Iris (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
whereisirisnow) wrote2016-11-02 09:00 pm
whereisirisnow) wrote2016-11-02 09:00 pm
Entry tags:
Harry Potter London - Sightseeing & The Mousetrap
On our second day in London, we decided to do some sightseeing. We started with a brief stop at Piccadilly Circus and then went to Westminster to view the Big Ben (one of the musts for one member of the book club), the houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. I can assure you that they all still look lovely.
In the St. Margaret’s Church (next to Westminster Abbey) was a sale of Christmas cards for charity. We all really wanted to buy some Christmas cards for a good cause and I found the most adorable Christmas cards of ‘Ratty & Mole in the snow’ from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which were also, of course, extremely relevant Christmas cards for our book club (we read The Wind in the Willows a while ago :) ).
After walking around a bit, and having a delicious lunch at a Greek restaurant, our next stop was Buckingham Palace. After establishing that the queen was at home (though sadly wouldn't invite us over for tea), we walked through Green Park to the big Waterstones book shop near Piccadilly Circus. The parks of London are one my most favourite things about the city!
We drooled and sighed and dreamed for a looooong time in the book shop, because BOOKS. Being in a book club and all, this book shop was heavenly. Of course, we couldn’t resist buying some marvellous books (although, alas!, I hadn’t calculated this in my holiday-budget.. I think this was the moment I decided that the budget would go out of the window…), and I bought two lovely books:
• A very luxurious edition of The Canterbury Tales (which was so beautiful I really needed to have it! And also, we will read this at some point with the book club, so it will be totally worth it, right?)
• A book full of Russian Fairy Tales in anticipation of going to St. Petersburg in a few months. Again, a totally necessary buy; I challenge you.
To top of this wonderful day, we went to the Mousetrap in the evening. If you are not familiar with this, The Mousetrap is a play by Agatha Christie which has been running for 64 years on West End continuously. It is the world’s longest running play. Traditionally, the Mousetrap has not been published in any books, and the terms and conditions by Agatha Christie determine that no movie can be made unless the Mousetrap stops running on West End for more than 6 months. So, of course it has been running for 64 years straight. Can’t risk making a movie out of this, right?
All this makes the Mousetrap an extremely cool play to go to: the plot and solution are heavily guarded secrets and everyone who sees the play is politely asked to keep the secret. As we are going to read Detectives with the book club next year, this was the perfect kickoff!
I can also attest to the fact that the play is very well written, very humorous and entirely unpredictable with a very good surprise ending. Agatha Christie really is the Queen of the Whodunnit!
To blow my budget a bit more, I did not only buy the programme of the play, but also a book with a collection scripts written by Agatha Christie. Again: a must.
And then I leave you today with the fact that we attended the 26659th performance of The Mousetrap to be precise. Quite something, wouldn’t you say?
In the St. Margaret’s Church (next to Westminster Abbey) was a sale of Christmas cards for charity. We all really wanted to buy some Christmas cards for a good cause and I found the most adorable Christmas cards of ‘Ratty & Mole in the snow’ from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which were also, of course, extremely relevant Christmas cards for our book club (we read The Wind in the Willows a while ago :) ).
After walking around a bit, and having a delicious lunch at a Greek restaurant, our next stop was Buckingham Palace. After establishing that the queen was at home (though sadly wouldn't invite us over for tea), we walked through Green Park to the big Waterstones book shop near Piccadilly Circus. The parks of London are one my most favourite things about the city!
We drooled and sighed and dreamed for a looooong time in the book shop, because BOOKS. Being in a book club and all, this book shop was heavenly. Of course, we couldn’t resist buying some marvellous books (although, alas!, I hadn’t calculated this in my holiday-budget.. I think this was the moment I decided that the budget would go out of the window…), and I bought two lovely books:
• A very luxurious edition of The Canterbury Tales (which was so beautiful I really needed to have it! And also, we will read this at some point with the book club, so it will be totally worth it, right?)
• A book full of Russian Fairy Tales in anticipation of going to St. Petersburg in a few months. Again, a totally necessary buy; I challenge you.
To top of this wonderful day, we went to the Mousetrap in the evening. If you are not familiar with this, The Mousetrap is a play by Agatha Christie which has been running for 64 years on West End continuously. It is the world’s longest running play. Traditionally, the Mousetrap has not been published in any books, and the terms and conditions by Agatha Christie determine that no movie can be made unless the Mousetrap stops running on West End for more than 6 months. So, of course it has been running for 64 years straight. Can’t risk making a movie out of this, right?
All this makes the Mousetrap an extremely cool play to go to: the plot and solution are heavily guarded secrets and everyone who sees the play is politely asked to keep the secret. As we are going to read Detectives with the book club next year, this was the perfect kickoff!
I can also attest to the fact that the play is very well written, very humorous and entirely unpredictable with a very good surprise ending. Agatha Christie really is the Queen of the Whodunnit!
To blow my budget a bit more, I did not only buy the programme of the play, but also a book with a collection scripts written by Agatha Christie. Again: a must.
And then I leave you today with the fact that we attended the 26659th performance of The Mousetrap to be precise. Quite something, wouldn’t you say?