Saturday in London

Saturday morning on my walk to the tube, I discovered that I was walking by Kensington Gardens, and stopped to take some photos. It was really beautiful with the morning mist and the sun rising.

The Tube platform

Then, I met my friends at Covent Garden Market and we had crepes for breakfast!

Alyssa and Cindy at the Crepe stand

We meandered over to the British Museum, where we did the usual tourist-y things:

Alyssa, Jennifer, Me, Cindy

The Rosetta Stone

Just a little bit silly :-)

When I die, I would like to be cremated. I don't want to end up in a museum!

I tried to climb the lion, but it was too scary.

A few minutes after this photo was taken, one of the guards with swords marched into the crowd. The crowd parted in a straight line to let him through. Just as he reached Cindy, he suddenly turned ninety degrees and started marching straight at her! She had to get out of the way in a hurry to avoid getting run into/ poked with his sword. If they're going to march around in complex patterns, they should really let the tourists know where not to stand. 

The zoom on this camera is remarkable!

After our sightseeing, I went to the Royal Opera House to see the Nutcracker. I had vague memories of having loved this ballet as a child, so I had booked the cheapest ticket I could find. The cheapest ticket turned out to be about seven stories up: 

I was about thirty rows above the highest seat visible in this photo. I was the second highest seat in the entire room. 

Because my seat was so far away, and because my view was obstructed by a pillar, my ticket was only 10 pounds. To put this in perspective, some of the highest priced tickets are around 600 pounds. I think my seat was pretty awesome for ten pounds. 

I loved the Nutcracker. I haven't seen a ballet in about 15 years, and I forgot what I was missing. There is something so beautiful about ballet. It makes you feel like dancing. I felt more graceful just from watching. Plus, Nutcracker is an especially beautiful ballet. The costumes and the sets were so sparkly and magical. 

When I was a child, my parents took me to a ballet, then tried to take a nice picture of our family while we were still dressed up. I wouldn't stop trying to dance long enough for the picture. 

I think the most wonderful thing about ballet is that even now, when I'm ever so much older than twenty, ballet still made me feel like dancing! 

Giselle and Sleeping Beauty are both being performed at the New Theatre in Oxford this week, so I'm planning to make this my week of ballet.