Saturday morning, Todd and I once again set out for brekkie. Since we planned on visiting St. Paul’s that morning, we headed over there and found a small café serving breakfast, Café Rouge. We both ordered the traditional English breakfast, and although my eggs were a little runny, everything was good, especially their fresh orange juice. Service was a little spotty, but it was in the European tradition of letting you truly enjoy your table and your meal without being, as opposed to the hurry up and leave technique often practiced by American establishments. I can definitely say I prefer the former. At any rate, we finished up our breakfast and headed to St. Paul’s for some sightseeing. I love St. Paul’s, but it is darn near impossible to get a good picture of that structure! Like Notre Dame, it’s just too big for a good picture.
After St. Paul’s, we headed to King’s Cross to find Platform 9 and ¾s. If you aren’t a Harry Potter reader, you won’t understand. The whole experience was pretty underwhelming, but it was a fun photo op. It was funny, because as we were wandering around looking for it, Todd and I both stated that if we didn’t find it, there was no way we were going to ask where it was. Todd happened to see a flash, and thus we stumbled upon Platform 9 and ¾s…
From there, we headed to Leicester Square so Todd could get tickets for a West End performance. He ended up getting decently priced tickets to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, so he would be entertained while Mary Beth and I saw The Sound of Music. He wanted to go check into his hotel afterward, and I needed to meet Mary Beth, so we headed back to Grosvenor House.
Mary Beth arrived shortly after 3, and we headed to Prêt a Manger near the Marble Arch tube station for a light lunch. I had fresh fruit and orange juice, and she had a salad. We managed to secure a table upstairs, and we spent time just visiting and catching up. It was absolutely wonderful. We finally headed back to the hotel for more visiting and to get ready for that evening’s events.
Todd was supposed to stay at the Hilton Park Lane, but they were completely booked, so they walked him to the Hilton Green Park a few blocks away. It wasn’t nearly as grand, but it did the job for one night. The staff was very pleasant when we popped over to pick him up on our way to the West End.
We walked from the Hilton Green Park to Piccadilly Circus and ended up having wine and appetizers in the bar of Tiger Tiger. It was the only place we could get into, and we watched a bit of a soccer game while visiting. Eventually, we all scampered off to our respective theaters with the promise to meet up afterwards for a proper dinner.
The Sound of Music was at the Palladium Theater off Oxford Street which is actually quite a large venue, especially for London. We had right orchestra seats that were pretty good. I was really disappointed though – the will call line was RIDICULOUS and they started the show with a will call line about a block long. We missed the opening number. However, other than that, the show was absolutely flawless. It was spectacular. The cast was extremely talented and spot on, the staging was beautiful, and the music was just as beautiful as the original. Captain Von Trapp was a little smarmy, and Mary Beth and I privately shared a good laugh when he thrust his daughter in front of him when asking Rolf not to shoot, but otherwise, it was an absolutely flawless production. I’m so glad we chose to see that before it closed the following weekend.
We met up with Todd after the show, each comparing notes on the show we had just seen and started looking for a restaurant. We found an Italian place, Bella Italia, near Leicester Square, and they seated us at a warm table in the back room of the restaurant. For the next two hours, we dined on fantastic Italian food (I had the linguine rustica – so tasty!), sipped wine, split dessert, and had great conversations. It was one of the most wonderful nights of my entire life, and I wish I could hold on to it forever, especially when I am lonely. Cliché and corny, I know, but it was such a beautiful night.
Together, we walked back to Todd’s hotel, getting a little turned around along the way. We laughed at the silly girls without their coats, the differences between American and European fashion, and those who were already so very drunk early in the night. It was quite cold out, but I never even noticed. It was truly the most perfect Valentine’s Day date I could have ever imagined.
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