In Love In London: 7th Anniversary Trip Part Two

Friday, March 15: Tower of London, Book of Mormon & Hadestown

After waking up to the wonderful news of NC State beating Duke in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, it was time to get ready and begin our next full day of sightseeing and theater!

Raffles

We began our day at Raffles, just up the street from our hotel, where Katie and I began our day with a full breakfast and coffee.

Tower Bridge

Following breakfast, we made the 30-minute journey to London Tower for our 10 am timed entry. Since we had a few minutes to kill beforehand, we hit a few of the souvenir shops, bought a pin, and grabbed a few photos in front of the Tower Bridge.

Most people misname this iconic bridge as the London Bridge, but the London Bridge rather upstream and is named so because, for hundreds of years, it was the only bridge that crossed the Thames River.

The Tower of London is home to six ravens who live on the premises, one of which Katie was able to photograph during our visit! Legend has it if the six ravens ever left the London Tower, then the city would fall to invaders.

The Tower of London

At 10:00 am, we made our way into the Tower of London where we grabbed our audio guides and a map, and made our way around the facility. The Tower of London was built in the late 1070s by William the Conquerer, the first king of England. The castle has served numerous purposes throughout history including official residency for the British Monarch for nearly 500 years, home of the Royal Mint, treasury, menagerie, and even a prison.

One of the main attractions is the White Tower, a large stone tower in the middle of the complex, which was the original tower constructed by the Normans nearly 1,000 years ago.

Inside we got to see numerous rooms with exhibits showing where the royal family used to reside, and some of the crazy innovations of the time, including an indoor fireplace and an indoor toilet, which was essentially just a hole in the side of the building covered by a piece of plywood to sit on (guess it beats using and cleaning a chamber pot). Another cool exhibit was the different armors worn by Kings during the medieval period; the most prominent was Henry VIII's suits of armor, which were incredibly large. He must have been a hulk of a man.

The Crown Jewels

The next stop, and the reason I forced Katie to come here: The Crown Jewels. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait in a very long line to make our way into the exhibits. We weren't allowed to take photos, but don't worry, you aren't missing anything. If I could use one word to describe the Crown Jewels: underwhelming.

Numerous cases showcase different crowns used throughout history, as well as the scepter, orb, and golden spoon used during coronation ceremonies. The most ridiculous thing though was a duplicate of the Cullinan 1, the largest diamond ever discovered, coming from South Africa. They legit duplicated a diamond and stuck it behind some glass; who wants to wait in line to see a piece of plastic?

Katie described it best: just get a party city crown, place it on a fancy pillow and behind some glass, and bam, you have what looks like a crowned jewel.

All joking aside, the emeralds, rubys, and diamonds in these crowns were impressively large. Too bad the English stole all those precious jewels from third-world countries...

After being disappointed by the Crown Jewels, we added some excitement to our lives and learned more about the bloodier past of the Tower of London. We learned that Anne Boelyn, the second wife of Henry VIII was imprisoned & executed on the grounds. Sir Walter Raleigh, a renowned British explorer and namesake for Raleigh, NC, was imprisoned here in 1603 for treason during the reign of James I.

prisoners carved namesin stone

stretching torture machine

One of the must-dos at the Tower of London is having a tour with one of the Yeoman Warders. One of the requirements for becoming a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London is a minimum of 22 years of service in the British Army and achieving the rank of Sergeant Major. These Yeoman live on the grounds with their families and are responsible for guarding and protecting everything within the ground. We met up for our tour at 11:30, where we enjoyed our guide's fun attitude and great jokes. What a great way to end our visit to London Tower!

Thunderbird Fried Chicken

Before our next West End show, Katie and I grabbed lunch at Thunderbird Fried Chicken where we got a chicken sandwich, chicken tenders, and split a basket of cajun fries.

Coffee&Friends

One thing about this trip, we were extremely caffeinated. Katie nor I recovered from getting up at 3:00 am a few days ago, so coffee is what kept our batteries charged. We stopped at Coffee & Friends where I had one of the best Chai Lattes I've ever had, an espresso shot (because I needed some extra juice), and Katie enjoyed a cappuccino.

Prince of Wales Theatre

Our fourth show of the trip and one of my personal favorites, The Book of Mormon. Katie and I have now seen this show three times, and it is arguably my favorite musical. It's extremely crude, but it is hilarious. I know Katie mentioned this in her latest post, but it was fun getting to see the subtle differences in the shows we've seen previously. I know she disagrees with me, but this is now my favorite show we've seen so far!

Sacred Grounds

After the show was released around 5:00 pm, we had nearly 2.5 hours to kill before our next show. Katie and I walked a little way up the street to re-caffeinate at Sacred Grounds. After enjoying some more coffee and avoiding one of the rare periods of rain during this trip, we headed out to our next stop.

Waxy O'Connor's London

As we were walking to find food, we stumbled upon an Irish pub where Katie enjoyed a Magner's Cider while I enjoyed, you guessed it, a pint of Guinness. Not as good as in Dublin, but still delightful nonetheless.

Shake Shack Leicester Square

After our pint, we found ourselves at Shake Shack; there's something about us traveling and visiting Shake Shack. Maybe it's because we know the burger is always good and we value consistency. Anyways, we split a Smokestack Burger and some cheese fries before making our way to our last experience of the day: Hadestown!

Lyric Theatre

Our fifth show of the trip was Hadestown; a modern spin on the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Euridice. Katie and I have never seen this show before and have never listened to the music, we were going into this with an open mind and a clean slate.

This wasn't our favorite show, to say the least; actually, it was Katie's least favorite show of the trip and mine was just above Wicked taking fourth of five, so far. I know putting Wicked last is probably a hot take, but I don't like anything related to the Wizard of Oz, the music is fun, but it doesn't do anything for me.

Now, back to Hadestown. The narrator (Hermes), had a thick Caribbean/Creole accident that made it difficult to understand what she was saying, the story was hard to follow, and we had an obstructed view from our seats. Combine it all and it doesn't make for a great experience.

Saturday, March 16: Westminster Abby, Phantom & SIX

I know this post isn't about NC State basketball, but I have to continue to put in these shameless plugs! The men's team beat UVA last night in the ACC Tournament semifinals in overtime. Michael O'Connell hit a buzzer-beater three to tie the game and keep our hopes alive. Forever an NC State legend. Now we play UNC for the championship tonight and I have to keep my composure all day today!

Harrison’s Coffee

After getting ready and annoying Katie all morning with my basketball excitement, we ran it back at Harrison's Coffee, the Chilean coffee shop just up the block from our hotel. I had another dirty chai and a ham & cheese croissant while Katie enjoyed a mocha & another beef and onion empanada.

Westminster Abbey

Our first and only major tourist attraction for the day is Westminster Abbey, the large Anglican Church where we ended our walking tour just two days ago. The church is a Gothic style and looks incredibly similar to Notre Dame in Paris. Now you may ask, "But I thought you guys were tired of visiting churches. Isn't this just another church?" The answer: kinda, but this one has a couple of cool details that I wanted to check out.

Westminster Abbey has been the location for the coronation of every single British monarch since William the Conquerer in 1066. It's also been the site for numerous funerals for the royals as well as royal weddings. Recently, King Charles III had his coronation ceremony, Queen Elizabeth II had her funeral (she's buried at Windsor Castle), and the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was at this famous church.

I have had this fascination with the British Royal Family since Katie and I binge-watched The Crown, Bridgerton, & Queen Charlotte, so it was cool being in the same spot where all of these things occurred.

Another big tourist draw to the church is it's the final resting place for numerous famous Brits. Some of the earlier memorials we saw were of famous British scientists Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, and Stephen Hawking. I find it interesting that Stephen Hawking, a renowned, outspoken atheist, is buried in one of the most famous churches in the world; weird choice, but whatever.

As we made our way to the back of the church, we came across the famous platform where the coronations take place. Behind this platform is the final resting place for numerous royals including Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, and James I (who commissioned the writing of the KJV Bible).

Katie's favorite section of the church was Poets' Corner, where there were memorials to the Bronte Sisters, William Shakespeare, & C.S. Lewis, as well as the final resting place for Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist) and Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Book).

For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.

- The Jungle Book

Go Pack.

After making our way through the main section of the church, we found a small exhibit dedicated to Notre Dame in Paris which provided information on the church's history, background on the fire in 2019, and efforts for reconstruction.

This exhibit was really cool with its use of VR. It brought the church to life and gave Katie and I some background into the 2019 disaster.

Brick Lane

Our next stop on the docket was Brick Lane, which came as a recommendation from our walking tour guide, Theo, as a good spot for street art and Indian food. If Katie and I could kill two birds with one stone (art and Indian), then this was a can't-miss spot.

Once we arrived, we were greeted by a street filled with graffiti and not a whole lot of local artists selling their works. I think Theo was confused by what we meant when we said we wanted street art. As we walked down the entirety of the street, we found absolutely no one selling art.

Standard Balti House

After a big bummer with the lack of art for sale, we just knew that getting Indian food from one of the numerous curry restaurants was going to lift our spirits. We settled on Standard Balti House, which was offering a promotion that for £20 per person we could each get a starter, rice, naan, and a curry. This wasn't a bad deal considering everything in London is pretty expensive.

Katie ordered the butter chicken curry, our usual go-to, lemon & garlic rice, and cheese and garlic naan; I ordered some other curry, but I can't remember what it was called. This was easily the WORST Indian food we've ever had. The butter chicken was incredibly sweet, almost like it should've been on the dessert menu instead of the main courses. The naan was also completely flavorless and the rice was whatever, it's rice, it can't be but so flavorful.

After riding the train for 25 minutes to get to Brick Lane, we found no art and had terrible Indian food. This was a huge disappointment, to say the least, and can't recommend anyone visit this area of London.

His Majesty's Theatre

After having an incredibly disappointing last couple of hours, we were looking forward to another West End production to lift our spirits. Our sixth play of the trip was Phantom of the Opera. I thought the play was absolutely fantastic; this was my second time seeing it and Katie's third. Katie said she liked the traveling productions she saw at DPAC a little bit more because it incorporated a rotating set, but the actors and actresses were extremely talented and it was an extremely good show!

Pizza Pilgrims Covent Garden

After leaving the theater, we had three hours to kill before our next and final show of the trip. Katie and I were a little indecisive on what we wanted for dinner, so we decided to go to Pizza Pilgrims (a different location than the one we went to the other night). We weren't incredibly hungry, so we split some garlic cheese bread and a pepperoni hot honey pizza. It did not disappoint and definitely made up for our lackluster lunch choice.

Vaudeville Theatre

At 8 pm we had our final play of the trip: Six. This show is a shorter production (80-minute runtime) based on the six wives of Henry VIII. It wasn't like a traditional show because there wasn't much acting, it was more of a comedy concert. Each of the six wives had their own songs where they sang about their history and relationship with Henry VIII. The music was incredibly catchy and the show was amazing; we see why it was so award winning.

After seeing seven shows during this trip, here are my personal ranks (please keep in my mind this is in no way objective, so don't burn me at the stake if you disagree):

1. The Book of Mormon

2. Les Miserables

3. Phantom of the Opera, tied with Hamilton

4. Six

5. Hadestown

6. Wicked

Here are Katie's rankings for those interested...

1. Les Miserables

2. Hamilton

3. SIX

4. The Book of Mormon

5. Phantom of the Opera

6. Wicked

7. Hadestown

Sunday, March 17: British Museum & Flight Home

Today is Katie and I's 7th wedding anniversary. Feels just like yesterday that we were on the Disney Wonder getting married in front of friends and family. A ton has happened between now and then; we lived on the West Coast for a year, moved to the Far East in Japan, and now we live across the pond in southern Spain.

If it weren't for Katie, I wouldn't be brave enough to go on all of these adventures. I'm so incredibly thankful for her willingness to deal with my daily BS and for everything she does for us! I couldn't have asked for a better partner and these past seven years have been incredible; here's to many more years to come.

Katie and I woke up Sunday morning to the news that NC State had defeated UNC in the ACC Championship game, winning their first ACC title since 1987 and punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament. For reference, Mom and Dad were still in high school the last time NC State won the ACC!

What a historic moment for the program. After years of pain and suffering, we Wolfpack fans finally have something to celebrate, and we did it against our most hated rival! What a way to start our anniversary and final day in London.

Eggslut

After completing my own small victory dance as we woke up to the best news ever, we packed our bags, left them in the hotel's lobby and headed off for a morning adventure. We started with a killer breakfast at Eggslut, a breakfast shop known for killer egg sandwiches.

These were killer sandwiches and filled us up for the entire day. Only caveat for anyone visiting London: while the sandwiches were delicious, they came at a hefty price. For two sandwiches, hashbrowns, an iced coffee and. an orange juice, our total came out to roughly $40. So it was good but pretty pricy!

The British Museum

So Katie and I haven't celebrated our last two anniversaries together because I was underway on the ship for them. Since this is the last day we are in London, we only have one more major tourist attraction to hit: The British Museum.

You're probably wondering, "why the British Museum? Is there anything worth seeing there?" Heck yeah, the British are notorious thieves. They colonized most of the world and stole numerous things along the way and brought them back to their tiny, rainy island. And I wanted to see all that stolen stuff!

Katie and I aren't big museum people, so we started by just wandering around to see what we would run into. On the map, we noticed that there was a Japan exhibit on the 5th floor, so we made our way up to the top floor and decided we'd make our way down from there.

While perusing the Japan exhibit, we found a free 40-minute tour being offered, so of course, Katie and I joined. The tour was definitely worth it and it made us miss our other home, Japan.

The coolest part was seeing Arita pottery on display. Katie and I visited the town of Arita numerous times for their pottery festival. Most of our dishware is Japanese pottery we purchased from the neighboring town of Hasami during their pottery festival. We literally lived 20 minutes away from where this pottery was made, and here we are seeing some of it on display in the British Museum!

After nearly an hour on the Japanese floor, we made our way downstairs to check out some of the Egyptian exhibits. We ran across a crazy crowd in front of a glass case with the mummy of Cleopatra.

Don't worry, this isn't the same famous Cleopatra because she's buried in Alexandria which sits hundreds of feet beneath the Mediterranean Sea, so I'd like to say this was a false advertisement. But, to give the British some credit, this was a mummy of another Cleopatra.

One of the cooler things we saw at the Museum is the Rosetta Stone. If you're like me, you probably had no idea that this was an actual thing, but just a language learning program you could purchase. Well, the language learning program's name came from this actual stone, which provided the key for the modern world to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone was discovered by the French in the 1800s in the town of Rosetta in northern Egypt. It translates the Egyptian hieroglyphs into Greek, providing the key for linguists to be able to translate this ancient language.

Katie and I crowded around with all the other visitors to stare at this famous stone's engravings. It's pretty cool to see such a unique piece of history with your own eyes!

One of the other cooler exhibits at the museum was the collection of numerous statues and structures from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The Parthenon exploded in 1687 when a Venetian bomb exploded the Parthenon, which the Ottoman Empire used as a munitions dump. Fortunately, the main structure of the Parthenon wasn't damaged, but many of the statues were destroyed. Now 50% of these remains lie in the British Museum (the other 50% are at a museum in Athens).

London Stansted Airport

After a few hours at the British Museum, we made our way back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and make the journey to Stansted Airport. After the 1:15 trip to the airport, we were checked in for our 5:30 pm flight back to Sevilla.

We landed in Sevilla at 9:45 after a 30-minute delay on the runway in London. At 11:15, we made it home to our precious puppies! Thanks again to Miss Jessi for taking such good care of our pups while we are gone! I swear they look disappointed to see us when we get home!

To end this post, I also want to shout out that this is the 150th blog post to be posted to thejohnsonsjourneys.com! One hundred and fifty blogs. One hundred and fifty memories. One hundred and fifty thanks to our readers!

'til the one hundred and fifty-first, Cheers,

-Bryan