London

Up to get organized for London. Did not even unpack last night, fell into bed. Spent AM time cleaning up and doing some theater planning. Have a list of plays I would like to see, have 5 days and plan on 5 or 6 plays. Off to "downtown" and the discount ticket kiosk. Got tickets for Dream Girls tonight and then went to the box office for Consent - a Harold Pinter drama - for tomorrow night. Got my Oyster (transportation card) for the week, walked around the usual hordes of tourists in the Piccadilly Circus area. Back to flat to get groceries at the Waitross (supermarket) right across the street.

Lunch and some more planning time and out late afternoon for a walk in Holland Park with an entrance right across the street. Had been here last year in April and it was so beautiful with all the tulips in bloom. This year, all of the latest planting (I think they were iris) were gone and they are getting ready to replant the next annual. Some roses still left in the Rose Garden but not a lot there either. So not as pretty this year but still a huge park and so much more to see and do. Lots of babies in carriages, toddlers - some terrific kids playgrounds - and, as always in London, heard part of a rehearsal for their Opera in the Park series, and lots of people just out enjoying one of the fantastic London parks.

I checked out the Kyoto Garden, a Japanese park within Holland Park. It is still very beautiful and comes up as one of the 5 best parks in London. Back to figure out the washing machine and out for the theater. Dream Girls was good, not great. I marvel at how many good singers there are in the world. This musical has a lot of them. The lead was terrific and one of the fellows (their manager for those of you who have seen the play) was also excellent. Walked around for a bit after the show to see the usual mobbed night life in this area (the West End theater district) of London at 11PM at night. Always fun - for just a little while.

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