For Easter, we went to London. It had been six years since Randy had been there and eight since Ellie's last trip to London.
We arrived on Saturday and took the Underground from Heathrow to our hotel - Waldorf Hilton in the Covent Garden section of London's Westminster (not by Westminster Abbey). The hotel is located in the heart of London's theater district and about 3 blocks from the Thames.
After we got settled, we walked to St. Paul's to check on the times for Easter morning services and then to nearby St. Anne's (Lutheran) to confirm the time for the Easter Vigil service that evening. St. Anne's was destroyed by the Great Fire of London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in the late 1600's, and then it was severey damaged by bombs in December 1940. We always love to worship there.
Two things that we have to do when we go to London is to head to Harrods for some shopping and to the original Hard Rock.
Easter Sunday - after the service at St. Paul's Cathedral (2500 people in attendance) where the Bishop of London officiated, we walked to the British Museum. We were disappointed to find out that the documents (Magna Carta, etc.) section had been relocated several years ago to another location in Salisbury Cathedral. Regardless, we had an enjoyable time going through the artifacts from Asian countries along with the currency exhibit.
Monday, found us starting out at the London Eye with tickets purchased the day before. Lines continue to be long later in the day, so if you're going, go early in the day and get your tickets ahead of time. We walked along the south bank of the River Thames to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. It was an enjoyable several hours of viewing a wide variety of artistic talent. The Globe Theater is close by and a must on any trip to London.
On Tuesday we spent time at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms located between Parliament and No. 10 Downing. The underground facility provided a fascinating look at life in War World II London. Since we were staying in the heart of the Theater District, we spent our last evening attending the performance of Mary Poppins. The show, which opened in London in 2004 (the New York company opened later), is a wonderful production with staging that can only be described as fantastic. If you have the chance to see either presentation ... DO!
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