last day in london

5/12/14

This morning I slept in before packing up all my gear and folding up my bed.  Once that was done I headed out for the day.

First stop was the London Eye.

There was about 10-15 in the pod, however it was still quite roomy.  There were lots of places to stand and look out and tablets on the walls which showed you the main icons of London.  The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were pretty obvious though!

Next stop was Sealife, the London Aquarium.  

The Aquarium is located a short walk from the London Eye, in the basement of the County Hall on the South River of the River Thames.  They have more than one million visitors each year and more than 2 million litres of water.  

Thankyou to Cairney for my tickets which were my christmas present!!  I really enjoyed them!!

From Sealife I walked down and across Westminster Bridge to take some closer photos of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.  

I was headed towards Westminster Pier where I was to catch the Red Rover River Cruise down the Thames.  My original plan was to catch the boat all the way to Greenwich, which was going to take three hours for a round trip, however when I got on the boat I decided that I would instead only do the shorter version to Tower Pier return, a 1.5hr return trip and then go to the Globe Theatre instead.  

I made the round trip back to Westminster Pier and then caught the Underground to Southwark Station and walked to the Globe Theatre.  The replica is not in the Original location of Shakepeare's Globe Theatre and they have made a few additions to follow new laws such as fire and safety regulations, which would not have existed previously - but it is incredibly accurate to the building specifications, seating, and the paintings on the stage.  The detail was incredible.  

Before you entered the theatre itself, there was a museum on Shakespeare, his works and the original Globe Theatre.  Here is where they had the information which had been used to rebuild the Theatre and materials made for new productions.  The costume above was made for Jane Lapotaire as Queen Elizabeth I for the Royal Gala Opening of the Globe Theatre in 1997. 

From the Globe I walked up the Thames through some Christmas Markets to the Millennium Bridge. 

The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian suspension bridge that crosses the River Thames in London. It was built some time before the Summer of 1995 and was destroyed by Fenrir Greyback and a small group of Death Eaters on 24 June, 1996, in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 

After I had finished walking the bridge, and getting worrying that Death Eaters were going to appear out of no where and destroy the bridge, I made my way to Leicester Square to buy tickets to the Lion King show that evening.  Though they were actually much cheaper than going at home, I still bought then anyways - it is part of the 'London experience' to go to a show in the West End.  I found some food at Burger King and then made my way through Trafalgar Square (below) to the Lyceum Theatre where the Lion King was showing.  

It was a very good show, very well done and the performers were amazing, but I was a little disappointed on the adaptions they had made from the movie and the extra bits and pieces they had added in.  

I headed home where I had all my stuff packed and ready to go.  I called a Mini Cab to take me to the Hotel Danielle and her family were staying at, where they had invited me to stay.  The taxi man had no idea where he was going and tried to ask me where to go.... I didn't know either!!  But I eventually made it there in one piece by about 12.30 am, crawled into bed with an alarm set for 6.15 am.