London: September 11

We started the day with some Breakfast television. It was also time to think of the September 11^th anniversary. I was in the UK 8 years ago and remember keenly that day. We then got into ‘Are You Smarter than a 10 year old’ before we headed to breakfast at Café Rouge. After breakfast we split up for the day. Aidan desperately needed a haircut so we took him to Supercuts. The lady had a task in front of her… at one point I thought his hair was killing her clippers…. In the end, he looked neater, lighter and cooler.

We opted to purchase oyster cards this time around and it made travel much easier. We started our day visiting the Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit. There were six floors full of mostly fascinating and some strange artifacts. It was a pleasant surprise to find it so very enjoyable. We also tried out their mirror maze. At first we got lost, came back out at the entrance (and were told we need to come out at the other end), got lost again and finally tried the keep turning left plan of action it worked! We got out at the proper end quickly and were then able to continue exploring the building.

The rest of the afternoon saw us visiting Oxford Street and Covent  Garden. It was a warm and somewhat sunny day so Covent Garden had many crowds. The performers were interesting and we stopped to watch a few. We then headed back to the hotel to meet my mom and to go to dinner. We opted for Indian and walked down the road to Spicy World, another favorite of ours. The meal was excellent, as usual and we got out in just enough time to walk to the theater comfortably and to be seated. Granted, Victoria Station was crowded with emergency vehicles as we were walking to the theatre and there were so many people outside of the theatre trying to see what was going on.

It was our 3^rd time watching ‘Wicked’ and the first for my mom. It did not disappoint. We get something new out of each viewing. We had the understudies performing the roles of Glinda and Elphaba and they did an excellent job. Aidan focused on how the show was run this time and I focused on the choreography (superb – particularly the monkeys). As usual, it was sad to see it end.