Day 6: London, again

Here's a photo of the house we lived in.
That top floor window (the one that is open) was my room.
The window stayed open all the time...


It was another day in London.
Here's a cool building I spotted on our way:


Isn't that window wicked?

Here's Westminster Abbey:


Sometimes I think it would be great to live in a big city like London.
All that buzz and culture at your fingertips.
And then there are times you think it ridiculous that twice the population of Finland lives in one city.
That came to mind looking at this clock.

We should have been at the Globe theatre at 10.30...
But we were stuck in bad traffic.
If I get stuck in traffic in the morning it means I'll be 10 minutes late to work.
In London it means you'll be anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours late...

But we got to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre eventually.
With only one kid puking when we got there...
Number 5...sigh...


The Globe was rebuilt in 1997 to look just like the original.
The actors use no microphones.
You can get cheap standing space tickets... but if it rains.. you get wet.

We lucked out by being late.

(the above photo was sneaked with no permission.. bad bad me...)
They were rehearsing Midsummer Night's Dream, that opened two days later, and needed an audience for a technical rehearsal. Very cool.


I hope you are not sick of photos with airbrushed faces.
There are so many photos I can't show here that have some great expressions.
Naturally the kids are uploading photos left, right and center to their online galleries.. and here I am being the responsible adult. Hmmph.





The kids had a drama workshop which was great fun.


Then a little lunch again by the river Thames, the exact same spot as on day 1. Only this time it was low tide. We don't get tidal water in Finland, I always find the phenomena fascinating.

Then we walked to Covent Garden for just a little shopping.


The girls and I found Lush.
(google it, cool stuff)



After a few soap and moisturizing cream buys it was finally time to walk to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane for the day's main event:


Oh yes.
The musical.


And my banner photo is naturally from my second "illegal" photo of the day, heh.
Sneaky, I am.


The following photos aren't mine, but found online to give you some idea fo the fabulous three hour show.

The Black Riders were on stilts. Way cool.


The Ents had even taller stilts...


Gollum.
..myyyy preeeciiiiouuusssss....


Orcs.
Some had one these bouncy shoe thingies and were leaping around the stage.
At one fight scene the orcs came into the audience.

At this point I have to mention that I was sitting next to Saara's teacher Steve who is a HUGE LOTR fan. We had a good time whispering throughout the show.
And laughing.
Wickedly.

Because...
once those two orcs next to us saw all those teenage girls.. heard the screams.. well...
..they naturally headed for the biggest screamer. She was jumping from her friend's lap to her friend's mother's lap and SCREAMING. As the orc got really close, it made nasty noises and thumped the back of her seat.
Then it saw the two girls sitting together two rows behind us. Both girls had had their eyes fixed on the one tormenting their friend. And it started getting closer and closer... meanwhile Steve and I were laughing with tears coming out of our eyes and the orc that had sniffed us had moved behind the girls and they found themselves surrounded.
I wish I could have videotaped it.
It was hilarious!


I loved the stage.
It had three moving circles and lots of moving parts.
There were trapeze dancers also (the elves).
Amazing production.

So the story was missing about two and a half books from the three, but even so it was enjoyable. It is closing in London in July as the theatre is booked for an Andrew Lloyd Webber production, my bet is it'll be on Broadway soon enough.

The music is partly composed by a Finnish band called Värttinä and you could hear the Finnish influence and some instruments in the music.
And of course the hobbits sung an Irish tune.

...the road goes on... ever ever on....