Our First Real Day of the Honeymoon

We like our little Think Apartment despite its little problems. It is in the right location, near a supermarket and a very convenient tube station and in a quiet and clean neighborhood. The rate Kat got us was very reasonable, given the last minute nature of it all and that it's a full suite with free internet.

The futon is comfortable and big enough for us both. The internet works as long as you use a cable to plug directly in. It's nice to have tea and breakfast in the room in the morning. We've got plenty of space to spread out in. There's even a phone in the room that works.

The problems we've found haven't ruined it for us. The door to the bathroom squeals horribly, but we don't need to close it. All of the closets, drawers, and cabinets use those stupid magnetic pop-out latches and one of them is broken in the kitchen, but we just stuck a garbage can in front of it to keep it closed. The cabinet door in front of the refrigerator is the worst. It opens toward the kitchen, meaning you have to enter the hallway to get around it before you can open get in the refrigerator. The placement of all the light switches defy common sense. It seems like the designers went for the ultra-modern look and fancy space saving appliances, but failed on making the room efficient. The wireless signal is weak up here on the 5th floor, but at least they provided a LAN cable. We've needed to buy some basic supplies to effectively use the kitchen, but it hasn't been that unreasonable. There really isn't enough space in the bedroom closet for us to completely unpack so we've found ways of getting around it. The tap water here tastes kind of funky so we opted to get a jug of bottled water for our stay. The walls are pretty thin and you can hear other people moving around quite a bit. There's a room right off the elevator that smells like smoke, but at least it doesn't get back to our room. Oh, and all the outlets have on/off switches which caused us some confusion at first when nothing we plugged in seemed to work.

Our first night here was good. We went to bed after we had checked our email and made sure people knew we were alive, safe, and settled for the rest of the trip. I checked on my PayPal issue and it turned out that the scammer had reversed my payment and I was credited the whole amount that I had prepaid them. I was very relieved, but also curious as to what happened. Did they get spooked by my emails? Were they using a stolen account to funnel money through and did the owner get access back and reverse all transactions? I never found out, although I did report the activity to PayPal and the FTC.

We got a decent nights sleep that first night and then got up to unpack on Tuesday morning. The day was sunny outside so we put on shorts and t-shirts. Downstairs I confirmed our stay for the rest of the trip and made sure that we didn't have to change rooms. I told the clerk about a few of the problems in the room, but they didn't seem too concerned. When we asked about breakfast they mentioned the Pembroke Cafe just across the street.

The cafe was great. We had a full English breakfast and a couple rounds of tea. It was delicious. This day was already starting off great. After breakfast we went over to the Tesco supermarket to get things for the apartment: water, tea, an assortment of beers, sugar, milk, eggs, clotted cream, muselix, muffins, crumpets, veggies, preserves, fruit, chocolate, olive oil, cleaning supplies, and soap. We returned with our purchases to the room and sat down to plan our next activity.

We were able to reserve tickets and a pair of cushions at the Globe theatre for next Monday night to see "The Merry Wives of Windsor". My guide book suggested we try the cheap last minute tickets at the "Tkts" stand in Leicester Square if we wanted to see a musical. We saw that Les Miserables was playing that night so we figured we'd give it a try. Leicester Square near the Westminster walking tour in my guide book. We packed some nice clothes along in my backpack just in case we got in to see the show that evening.

The tube zoomed us away to the Westminster bridge. Outside the station we got to see Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. I brought out my guide book and we followed along taking in the sites. We'll have to return to that area and check out Westminster Abby closer. We stopped at a pub called the Red Lion and had a half-pint each of Stella. Kat sampled a brew called Honeydew and thought it was delicious. We continued on our way down Whitehall and toward Trafalgar Square, taking a detour to see old Scotland Yard and the Sherlock Holmes pub.

Behind the National Gallery is Leicester Square and the cheap Tkts booth. We got lucky, the booth wasn't busy on a Wednesday and we scored good seats to the evening show of Les Mis. We were excited it had all worked out and the tickets were cheaper than any deal we had found online. Kat had not yet seen it and I was looking forward to seeing it again with her.

We wandered around Piccadilly Square again, this time without our bags and in much better moods, and then checked out the Soho entertainment district and spotted the Queen Theatre, where our show would be that evening.

Next we wandered through China Town and planned on returning there to eat dinner before the play. We checked out a few shops and Kat bought a small purse. After that we headed North and found the British Museum. It was fairly busy, but we braved the crowds. We rushed through history, going from Medieval Europe, back to Egypt and Greece. I was very impressed with the Ancient Egypt and Greece displays. This was something I wasn't able to do on my last trip. Kat was starting to get irritated by the large and pushy crowds so we wrapped it up quickly and left.

Next we wandered down Neal Street toward Covent Garden. We both wanted a little snack so we stopped at Cafe Eterno for tea and a brownie. It was a nice break away from the crowds. Then we checked out the Covent Garden market. There seem to always be street performers in the square. We looked at some artwork and almost bought some. It was getting time for dinner so we headed back to China Town.

My guide book helped us find Y Ming restaurant. It was a nice place and they looked at us funny in our shorts and t-shirts. After we got seated we ran to the bathroom to change into our nice clothes for the show. We ate hot & sour soup and split an order of shredded ginger duck and a couple of fancy drinks. It was all very good.

When dinner was over it was time to walk to the show. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, so we wandered around Soho again and found ourselves outside of the imaginary flat. We had a good laugh about it before heading back to the theatre. When they let us in I ordered a couple of glasses of wine for the intermission and stored my bag before we found our seats. The theatre was small and intimate and we were very close to the stage. They were great seats.

The show was great, despite the pit orchestra being a bit off. Kat enjoyed it and said it was a really good play. I loved it. I think it will be the most memorable performance I've seen since I was so close and could actually make out all the actors' faces and emotions.

After the show we went straight home via the tube and went to bed. It was a great day.