Caitlin didn't say a word all the way back to London! She was clearly very hearts sore of having to leave her family in Poole. Liz, Andy, Rosie, Aaron, and of course Pete and nicky had just shown us all such love and kindness. We'd had time to play and chat, laugh together and connect, we all felt an emptiness when we finally said our last goodbye to Pete at a laybye near a roundabout tht would take us out onto the motorway back to London. The M3/M25 intersection was slow going and so too the M25/A2, so we were beginning to wonder if we'd get to Her Majesties Theatre on time or not for out meeting with The Phantom, thanks to a very generous gift from Liz. I dropped the family off at the flat and the went on to Lea High Street to drop off the hire car. I was supposed to ride the fold up bike back but I'd forgotten it had a puncture so had to run it back, retuning to the flat for a quick turnaround back to Blackheath station and the train in to Charing Cross. We got to the theatre, grand from the outside in one of the most impressive parts of the West End, and there was a wonderful ‘London feel' to arriving for the show. The foyer, staircase and cloakroom was very smart but couldn't have prepared us for the grandeur we experience as we walked in. A lot smaller tHan I thought, but what amazed me was how the design of the theatre rose up from the pit, very steeply to the gallery way up there. I hadn't seen the orchestra pit walking in so up until the interval I had thought he music had been a pre recording. We peered into the pit at interval and saw the orchestra , about 20 to 30 musicians. wow! What amazing acoustics the theatre had. The show didn't disappoint in the least, the acting, the set, the costumes, the detail, QUITE amazing. At one point in the show a chandelier dropped from the heavens to ooo's and ah's from the audience. During the interval, fifteen minutes, we gobbled down the quiche Andrew had so thoughtfully arranged, picnic basket and all. The show came to an end all too quickly! We took a short walk up to Picadilly Circus which was alive with activity as usual and the children were clearly captivated by the lights, the crowd, the hum. Leister Square, 500m on was just as impressive, in fact I've always enjoyed it more. They've neatened up the place, modernizing the layout of the garden and paving. When they advertise the fact a movie has premiered at Leister Square, we can picture it.
London is an amazing city. It has a beat like no other city we've visited. The Thames, not only is it so pretty, but it is a working river like a huge highway with tourist boats, commuter catamarans and the obvious presence of police launches and naval craft. At night it is simply beautiful. Lazier lights projecting images onto bridges, large flood lights circling in the sky and like open bracelets the the colours flank the river on both sides. Paris and Rome had their very own beat, Paris a lot slower to Rome and less congested, but London PUMPS with people of every kind, those making it tick and those enjoying it like us! I don't think there is any city in Europe that can match it and only New York comes close that I've experienced. The arteries of London are beige, Purbeck stone moulded by Christopher Wren and the likes and with commuter traffic limited its runs black and red with taxis and London buses. Boris Johnson and the British cycling Olympians are doing wonders to promote the bicycle, almost to the extent that it's the cyclists and rickshaws that rule the road. Cheers to that!
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