Dublin to London

28th August
Dublin to London
Brekky, packed and set to go to the airport by 9.30am. The airport bus went straight past our door and so we decided to use it to get to the airport. It finished up being quite entertaining trip watching 2 young French girls trying to tame their suitcases and keep them from rolling down the aisle of the bus. In the end one of them sat on her case. Everyone could see what would happen next - with a laugh she did too, so she grabbed hold of a rail, did a few jockey actions and the situation was under control. The rest of the trip was just very ordinary and we were soon there. We were surprised to see very few people in the airport. We booked in and then went to the bag drop all in about 10 minutes. Through the first scan and a sit and read till our gate was listed. A bit of time to fill-in but soon we were on the plane and taking off for London. Just an hour and 10 minutes later we were in London. We were collected from the arrivals hall and transfered to the Waldorf Hilton Aldwych.
The drive there was great (although the rain had arrived just before we did) our first sighting of a London taxi, then a double decker bus - a real one - were all very exciting. We wound our way around past fabulous buildings that we have only seen in pictures before, then we drove through Earls Court. We took special interest in this area as Lindsay and Julee had lived here in 1973. On and on we went and seemed to cross over the Thames twice but finally we were at our hotel.
The hotel looked amazing. A doorman in a bowler hat and tails met us. Our room wasn't ready so we were taken off to the cafe for a coffee and pastries as an apology.....great - glad the room wasn't ready - free afternoon tea!!!! A pianist was tickling the ivories in the lobby. All very pleasant. Our room is lovely and will be home for the next 5 nights. We got a bit settled, got some maps from the concierge, and headed out to get our bearings and some tea.
It was now about 5.30pm and the rain had just about finished. We walked along the Strand (and a few other streets from Monopoly). We went back in the direction of the hotel and past the Lyceum Theatre. The Lion King stage show was on - we had tried to see it when we were in Melbourne one time with no success so we decided to take a chance. Sure enough we could get tickets for the show starting at 7.30 (now 6pm) at half the usual price of 35 pound each instead of 70 each. (I later overheard a lady say that the seats were 130 pound each when the show first started there back in October 1999). It is now one of the top ten longest running musicals in West End history. We walked on to get something to eat.
Covent Garden was just around the corner. There is a market there and all sorts of cafes and restrauants. There were lots of people all having a great time and we were soon part of that group. The atmosphere was great. We kept on looking at each other saying we are in London!!!! A very enjoyable light dinner and then back to see the show. The Lyceum is a very old theatre similar to the one on the Muppets with boxes and very ornately decorated. The show started...WOW.. it was very impressive...the actors did a great job of becoming the animals and you soon didn't see the people just the animals. I thought the most amazing were the two giraffes. Two pairs of stilts and a bit of imagination. We both enjoyed it immensely.
A short stroll back to our hotel. Taxis whizzing around corners, we had to wait for a sacraficial local to brave it and all of the tourists followed and we crossed the road together. So back to be greeted by our doorman. We watched a bit of the opening ceremony of the paraolympics and then time to sleep.