Day 3 – Tower Bridge Exhibition, London Transport Museum, Les Miserables

I am happy to report that we were able to get out of the apartment at a decent time this morning. This was very important because we had to fit in two museums before catching the matinee of Les Mis.

The walk over to the Tower Bridge from Tower Hill was cold to say the least. Snow was actually sticking on the ground, on my coat, and on the Tower itself. We carefully tread along the bridge as we scavenged the area for the entrance. Finally! Once inside, we continued walking up I don’t know how many flights of stairs to find an informational video. Oh good. The exhibition continued on the enclosed upper walkway of the bridge. Thank goodness it was enclosed! As we walked from one tower to the next, we read about how ideas for the bridge were developed and why a new bridge was needed. There were plaques displaying the drawbridge workings, what other forms of transport have jumped the gap while the drawbridge was raised (a double-decker bus for instance), and how this bridge compares to others throughout the world. Definitely worth the trip and all very interesting, but we had to hurry over to the Transport Museum.

We took the Tube over to the museum area. Then we searched and searched, walking around nearly the full “block” before finding the entrance. It was one of those times when you can see into the windows of the place, but you can’t find the door into it (think Ghostbusters when Louis is being chased by the dog and can’t get into the restaurant). Finally, we found the entrance just to the left of where we started. Obviously, we should have gone left rather than going right. Once inside, we were led up a long ramp to an elevator and taken to the second floor (3rd floor in US terms) – although the elevator counter said the early 1800s. Nice. The reason I decided to schedule the Transport museum on this day was because I thought it would be quick. Not even close! Every incredible detail of the development of public transportation in London is displayed, explained, and demonstrated. It was quite amazing. This is definitely a place we’d like to revisit when we have more time.

Now, hurry; eat a quick sandwich from Pret and walk quickly toward the Queen’s Theatre! This theatre was rather small and certainly didn’t remind me a bit of Pantages in Toronto where I had seen Phantom. The small size did allow for a good viewing though, but then again there was a skimpy orchestra. Overall, the musical was well done. My only real dissatisfaction came in the voice of Marius. It wasn’t that he was bad, truly. It was just very distracting and kind of took me out of the overall feeling of his scenes. Nothing’s perfect, I suppose. We did have a great time, enjoyed a little chocolate ice cream at intermission, and had a lovely stroll back to the apartment – in the misty rain. Oh, and there’s always a pub along on the way!