London - Round 2

Not satisfied with our little London day trip a few weeks ago, Hannah, Bailey, and I decided to go down to the city again this weekend.  We went Friday evening to see a West End show and then again early Saturday morning for a full day of sightseeing!



Day 1 - Friday, 15 June

A Night on the Town

3:00 p.m. - We rode the Oxford Tube bus service from Gloucester Green, Oxford down to London.  The private bus companies are really catering to business travelers with free on-board Wi-Fi.  We used it to map out our little adventure.  The hour-and-a-half commute turned into a three-hour ordeal once we hit Friday rush hour traffic in the city.  The bus was also forced to make a detour when the exit ramp we needed was blocked by a traffic accident.  It took 30 minutes from the next exit to travel the six or seven blocks of our improvised detour and get back on route.  We disembarked near Victoria Bus Station and walked past Buckingham Palace northeast towards Piccadilly Circus.


6:00 p.m. - Dinner at Rainforest Cafe.  Attempting to find a quick dinner in central London on a Friday was a mistake. Since our bus arrived so late, we tried a couple of pubs near the theater, but neither served food on Fridays. With limited options, we finally settled on Rainforest Cafe.  Hannah was quite pleased, to say the least. My heart went out to our waiter who was forced to give us a "safari tour"of the restaurant as he walked us to our table.  While I wouldn't go again, the food was decent and the service was relatively quick.

7:30 p.m. - Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End.  The London production has changed theaters a couple of times, but it is currently the longest-running musical on West End. Queen's Theatre has hosted the production since 2004. In January 2010, Les Misérables crossed the ten-thousandth performance threshold in London.

True to reports, Queen's Theatre is a nice, intimate venue.  The three of us sat in the upper balcony but still had a fantastic view. The only negative aspect of the entire evening was the old man behind us who felt the need to sing along in a low bass voice.  I repeatedly gave him dirty looks until he finally shut up! Otherwise, we had a great time!

Queen's Theatre, London (Source)

 Afterwards, we took the bus back to Oxford since the cost of two round-trip tickets was cheaper that the cost of booking a hostel for the evening.  I argued that we should just stay up all night and see London but was overruled. We arrived at Gloucester Green around midnight and agreed to meet back at the bus station for 7:00 a.m.