Since we switched around our Tower of London tour, our Friday was pretty chill. The markets would be better on Saturday so we decided to tour around the palaces today.
Sam wanted to sleep in (so did J) so they did that. I got up but decided that if we were walking, that was good enough exercise and my stomach didn’t want to be jostled still! Plus it was really cold.
So I happily did a little writing, worked on my French, and chilled out.
When J got up he went to a local shop and got his coffee and picked up some scrambled eggs. He wasn’t a fan of the store but the eggs were fine for me.
It’s a good reminder that every food choice on vacation is important and to make the most of it!
Sam took her time getting ready but it was coming up on 10:45 and the Changing of the Guard was at 11. We got out and wandered over.
I need to work on myself a bit more of what was bugging me about this but I think I just need to council myself that everyone likes different things and to do things in different ways. Their more passive way is not better than my efficient way even if I see it that way, ha ha.
I had already done the walking tour of the Changing of the Guard. I heard all the cool things – now did I remember them? Not really. But I did already experience it. I was sharing that it would be cool to walk over to St. James Palace, walk back with the Guard, and then see the front gate. Because walking up to the front gate with that crowd was not happening.
But they didn’t want to do that. They just wanted to see what they wanted to see. My “helpful suggestions” were not helpful in this case. At one point, I suggested we walk to the fountain to better see the Palace since Sam wanted to see it, and she said, that’s fine, after I look at it over here. “Over here” being the completely crowded group at the front, which, okay then. And I kept reminding myself that I knew this would happen. This was their London trip and I should just keep walking and enjoying it. I do love walking around but I think it’s frustrating when I’m not walking for myself, that I’m just walking on their timetable and I’m watching J look up monuments on his phone/maps and just look at the statues. Or, when I’m walking ahead and find a good outlook of the palace and gesture to both of them to join me but nope, they like their own place they’ve found. I’m irritated that they don’t like any of my suggestions? That they don’t listen to me? That I’m not heard? Who knows. I gotta work on it more! I’m happy with myself to try to accept what I knew was going to be happening but want to let my feelings of not being listened to or appreciated sit a little bit. Which makes me laugh but still.
Either way, one funny thing as we were up in the front and three girls walked up to Sam and said, “Do you go to SDSU?”. Sam felt like a celebrity. She was so thrilled. The girls went to UCSD and had seen her in Improv in college earlier in this year – and were friends with one of her teammates. Oh man, Sam talked about that the whole day. She was so happy. Such a small world!
We walked over to Piccadilly and they looked at more monuments for a bit. We also did a little souvenir shopping which was fun. We got G a funny duck, Sam got some key chains for friends, and I got a lovely bookmark.
We then decided that lunch was in order! We happened to find a yummy pub that we were delighted with. It was called Old Shades and right on one of the main roads.
I decided to get champagne because I knew I needed to chill and relax. My burger was amazing and they both got fish and chips, which they loved.
So we kept walking. And honestly, I had walked through part of St. James before but not the part we were walking through and it was so beautiful!
I need to go put in more photos when I’m home later but I loved it.
The weather was AGAIN perfect! So lucky. The clouds, the water in the lake, the people walking by. They don’t allow cyclists in St. James which is nice because in Hyde Park I feel like they are going to run me right over.
So we kept walking back towards Buckingham Palace. J kept wandering off, he tried to find ice cream at one point, and Sam and I had a nice chat. I kept teasing her about the “Do YOU go to SDSU” girls, as she was trying to remember their names, and had posted in her socials about it and was chatting with her friends. Love it.
At that point there was a question if we were going to walk through Hyde Park over to Kensington palace. That would be another mile and I knew that I couldn’t go the whole way and said that I needed to rest. I could just sit down for an hour and then go offer but we all decided to go back and chill out.
I had some fresh fruit in the kitchen and had a little snack. Fresh fruit, the window open, the sounds of London… okay the sounds were very loud and filled with construction but it still made me happy!
As an annoying note, I tried to publish my fruit photo sitting on my bed and destroyed my WordPress ap again. Sigh. At least I had all my notes typed up in iCloud and published this on my phone instead! Whyyy can’t I add more than a photo or two, silly ap? I’ll add it later…
Anyway, we had walked back at 2:30, hung out at the apartment chilling until 5 and then walked over to Fumo.
I went to Fumo last time and I LOVED their branzino fish. It was baked in Black Sea salt and had herb olive oil. SO GOOD. It was as good as I remembered. I got a super fresh tomato and avocado salad and some broccolini. Delicious. The others enjoyed theirs as well. I think the lobster ravioli and gnocchi. I had a macchiato to keep me awake because I was worried that if it was a play and not a musical I may be falling asleep…
We then walked past gelato and I got some chocolate. So good. I will be good when I’m home. Sigh. I’m being sort of good? If I go into a flair would this have been worth it? Maybe? Will have to decide that later, I guess!
Much Ado about Nothing was a Jamie Lloyd production, who also did Sunset Blvd! He seems to believe in having no set design but I didn’t mind it. We walked in and the vibe was amazing. They were blasting strobe lights and 90’s music.
The play was fantastic. Yes, I have a hard time following Shakespearean words but the acting, the facial expressions, the dancing made it easy to follow along. Tom Hiddleston (Loki from Marvel!) and Hayley Atwell (Agent Peggy!) were playing which is why Sam really wanted to see them. They were so good. At one point, they brought out two huge posters of them in their previous characters during a funny scene.
The actor who played Margaret (drag queen!) had a fantastic voice and they had put in songs from the 90’s within the play. It kept it going and I really enjoyed it.
At the beginning, Sam wanted a program but we explained they charge for them here. We asked the woman in front of us if we could borrow hers for a picture, which she was nice enough to let us do that. But Sam had been talking about waiting at the stage door after. She was excited about it so I bought a program during intermission and took a few more photos.
After the show, since Sam wanted to stage door I figured I would go to the restroom (which took forever to fight the crowd) and then when I walked out she didn’t want to do it anymore! I should have walked out with her first thing and got in line but at that point, either she was tired, or she didn’t get in line with Justin like I thought they were going to do, she knew J didn’t want to stand out there. I said he could go home and we could wait but she just refused and wanted to go back home!
So now I have a nice fancy program of Tom and Haley, lol. We walked back and enjoyed the streets of London as everyone was out and about! I’m so glad for my electric hand warmers as it made the walk bearable. The wind was really kicking up and making it super cold!
