London - Day 3

Hyde Park, in the morning.

I woke up at 07:30. I quickly ate breakfast and prepared my day, even read a couple pages in my book, then left at 08:30. For the first time, I went through Hyde Park. It was very peaceful, and I took several pictures.

The pond in Hyde Park.

I usually have a very good sense of direction, but near the pond, I somehow wound up 90° off from where I expected to be. I re-aimed for the south side of the park, which made me lose 15 minutes. Before carrying on, I stopped at Whole Foods Market to buy a chocolate chips scone, a cucumber, some dried figs, some more vegetables, and some mixed nuts. I took Queen's Gate (the street where the youth hostel was), and continued until I saw the National History Museum - or rather until I looked at the map, because I had missed it. I lost around five minutes because of that, and I finally saw the NHM. It's an architectural wonder - and it wasn't open. Yet. With all of that, I got there at 09:58, behind a crowd of 50-odd people waiting the last 2 minutes.

The National History Museum.

I got in, went through the dinosaur exhibit, reading everything, finding everything interesting, then I went through the human exhibit. There wasn't a lot of people, relatively-speaking, but there were too many school trips, groups of tourists, and families. The dinosaurs took me 1h30 to go through, while the human biology and physiology also took 1.5 hours.

Baby dinosaurs - I don't recall what type. 

I took a lunch break at the NHM restaurant, and ordered what I thought was a plate of vegetarian pasta, but it turned out to be a sandwich. My bad - I was reading the wrong section. I continued with the mammals exhibition, and that's about when I realized that I wouldn't have enough time to see everything... I started going a bit faster, reading only what was specifically interesting. I finished the mammals at around 16:00 (almost 3 hours), and finished with the small room for the fishes and invertebrates.

From the entrance to the mammals exhibit.

Decided to come back the next day, I left the NHM towards the hotel, where I ate a tomato, half a cucumber, some broccoli, and drank a lot of water, because I was parched. With all the walking I was doing, I definitely wasn't drinking enough water. I left soon after, stopping at Sainsbury's Local for two sandwiches, and walked down to the Apollo Victoria Theatre. I got there at almost 18:30, and was relieved that they had tickets left. It wasn't sold out, but all the sections were pretty full, and I was surprised because it was monday everning, and it's a show that plays everyday... Well anyway, I bought my first musical ticket for £32.50 - the red section near the wall. I followed the directions to the balcony and sat down, waiting for the show to start, but a group of people had the same seat number that I had, so I learned that "Stall" means on the ground (I didn't even know there were two levels). In my honest opinion, I was now in a much better place than on the balcony!

The show started - Wicked is the story behind the Wizard of Oz, and why / how the witch was to be known as "the wicked witch of the west". The show ended with an awesome finale. I took my coat and left, but subconsciously, something was amiss... People were not herding towards the exit... I didn't think too much of it, though, and started walking away, which, since I had left by the wrong exit, actually brought me back to the front. As I kept walking, I kept wondering why wasn't everyone leaving? The show ended with the head press secretary proclaiming to Oz that the green-skinned witch was evil and wicked, and Elphaba revolting, so there was the story! What was I missing?

I really almost continued walking, but decided to take a look, just in case. People were smoking outside... I went back in, slowly, almost shyly, towards the seats, and about 9/10 of the room was still seated! WTF‽ How come did everyone know that there was a second act? Today, I learned that it's not because the curtains are dropped and the lights are turned on that the show is over. I sat down, and the second act started soon after. The people beside me did not get back, by design or lack of knowledge. The second act was also very, very good, though it did not end in a climax like the first one. The curtains were dropped, the actors went back to bow before rounds of applause, and I was part of the 1/5 joining in for a standing ovation for the two main actresses. Lights were turned on, and then everyone got up and slowly herded themselves towards the exits.

I walked back to the hotel, stopping again at a Sainsbury's Local to buy tomorrow's breakfast (chocolate pastries, pears, yogurt, and an apple), wrote this text, and called it a night.