Spring Break, London: Day TWO

 After a MUCH NEEDED full night's sleep in a really comfortable bed, and a great breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Picadilly Circus to buy theater tickets at the TKTS kiosk.  We got there early enough that we didn't have to wait long in line, and scored good seats for "Other Desert Cities", starring Martha Plimpton (of "Goonies" and "Raising Hope" fame), and "The 39 Steps", a comedy with four actors playing 126 characters, loosely based on the Alfred Hitchcock thriller of the same name.

It was a beautiful sunny day, so we walked around Picadilly Circus for awhile...

...then headed back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard.  We weren't sure where to stand to get the best view (over the heads of the other tourists that had already crowded in).  We ended up by the Queen Victoria statue in the middle of the roundabout, and it turned out to be a perfect spot.  The horses, band, Beef Eaters, and others paraded right in front of us.

We moved several times (to avoid crowds, and to get out before everyone else left the area), and, each time we moved, ended up being in the right spot to see various troupes and guards leave the palace grounds, and head back to their respective barracks.  Very cool!!!

After that, we walked through a park near the palace grounds.  Again...so nice to see green grass and flowers!!!

After the park, we took the tube to Westminster Abbey to tour the church and grounds.  Westminster Abbey is such a beautiful, historic place.  Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married there (as well as Kate and William).  Diana and the Queen Mother also lay "in state" at Westminster when they died.  Mary, Queen of Scots, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling...the list of royalty, nobility, heads of state, poets, playwrights, and authors goes on and on!

No photos are allowed inside Westminster Abbey, but the bust of my ancestor, William Makepeace Thackeray is there (next to Handel's tomb!).  It's only a "commemorative" bust, as he's buried elsewhere in England, but it's extremely cool to see!  Duane asked one of the docents if it would be possible to take a picture.  The docent was very nice, and let us snap a quick photo.   People nearby were very curious as to what we were doing!!

An added bonus...the gardens were open, so we were able to walk around them for the first time on any of our trips there...delightful!

After the Abbey, we headed across the Thames, took a spin on the London Eye...

...had a REALLY late lunch at an Italian Place called Locale...

...then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.

We got off the tube a stop early to walk across London Bridge (which has an AMAZING view of Tower Bridge)...

...and still got to the theater too early.  We decided to explore the area, so walked around for awhile.  We found the "Stage Door" of the theater, so OF COURSE I had to have a couple of photos taken.  As we were walking away from the door, we noticed a woman, off to the side, talking on her cell phone. 

 Martha Plimpton

Duane said "I think that's Martha Plimpton", so we crossed the street, circled back, and, sure enough, it was!  We chatted briefly (she was very nice!), and then went in to find our seats.

"Other Desert Cities" is about a family in Arizona.  The parents are conservative Republicans, and the daughter (and son) are liberal Democrats.  The plot revolves around another son, who died years before, after committing suicide.  He had joined a cult, and was involved in an "incident" in which a place was bombed, and someone was killed.  The daughter is writing a book about it, and is home to prepare her parents for it's release.  It's very intense.  It's very emotional.  It's definitely not produced by Disney!

Martha Plimpton was AMAZING as the daughter!  She did really well with a big, emotional serious role.  All of the actors, in fact, were very good.  The mother was played by Sinead Cusack, who is married to Jeremy Irons (interesting coincidence...the "audio tour" that you take through Westminister Abbey is narrated by Jeremy Irons).  I'm always fascinated with accents.  Martha was the only native speaker of American English, but the entire cast did an EXCELLENT job not sounding Irish, British, etc.  On the flip side, I remember doing a show in which I had to have a British accent...it was dreadful, and SO DIFFICULT!!

After the show, we took the tube back to Victoria Station...

...I drank my strawberry lime Kopparberg cider, we figured out what we were doing to do the following day, and went to bed.

A busy (normal for us) first full day of "vacation"!!!!