A Weekend in London

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At the beginning of the April, Steve and I headed south to London for our first West End play. We went to see Don Juan in SoHo starring David Tenant. It was a reimagining of Don Juan set in modern London. The play itself had some weak bits, but Tenant's performance was spectacular. And since he's the reason I wanted to see it, I was content.

Steve and I aren't big London fans. We've been there a few times and felt very much "been there, done that." However, we stayed in the theatre district this trip and ended up exploring different neighborhoods that we had never bothered with before. As a result, we came away with an appreciation for the city we didn't expect. Since there are plenty of London neighborhoods to explore and pretty cheap flights direct from Inverness to the capital, I suspect we'll have more than a few weekends there in the future.

Here are a few photos I snapped with my iPhone during this trip:

As always, I love the contrast between old and new; historic and modern.

I can't tell you where we were exactly. I think we are close, if not in, the Piccadilly area.

I didn't even know that London had a rather obvious Chinatown. 





Our reason for being in London.

Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square as night fell.

We lucked out. The National Gallery is open late on Fridays. We had about an hour to wander around. We made a beeline for the Impressionists because I knew that the museum was home to a couple of Seurat paintings. I took severals photos of the paintings, but my iPhone just doesn't do them justice. 

Always looks up, people. You find some of the most interesting details in the ceilings.

More of the square at night. To the left is the National Gallery. Straight ahead is the St.-Martin-in-the-Fields Church. This isn't far from our hotel and during our earlier exploration we turned down a side street about a block before reaching the church. As a result, we missed the sign announcing a classical concert that evening. We were quite bummed about that.

Another of those old and new juxtapositions: 
The National Gallery and its centuries of culture, and Steve on Facebook.

On Saturday, we had a bit of a walkabout. We're in Piccadilly again.

Some interesting architecture down a slim alley.

We wanted to try and find one of the famous London markets. We checked out the Piccadilly Market at St James Church, but it was very small. We'll have to check out the more famous ones some time.

It's amazing what you stumble across when you are looking for a public toilet. This is the Royal Academy of Art. This is Burlington House, the Academy's home since 1867.

A gate on one of the buildings alone Piccadilly.

We cut through Green Park toward Buckingham Palace.

The daffodils were nearing the end of their bloom window, but they were still pretty.

Crowds of people gawking at Buckingham Palace.

We were intrigued by a lot of filming equipment around the palace. We never did find out what was filming that day, but it boasted a very large amount of private trailers.

The Victoria Memorial Fountain 

Some more of that film equipment

A few along the water in St. James Park.

Another view across St. James Park with the London Eye on the Left and Elizabeth Tower on the right. An English mother was asking her young children if they could see Big Ben as she pointed to the Tower. Unless they had x-ray vision, the answer is no. Big Ben is the bell.

I was so annoyed at myself. We heard these guards approaching and I was in the perfect spot to record their procession. I thought I was recording, but I wasn't! And I realize it only after they had passed by. So I snapped this quick shot. I remain bummed.


The Admiralty Arch, which dates back to 1912. 

We had pretty good seats for the play.


The Wyndham's Theatre opened in 1899. As expected, it had a great ceiling.

Steve said we would pay for balcony boxes next time.


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