Le Tour, Le Tour!

I'd been so excited to be seeing the tour live so to wake up feeling like I had hardly slept was a bit of a disappointment. Poor Euan had to put up with groggy, grumpy Suzie (I should point out that this is a rare state of being for me). First stop of the day was Leicester Square for some tickets to a show. Ended up getting The Lord of the Rings which had been Euan's pick but my choice of We Will Rock You wasn't available. With the tickets safely tucked into my purse we walked towards Buckingham Palace to find an appropriate spot to watch the Tour.

So many people were already there some 4 hours before the race started getting prime positions. As we were making our way down The Mall we passed the horse guards looking splendid. We found a spot close to Buckingham Palace one row back. It was funny to see all the people outside the queen's residence looking the other way!

Finally the caravan came along with much fanfare and noise. We scored some shower gel and got sprayed with water which was welcome relief in the rather hot sun. Realising that neither of us was going to be able to stand there for another four hours we walked a short way over to St James' Park and found a shady spot on the grass in front of a large screen. Realising that we had some time to go before the race I grabbed the opportunity to have another nap in a strange place.

The screen and sound were fabulous and it was great to see London looking so magnificant. I really have felt very much at home to come back to London to some familiar places. Despite being negative at times about living in London (mostly due to the weather) I have so many happy memories of our time there. We even found some of the places we went on our first date.

We had a date with the theatre so left the race before the end to get some dinner. Had a great Gorgonzola and mushroom pizza (one of the nicest I have ever had) then heaed to Drury Lane for the show.

Walking in to find the hobbits already acting trying to catch fireflies from around the theatre was something special. The stage was decorated with what looked like twigs. I wish I had a photo but the ushers were getting very worked up about people taking photos. As the time got nearer for the show to start the hobbits worked their way up to the stage and the show started with a fabulous song and dance.

Gollum stole the show again! The acting and singing was of variable quality but there was so very clever use of props to give the impressions of the Balrog and the dark riders. The orcs bounced around using some clever crutches. Overall it was a good show.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing and if I had thought a bit more I might not have tried to cram so much into those two days. Still, they are memories I will have for life now.