Day Tickets London

Having the kids back in school is a great excuse to take the train down to London for a day out on my own. I wanted to stop by and check the progress of the art installation at Tower of London: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. Mid-August when I was there with my parents there were few poppies after the fall of poppies from the window.

I had a few other places to check off my London list. I visited the British Library to see their original copies of manuscripts from Bronte, Austen, Dickens, Da Vinci and others. I enjoyed seeing the Da Vinci's, since the pages were full of sketches. I would have thought I'd be most interested in seeing the manuscripts from all the authors I enjoy. The thing is, the handwriting is so different from today that I couldn't read any of it. If I could, it would have been interesting, with the cross-outs and additions. Sadly, I enjoyed the Beatles lyrics more, as I could read them. They were the original lyrics scratched out on items like birthday cards. They also had copies of illustrated bibles, that were beautiful to see.

Besides the British Library, there were several markets in London I hadn't seen yet. I didn't have time for all of them, so decided on Leadenhall Market - a beautiful Victorian market that was also a film location for Harry Potter - and Spitalfields - specializing in antiques.

The most exciting part of my day turned out to be going to see a show. I feel a little too self-indulgent paying full price to go see a show on my own, for no particular reason, so I'd decided to check out the half-price ticket booth to see what they were offering. People line up early to get the best tickets there. By the time I arrived, close to 11, there weren't a lot of great discounts or shows I was particularly interested in. I'd noticed that one of the theaters I had passed on my way to the ticket booth had a sign up saying "Day Tickets Available." It turns out that shows will sell same-day tickets to their box offices for ten to twenty pounds. Sometimes you can get lucky and get a great seat at a great price. Most of the time though, there's a reason these tickets are left: they're obstructed view seats where you will be missing out on some of the show. In busy times people will line up by 7:30 in the morning for the popular shows. On a Thursday in September though, some theaters still had tickets at 11 when I was walking around.

I bought a ticket to the show "Shakespeare in Love." The ticket agent warned me the tickets were front row and that the stage was high. The price was so low, I decided to risk it. When I walked in the theatre, I was quite concerned. Sitting in my chair, looking straight forward, I was looking directly at the wooden edge of the stage. I was worried I wouldn't see a thing. Once the show started I found that if the actors were in the front half of the stage or on the upper levels of the set, my seats were fabulous. The back half of the stage I could barely see at all, and one scene where the actors were lying on the stage I couldn't see either. Luckily, a vast majority of the show was where I could see. Anyway, the show was soooo good - the lead actor Tom Bateman is going to be a star of the West End I think - that I'm very pleased with my day ticket discovery and might try to go again before I leave England.