A few highlights of our March trip to London
Apr 4th, 2016, 05:04 AM
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A few highlights of our March trip to London
We took our 14 year old granddaughter to London for 5 days from March 20-March 25. We visited the usual sites that most tourists visit-Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London , ect. However, Iwant to focus this report on what were unexpected highlights of our trip:
1-The Sky Garden has gorgeous views from 35 floors above London. On a clear day the viewing was fabulous. We spent two hours, both indoors and outdoors, viewing London from above. Granddaughter liked it so much that she wanted to return for a second visit.Timed tickets are free, but you need to book 3 weeks in advance.
2-The Victoria and Albert's exhibit on Theater and Performance is very interesting and extensive.. Granddaughter enjoys seeing shows and has been in several school and camp productions. We spent several hours enjoying the videos of past theater performances,, the costumes from such shows as Lion King, the design drawings for the costumes, and the mock up sets.
3-Our granddaughter had her heart set on seeing Wicked. When we went to the box office, only second balcony seats were available for the days we wanted to see the show. However, we were told that the box office releases all of the first row seats, at 10am, on the day of the performance. We decided that rather than settling for mediocre seats, we'd try to get the front row seats. The next day we were up early, got to the line at 9:40am and we were lucky enough to get the last 3 of the front row seats. Granddaughter was thrilled, and so were we because the theater was only one block from our hotel.
4-London is a walking city and on day two of our trip we walked from our hotel near Victoria station to Westminster Abbey, across the bridge to the South Bank. We then walked along the South Bank stopping into the Tate Modern and continuing across Milllenium Bridge to St. Pauls Cathedral and to the Walkie Talkie Building to go to Sky Garden. We then did the walk in reverse for a total of about 8 miles. The walk was one of the highlights of our visit, not only because it was interesting, but because the sun was shining. What a nice surprise that was.
1-The Sky Garden has gorgeous views from 35 floors above London. On a clear day the viewing was fabulous. We spent two hours, both indoors and outdoors, viewing London from above. Granddaughter liked it so much that she wanted to return for a second visit.Timed tickets are free, but you need to book 3 weeks in advance.
2-The Victoria and Albert's exhibit on Theater and Performance is very interesting and extensive.. Granddaughter enjoys seeing shows and has been in several school and camp productions. We spent several hours enjoying the videos of past theater performances,, the costumes from such shows as Lion King, the design drawings for the costumes, and the mock up sets.
3-Our granddaughter had her heart set on seeing Wicked. When we went to the box office, only second balcony seats were available for the days we wanted to see the show. However, we were told that the box office releases all of the first row seats, at 10am, on the day of the performance. We decided that rather than settling for mediocre seats, we'd try to get the front row seats. The next day we were up early, got to the line at 9:40am and we were lucky enough to get the last 3 of the front row seats. Granddaughter was thrilled, and so were we because the theater was only one block from our hotel.
4-London is a walking city and on day two of our trip we walked from our hotel near Victoria station to Westminster Abbey, across the bridge to the South Bank. We then walked along the South Bank stopping into the Tate Modern and continuing across Milllenium Bridge to St. Pauls Cathedral and to the Walkie Talkie Building to go to Sky Garden. We then did the walk in reverse for a total of about 8 miles. The walk was one of the highlights of our visit, not only because it was interesting, but because the sun was shining. What a nice surprise that was.
Apr 4th, 2016, 11:56 AM
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I booked Sky Garden as soon as the week were going to be in London opened on the website. That was 3 weeks in advance of our trip. The week after I booked I took a look at the website and our whole week had been fully booked. Maybe the word is out about what a great venue it is, and that is why it is booked up. There were quite a few people with British accents at the top, so it isn't just being book by tourists.
Apr 29th, 2016, 03:19 AM
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Thanks for the information about the Sky Garden! DH and I love London -- we were first there for our honeymoon 30 years ago and will be there for a couple of days this summer. This sounds like a fun place to drink a toast!
