This morning we headed off on the tube to Leicester Square to see what the half price ticket booth had available. After some debate what show we would see we settled on Motown the Musical. We got our tickets just as the rain was starting to fall so we headed into a quaint nearby pub and had a cup of coffee.
Back to home base where I had the afternoon off and Jeanette headed off to a display of some of Princess Diana’s wardrobe which she can tell you about –
While Brian put his feet up I headed off to Kensington Palace to see the exhibition currently running there, Diana – Her Fashion Story. There were six rooms of glass cabinets containing many of her clothes that we remember her wearing, including the very feminine soft pink suit she wore as her ‘going away’ outfit and the tweed suit she was photographed wearing in the first days of her honeymoon with Charles in Scotland. There were examples of her fashion choices from her ‘shy Di’ early days through to the end of her life when she had become a very sophisticated wearer of fashion.
As well as wandering through the King’s and Queen’s State Apartments from the 1690s (King William III and Queen Mary II) and 1700s (George II and Queen Caroline), and the Queen Victoria exhibits of her childhood years, I also took the opportunity to enjoy the gardens, which we had been denied at Buckingham Palace due to the bad weather. The Sunken Garden was a favourite of Diana’s and she often stopped by there to chat to the gardeners and ask the about what they were planting.
In the evening we caught the tube down to Holborn Station and walked down to find the Shaftesbury Theatre. Once we had determined its location, we had a wander down a side street and found a quaint Italian restaurant for dinner.
This seems to be a rougher end of London and there were homeless and drug users in the doorways along the street so we were a bit more on alert than normal.
The musical was ok. The scariest moment was at the end when the cast encouraged the audience to get up and dance. We were in the balcony and I could feel the floor moving under my feet. No reflection on the Motown sound of which I am rather fond, but given the recent history of balconies collapsing in London theatres I was rather relieved when the performance ended.
Hardys’ Travels 