London Day 3 Afternoon/Evening and Day 4/5

Afternoon/Evening of Remembrance Day...

1.  So after walking/standing for 6+ hours, I made an executive decision that the majority of my activities in the afternoon should be relaxing and some of them should involve food.  I headed back to Trafalgar Square and took some more pictures from a different angle:

I then headed over to Leicester Square because I thought about seeing a third show.  The square has the only official half price booth, TKTS London which I thought would be a good way of accomplishing relaxing in the evening.  I checked the listings and they had pretty good seats for half price to Jersey Boys!  Score!  I took the deal and then tried to figure out what I was going to do before the show.

2.  I found a place to do Afternoon Tea, which in the US we call High Tea.  Here's a shot of what the before looked like:

 The after:

I've never been a tea connoseiur, just like I'm not a wine expert.  I know that box wines are not good and generally lipton/nestea is not high class.  That's the extent of my knowledge.  I don't know what they did to that tea, but it was the best tea I've ever had.  I could tell the difference, big time.  It was peppermint...so good.  And I felt extra girly with the little sandwiches and snacks.

3.  I then did a bit more shopping.  I walked down Carnaby Street:

According to Time Out London, the Christmas decorations are themed after the Rolling Stones.  I had the moves like Jagger down that street (groaaannnneerrrr).

4.  I then walked around Soho, which was where Jersey Boys was playing.  It reminded me of Montrose, except MMUUCCHH crazier.  It was definitely the education of Lindsay.  Case in point, I was walking to the theatre for the play and this guy abruptly stopped in front of me.  I almost ran into him and had to go around.  As I went past, I hear him ask some guys sitting at a cafe where to find gay people.  The guys politely responded "Look around you man, they are everywhere!  Go nuts!".  It was a really eclectic part of town.

5.  Jersey Boys was at Prince Edward Theatre, which was much like the Hobby Center as well.  Huge seating capacity...not nearly as ornate as other theatres I had been to so far.  Still really neat.  Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  It's mostly about the music...they had a ton of hits.  The show makes you leave whistling their tunes.  I really enjoyed it.  If I had to rank the shows though (gun to the head), I would rank it in order of what I saw:  One Man, Two Guvnors; Billy Elliot, and Jersey Boys.  Still worth it...I would do it again, no question.

6.  After that, I knew I had an early morning for training the next day, so I headed back to the hotel, but not before stopping at Piccadilly Circus's famous statue:

That's me!  An Irish couple exchanged a picture of them for a picture of me.  Perfect!

7.  Monday and Tuesday I had to work, but I managed to make it out on Monday night to Convent Garden for dinner with co-workers.  Best Christmas lights I saw....I didn't get all the pictures I wanted because I was trying to appear cool with my co-workers and not super touristy.  These pictures don't do it justice:

On Tuesday, I found Harrod's before I had to fly out:

I'm pretty sure someone cursed at me for taking this picture...but in my defense, I made sure I was out of the way and safely did it.  I don't know if the guy was aiming his statement at me, but he definitely told someone they don't own the f-bomb road.  I just smiled and kept going.  No I don't own the road, but you also don't need to be in such a rush.

In general, I wasn't adequately prepared for how busy London is.  I'm very glad I didn't choose London for my secondment.  The Hague is so much better for my personality...calm and relatively slow paced (at least compared to London).  However, I will not turn down more work trips to London.  Great to visit.  And there's at least 5 more shows I want to see.  At least.  The plan for now is for me to get to London once a quarter for work.  Hopefully that materializes.