Peter Pan Was Okay, But the Rest Was Boring!

Day 3- Today we revisited the Tower of London, this time going inside to take an audio tour. Boooooo-rrrrrriiiinnnggg! To me at least, because I didn’t think it was all that interesting to hear about or see. There was one part that was both interesting and boring; the crown jewels. Interesting: seeing jewels like the First Star of Africa, the largest cut white diamond in the world, inside the royal scepter. Boring: listening to the history of monarchs, when the crown jewels were created, etc. When we finally left there, we took the subway to Hamley’s, one of the largest toy stores ever. It had seven floors of toys! Okay, have you ever seen in catalogues the section where you can get replicas of movie stuff? Like, “Harry Potter’s Light-Up Wand” or “The One Ring”? I’ve only ever seen them in catalogues before, but they had a whole section on the fourth floor with all that stuff! Like, everything you’ve ever seen in the catalogues, but more! It was fantastic! I also loved the candy section they had on Level...three, I believe. They also had people giving demonstrations of toys to people, like throwing boomerangs, doing magic tricks, and making stickers (this was what eventually lured Ellery in). After lunch on Carnaby Street, we went from Oxford circus to Piccadilly Circus, to go to Waterstone (the seven-story bookstore). I rocketed to the third floor and the teen books. They had eight displays full of teen fiction books I’d never heard of! I could have stayed there for hours, reading the backs of hundreds of books, but we had to leave. I settled on Tales From Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin. Lastly, we went to see Peter Pan, put on at the Kensington Gardens. They had one actor play all the animals, which were yarn dolls and some sticks. Seriously, the guy needed to sit down after Nana! He had no purpose in the play. There is a distinct possibility that he was related to the director. The flying harnesses were clearly visible, but no one cared. They had a ring of visuals that changed so that the set didn’t have to very much, and the set just flipped over when needed. Tinkerbell had a character, and she talked, being menacing most of the time. They also used adults for all the characters, and Peter Pan was played by a boy. That strays from the norm, but it was fun. Tomorrow is our last day in London, and I’m going to miss it terribly!