From Westminster to the West End

Saturday we all took it easy in the morning, Beth was doing some laundry and so we didn't rush off into the London landscape until after lunch.  We began our sightseeing at Westminster Abbey.  The last time Beth and I were here we saw St. Paul's Cathedral, but missed seeing inside Westminster, so I hoped we would be able to do that.  The line up was long to get in, and I was worried that we would miss the time cut off - but fortunately that didn't happen and we were able to spend a decent amount of time exploring this historic structure.  Two things stood out for me, the Royal Air Force Chapel with its interesting and beautiful stained glass windows, and Handel's grave and memorial monument (which featured a statue of the composer with music from the Messiah - a part from the Aria "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth".  Other notable parts of the Westminster tour included poet's corner, the high altar (where royal coronations have taken place for centuries), and ancient history in general.

Westminster Abbey with St. Margaret's Church and Big Ben in the background

From Westminster we continued on up the tube line to the Notting Hill area where the world famous Portobello Street Market was running.  We exchanged one crowd for another - I thought Westminster was buzzing with people, the Portobello Market had even more people buying and selling a wide range of items.  There were buskers (including one great blues guitar player and a not so great performer who was lip syncing poorly to a recording while tapping his foot with a swim flipper on it).  Food vendors made the mouth water, and eventually I gave in and got some Bombay Potato rolls - which I shared with the family.  It was a colourful experience, both in terms of architecture as well as the mixture of people.  By 5:30 most of the people were tearing their booths down, so it was time to move on - the question was: where?

Beth and Anna looking at some handbags at the Portobella Market.  Ironically, who ended up by a bag?  Dennis - who bought a messenger bag that has the Union Jack and says London on it.

After some family discussion we hopped back on the tube and headed over to the West End (the theatre district).  We went to one of the many places that sell discounted show tickets and were able to pick up tickets to two very different shows - Beth, Joshua and Anna went to see Ghost (a musical based on the 1990 film) and Thomas and I went to see Rock of Ages (Thomas' choice).  But before the show we still needed to eat supper - so the search was on for a restaurant that would be able to feed us quickly (at that point we had less than an hour).  We wandered around the streets for a while, but every eatery seemed quite full and not a good candidate for a quick meal.  Finally we were talking about going back to the McDonald's we saw... but we were interrupted by a fellow from the Indian Restaurant we were standing in front of at the time.  He had overheard our conversation and he assured us they could take care of us.  I specified "We only have about 40 minutes" to which he replied "No problem".  So we decided to risk it - and in we went.

The restaurant wasn't very big, nor was it very busy.  Our orders were taken right away, and then the waiter yelled down a dumb waiter with our choices.  The kitchen was in the basement, and we were entertained with the hot meals coming up on the lift, and the dirty dishes being sent down.  To make a long story short, the food came quickly, it was delicious, and we were indeed finished in 40 minutes.  Way better than a stop to McDonalds!

The Dumb Waiter in the West End Indian restaurant.  By this I mean the lift device with the pulley on the left, not the gentleman on the right - actually the waiters at this restaurant were very good, not dumb in anyway. 

Off we went to the shows, agreeing to meet at the Saint James Tavern afterwards.  The show Thomas and I went to was highly entertaining, sort of a satire on 80's rock music specifically and musicals in general.  It was like Spinal Tap meets Broadway (or the West End in this case).  Sort of a guilty pleasure - not really edifying in any way, but plenty of laughs - and some decent music as well.  The show Beth and the other two saw was a little more traditional, but I'll let them tell you about it if they so wish.

It started raining as Thomas and I walked back to meet the rest of the family, so I made a spontaneous decision to buy an umbrella.  The vendor talked me into buying a better quality umbrella rather than the collapsible one I was looking at (not a bad idea, and this umbrella is UK made - so it should be good), but it was Beth who wondered aloud how we were going to get it home!  I hope I can bring it as carry on, because it won't fit in anyone's suitcase.

We made our way on the tube (very crowded for the first few stops) back to our flat.  But our day wasn't over - we had to figure out the plans for the next morning and how we were going to get ourselves to Oxford.  Some repacking of suitcases, organizing of items purchased and so forth (and a final load of laundry) and we could finally hit the hay.  A full day, even with the later start, but I think I've had my fill of crowds for a while - time to leave London.