London, Day 7

Our final day in London was spent at a couple places: Greenwich, Buckingham, Big Ben, and Piccadilly.  Our first stop was Greenwich.  We wanted to see the Prime Meridian but also the planetarium there.  We took a couple trains to get there and arrived about midmorning.  It was very hot again, and the Royal Observatory, the Prime Meridian, and the planetarium were all at the top of a steep hill.  We climbed it, sweating and panting, zigzagging from shade spot to shade spot along the path.  The hill did offer a good view of London though.

The National Maritime Museum was also in Greenwich, right along the walk to the Prime Meridian actually.  We didn't go in, but this was a neat piece of artwork outside of it.

We reached the top of the hill and immediately saw people inside a walled and gated courtyard, taking photos on the Prime Meridian line.  However, our host family had told us that the Prime Meridian line had been drawn over the wall and down onto the sidewalk, open to the public and that it was perfectly free and legal to take a photo there.  So A and I wandered around the Royal Observatory until we found it.  It was along a little path running next to the Observatory's brick wall, and it was quiet there and there was only one other person.  It was great.  We took our pictures and then went into the planetarium.

We bought tickets to the planetarium's show "The Sky Tonight."  A middle-aged gentleman did all the talking and explaining with a very British sense of humor.  It was a lot of fun.  One of the most entertaining explanations of constellations and stars that I've heard.

Next we went into the observatory.  You had to pay to get into the observatory, which we did, so I guess we could have taken our photo along the official Prime Meridian line instead of the "secret" line, but it was more interesting doing it on that one.  Also, we didn't have to stand in line in the hot sun for the paid-for Prime Meridian, so it was definitely worth finding.  The observatory was once the house and workplace of the Royal Court Astronomers, men who were selected one at a time and worked the rest of their lives as astronomers there.  The house's information focused on two men who had lived there at different times but both had had families with them.  There were also a lot of exhibitions about time of course, complete with old-fashioned clocks and explanations about the importance of telling time at sea.  It was interesting but all a little over my head.

For lunch, A and I descended the hill back into the town area of Greewnich and found our way to Greenwich Market, which is a craft and food market.  The first food vendor I saw was selling traditional Ethiopian food, so I immediately knew what I wanted.  A got some Chinese food, and we sat down and ate.  The weather was much too hot to be eating Ethiopian or Chinese food honestly, but it tasted so good.

After lunch, we headed back to the main part of London proper and went to Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.  A hadn't seen them before.  We got a good look at Buckingham, but when we arrived at Big Ben, we were met with consternation.  Big Ben was covered in scaffolding!  At first, I wasn't even sure we were in the right place because I didn't recognize it under all the scaffolding.  But then I thought about it and remembered standing under the subway station's portico two years ago and snapping photos up at Big Ben, and I realized we were in the right place and that was Big Ben.  It was disappointing but also kind of funny.  One of London's signature landmarks hidden in scaffolding at peak tourist season.  After that, our last destinations were Piccadilly Circus and the Queen's Theatre.  We hopped back on the Tube and got going.

Piccadilly had no scaffolding at all.  The moment we emerged from the subway station, the flashing neon billboards captured our gazes.  However, it was smaller than I expected.  Interesting how movies and photos seem to make it fill up the entire street.  We took pictures and then walked down the street to another recommended bookstore: Hatchards.

Hatchards was an old bookstore with creaky wood floors but it still had about five floors, each layered with books of all kinds.  Zigzag staircases went all the way to the top.

And last of all, A and I went to the Queen's Theatre for a performane of Les Miserables.  It had been something I'd been looking forward to this entire trip.  We showed up really early, got our will-call tickets, and then waited around for the doors to open.  When they did, we hurried inside and then slowed down to take in the theater.  It was another lovely place.  More red velvet and framed posters of past performances.  Posters and signs from performances of Les Miserables from all over the world decorated the walls.  We found our seats up in the balcony and settled in for the show.  I couldn't take pictures during the show of course, but I took some pictures of the theater building beforehand becaus it was so pretty.  We were up in the balcony too, right up near the prettily painted roof, so we got to see the whole thing from a birdseye view, and let me tell you, it was amazing.  Seeing the movie of Les Mis was great, but seeing it live was an entirely different thing.  The very first note sung swept me away, and from then on, I was completely lost in it.  

The sets and costumes were great of course and the main part of the stage was a circle that could be rotated to show different things happening at different times, so that was pretty cool, but the primary part that took my breath away was the singing.  The singing was fantastic.  The actors had superb voices and acting skills and were able to display the feelings and struggles of the characters so beautifully.  I cI think A and I were on our feet applauding before the curtain had even come down.  It was incredible.  

It was kind of strange coming back to reality after the performance was over.  We filed out of the theater, squeezed in on all sides by the crowds, and shuffled back to Piccadilly Circus where we took a couple more pictures and then caught the Tube back to our hosts' house.  That was our last night in London and what a great night it was.