Another day in London!

We have been incredibly lucky with the weather.  Everyone we meet says it is unseasonably nice.  Used my rain jacket maybe 3 times so far and now here in London I am spending the day in a long sleeve tshirt and my nylon vest.  (And my hiking pants but only because that's all I have).  We don't fit in in London but there are so many other tourists here (dressed a la North American) that I don't think we stand out.  (Once you have travelled to Europe you will be able to pick out North Americans by their shoes and their clothes immediately!)

We chose the Imperial War Museum as the museum for this visit.  Spent quite a bit of time there but still had to chose which exhibits to visit.  

We chose the World War 1 exhibit and the Victoria Cross exhibit. Had to leave 2 other floors for a future visit or spend all day and some of the next there.  We were amazed how many school kids could fit into the WW 1 exhibit and still leave a few spots for other visitors! I think they were about grade 4, all with work sheets and questions to answer so lots of chatting and giggling going on.  The exhibition had just been open since July this year so that might be why it was so crowded and also the fact that many of the museums and galleries in London are free.  We were very impressed with this exhibit - it contained a huge amount of detail, so impossible to take it all in, but would like to come back sometime when it's not so busy and we can read more of the signage.

We walked a few blocks to Blackfriars Road near the bridge of same name to visit the office of the Confraternity of Saint James.  This is the British office where many of the English guide books are produced for the Camino pilgrimage route in Spain, and so much information comes out of it.  We had a great discussion with the longtime secretary Marion Marples, about some issues that are common to many Camino groups. 

On Thurs evening we went to the Victoria Palace Theatre to see Billy Elliot the Musical.  It was an AMAZING show!!  We had both seen the movie and although the musical does not follow it exactly it was enough to give us a good understanding of the background.  The children performers were absolutely fabulous, and we left the theatre totally blown away by the show, the dancing and the incredible talent of the 11 year old boy who was playing Billy for that performance.  There are 4 boys who are sharing the role right now.  Since there are 6 evening performances a week and 2 matinees the children share the roles - the musical has been running since 2005 so there have been quite a few Billys as well as the other children in the show.  So worth every penny we paid for the tickets.

We are so pleased to have our comfortable apartment to come home to.  We have a doorman who jumps up to open the door for us.  How cool is that??