G’day folks! Today’s blog follows on from my time in the UK last year going around the world (the wrong way) going to the Doctor Who Event ‘Utopia’ in Milton Keynes. After a few days resting in Northampton, I was spending a few days on the road hitting London, Aldbourne and Swindon. Firstly I would visit London.

I had planned to spend a few days in London whilst in the UK, but somehow plans changed and in fact this was really the only day that I would spend in London, and the main focus of the day was to see a show – after looking through all the options and wanting a matinee, I ended up choosing to see the ‘Back to the Future’ Musical, albeit with some reservations.

I wasn’t sure what else to do, and was keen to keep the budget in check as the show cost a bit and so did all the train fares I bought when in the UK, so I decided to return to a place I vaguely remembered visiting on a previous trip to London, and that was the House of Sir John Soane. It was free and was within walking distance from the Adelphi Theatre where ‘Back to the Future’ was playing.

I took the train in to London, from Northampton on the right train it was a 61 minute journey to London Euston. It’s a fast service but pricey I guess at 21 Pounds one way (around $40AUD). Then onto the tube to Trafalgar Square.

Hoping for a few photos I was disappointed as it was boarded off for an event celebrating musicals in London. I went for a good walk to the Sir John Soane Museum via Covent Garden. Covent Garden is worth a stroll through, and I must have done some time in the past, but this was my first time where I could take some photos and wonder why it didn’t really match the image in my head I got from ‘My Fair Lady’ which I watched as child and opens at Covent Gardens.

The Sir John Soane Museum is in a house where Sir John Soane lived a couple of hundred years ago and he designed himself – he was an architect. Soane lived from 1753 to 1837, and the house sits to the side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. He filled his house with artefacts and art over his life and today it is open to the public for FREE and is worth a little bit of your time if you like historic houses and ones that feel a little haunted too.

Yes, it is somewhat creepy and you will find stuff pilfered in true British fashion from places like Egypt and Greece. It’s quite dark in parts and is over several floors, and really you just have to visit to appreciate what a weird place it is, in a sort of rewarding way I guess. The artefacts are so numerous most are not well displayed, they are stacked in cabinets and shelves were possible, hung on walls too and many of the passageways are narrow because of it. If you’re into ceramic heads you’ll not want to miss this place. There is indeed a lot of ceramic stuff, decorations and bits and bobs mostly hanging on walls.

Check out the vlog to get a better idea of what I am talking about. I walked through Lincoln’s Inn Park and around for a bit heading towards the theatres, and had a quick lunch at the Delaunay, which describes itself as an Austrian/European restaurant. It’s certainly atmospheric and felt a bit special so I thought why not sit down and admire the place. I had a simple sandwich which was neither here nor there, but the location was great inspired by European cafes the like of which I had visited in Vienna and Budapest about a month or so earlier.

The on to the Adelphi Theatre, up to the very top of the top balcony for my seat. To be honest, it wasn’t bad at all I got a great view of the stage and it wasn’t obscured, although the stage was a long way below where I sat. But all the theatres I’ve ever visited in London were atmospheric and you could feel the history of this place too.

It was a mostly full theatre as well for a Thursday matinee, 90% plus sold at a guess and the show was fun, but to be honest the music wasn’t memorable and I thought afterwards that if I hadn’t already seen the film to ‘Back to the Future’ I may have found the storyline hard to follow. I have seen a number of West End musicals before – it was the focus of my first time in London in 1999, not sure why, where I saw four in four days and still have stark memories of ‘Dr Do-little’ on stage with giant animatronic animals and I also didn’t realise at the time but I saw Hugh Jackman in ‘Oklahoma’ in a reprisal that won a lot of awards (for 5 pounds from memory, you really could get cheap seats back in 1999) and in other years I’ve seen ‘Chicago’ with Peter Davison and a few years back I caught ‘The Book of Mormon’ both of which were great.

Anyways, London is a great place to catch a show and for first timers to the city, I thoroughly recommend it. There used to be booths where you could get last minute ticket deals, not sure if you can these days, I went through one of many sites I checked but this time the ticket I think was around 23 pounds plus booking fee on London Box Office (dot co dot uk). I can’t recommend them any more or less than any other similar website but the price I think is decent for 2025.

After that it was a long long ride on two Underground (Tube) trains to stay with an old friend overnight which was nice because the sun stays up late in June in the UK and we had a BBQ. More coming next time on Aldbourne and Swindon so stay tuned – for now I am signing off!!

Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!