Day 32 - London's West End - Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury Avenue

From New Oxford Street to Piccadilly Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue is at the heart of London's theatreland.   The four theatres visible in the above picture from the closest to the furthest are Queen's with "Les Miserables," Gielgud with "Strangers on a Train" opening Nov. 2, Apollo with "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night," and Lyric with "Thriller."

Queen's Theatre - Les Miserables

The street, created in 1877 - 86 to improve communications across the capital's busy West End, was named after the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, 1801-85, a social reformer, whose attempted to improve housing condition. The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, originally known as the Shaftesbury Monument, also commemorates the Victorian philanthropist.

"Eros" in Piccadilly Circus

Over the next 20 years seven theatres were built along Shaftesbury Avenue.  Six have survived, all located along the north side of the street.  The Lyric Theatre, designed by CJ Phipps, has been open almost as long as the avenue.

London Theatre Map

The Palace Theatre,  dominating the west side of Cambridge Circus, was built in 1891 as an opera house but became a musical hall the following year.  In 1910 the ballerina Anna Pavlova made her London debut here.  Today the theatre is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is currently staging 'The Commitments'.

Palace Theatre

As well as theatres, Shaftesbury Avenue has a few Chinese restaurants, travel agents, opticians and herbalists giving a foretaste of London's nearby Chinatown, centered around Gerrard Street.

China Town

The present Chinatown, which is off Shaftesbury Avenue did not start to be established until the 1970s. Up until then, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulougne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included a master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, Harrison Marks' Glamour Studio, an Indian restaurant and various brothels. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard St, and then spread gradually. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974.

The area boasts over 80 restaurants showcasing some of London's finest and most authentic Asian cuisine.

West End map with Agatha Christie Statue marked

Since November 18 of 2012 a new bronze sculpture has occupied a spot at the end of Cranbourn St in London’s West End – a monument to Agatha Christie.  It stands at 2.5 metres high and has the sideways profile of a book, with a cut-out oval section at the centre which features a bust of Christie in profile. It is also studded with effigies of her most popular characters and scenes from her novels – Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and the Orient Express all appear.

Agatha Christie Memorial

The sculpture’s book form was chosen both to represent her achievements as one of the 20th century’s most celebrated novelists and also as a reference to the West End’s longest running play, The Mousetrap, which is based on a short story that she penned some time during the late nineteen forties. The unveiling happened to take place on the 60th Anniversary of the play’s continuous London run.

Agatha Christie Memorial at Night

Rather than present the novelist when she was young, the sculptor sought to capture Agatha Christie at the height of her powers – she was still producing a new novel almost every year into her eighties, having written her first novel some fifty three years before.

Once hubby finished his photo tour of the West End, he came back to the flat and we had Shepherd's and Cumberland pies for dinner.  It's past midnight here now, so I'm going to say good-night, and will check in again tomorrow.

Day 3 - And we thought living in London was expensive - Getting out is prohibitive

We currently have two weekend trips scheduled, one to Edinburgh and one to Bath, and we're going by train.  Though we're taking the same line for both trips, we leave from different stations.  That means figuring out the train schedules and choosing between Off-Peak, Off-Peak Day, Super Off-Peak, and Ranger and Rover tickets, Single and Return, Flexi or Fixed.  Rail Discount cards are available as well, but for some you need to be a resident of the UK, and eight weeks does not a resident make.

So, today we rose early for us (11:30 AM, which my body still insists is 6:30 AM and is asking whether or not I've lost my mind).  I did make a go of it, really.  I checked e-mail, worked with Triberr and even started this blog post, then I (ahem) petered out and went back to bed.  So, we didn't leave the flat until 4:30 PM.

TKTS Booth in Leicester Square

Walked to Leicester Square and visited the TKTS Booth where we like to purchase seats to the West End shows for half price (some shows that is).  We decided to see Spamalot.  We saw it in 2005 in NYC, but we're both Monty Python fans, and with tickets available for half price at 25 GBP each, we decided to see it again.  Spamalot is based on the movie "Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail."

Naomi Watts in Diana

While we were in Leicester Square, we took a picture of the Odeon movie theater poster of Naomi Watts starring in "Diana."  Both of us thought she looked spot on for the ill-fated princess and I think it's fitting we see the movie in London.  We'll see.

Kings Cross/St. Pancras train station

Tickets in hand, we got on the Picadilly tube and got off at King's Cross/St. Pancras to buy the rail tickets. Another successful outing that cost us 239 GBP, and that's with discount rail cards.  London isn't cheap, and getting out of it is really expensive.  As a side note, King's Cross was the station with track 9 1/2 for the train to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.  St. Pancras is known for its beautiful Victorian architecture.  From Wikipedia: "The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the British Library, King's Cross station and the Regent's Canal. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of its main line, which connected London with the East Midlands and Yorkshire."

London Eye from Embankment

Rail passes and tickets purchased, we hopped back on the tube to Leicester Square and ate dinner at our favorite Cafe Rouge.  Hubby managed to get Tesco (grocery store) vouchers that give us a 20 GBP discount off of our food (not alcohol, so glasses of wine are not eligible, but that doesn't stop me from ordering one with dinner).  Interesting side-note, refills on soft drinks are not free in Europe, nor is bread and butter complimentary like it is in the states.  After dinner it's back on the tube again this time taking the Northern Line to Embankment.

Festival on the South Bank

There was a fair or festival going on near the London Eye on the South Bank, so I tried to get a video of its rides as well as the London Eye, which you can see above is a striking blue at nighttime.

Ride at the Festival on the South Bank

We sat on some benches and watched the tourists go by on a sight-seeing boat.  We're regulars, you know.  Not tourists at all.  Hubby even gives lost souls directions on how to get about the city, and where they should visit.  We'll be spending our 36th anniversary here, and I thought it would be fun to take a dinner cruise on the Thames.  Unfortunately, we'll be on a train to Edinburgh on that day, but maybe the following week.

Spamalot at The Playhouse near Embankment

Curtain time for our show tonight is 9 PM, which is late for the West End.  Most shows start at 7:30 PM.  So at 8:30 PM we strolled from Embankment to The Playhouse theater.  We had front row Dress Circle seats, which were very good, though the guard rail partially obstructed my view, unfortunately.  It did not impede my enjoyment, however.

Set of Spamalot

Rich was very naughty and took a picture of the stage set at the end of the show.  If you've seen the movie, you know it ends abruptly.  Actually, there is no ending.  For the musical, they bring the house lights up but leave the stage lit, so audience members (like me) think the actors might return for an encore, but they don't (you'd think I'd remember that from the first time I saw it, but no.).  Instead, the audience sits there flummoxed until the orchestra finishes and packs up to leave.  It's sort of funny, when you think of it.  You almost expect someone to come out on stage and say, "The show's over, folks.  So, pack up your stuff and leave already.  What do you need, an invitation?"

Now, we're back at the flat and I'm going to add pictures, check e-mail, etc. then make an early night of it. Right.  It's 2:30 AM now.  Yup, it's an early night all right.  Bye.