Day Fourteen, Belfast and Witches

Today we headed out first thing to visit the HMS Belfast. The Belfast is a huge ship which was launched in 1938, shortly before World War II. It participated in the D-Day landings, and later saw action during the Korean War. The ship ceased to be used for naval activities in 1963, and it was destined to become scrap, but thankfully it was eventually preserved. It is on permanent display as a museum right in front of London City Hall.

The ship has many floors, and so there's a lot of climbing backwards up and down narrow stairwells. We toured the boiler room, the sailor's living quarters and areas were the guns were loaded. It was fascinating to see the "floating city," which contained things you would expect to find (mess halls, bunks, a laundry) and things you wouldn't (a surgery, a radio/broadcast area, a chapel and a "light industry" area). Since the ship was expected to be out at sea for months at a time, the sailors had to be prepared for every possible situation, and to take care of any problem which might arise.

While we were walking toward the ship, we heard a strange noise coming from Tower Bridge. Then we happened to notice that the drawbridge was going up and a tall ship was heading toward it:

After the Belfast and a quick lunch, we headed off to see Wicked. I had seen it a few years ago, and I thought Ben would also like it. I had read in a newspaper that Kerry Ellis, who played the "wicked" witch Elphaba, had just finished playing the role last week. The new Elphie, Alexia Khadime, is really excellent also. As Ben said, "The green girl can really sing!" It tells the story of what happened before the events in "The Wizard of Oz" and how the Wicked Witch of the West got to be that way. It was as colorful and impressive as I'd remembered.

Next, it was time to climb aboard a red double-decker bus to head out to Oxford Street. I wanted to see if the crowds in Primark were as violent and crazed as I had remembered. They were. Ben had a good seat at the front of the top level of the bus:

Tomorrow is our last day in London. We are planning a visit to the Tate Modern Gallery and a stroll around the Picadilly Circus area.