Pizza and a Show

Our first day in London was spent walking the city on a scavenger hunt that led us to so many places with some very interesting things to see. The scavenger hunt was a mystery about the disappearance of a public figure, and was structured similar to an Agatha Christie novel. We found ourselves as Poirot and Miss Marple.

As the day progressed, we were tired, our feet were sore, we longed for a shower, toothbrush, and a bed. But that would have to wait as our room was not ready, and Ira insisted we throw ourselves into London to combat the time change. Plus, we had dinner reservations before our show.

The boy was not amused by the street art. Or dad’s humor.

On the edge of Leicester Square, is this oddly placed Swiss glockenspiel. I snapped a photo with the intention of learning more about it later. It is a commemorative piece from the The Swiss Centre built back in the sixties when relations between England and Switzerland were particularly strong. It was a smartly designed building meant to showcase Swiss products such as a Swiss bank, tourist office, a chocolate and souvenir shop, as well as several restaurants. Over the years, the building lost tenets and eventually was demolished in 2008. Hopefully we will get a chance to see the movements and hear the chimes ring on another trip, but this time we didn’t happen to be there on the hour. For now, it was time to venture into Leicester Square.

This statue of Shakespeare was part of our scavenger hunt, but I was more amused by the pigeon he wore on his shoulder. What an odd pose for the famous writer. (Ira’s pose is of someone forever peering into a refrigerator.) However, the statue is proudly placed in the center of the square and much beloved by people as it is by the birds. The birds may have a slight edge here.

Who doesn’t love Mary Poppins? (Mary is one of Ira’s favorite characters. When his family finally got a VHS player and figured out how to record the movies they rented from the video store, Mary Poppins was the first movie they illegally recorded. He watched it so often the tape wore down.). Leicester Square Gardens holds many of these bronze statues from feature films, including Paddington Bear, Wonder Woman, and Harry Potter. We made the promenade around the square then it was time to head to dinner.

Yes, more walking.

Poor Bodhi was near the end of his patience.

Look how gorgeous this place is! It felt like we were in Italy.

Rossopomodoro happens to be a chain, but you would never guess it. This one is right in the center of Covent Garden. The pizza was delicious and the atmosphere was bellissimo. Bodhi is always less cranky when he gets food in his tummy. But we were also crashing and it was almost time for our show. Espresso to the rescue!

How cute is this pizza they made Bodhi?

No photos were allowed during the show so we snapped a few before it started. We had watched Matilda with Bodhi in Ohio before we came and he decided this would be a good show to go to. (FYI: the first thing Bodhi said after watching the movie was whether the school in Matilda was going to be like school he’ll be attending. Ira told him yes.) However, even with all the flashing lights and incredibly loud noises, he still fell asleep during the second act. During his favorite number. Why oh why did we not sneak a photo of that?!?