London 28/5/08

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Today was the day we planned on doing most of our sightseeing in London. We were going to take a Tower of London walking tour, and then take a three hour London walking tour where we saw all the sights. When we arrived for the Tower of London walking tour, we discovered that it was more expensive then we had thought it would be (because of entrace fees), and Sarah decided she didn't want to do the second tour anymore. I was disappointed about that, as I had really been looking forward to the second tour. The Tower of London walking tour was fun, and we didn't have to wait in any lines, though it was more being told the history of the Tower of London than anything else. We didn't really walk anywhere.

We did get to see this totally awesome ceremony though. So, once a year, the navy needs to pay their dues to the head of the Tower of London. We ended up being at the Tower of London for this very ceremony. The dues that the navy pays is a bottle of rum. The first thing we saw was the marching band, which was really good, though I wanted to go borrow their instruments because I am missing mine so much. Next, we saw a good fifteen sailors or so. There was then the two sailors who were carrying the "dues", which was a bottle of rum. It was hanging from a boat paddle, and the two sailors carried the paddle. Then, there was another fifteen something sailors, followed by the officers, the beefeaters, the bagpiper, and more officers. It was actually really cool to see, especially since it only happens once a year.

We ended up spending the whole day at the Tower of London since there was so much to see, and I even got to see the changing of the guards. We left there around 4:30 to go back to the hotel before Wicked. I changed and did some journaling at the hotel, while Sarah slept for a short while. We got dinner and ended up leaving for Wicked around 6:15. We got to the theater, and it was extremely busy and packed. When we finally got in the theater, I bought a Wicked London t-shirt, a poster, and a program.

I had already seen Wicked in Chicago, but this was still incredible. The actors and actresses were amazing (except for Glinda: she wasn't a very good singer), and they threw this somewhat British accent into the musical. The Fiyero and Elphaba were also amazing in the London production as well. We had amazing seats as well, especially for buying the tickets the night before. After Wicked, Carly, Amanda, Whitney, Sarah and I all took a cab back. On the way back, while we were talking about Wicked, we saw Faye and Jena standing on a street corner, which was rather weird. Overall, I had an amazing day, both at the Tower of London and at Wicked.

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