May 5

 What a day. Up at 6 o'clock, 11 degrees Celsius. Drink coffee downstairs in the waiting area of the hotel- breakfast at 7:20 eggs, beans, toast and fruit: decent. Dean went for a coffee and we left for Trafalgar Square. 35 minute walk because on the way we stopped to look at buildings of every sort including 10 Downing Street,Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. 


At Trafalgar we spent time in the Square itself. Walked by Saint Martins in the Field because Carol had done a rubbing there in 2010. 

We also walked up several side streets seeing lots of restaurants,  shops and theaters. The National Portrait  Gallery opened at 10:30 and we spent two hours there enjoying paintings from the 15 to 18th century.  They was so much there. I remember Barry having been so impressed and that was my incentive to go. I'd never been in before. 

At 1:00 we basically crossed the street and went to lunch at an Italian restaurant; Bella Italia. Dean had lasagna and I had spaghetti bolognese. They were both delicious,  washed down with a Berra Moreti. 

About 1:30 we started walking to the British Museum which I had also never been to before. Our tickets were for 3:00 but they let us in at 2:00. Dean went to the Egyptian exhibit for an hour while I went to the Medieval Age exhibit for UK and Europe.  We met at three and each went to look at other exhibits: Dean to Greece and I to the Egyptian Sculpture Hall. The amount of material was mind-boggling. 



At 4:00 we remet and with our heads at  full to  capacity decided to walk to where our theater would be for tonight's play. We found the Duchess Theater and had so much time left over that we walked to Somerset House a very large complex and then down to Waterloo Bridge where we could look up and down the Thames. Still lots of time before our play so found the Bow Street Tavern and spent nearly two hours there with beer and an order of french fries between us. We were still so full from lunch. At 7 pm we went back to the theater. The play "The Play That Went Wrong" started with cast members announcing that a dog have been lost and went all through the theater asking patrons if they had seen it.  This play is apparently the longest running comedy in London-14 years. It was hilarious. A farce but different from any fiarce I had seen because so many things went wrong in the play and were incorporated into the performance. The set design was over the top with things falling down and held in place by actors. Performance including an intermission lasted 2 hours. It cost £45  and worth every pence.


At 9:30 we found our way to the underground station and four stops later we were  back at Victoria. A 12 minute walk back to the hotel in cool but comfortable temperatures. Phone calls back home for both of us and off to bed at 11:30





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