterday or the Notting Hill area?.
BMK, yes my childhood home! What do you think?😊
Alan, I would not be able to get my husband to visit either of those places and I’m not really that interested in them
We are now in Phoenix waiting for our next flight.
British - so glad you got to enjoy some shows in London. We were originally planning to stop in London on our return from Northern Spain, but I couldn't find enough shows that interested me (or the timing was off). It sounds like London was as hectic as Madrid and Barcelona was this summer.
Funny, one of our best trips to London was in late March almost 20 years ago. Beautiful sunny weather, museums were busy but not packed. We saw Princess Diana's gowns at Kensington Palace. Numerous West End musicals. The exchange was $2 to one pound Sterling - prices were obscene. It cost a fortune to feed our two teenagers, but I loved every minute. We rented a VRBO for the first time (before it was a thing).
Have you done the Edinburgh fringe festival? Loved it. Really need to get back there also. Safe travels.
Yes, been to the Fringe and the Tattoo.
The play we hoped to see staring Mark Rylance had not opened yet. He’s my favorite actor. We love a good play. Apparently, in general, it costs ten times less to stage any show there compard to Broadway,
When we first visited the US many years ago it was $2 to the pound and it was so cheap for us the other way round.
There are so many places to find good food in London without spending a fortune. We just grabbed sandwiches a couple of times because we wanted to make the most of site seeing.
We saw those Diana gowns at Kensington on our last visit.
I’m almost finished reading a book by Anne Glenconner at the moment, a former Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, it’s fascinating and called Lady in Waitiing for anyone interested in reading about crazy wealthy people and some scandals.
I recommend going to London between October and March avoiding the Christmas period. Our daughter once got cheap flights and went over the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather is generally dull and of course it gets dark early but other than that it’s perfect. You can keep going to London and still not see everything.
British, we saw Mark Rylance on Broadway in Farinelli and the King, his wife was the playwright. Outstanding! He is also my favorite actor. Can’t wait for the next season on PBS of the Wolf Hall sequel.
We missed that play but saw him in Jerusalem and La Bete.Yes, also looking forward to Wolf Hall especially as we were just at Hampton Court Palace 😀
Yes- we also saw Jerusalem on Broadway! Wow!
If you like Mark Rylance, look for the movie "The Outfit". It's a small budget movie, but very good. Mark Rylance is the protagonist.
Highly recommended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outfit_(2022_film)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_outfit_2022
Thank you Mike
The Outfit is a very good movie, you will enjoy it British, I also saw Jerusalem on Broadway.
There is some violence and profanity in "The Outfit" but not too bad. The acting and the story are excellent.
Will find it tonight