Much Walking/Biking & Phantom

Today was our most productive day in London. We’ve learned the first thing we need to start doing each day is finding a hostile before doing anything else. We hunted for hostiles both Saturday and Sunday night, which took a chunk of time. First thing this morning we found the London Eye Hostile, which is poorly ranked but cheap. It’s closer to King’s Cross Station (where The Chunnel to France leaves tomorrow morning) and more centrally located in London. After finding our hostile, we checked out the Imperial War Museum—my favorite museum in London. Similar to the Washington DC Mall, this museum had a holocaust museum. Depressing. With my grandpa Roscoe in mind, I spent extra time taking pictures of the fighter planes. I grew up loving the stories of Roscoe flying as a marine in the South Pacific—a true hero!

A Nazi Fighter

Throughout the afternoon, we visited St. Paul’s cathedral, walked across the Thames on the Tower Bridge, walked around the Tower of London, again walked over the Thames to see the Globe Theater, and then made our way to Portobello Market. We arrived just when everything was closing down but discovered something extraordinary. The city of London rents out bikes for cheap (under 30 minutes is free and within 60 minutes is only 1 pound per bike)! With about one hour before Phantom of the Opera began, we were located about 5 miles away from the theatre. We took a HUGE risk and started biking on the left side of the road. I felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable biking a couple feet away from those red double-decker buses. We rode straight through Hyde Park (similar to New York’s Central Park) and into the city center. We found a nearby bike port (pick up and drop off is similar to RedBox) and ran the rest of the way to the theatre. Have the time of our lives, we made it to the theatre with time to spare.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

I leaned over to Nick when the organ began playing and whispered, “Holy smoke! I have goosebumps!” Despite the lack of legroom, watching the Phantom of the Opera was literally breathtaking. With Nick wearing shorts and I wearing a baseball cap, we felt a little out-of-place. However, we didn’t care because we were satisfied. Oh by the way, we went without food today—it’s so expensive! The hostile fed us toast and cereal and then for dinner I ate Cadbury chocolate. I’ll eat better tomorrow in France—I promise.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera

It’s almost 2 am now—we’re awaking at 6 am (Nick went to bed awhile ago) to catch an early tube to Kings Cross Station where we’ll take The Chunnel to Paris. It leaves at 8 am. Au revoir!