Sat 29 - We made our way to London on the train from Norwich. We walked from Liverpool St. station to our favourite apartment at Holborn. We arrived to early to check in (by about an hour) so we went off in search of some lunch. We had a nice vege pasta meal which hit the spot because we didn't have time for dinner that day because we were off to Covent Garden for the opera. We saw Benjamin Britten's opera, Gloriana. It was the opera which he wrote around the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was primarily about Queen Elizabeth I and her interaction with the Duke of Essex. It was an amazing new production done in the style of a local village production, really incorporating his love for engaging local people in his productions. (It was, however a professional cast). It was an extremely innovative performance with superb singing from the soloists and the Royal Opera Chorus.
Sun 30 - today we darted all over the place on the tube and the buses. Our mission was to go up to the top of the tallest building in London - The Shard, to see the views and to see all the places Benjamin Britten had lived when he was in London. The Shard is the most incredible building and its name came about because the top part of the building looks like a shard of glass. The lifts take you up to the 69th floor, then you walk up to the 70th floor to the internal viewing gallery and you can also walk up to the 72nd floor to the open air gallery. The views are absolutely spectacular. In the year 2000 we went up to the top of St Paul's Cathedral and also the London Eye, to see the views and we thought they were amazing - but the views from the Shard win first prize.
During the afternoon we set off to three houses where Britten had lived from 1931-33, 1943-46 (during which time, he wrote Peter Grimes) and his London home during 1970 (however he also lived in the Red House in Aldeburgh at that time). We have now visited all the homes in the UK that Britten lived in.
We also visited Regents Park and it seemed that today's warm weather had brought everyone out to the park. There were so many people! We also noticed lots of people in all the little bits of green space dotted around town, sitting on picnic rugs and soaking up the sun. We also saw lots of people standing on street corners outside the pubs, having their drink in the sun rather than inside the pub. We have never been her at this time of year before, so this was a new experience for us.
Tomorrow we leave the UK so that's it for Benjamin Britten for this trip. You are probably getting sick of hearing about him anyway!
Rob wants to point out a funny aside - particularly prevalent in the last couple of days - where he has been offered assistance on several occasions with luggage and offers of seats on the tube. This has never happened to the same extent in the past so he thinks he must have aged a couple of decades since the last time we were here! (Little do these people know, that we have been walking lots of kilometres, including dragging suitcases with us and carrying them up and down stairs etc !)
