Music, mackerel and a Happy New Year! All aboard the R.S.Hispaniola!

It was finally here.  One of the highlights of our trip - a front-row seat to watch the London fireworks, right up close and personal!!  

Earlier on in the day, we'd frozen our nuts off watching the Changing of the Guard, followed by ManpanionTM and the Squids going off to watch the Lion King.  I'd managed to get a little rest and enjoy a soak in the bath with a glass of prosecco before they all came back around 5.30pm.   We were planning to leave the hotel again at 6.30pm, so there was very little time for everyone to relax and recharge before donning our New Year's Eve finery and going to do battle with the NYE's crowds!

So....what exactly did we have planned?    We had booked a table here: http://hispaniola.co.uk/

Yep, permanently moored directly opposite the London Eye, there really was no better place in the entire city to watch the fireworks from than from where we were going to be!!  I've never actually spent NYE in London (as far as I recall!) and I've also avoided NYE in Times Square like the plague the whole time i was in NYC as I hate massive crowds.  So, while I was super excited about the prospect of such an amazing show, I was also a little apprehensive about how difficult it might be to get to the boat (obviously being right down on the Embankment).  I was especially worried about the Underground being so stuffed full of people that our group might get accidentally separated and we'd lose a Squid.  

As it turned out, my concerns were completely unnecessary - it was a piece of cake navigating the tube and it was probably less crowded and busy than a regular morning commute!  Easy peasy!!  Everyone had remembered to bring their Clam Cards and by this stage, we were complete pros at navigating the Underground system (I do have one or two latent memories of life before Crossing The Pond).   We only had a few stops on the Piccadilly line, then a change onto the Bakerloo line and one stop before exiting via Charing Cross.  The only teeny bit of stress was that the station was said to be closing at 7pm, so we had to make sure we'd arrived into the station by then, so that we could actually then get out of the station and exit on to the street - and we just made it, with 2 mins to spare!!

Inside the "blue zone" post security with almost
empty streets

As expected, there were quite a few people around but - again - nothing too crazy.  Large parts of the city had been closed to traffic much earlier in the day and you actually had to have bought tickets to watch the fireworks to be allowed anywhere close to the river (the "blue zone").  We were all sorted as, with our tickets to the RS Hispaniola, were also blue wristbands that would gain us entry.  We were pointed in the right direction of where we were to enter and - bam!  Suddenly, this was were all the people were!!  There was a huge mass of people waiting to pass through the security checkpoint area, funneled through an archway - we weren't sure where to go, so I asked a security lady and she pointed at the queue ahead of us and told us to go stand over on the side.  We went exactly where she directed us to - and in the process, pretty much jumped 8/10ths of the queue!  We snuck in at the side where people with no bags could get screened quicker (all of us had bags) and as we stood there, understandably a woman behind us started complaining at us that we had jumped the line.  We put on our most innocent and confused expressions and told her we were just going were we'd been told - but it was a bit sticky for a couple of minutes.  Especially when she'd gone to complain to a police officer about people jumping the line.  Fortunately, we were all saved from imminent arrest or further embarrassment by the queue starting to move forward, so soon we were lost to view of our new friend.  We got through the security squeeze fairly quickly (held up a bit by the people in front who'd brought too much alcohol with them, so were miserably getting tins of beer confiscated) and so the whole process only took just over twenty minutes!  (thought it felt like much longer!).

As soon as we'd got past the staging area, the roads were pretty much empty and we enjoyed the very unusual pleasure of being able to walk straight down the middle of roads that would normally be jam-packed with traffic!  After just a 10min walk, we found ourselves at the Hispaniola and were welcomed on board.   By this stage it was about 7.30pm, so we were perfectly on time for the evening's festivities!  Here's the timing for the evening - plus the delicious sounding menu:

Continuing on from the enormous success of previous New Year’s Eves 

on the RS Hispaniola, we are delighted to release the details of this year’s celebrations. 

We know the event will provide all our guests with a truly memorable 

evening and allow them to welcome in 2016 with the utmost style and enjoyment. 

Permanently moored on the River Thames, the RS Hispaniola is 

just a short walk from Embankment tube station and 

a 4 minute walk from Charing Cross Station. 

The ship will be beautifully decorated for the New Year festivities 

and offers spectacular views of the most famous sights of London 

such as the Coca Cola London Eye, 

the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and St Paul’s Cathedral. 

Most importantly it has arguably the best view in London of the 

stunning midnight firework display, centred on the London Eye.* 

Whilst not compulsory, we suggest a dress code of 

“Black Tie and Cocktail dresses”. 

The ship will be appropriately decorated with flowers, 

fairy lights, balloons, candles and a whole host more. 

Novelties will be on each place setting. 

Timings Guests arrive from 7pm 

Champagne and chef’s pre-dinner canapés reception 

Take your seats and dinner is served at 8pm 

Dancing from 11pm 

Fireworks at midnight* – viewing inside and outside 

Champagne Toast for 2017 

Bar closes at 1:30am 

Carriages at 2:00am

 Menu

 Beef carpaccio, orange and cauliflower couscous, radish and truffle oil *** 

Mackerel confit, cucumber tartare, lemon sherbet dressing *** 

Herb crusted Welsh lamb, potato rosti, edamame, sweetbreads, Madeira jus *** 

Clementine and gingerbread trifle *** 

Coffee and homemade friandise *** 

Vegetarian Menu 

Pickled vegetables, orange and cauliflower couscous, radish and truffle oil *** 

Charred and roasted butternut squash, goats cheese, tomatoes, balsamic *** 

Herbed gnocchi, wild mushrooms, confit tomatoes, kale *** 

Clementine and gingerbread trifle *** 

Coffee and homemade friandise

The very steep gangway down into the RS Hispaniola.
Very glad I wasn't wearing heels or I would certainly
have gone A over T!

ManpanionTM and I 

The boat was decorated with silver and black balloons and, on each table, were streamers to pop and masks to wear for, um, revealing yourself at midnight from.  There was a singer throughout the night (who was excellent) plus a disco for when she needed a quick break.  As you would expect, there was also some fairly heroic people watching, with the table behind us particularly good value - 2 guys and 2 girls (I think possibly London Turk), dressed up to the eyeballs with one of the guys being an extremely "enthusiastic" dancer!  There was also another family that was great to watch, including this one young woman who had the best legs I've ever seen (I think ManpanionTM and B.Squid agreed with me!), clad in leather trousers and dancing away with her Mum and Dad and brother.  Kinda sharpened the mind for the New Year's resolutions!!

Anyway, it was good that the entertainment was good - cos the food was absolutely rubbish!!!  The first course wasn't too bad - but it rapidly went downhill from there!  The second course was particularly offensive - OK, blogwatchers, when someone says "confit", what do you think of?   Maybe some duck dish, slowly cooked and rendered, maybe shredded and then potted in a little dish?  Or at least something that makes the meat that's being cooked tender and yummy, right?

Yeah, right.  The mackerel "confit" was just a bloody mackerel.  No sign of slow cooking or basically any technique at all.  And, to add insult to injury, it was basically inedible because - as well as completely lacking any taste or flavor - it had EFFING BONES EVERYWHERE!!!!   Come on!!  Really???

Confit-gate

The next course was lamb which - will it had the requisite number of bones - was cold and also incredibly fatty (more so than usual), which also meant it was very unappetizing.  G.Squid was having a much better time of it, having selected the vegetarian menu, and was enjoying her butternut squash ravioli very much!  The trifle wasn't too bad but I think, by this stage, we were just grateful to eat anything that didn't have bones in it.  The service was also a bit off too - while we all got our mackerel at the same time, we then had to wait for about 10mins before G.Squid got her veggie starter, despite several other veggie plates passing by our table en route to other diners.  This was a bit crap - and also served to heighten our crushing disappointment at how shit the mackerel was when we finally got to start eating it.  

Anyway, by 10.30pm our dinner torture was finally over by which time we only had another hour to go before we could go up on deck to get ready for the fireworks.   You can see from the pictures just how close we were to the London Eye, the site of the firework display.  There was a great atmosphere on the boat, with everyone just relaxed and having a good time.  It was cold on deck, but we'd bundled up so we were warm enough.  At around ten minutes to midnight, the servers came round handing out glasses of champagne with which to toast in the New Year and finally, we were in the countdown!!

BOOM!!!  The entire sky exploded with fireworks - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  After a New Year kiss from ManpanionTM, we all watched the display open-mouthed as it was, by far, the very best firework display I have ever seen or will likely ever see.  It was just incredible.   This was really what it was all about, why we were here.  It was a shame the food was crap but, who cares?  These fireworks more than made up for it.  I know the pictures and somewhat shaky video clips on my iPhone are a very poor substitute for being there in person, but hopefully this will give you at least a flavor of the show. (I didn't record all of it, as I wanted to enjoy the moment live, rather than from behind a 3 inch phone screen!).  

The show lasted a good 12 or so minutes, after which we headed back into the boat to wait for the initial crowds to die down and eventually headed out around 1am.  As expected there were very long lines of people still waiting to get into the tube stations, so we simply walked towards home.  It was a fun walk, through Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, with lots of people still enjoying the NYE celebrations, but no-one that we could see completely wasted or out of control.  So it felt nice and a happy atmosphere (I think, like me, most people were happy to get out of 2016 alive!).

 After about a half hour, we actually managed to flag down a cab for the last half mile or so, so we got home just before 2am.  Not surprisingly, we were a bit peckish, so I ended up making some bacon butties as a special nightcap and we all sat up chatting for a bit longer, before finally hitting the nest at around 2.30/3am.  It was a great evening and despite the potential for some stress, everything worked out fine in the end (except those damned bones!).   So, enjoy the pics and vids and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Here's looking forward to 2017 and hoping that its a somewhat saner year than 2016 (although, post Jan-20th, I somehow very much doubt it!!)

12 mins to midnight and ManpanionTM is
owning NYE like a BOSS!

Changing the Squirrels at Buckingham Palace

Its finally here!!!  Its New Year's Eve and we have an awesome day planned!!  The day is going to be split up into 3 main chunks - first off, we have a "Beneath the Bearskin" experience (!) tour planned for the morning, then ManpanionTM and the Squids are off for the afternoon to see the Lion King musical at Covent Garden, and then.... drumroll, please!!  We have the best seats in the house for the London New Year's Eve fireworks!!!!  More on that later.....

So, to our first activity for the day - Here's the description in our day-by-day itinerary that our travel agent prepared for us:

"Under the Bearskin’ Experience at The Household Cavalry Museum with a specialist 

You will be met by the Museum Specialist and enjoy a privately led tour around the Museum. On the tour you’ll have the chance to try on the Troopers metal helmets and breastplates which were once worn in battle. You’ll even get the opportunity to try on a Bearskin hat and red tunic and feel like a real servicing officer!  Departing the Museum, you will walk down the Mall towards St James Palace. Take the best spots on the Mall to watch the Guards and Band, so close you can almost touch them! 

I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought it would certainly be a very British and traditional event for ManpanionTM and the squids to witness.  Our private guide, a chap called Martin who had been in the Household Cavalry for 16yrs, was meeting us at 8.50am at the hotel, so it was a fairly leisurely start to the day.  Had plenty of time to fry up some bacon for breakfast - yum!  (I've successfully managed to turn ManpanionTM onto the singular delights of the great british butty!!  Oh, how I miss decent bacon!!).  Anyway, after breakfast, we all troop down to the lobby on time and meet Martin who is, as you'd expect, terribly British, well-dressed and a bit posh.  We jump into a cab and head over to our first stop on the tour, the Household Cavalry Museum.  

Horseguards Parade

As with Kensington Palace, we were having a private pre-opening tour with one of the museum guides.  We arrived at Horseguards Parade and Martin spent a good 20 mins or so talking about the square and the surrounding buildings.  It was very interesting - except it was bloody freezing, so after about 10mins of standing about, I couldn't feel my feet anymore!  One fun fact - did you know that the reason that the roads leading along the Mall and to Buckingham Palace are red is not to signify that they are royal?  Its actually because the tarmac contains some special additive so that the horses hooves don't slip!  Cool, huh?  

Also cool - I had no idea that we were so close to Whitehall and one of the buildings that Martin pointed out was the back of Number 10 Downing Street!  I guess looking at the mass of barbed wire and heavily armed guards circling the perimeter should have given us an idea!  Anyway, about 9.15am, we are met by one of the staff and escorted inside the museum.  Its a fairly small museum, with the usual array of display cases stuffed with memorabilia and artefacts.  However, what's unique about this museum is that one of the interior walls has a large glazed partition in it, giving you a direct view into the stables where we were able to see the soldiers getting their horses and kit ready for the 10am guard change!  Also at the back of the museum and exclusively for us, before the doors opened, were tunics and hats and boots for us all to try on!  The Squids were great sports and got on in there, dressing up and looking really quite spiffy!

View into the stables from the back of the Museum

http://www.householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/

Just before 10.30am, our guide led us out of the museum and round the corner to the front of the building for the Changing of the Horse Guards.   We stood and watched while the old guards who'd been standing on duty for 2hrs got changed out with new guards, who would then stand guard for another 2hr slot.  One of the funniest moments was when the guard in the picture below was marching out of his station and he bellowed at the top of his lungs "MAKE WAY!" to everyone in front of him, including poor Elly who jumped a mile!  We were all extremely shartled!  As well as the standing guards, the mounted guards also came out and were soon positioned in their guard boxes - they were enormous close up, but were happy for you to take pictures with them and also to pet the horses.  

Pre-shartled pose with the Shouty Officer

G.Squid rocks out the Lifeguards uniform!

The Squids

G.Squid moonwalks in the uniform boots!

ManpanionTM cracks up at my stylish interpretation
of the chinstrap.  Not my fault my head is bigger
than the hat!

ManpanionTM totally loses it! 

G.Squid rocks out the Bearskin!

Take one ManpanionTM, add a bearskin hat plus
a regimental tunic and.....

....et voila!!
Bruno Mars-level cool....

One of the most interesting exhibits in the museum -
a tiny hand-written copy of The Riot Act.  Click on the
picture and you should be able to read it.  And now you know
the origin of the phrase "To read someone the riot act!"

A Gatling gun from WW1

Beautiful ceremonial coat

So, after watching the changing of the horse guards and a final wander round the museum, it was about 11am and time to walk down the Mall and get into position to watch the changing of the guard at the Palace at 11.30am.  We were lined up along the Mall, so had a great view of the band and horses.  There were police on bikes riding up and down, shouting at the tourists to get off the road and stay on the pavement, so that the way would be clear for the guards.   But, other than that, the security felt very light.  I guess its very difficult to completely secure a parade like that that goes through open streets on a main road.   (and subsequent to our visit, this article appeared just a couple of days ago in the British press, so I guess the question of safety is on everyone's minds right now:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/05/security-fears-prompt-buckingham-palace-changing-of-guard-reforms)

Anyway, here's some more info about the ceremony:

Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace encompasses colourful spectacle and British pageantry. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes and usually takes place daily at 11:30 from April until the end of July and on alternate days for the rest of the year, weather permitting. Please see the provisional schedule below.

The privilege of guarding the Sovereign traditionally belongs to the Household Troops, better known as ‘the Guards’, who have carried out this duty since 1660. For operational and other reasons, this privilege is periodically extended to other regiments of the British Army. The Guards consist of five infantry regiments - the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards - and two regiments of the Household Cavalry – the Life Guards and Blues and Royals. Most of the Guards will have seen action overseas.

During the Changing the Guard ceremony, also known as ‘Guard Mounting’, one regiment takes over from another. The Queen’s Guard consists of the St James’s Palace and Buckingham Palace detachments. The New Guard, who during the course of the ceremony become The Queen’s Guard, march to Buckingham Palace from Wellington Barracks.

Watching the guards process down the Mall

The crowds outside Buckingham Palace gathered to watch the
changing of the guards

After watching the guards process into the palace, we relocated to another in-the-know spot, selected by Martin, where we got a great view of the guards marching from the Palace back to the barracks.  Again, it involved a fair amount of standing about which, in warmer weather, would have been more enjoyable, but in the cold, it felt as if it all dragged on a little too long.  But, it was certainly an interesting experience and, to quote Mumsie, "no-one does pomp and circumstance quite like the British" so I hope ManpanionTM and the Squids found it worthwhile too.

By the time we waved goodbye to Martin, it was 12.30pm - a lot later than I expected, so we had just enough time to jump in a cab back to the hotel and buy a ton of sandwiches from Pret for lunch.  We managed to thaw out for a bit before heading back out at 2pm, taking the Tube to Covent Garden (don't forget your Clam Card!) where ManpanionTM and the Squids were off to watch the Lion King!  I've already seen the Lion King (with Loopy and Thomas, many years ago!) so I left them to it and instead took the opportunity to go to M&S and buy pants!!  I also picked up some thermal undies for the boys as we were a bit worried about how cold it might get for the midnight celebrations tonight.   I also bought some lovely smelly stuff from Molton Brown (for when my fancy-pants new bathroom is finally ready at the end of Feb!), so it was a short but very productive shopping trip!

Weird footed bird!

London Eye - this time not shrouded in fog! A good sign
for tonight! Hurrah!

You meet some weirdos on the tube....

Here are some vids from the day - firstly, the changing of the guards at Horseguards Parade, followed by the processional down the Mall and then the returning of the guards to the barracks.  Make sure to turn the volume up and enjoy!!


Next up - the countdown to 2017!!!  Bring it on!!

PS - re the title of this blog - as we were walking along after the Parade, trying to find a cab, we came across a group of about 8-10 tourists all massed excitedly round this large tree, looking up and pointing.

It was a squirrel.

Rather puzzled by how a squirrel could have generated quite so much enthusiasm (surely its not possible that these people have never seen a squirrel before??), we decided that we must instead have stumbled on the fabled Royal Squirrel of Whitehall and what we were all actually witnessing was the changing of the Squirrel Guard.  I tell ya, it was totally nuts.

Tower-tastic!!

What a great day today!  Unlike yesterday where simply trying to stay awake seemed too much, we had an extremely busy, sightseeing filled day today - so I think we made up for it!  Today's itinerary included a tour of the Tower of London, the London Eye and the London Dungeon - so we were certainly hitting some of the touristy highlights.

Our day started reasonably early, getting up around 7am, to be ready to jump in a cab at around 8.15am.  Our itinerary had changed at the last minute yesterday as we were supposed to have been doing a private VIP pre-opening tour including the opening ceremony (ooo - fancy!) at 8am, but unfortunately our guide was sick and couldn't take us.  Also, unbeknownst to our travel agent, there's also construction going on in the Tower right now which meant that the opening ceremony wasn't happening either.  Dammit.  So instead, we were reassigned to another tour guide called Leonie and told to meet her directly at the Tower at 9am, at regular opening hours.

Of course, the whole point of the VIP early exercise was to make sure that we didn't get snarled in horrendous queues to see the Crown Jewels, so we crossed our collective fingers and hoped that being there at opening time would be enough to get a jump start!  We arrived a little early, so hung out in Starbucks for a few minutes, re-caffeinating, and then walked across the street to the Tower and to find our new guide.  We were told to meet her at the Group Ticket office and, when we got there, it was already heaving with people.  I couldn't immediately see Leonie so called her - and then spotted her already in line for us, and number 2 in the queue to collect our tickets!  Yey for Leonie!!

We waited in the warm in the information office while she finished queuing (feeling a little bit like VIPs again!) and then she came over to introduce herself and take us round the tower.  Like our guide from the day before, she was absolutely excellent and kept us thoroughly informed and entertained as we went through the whole Tower - I certainly learnt a ton of stuff I didn't know, so it was definitely money well spent!!

So as soon as she scooped us up, we headed straight for the Crown Jewels.  I'd been to see them about a year or so ago, but again, having her commentary as we went round, explaining the history and role for each piece we were seeing just brought everything to life!  Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any pictures inside the tower where the jewels are kept, so i can't share any with you (that's one rule you figure the consequences of breaking would be bad) but needless to say, they were as impressive as I remember.

Anyway, so it took us about a half hour to do the jewels and, by the time we came out, there was already a line stretching out the door that hadn't been there when we'd arrived.  So we felt really good about that!!  And - by the time we left the Tower itself just before noon, the line not only stretched out the door, but all the way down the hill leading up to the door and double-backing on itself!  The line was probably at least an hour and a half long - and it was cold today.  So thank GOD we weren't stuck in that!!  Leonie said that there have been occasions when she's conducted her entire Tower tour while waiting on line with people!  Yikes!

So, that was that.  After the Crown Jewels, we then went round the rest of the castle in turn, checking out the White Tower (of course) which has served many functions in its time including the Armoury where weapons and ordinance was kept.  But did you know that its also where the maps were drawn, giving rise to the term "Ordinance Survey"?   The Normans who built the White Tower were considered very advanced for the age with such luxuries as indoor toilets and fireplaces & chimneys along the walls (rather than just dumped in the middle of the room) considered luxuries and innovations not seen before!    There was also the expected impressive amount of armor and weapons, including those of Henry VIII (from smaller to bigger sizes!), Charles I and James II.  All pretty old and impressive stuff.  We also saw the ravens as well as Tower Green out in the courtyard next to the chapel where both Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard met their fate.  Off with their heads!!  Anyway, as you'd expect, I took a ton of pictures - here are the edited highlights, so enjoy!!

http://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/


We said goodbye to Leonie at just after 12pm (after a quick rest and refuel in the coffee shop for the last 30mins while she told us her final stories) and by that time, our brains were full, so we decided to head out of the Tower (no pun intended!).  The next stop on our itinerary for the day was the London Eye for a 2.30pm "flight" so we too Leonie's advice and wandered over towards Tower Bridge.  Its been a while since I've been on the bridge, so you forget how impressive it is.  ManpanionTM was trying to figure out how the bridge operated (gotta love an engineer!) and was thus helped immensely when we stumbled across the Tower Bridge Experience tour of the Engine Rooms!!  So we paid to go in there and spent a happy half hour or so looking at very large pistons and flywheels and regulators and other stuff I only had a fairly vague understanding of (basic summary though - coal - burned to produce steam - drive pistons - convert to mechanical energy).  But it was warm and, by the end of our visit, I could actually feel my feet again, so we all left happy.

Finishing crossing the bridge, the river bank was lined with Christmas stalls, selling various knick knacks and gifts, as well as lots of delicious smelling food!!  But - we'd just filled up on cheese sandwiches at the Tower - dammit!!  Anyway, we didnt have all that long to wander about as it was time to jump in a cab and head over to the Eye.

And that's when the heavy fog that had been shrouding the Tower turned from "atmospheric and spooky" to "bollocks - we're not going to be able to see anything!".  And that's exactly what happened!!!  We had the VIP Fast Pass tickets so were able to bypass the line (despite the fog, there were still a TON of people around!) and hop into one of the pods within a few minutes.  For the first quarter turn we could see a little of the surrounding view but, as we got higher and our pod disappeared more completely into the heavy fog, we could barely even make out the pods to either side of us!!!  So, to be honest, it was a bit of a bust but c'est la vie!  Win some, lose some!!

After our Eye "experience", it was time to get out of the cold for a bit so I found us a nice pub called the White Hart, about a 15 min walk away.  It was off the beaten path a bit, so we could take some respite from the crowds and we spent a very pleasant hour or so, playing Euchre and devouring bowls of poutine, mac and cheese with a horseradish crust and mushrooms on toast with Stilton.  Yum!!  At just before 4pm we decided to take a cab for the short 4min drive back to the London Dungeon (situated right near the Eye) as it was cold and we were feeling lazy.  Unfortunately our London cabbie took us instead to where the London Dungeon used to be (ie back near the Tower) rather than where it actually is today (ie right next to the Eye, where we'd just been!).  We didn't realize this until we'd hopped out of the cab and were wandering the street looking for it, and ended up asking a security guy.  So, back into a cab and race back the way we came, so that we could make our 4.30pm entrance time!  (I was also dying for a pee, so all the driving at high speed over cobbly streets was not going over well!).

After a heroic dash and sprint, we actually made it in time - hurrah!  I've been to the London Dungeon before many years ago and, from what I recall then, it was a series of exhibits of torture devices and gruesome exhibits.  This time?  Well, not so much.  I guess I should have paid more attention to the fact its now billed as an "experience" as it was basically a walk through a series of staged vignettes with actors role-playing various characters (think Sweeny Todd, an executioner, a judge etc).  We were jammed in with about 30 or so other people, so it was very herd-like and not what either ManpanionTM or I were expecting.  There were some mildly entertaining moments (G.Squid kept getting picked on by the actors, including being locked in a cage!) but mainly it was a bit of a drag, if I'm completely honest.  If I'd have known what it was, I probably wouldn't have chosen to do it.  And I also understood Leonie's lukewarm reaction earlier in the day when we said we were doing that in the afternoon - on reflection, our time would have been better spent looking at the torture exhibition in the tower!

But, live and learn - it was OK but not the same heights of awesomeness that this morning had hit!  After the Dungeon, everyone was pretty knackered (there's something inherently exhausting about getting shuffled about in large groups), so we just headed back to the hotel for a nice relaxing evening in, enjoying yummy food from M&S!  Tomorrow, we have another fun-filled action packed day ahead of us - plus its New Year's Eve!  Need to mentally prepare for the madness of NYE in the center of London...... eek!

(ps just running out now (writing this on Sat am!) so will add photo captions later!! - til then feel free to use your imaginations!!)