Hamstead & Richard

We decided we just wanted to take a slow easy day. We slowly got our act together and traveled up to Hamstead Heath. Becky had already been once on her own, but we decided to go up on this cold, blustery February day. We had planned to get lunch at one of the local pubs she had read about, but I guess everyone in London also goes her on a Saturday as all the pubs we stopped in said that unless we had a reservation we could not be served. We finally found a little French cafe and got some hot drinks and some crepes. They were doing a puppet show for children in the basement of the building and we really wanted to see it, but we could not.

Hamstead Heath is a natural area just in and on the border with the city of London. There is about 790 acres of open space. The area known as parliament hill gives off some gorgeous views of the city and surrounding areas. Parliament actually based a bill that says no one can build in such a way as to obstruct the views. Even thought it was overcast and misty the view was still wonderful.

The streets are very narrow in the town area and also very hilly. The buildings are gorgeous and a real mix of different eras. We enjoyed walking up and down the streets as we looked for a place to eat. The only negative was that the area retains water very well and some of the open fields are very muddy and Becky’s shoes got wet and so did her feet. Not fun on a cold day, so we headed back. It was still nice to be outside though.

While we ate lunch, we both felt tired and really wanted to do something. So, I looked up theatre tickets, because that always makes us happy. I scored on some tickets to see the just opening show of Richard II by Shakespeare. After drying off and getting dry socks and shoes and eating something we headed out again. We just bought the tickets and just headed to the bridge theatre, not aware of what bridge that might be.

As we appeared out of the tube station, I pointed out to Becky that there was a castle next to where we were walking. Then as we turned the corner there was the Tower Bridge all lite up. Turned out we had to walk across it to get to the theatre. Though it was a cloudy, misty night it was still a gorgeous view from the bridge.

The production of Richard II was absolutely wonderful. We ended up with seats about 7 rows up from the stage. The theatre is in the round, and we had a great view for the whole show. The show only opened this past Monday night. We have been so blessed to have already been able to see so many wonderful theatre productions and we already have some lined up for the future. Have to take advantage of living so close to the West End in London and all the truly great theatre produced here.