London Trip: Part 2

Saturday, March 14-Sunday, March 15: London Views, Art, Theatre, Tea

We had a beautiful sunny day on Saturday for our London activities, starting with amazing panoramas from the London Eye.

Our next stop was the Tate Britain, and we paused during our walk along the river for some coffee and to enjoy the views.

Since we had a limited time in London, I had decided to choose just one museum to visit and selected the Tate Britain because it has several works by John Singer Sargent, whose paintings I've always liked. I recently read a biography of Sargent that made me curious to see his work again in light of knowing more about his life, so this was a good opportunity to see some works that I hadn't seen before in person.

The museum also has many other well-known pieces in its collection, including these paintings of Ophelia, the Lady of Shallot, and a representative work by David Hockney.

We checked out the museum cafe for lunch but didn't find any good options so instead headed off along the riverfront path towards a nearby food hall. We ended up stopping at a cafe tucked into a building and directly across the river from the MI5 building! Mr. E and I shared a savory avo toast and a sweet peanut butter toast as we basked in the sunlight and gazed at the river.

Once we got back to the house, we continued with some laundry and napped a bit before heading out for our evening activity of The Tempest at the Globe Theatre. We had hoped to get some nibbles at the restaurant or bar there but didn't plan our timing well enough, so instead we settled for a bunch of items at the Starbucks across the street. The play was in the Sam Wanamaker playhouse, which is entirely lit by candles, which made things get a wee bit warm during the second act! The show was a modern version of the text and was really engaging and interesting, although it was a bit disappointing that several scenes were staged on the ground under the balcony level so we couldn't see the action happening there. No photos were allowed when the cast was onstage, but I got some views of the set at the end.

 

On Sunday morning, I went for a lovely walk around the residential area near the rental house and then went out for breakfast with my friend J to Megan's on the Green while Mr. E slept in a bit and headed to Starbucks for his morning meal. J and her friends all headed to the airport at various times that morning, but Mr. E and I had one more appointment, this time for a tour + tea at the Royal Ballet and Opera. After taking the underground to the Covent Garden station, we discovered the long winding steps to get to street level. Quite a workout! 

 

At the theatre, we enjoyed getting a backstage view of the facility that focused on the ballet side of things as well as the interesting views from the bridge between the buildings before having our high tea to close out the experience.

 

Then it was back to the house to pick up our bags and head to the airport for our flight from London to Japan to begin the next phase of our big trip. We both agreed that we want to make a return visit to London to explore more, so I think this destination will rise a bit higher on our travel list for future planning.