London Calling!

After a busy Orlando stint we landed in London with poor Adam full of the flu, Chris recovering from it and me getting it. The Gatwick express train trip was so easy…glad we got the tickets on line beforehand..no queuing. By the time we got to the London guest house we just collapsed in the lounge. After checking in we all rested but managed to get out in the evening for our Phantom of the Opera booking.  Fantastic. The chandelier fell right on top of us! Had a late start to the following day due to everyone full of colds. Visited the British Library. An amazing collection of historical documents. Letters from Churchill, song lyrics written on birthday cards by the Beatles, Mozart music scores and the Magna Carta…just to name a few. Boys were fascinated by the collection. Then headed over to Whitehall, past Australia House, for The Lion King. Excellent show. Staging mechanism very cool, percussionist in the boxes and birds flying up close. We had front row Dress Circle…super seats. In the evening we headed out to Kew Gardens for their illuminated garden walk. Was a bit rainy but luckily cleared as we were going round. Best part was the famous glass house lit up with a sound and light show going off every 15 min.  Warmed ourselves up with hot chocolate at the end. Best bargain..our train tickets were for zone 1 and 2, Kew Gardens is in zone 3 but station master let us go through…tourists!! Must have felt sorry for us in the rain. Adam was very impressed with the calibre of cars in the driveways…Porsche, Ferrari…he needs to save up for his own!!

Our next full day in London: Quick look at Notting Hill and that blue door from the movie plus Big Ben before heading  over to the Tower of London. Plenty to see, lots of armour and bloody stories. Crown Jewels gorgeous.  The best part…real Christmas trees everywhere, all lit up and beautifully decorated. In fact there are real Christmas trees lit up everywhere…. I love England at Christmas. After Tower of London we visited Tower Bridge. Brilliant views of the Thames and the latest tall building, the Shard. Mechanism for lifting the bridge interesting. Then off to another West End show.. We Will Rock You written by Ben Elton. Lots of great songs and amazing staging effects plus an encore of Bohemian Rhapsody.  We were singing and clapping along..a fun night.

Our last day in London marked our 30^th Wedding Anniversary. Where has that time gone!! Picked up a hire car and drove out to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Amazing sets, costumes and props. Spent hours checking it all out. A real treat for any Harry Potter fan. Grabbed tea at Jamie Oliver’s before our tickets to Les Miserables. Superb performances, fabulous sets and rotating stage floor. Loved it. So glad we booked our tickets in oz we had perfect seats for all the shows, which were sell outs. A wonderful way to spend and evening in London.  Luckily we were not in the theatre where the ceiling collapsed at the start of the show. Having colds is bad enough but that would have been a real bummer. Did manage to check out Choccywoccydoodah in Carnaby Street…loved that, and of course Chris had to check out Hamleys. Well that was it for our London break….lots to do, I am sure we will be back.