Wednesday, December 14, Day 3, Part 2!

 Ok, back to Harry Potter!

Our tour was basically a self guided tour, which meant we could go as fast or slow as we wanted.  Since we weren't really in a rush, we just moseyed and paid attention to the things that we found interesting.  Over all, it was a neat experience, but it was also kind of underwhelming.  If we were to do it again, I'd strongly recommend paying the 5 Pounds (I don't know how to make the symbol, sorry) for the headset so you had some commentary while on the tour.  I'll dump a bunch of photos here for you to peruse.

Ok, lots of pictures - most are pretty self explanatory.  One of the neatest things, in my mind, was Hogwarts, at the very end.  The Castle was complete, and while obviously not to scale, it was huge.  Details were incredible, and it truly made you want to go build one of your own in the back 40.

Once we were done with the tour, we legit had nothing else to do.  The WB Studio was off in BFE London-adjacent.  And we rode the Knight Bus up there, so it wasn't like we were on our own schedule, even if the tour was self-guided.  We had almost 3 hours until the bus was scheduled to leave, with nothing to do.  So, we called an Uber, and Ronaldo drove us back into London in his electric Kia.  A smooth and easy ride, and Ronaldo was friendly enough once we got him talking.  He encouraged us to visit Covent Gardens, which was tentatively on our plans for tomorrow, but decided we had time between now and Wicked tonight to try it.  

If you Google Covent Gardens, it shows an indoor shopping "mall" with lots of booths and stuff to peruse.  We were pretty excited to arrive, and even more so when we found the Christmas "entrance" to the Gardens.

No trip to London is complete without a promotional Selfie.  I'm honestly not sure what happened here, but I'm apparently overly eager on drugs, and Bill is suffering through yet another vacation of walking.

We wandered through Covent Gardens, and were over all, underwhelmed again.  There were plenty of stores, but it was NOT inside, and it WAS cold.  I think that was our theme for the trip so far, it was effin' cold.

After about 45 minutes, we were done with Covent Gardens - as in, we had seen it all.  So, I was slowly working our way towards a Chocolate store/restaurant we had seen on TikTok, thinking we had enough time before Wicked.  Between all the masses of people, the frigid cold that was prompting Bill to keep going inside a store just to warm up...we never made it there.  We did end up at The World's Premiere Toy Store, which was like SIX STORIES TALL.  There was lots of stuff inside, and lots of people.  We wandered all six stories, and found it to be pretty entertaining. 

This picture above was at a miniature Christmas market we found in Leicester Square (I think).  We wandered through and saw some stuff, but eventually just kept walking into Soho.

Once we got into Soho, we found some more city decorations - the above was on our walk to the toy store.  After finishing in the toy store, we summoned another uber, and headed towards our final event of the night - dinner and Wicked!

We texted mom and told her we were on our way to dinner.  She was in the process of summoning her own Uber and we told her to meet us at Brown's Victoria, which was like #4 on the Trip Advisor list of "best places to eat near Apollo Victoria Theater."  It had good reviews, I could make reservations online, and it wasn't overly expensive, and it was like .3 miles from the theater.  Win, win, and more win.

Bill and I ended up getting there first, and we were promptly led upstairs to our table.  We asked for one downstairs, but were told that there was a lift for Mom.  Our Italian waiter came over, greeted us, asked if we had any food allergies, and then took a drink order.  He brought me my coke, and filled up our water glasses.  Bill asked about the festive cocktails, eventually ordering a Peach Cup, or something similar.  I asked about dark beers, and was told they ONLY had Guinness.  I wrinkled my nose and said, "I'll pass, thank you though."  After a bit, he returned with Bill's peach cup, and also a Guinness.  Being the polite patron that I am, I went ahead and drank the Guinness.  Bill struggled to drink his Peach Cup, which wasn't anywhere close to being as described on the menu.  Mom finally got there, and she ordered Iced Tea.  Our Italian Waiter told her she couldn't have ICED tea, and she ended up with a coke.  He asked if she had any food allergies, which we said NO to again.  He brought mom her coke, and then asked if we were ready to order.  Before ordering, he asked if we had any food allergies, which we looked at each other, and said, "no."  Mom ordered Fish and Chips, Bill ordered Chicken Schnitzel, and I ordered slow roasted pork belly.

The waiter left, and we all kind of looked at each other.  He shortly returned, asked Bill if he wanted fries with his schnitzel, and wanted to confirm that none of us had any food allergies.  Like, no dude.  Maybe if you wore a shirt that fit, and wasn't stretching the buttons...you might have enough oxygen flowing to your brain to remember!  Sheesh.

Anyway, our food arrived and we dug in.  The pork belly was less fall aparty than I was expecting, but had good pork flavor.  Bill's schnitzel was dry and under seasoned, and Mom's bite of fish and chips was "good."  I decided the whole experience was very British.  

We paid up, and then headed out to the Theater.  It wasn't far, and while it was cold enough to keep mom moving, we made it there in short order. 

Overall, the show was good.  Having a limited background in backstage stuff, I did notice a couple things that shouldn't have happened in a professional show. However, I didn't let it detract from the experience.  After a quick 2+ hours, we were done with the show and hopped in a Taxi to head back to bed.  It was late and cold, and we ended up back at the hotel and dropped in bed, exhausted and well, exhausted.

Today, I spent some time pondering our trip.  I was contemplating what I thought about London in general.  My thoughts were/are: "Big, Historical, and Cold."  I asked Bill the same thing, and his response was: "Different.  Interesting.  A little dirty.  I asked Mom, and while she hasn't been out too much, her response is: "Crowded and Busy."  

It's a really neat town, with some really neat buildings.  I don't think I'd live here, but it has been fun to visit.