Monday 1 October 2012

Day 3 - September 26

I didn't sleep very well the second night in London, and I woke up not feeling that great. I decided to take it easy in the morning and try to get myself in better shape in order to face the day, so decided to skip breakfast (which was served between 7.30 and 8.45 a.m.) and get a bit of a late start.

I went out about 9.30 in the morning, and it took a while to find the buses going into town ... as usual in London the buses travel different streets in different directions - which is a bit confusing at times. I did however find the bus stop without problems and went from Praed Street down to Charing Cross Station to pick up my London pass. The directions I had gotten were both very detailed but at the same a bit vague (yup, definitely confusing) but it turned out the address was a ticket booth where you, for instance, could buy cheap musical theatre tickets, but if you went downstairs, through some quite terrifying stairs, you ended up at the London Pass Desks! I collected my pass without any problems at all, and went to photograph a bit around Trafalgar Square.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, so I didn't take a lot of photos, and I only used my small camera (am I a bit more scared for the larger camera, with regards to damages from humidity).
I walked up to Leicester Square and walked around there, found a (rather small) HMV there (dvds, books, games, cds - great store!!) but I didn't find much. The only thing I really fancied was a dvd box with all three seasons of Millennium, but I didn't buy anything in the end.

I took a bus from there to Marble Arch and had some lunch, walked along Oxford Street a bit, and went into the Disney Store! Apparently it's a new store, different from the one Annika and I went to in 2009, but they had tons of lovely stuff, already starting to prepare for Christmas with fantastic gifts already wrapped up!
It's difficult in these kinds of stores, I think, because there are lots and lots of things you want, but everything is so expensive, the question is: do you want it that much??! I ended up buying nothing at all! :-)

From the Disney Store I took a bus to Regent Street and went to Hamley's - the most amazing toy store!! It's absolutely fantastic, and I walked up most floors and checked it out, although I didn't buy anything!

Walked down to Piccadilly Circus and continued up Shaftesbury Avenue, even though it was a bit early. I took some photographs outside the Queens Theatre, and realized the Box Office was in fact open.
Collected my tickets, very smooth, and by the time I had done that, they had opened the theatre and I could go in. Bought a programme + souvenir brochure before I found my seat in Stalls. And what a seat?!?!?!?!!?
A 10!!!!
First row, basically in the middle (a little to the side!)!! Fantastic!!
I will make a separate entry on the Les Misérables show, so I won't go into that here now ... stay tuned! :-)

Les Miz wasn't over until about 5.30 p.m. but the weather was clearing up, so I took a bus to Liverpool Street, bought some snacks and took another bus back - got seats on the top floor at the front, and had planned to do some photographing from there (great angles!!)!
I got some photos of St. Paul's Cathedral - but after that the traffic came to a complete and utter STOP!! We basically didn't move at all, and by the time the traffic let up and we were closing in on Trafalgar Square, it was too dark to photograph! :-(
The trip from Liverpool Street Station to Sussex Gardens (normally about an hour) took nearly two hours, and by the time I got to the hotel, I was pretty worn out!

10 comments:

The Darkest Night said...

can't wait to hear all about Les Miz!! :) (Sounds like you got a perfect seat!)

SOunds like a busy but fun day!
When I was last in London the Disney Store was changed into the new one too..(and I spent forever trying to find the huge HMV store that was supposed to be next to it... no luck!)

Jessica said...

LOL! Will be a Les Miz review later on *promise* - and yes, the seat was awesome! :)

Yeah, it must be a new Disney Store right! I knew from your entries the huge HMV seemed to be gone, and yes, I couldn't find it either! :( How rude to just remove it like that!!

The Darkest Night said...

goodie :)

Yeah..really rude!! It was the most amazing store ever! :(

Jessica said...

I know! I just LOVED that HMV ... but it was quite dangerous, you'd wish you were a millionaire, and that you had at least five check-in-bags to get all you wanted! LOL!

The Darkest Night said...

yeah...I know what you mean...but coooool! :) (you can imagine how hard it was to shop last time..when I had NO check-in bag at all...)

Jessica said...

Ouch, must have been really difficult - I struggled as it were, and I DID have a check-in bag!!!

The Darkest Night said...

yeah..it was pretty awful in HMV!! I bought a few dvds, but no big boxes or anything like that... still quite proud that I managed to pack so little!! LOL but yes, it did limit my shopping A LOT!

Jessica said...

LOL! I sure can understand that ... and you should be proud, don't think I could have packed without my check-in-bag ... felt like I had a hard enough time closing my bags when it was time to leave as it was! LOL!

The Darkest Night said...

yeah..it was a challenge!! LOL

I think next time I want to be able to bring my big camera AND do some shopping though LOL

Jessica said...

I sure can understand that! And even though the check-in bags are a bit of a bother at the airports, in the long-run, I kind of liked it ... you don't have to be so careful about packing (and it helps to be able to stuff all your toilet articles in the check-in bag and forget about them LOL!) and you can bring stuff like big cameras AND do a bit of shopping! :)