Theatre Day in London, Tower of London

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I put yesterday and today together because I was too tired to type it up yesterday and just easier to do them together now since it’s the end of the trip:

Yesterday was a theatre day I suppose. I knew that this time I wanted to be sure to go to the theatre – it is London after all! In the morning I went to National Theatre Archives and watched “After the Dance”, a play from 2010 where Benedict (yes, go ahead and laugh haha) was the lead. It was pretty good – interesting story and great acting all around.

After that I headed off to the Tower of London, my one “touristy” item that I didn’t get to last time I was in town. I was a little apprehensive because there are so many free things to do in London, but it was worth the cost.

I started with a free tour which was fantastic because it gives you the historical background for the Tower, plus our guide was funny as hell... which is quite important when you’re dealing with all the historical details. It was interesting to hear about the history though because I didn’t really know what the Tower was used for... and now I do! (Prison, royal residence, place to chop people’s head off... ok that was at Tower Hill, but close enough.)

I then spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around, exploring the buildings, watching some ravens, taking a crap load of photos and all that jazz. The Crown Jewels were also great to see – it’s insane how much bling is in that room.

Lastly, I ended my day by going to see the play “One Man, Two Guvnors” – it was absolutely HILARIOUS, literally laughing out loud for a good chunk of the play. It was both physical comedy and one-liners that just hit perfectly. I don’t have my phone with me, so I’ll add the particularly funny moment after (I made note of them right as I left the theatre so I wouldn’t forget!!) but long story short, well worth a see!! I had bought cheap-seats but it wasn’t sold out tonight so I got “upgraded” and had perfect seats right in the middle – no complaints there!

One particular moment I remember that was fantastic was when the lead character was going on about being starved and he asked like 5x if anyone in the theatre had a sandwhich. (Important to note: 2min earlier, they had grabbed 2 people from the audience to help carry something, so the audience was involved in the play to a certain extent.) But like, he kept asking and asking... and finally one guy raises his hand saying he had one. The actor was so surprised that he broke character and just fell into a fit of giggles.

After he collected himself (he was still chuckling, but could at least speak), he was like “I can’t believe you actually have one?! Ok. Ok. But you understand this is a play, correct? A play in the prestigious Haymarket Theatre. And so you understand that, as a play, my questions are not real questions??” Oh my God, we were dying laughing in the crowd. He then asked what kind of sandwhich (as a joke) and then made fun of him some more because it was hummus. All of this was unplanned of course, so this poor stage-hand is waiting forever to come say his like 2 lines in the play haha. The lead actor’s like, “look now what you did – you ruined his only 2 lines!!” and the stage-hand just kept glaring (as a joke) at the audience member. I’m still laughing.

Anyway. They also made fun of Canada a few times haha, no love. And the old man character kept falling down the stairs in the most epic of fashions. I’m sitting in the lounge of my hostel laughing about this 24 hours later haha. Ugh, so good.

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Today was a much slower pace than yesterday haha. I took the train from London Euston to Manchester. My morning was immensely lazy – I woke up early because I always do in this hostel... so much noise. Also, my top bunk-mate was rolling all over doing god knows what and making so much noise on top of the street noise. I wasn’t willing to get up though haha, so I lay there for a good hour doing nothing.

Train to Manchester was spent reading most of the way, followed by a short nap as we got close. Ah, ‘tis the life.

Once in Manchester I dropped everything off at the hostel and just roamed around the City Centre – I went to Albert Square/Town Hall and read some more, sitting in the shade of some of the statues. It’s a gorgeous day today – around 25 degrees but not humid at all.

After a little while I walked down towards the cathedral for some pictures and looped back around to the hostel. Now I’m just taking my time organizing everything for the end of the trip and going to repack my bag shortly so that it’s quasi-comfortable when I have to lug it around tomorrow to the airport.

I have now spent two hours in the lounge chatting with my new buddy from Toronto - he's currently over here working different security jobs, just wanted to see what life would be like here in the UK. He's missing Canada 😉 But yes, it was a longgggg chat covering just about every topic one could imagine.

And so that is that. It feels weird to be on such a short trip overseas... less than two weeks? Unheard of for me haha. But it’s been fantastic. I’ve had perfect weather – I honestly can’t believe I didn’t have a single drop of rain while in the UK for 11 days... that has to be a record of some sort lol. It’s also funny to think in less than a month I’ll be right back here with Emmo – so excited for that trip!!

And so, once again, thanks for reading everyone 😊 Hoped you enjoyed! Next time I’ll remember my photo cable haha.

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