This is the 13th post in what will eventually be a 16 post series detailing everything you ever wanted to (and didn't want to) know about the two weeks Jared and I spent in Ireland and London. To start at the very beginning, go here.
Day 13 – London
I wasn’t excited to come to London, it’s a big city and in the past I have enjoyed the countryside more. As soon as I got here, I realized there are so many things to do in London! For our first day, we did one of the hop-on hop-off bus tours.
We jumped off at Trafalgar Square first and picked up some tickets at TKTS for Avenue Q. Then we swung into the Portrait Gallery and saw the finalists for the 2010 portrait competition. They were amazing. We didn’t bother with the old portraits since it was a lovely day, we didn’t want to spend all our time inside.
We then headed to St. Pauls Cathedral to walk to the top and get a view of the city. The Cathedral was amazing, a beautiful example of simplicity and Victorian opulence. We headed up to the top, stopped in the Whispering Gallery (you can hear someone whisper all the way across the dome, 32 meters away. We tested it, it works.) Then got views at two levels of the city. It was a fun way to over look London and get a feel for the place.
From there we walked across the river (over the bridge that the death eaters destroy in the most recent Harry Potter movie) to the Tate Modern and ducked inside just as the skies opened up. We spent some time sitting and giving our feet a rest, then wandered through the Dreams section and looked at all the surrealism masters.
Again the Tate is HUGE and we could have spent all day there, but we snuck out nice and quick and headed to the Borough Street Market, which was a wonderful find. Stalls of fruits and vegetables, cheeses and sweets, curries and baguettes where everywhere. We picked up some black current jam and truffle oil to bring home and a piping hot plate of curry to eat for lunch. I could have spent the afternoon there. I wish I had a kitchen in London to cook in!
From there we hopped back on the bus, finished the tour round the city with the best guide of the day, and ended up again at Trafalgar Square. We were hoping to take the bus back to Victoria Station, but the rush hour traffic was too much, and I was worried about not having time for dinner before the show, so we hopped in a cab.
We cleaned ourselves up, hopped on the Tube and headed up town to SoHo. We walked down through SoHo until we found a lovely café with seats right in the front window across the way from a hopping gay bar. We enjoyed an excellent dinner (with the best mojito I have ever had) while people watching. It was excellent and made me miss NYC for the first time in a while.
From there we walked over to the theater and laughed ourselves silly at Avenue Q. Half the fun was that Jared’s parents recommended the show, and we couldn’t imagine them watching it! It was outrageous and per a review “pants wettingly funny.” I forgot how much I love the theater.
