On Saturday after I’d been through the HMS Belfast, and after Sharon and Emma had seen “Six” we were off to the Phoenix theatre to see “Stranger Things First Shadow”. The production was amazing and the special effects were next level. I was amazed at what they could achieve with a live production with the effects.
If you are a Stranger Things fan, this will be a must see production. It’s set a number of years before the tv production and involves a lot of the parents of the main Stranger Things cast when they were younger. I won’t say much more other than I loved the way they tied the USS Eldridge / Philadelphia Experiment into to the story line.
Sharon and Emma were off to see “Six” the musical in the West End, So I thought I’d do something I’ve been meaning to do every time I’ve been in London but have never quite had the time to do it, so I Did a tour of the HMS Belfast this afternoon. This is pretty amazing, WW2 Cruiser, now permanently docked near Tower bridge and part of the Imperial War Museum. Lots of interesting stuff inside to see. The boiler/engine room, the mess, the kitchen, the hospital, the deck etc are all open for viewing.
This is not of the feint of heart though, lots of ladders to climb going between the decks, some of them quite steep and very narrow. The ship saw service from the 1930s through to the 1960s. It was refurbished in the 1950s, so you need to remember from a technology point of view you are looking through a 1950s ship not necessarily as it was in WW2.
This is absolutely worth doing if you are interested in ships or WW2 history.
When we were planning this trip, Emma mentioned one of the things she really wanted to do was the “Theatre Cafe” in London, which is an American style diner food cafe where the wait staff sing songs between serving tables. I honestly thought this would be completely naff and terribly expensive, but thought we would give it ago anyway. I was pleasantly surprised as the cafe is really well set out, customers can write their requests on a chalk board and the staff did a great job with the singing. The food is OK, nothing spectacular, just standard American style burgers, hot dogs and ribs. I was right about one thing though, it’s not cheap. Burgers were 20 pounds each. The food items on the menu have themed names which is quite funny too.
Last night we caught up with my cousin and her partner who we haven’t seen in a number of years. We spent a few hours looking at the Christmas lights around central London. They are as spectacular as I was hoping. After a wander we went out for dinner at Andrew Edmunds in SoHo, fantastic little restaurant serving “Modern European” meals. I had the steak and frites which was delicious. I’ve never had carrot and chestnut soup either, which was equally delicious. The chestnut was a very subtle flavour. Would highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in SoHo in London.
This morning after relocating from the hotel to the apartment, we headed down to the Battersea Power Station shopping complex. This is something I’ve always been interested in and really wanted to see it once it was redeveloped. Very glad it wasn’t just turned into a mass of expensive apartments. Combined this with a ride on the new Elizabeth Tube Line which runs all the way from East London out to Heathrow.
The Battersea Power Station is the largest brick building in Europe, and is now grade 2 listed (heritage listing). The building will be familiar to a lot of people, as it was featured on a Pink Floyd album cover. It’s also in the Art Deco style
It operated as a power station from the 1930s up until the 1980s, according to the history display inside, it once provided 20% of greater London’s electricity and it survived the blitz in the 1940s as the Luftwaffe used the steam and smoke emanating from the giant chimneys as a guiding beacon as to where London was.
Apart from the architecture and the ability to ride a lift to the top of one of the chimneys, it just a massive high end shopping complex. Should you go there ? If you are into architecture, Pink Floyd or shopping, then yes. If you are pressed for time there are dozens of things I’d do first.
Had a somewhat average coffee from Joe and the Juice. I ordered small but somehow got a bucket of coffee. It was weak (no surprise given the size of it). Was not cheap either, 3 coffees set me back about $A32
I was impressed with the LEGO store and the Polestar store. I got to sit in the new Polestar 3 which hasn’t been released yet. We also decided to get a photo with Santa to record the occasion of being in the UK for Christmas. Surprisingly the Santa photo was free! I was expecting them to charge £50. There was no queue either. At home free Santa photos would cause a massive queue.
It's all about the coffee 