We got off at Embankment station and saw this monument in front of the Charing Cross railway station. It is one of 12 Eleanor Crosses, which King Edward I had erected in different locations between 1291 and 1294 in memory of his wife, Eleanor of Castile. This is a replica erected in 1865 and one of the more lavish ones. Only 3 of the original crosses remain.
It sort of reminded me of the intricate work on the Familia Sagrada in Barcelona.
Heading up the Strand towards Covent Garden...
This guy was amazing. He carried this plate of glass through a doorway without hardly stopping. He's clearly done this a few times.
Kinky Boots, another show I'd love to see sometime...
The fab four with Dreamgirls in the background...
We continued on to Covent Garden...
Beautiful flowers...
There are some very upscale stores...
It was a former fruit and vegetable market, but now is home to upscale shops, artists and buskers.
The area where the buskers perform...this guy was taking a break from his unicycle.
And then was back with a whip and a potato as I recall. I think he was warming up (I hope) as his first attempt at slicing the potato was unsuccessful. They take that in stride as they have some quips ready to explain any missteps.
Lots of beautiful, expensive shops inside...
The shops line the walls, but in the interior are the crafts and artists. We all managed to spend some money here. I resisted a beautiful pair of Italian leather shoes. I really, really wanted them. I mean, really! I went back a couple of times, but was having a hard time to justify $350. Admire and move on...
There is usually a classical singer at the base of the stairs and this time was no different. I guess the acoustics must be good there?
Yum, this afternoon tea looked delicious...
We stood outside for at least 15 minutes and this guy had still not got to the end of his routine. Lots of school kids in attendance...
I wanted to be up there!
These gorgeous flowers surrounded their menu...
We finally chose a place for lunch which, in typical fashion, involved stairs. The service was soooo slow that several people left. We had time to kill before the theatre so weren't in a rush, but after being there for almost an hour, this is what we had to show for it. I was getting quite nervous about the cost of this water!
Lunch was not memorable, but it was nice and relaxing, and we headed off to the theatre at the Savoy.
Love live theatre!
We had snagged inexpensive, but good seats in the front row balcony. More stairs for me sissy...
Intermission and the safety curtain was down...it's meant to stop fires from spreading from the stage to the audience in larger theatres.
We could have been like the muppets in the theatre box...
No photography allowed, but I did sneak a photo or two during the curtain call. Effie, the lead character, was amazing. "And I am telling you, I'm not going..." ♫ It must be super hard to sing that song when you have Jennifer Hudson's performance to live up to.
A fun afternoon!
The time is flying by...tomorrow we're off to Carshalton to see if we can find my grandmother's grave.
No comments:
Post a Comment