26 May: Brussels to London

Today we gained an hour in going from Brussels to London, which gave us a decent chunk of afternoon to have a wander around. We’d read somewhere that the Houses of Parliament were offering tours, so we wandered down there, but after finding they were ₤15, we decided to give it a miss.

From there we went to Buckingham palace to enjoy our afternoon tea in the park, but found that with the preparations for the Queen’s 60th Jubilee celebrations next weekend, that most of the area in front of the palace was in the process of being converted into tiered seating.

In the evening we went to see the Wizard of Oz playing at the Palladium. It was thoroughly enjoyable – a good, clean, family show, amazing sets, flying witches and monkeys, even explosions! And of course all the songs – which are still stuck in my head.

It’s kind of weird being back here again. (For those of you who don’t know, I lived here from May 2005 to June 2006.) I don’t feel like I’ve come ‘home’ in any way; maybe because it was 6 years ago – and certain things have definitely changed since then. Yet it feels more familiar, although I’m not sure if it’s because it is familiar, or if it’s just because all the signs are in English instead of French/Italian/Swedish/Danish/Flemish/Norwegian/Czech/Dutch. I’ll think some more about this and let you know!