I was up about 5 and Ash gave me an hour to myself. Got through my morning reading and games and a bit of work. We went out for a long walk about 7:30.

We ultimately wanted to walk along the river, and I wanted to start close to Westminster Abbey so we went in that direction. 

I love this shot of Big Ben, Parliament, and the Westminster train station.

Westminster Abbey.

We ended up in a park near the Lambeth Bridge that had a beautiful view of Parliament.

Big Ben. Duh.

St. Paul’s.

We went in to a Gail’s, another local chain, for brunch. At first we were going to sit outside but those metal chairs were cold. That’s the London Eye in the background. (the Ferris wheel)

Sandwiches and a blueberry vanilla pastry.

We wandered into the Tate Modern because it was free and they would have restrooms. We didn’t intend to stay long and we didn’t.

I was here in 2014 and my impression was it’s mostly the kind of modern art I generally make fun of. And, it still is 😁

This was more interesting in real life. Done with thread. You’ll have to trust me on this.

Out of their sci-fi section.

We went up to the 10th floor cafe for coffees.

We continued to meander along the river and in and out of various shops. This place was built in 1615.

The modern downtown area across the river (the Thames).

Still on the South Bank, the modern building known as The Shard in the background, with a sign announcing the almost 2000 year old London Bridge. It’s been rebuilt a few times 😁

Sometimes people call this the London Bridge but it’s actually Tower Bridge. You can go up in those towers, too. Also probably a reference to the Tower of London which is just to the left of Tower Bridge. (And that tower is really more castle, but I will leave that for another day…)

Selfie taken from that same spot. We are actually on London Bridge and as you can see, it is very plain and very boring.

We walked through Leadenhall Market, a cool mall type area – except it’s been around in some form since 1321.

Ash trying to tip The Gherkin.

We went back to the room to drop off shopping and rest a bit. Stayed under about an hour and went out again about 1:30.

We were in search of a light lunch before our 3pm show and decided we would just stop at whatever along the way.

It’s been a fried chicken sort of week so we stuck with that theme. Slim Chicken is a bit like Raising Cane at home.

We split a tenders meal.

We were headed to St. Martin’s theater to see Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.” It has been at this theater since 1974. But opened up at The Ambassador next-door to it where it ran for 22 years starting in 1952. At 74 years, it is the longest running show in the world.

It’s a small theater seating about 550. It’s a classic “whodunnit” with 8 characters and one set. It was fun.

And no, we won’t tell 😎 They expressly asked the audience not to at the end of the show. All I will say is I didn’t see it coming.

On our way there we had made dinner reservations at L’Escargot for after the show.

It has been around or 99 years and is London’s oldest French restaurant.

We ordered a dozen escargot, they are just not all in this photo. They brought the first course fast because we told them we had another show. Ash had a tomato salad, I had French onion soup. All excellent.

Ash had a haddock patty which he really liked.

I had coq au vin which is sort of like a chicken stew, also really good.

The show was The Lion King at the Lyceum. I saw it here in 2014. Although I said then that I really enjoyed it but never needed to see it again, I was surprised to learn as we were driving in from the airport on Tuesday that Ash had never seen it. And I do think you need to see it at least once. So here we are.

We had decent seats but not together. Ash was in 8th row and I was right behind him. It was a great production and I think he’s glad he saw it, but he also doesn’t need to see it again. 😁 If you’ve seen the movie you know the story, but it’s worth it one time for the costumes and the staging.

And that, my friends, is our trip. We have an 8:20am flight from Heathrow to LAX tomorrow. It’s after midnight here already and I never sleep well before a flight so I’m not anticipating anything different here.

I will do my wrap up entry in lounges tomorrow or on Saturday.