The Lion King

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Fanie, Harmony and I woke up late this morning. We had to have a change of rooms. We went from G15 to G4 because there was a mix up with bookings. It was OK, except we had to pack and unpack our suitcase unnecessarily for one day.

I decided to go to the laundry mat to get my clothes washed. While I waited, Fanie and Harmony walked throughout the street looking at shops.

After washing the clothes and dropping them off at the Hotel, we decided to go to Bond Street to do some shopping. We caught the Metro system. It was the first time that we had to switch lines at a Metro stop. We had to catch the Piccadilly Line, then we had to switch to the Jubilee Line. The Metro line is at the shallow end of the train line system, which runs within the district. The Piccadilly Line runs at a deep level (up to five levels deep) which cuts across ditricts. The Jubilee Line runs deeper than the Piccadilly Line, which seems to run to the Airport and back. We ended up at Bond St OK! Fanie bought 2 scafes and Harmony bought a tight fitting black jeans. I looked around the district and noticed a number of Monopoly board places.

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We eat at one of the Department stores. Basically, we had some hot (as opposed to toasted) sandwiches - which were quite pricey. I personally preferred the cripsy bite of toasted sandwiches.

We caught the Metro to the Theatre districts to see where we were going for the Lion King Theatre performance later that night. We got totally lost ... but eventually we found the theatre through mainly trial and error. The trick was to keep asking the locals. They all knew parts of the location and got you to the general location. As you got closer, the closer residence in the areas was able to pin-point the Theatre for us.

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On our elaborate journey in trying to locate the Theatre for the night, we stumbled onto the Convent Gardens Market precinct. What a lovely surprise, a wonderful gem. It had an exciting atmosphere, colour, a diverse crowd of young and old, music, glamour, history, and emotional textural blends of joy, happiness, fun, excitement, wonderment, and vibrance. I would not have wanted to miss this experience.

We caught the Metro back to our Hotel to get ready for the Lion King Theatre performance later that night. We decided to have lunch at an authentic English Pub. Fanie, Harmony and I all decided to buy "Bangers and Mash" - basically, sausages and mash potatoes. It was very, very nice, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it, which is unusually for all three to agree. Overall, it was spicy and saucy dish.

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Later that evening we caught the Metro again, back out to Convent Gardens and found our way with ease to the Lion King Musical Threatre. I was worried about the Internet booking from Adelaide ... but ... there was no need to be. We arrived at the ticket office and they were all there waiting for us, all pre-paid. Lucky we did so, because the crowds lining up to see the Musical stemmed for along the full stretch of the road. The musical started at 7:30, but we had to be there at 6:30 to collect the tickets. The Theatre was a classical structure. The main skirtings were wooden with immaculately carved ornaments and human figures. The details were way beyond this, or even last Century's, architectual designs. They just don't make them with such great detail anymore. It was a large Threatre, with the classical English balconies on the side. The stage setting, from ceiling to floor, and all along the walls, was dressed up with an African flavour. The performance itself was superb with the audience getting involved with the musical. There was intermission. I found the second part of the Lion King perfromance was much better than the first. It just keep getting better and better with each line. The performers were all African British and the dancing and constumes were imaginative, orginal, and abstract. It was a sheer delight and extremely exciting sitting in a real London Theatre.

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After the Performance, Fanie, Harmony and I strolled back to the Metro through the Convent Gardens Market at night. The night atmosphere at the Gardens was even better than the day. The electric, virtual gas, lit lantens along the old red British buildings, stretching as far as the eye can see, flickering shadow lines enhancing the view, was beyond all my expectations. It was a sad moment realising that it was the last night in London for us and more than likely, never to be see by me again. I loved it!