Day 5 - Travel to Coventry

The next day E and A took me out to breakfast at a nearby cafe (mm, crepes) and then we took the train to Fulham Broadway where I was collecting a hire car.  I was due to collect the car at 12pm and arrived at 11:40. Unfortunately, when I got there Europcar had given the car away, and was waiting for another one to arrive from the airport outlet.  Due to the volcano in Iceland a lot of people were stranded, and the demand for hire cars had soared.  I wasn't very impressed, because I had booked the car a couple of weeks before, and arrived on time, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  In the end it took another 2 hours before a car arrived for me.

Once I got the car I drove E and A back to their place, picked up my luggage, and headed off to Coventry, where I was staying with my friend K.  It was a 3 hour drive in the end, by the time I got through London traffic, and allowing for stops I didn't reach K's place until just before dinner time.

I received a very warm welcome from K and her partner D, and after an excellent dinner, got an early night.

Day 4 Evening - Covent Garden

After leaving Marble Arch, I took the train to Covent Garden, where I was meeting E and A.  We were meeting outside Covent Garden station, but I was a bit early, so I took the chance to have a look around.

I wandered through the Covent Garden Market, which is small, but has some nice shops.

It's not really a street market any more.  Opposite the market is St. Paul's Church (not to be confused with the Cathedral).

In front of the church I joined a crowd watching a street performer, a juggler. He was really good.  The finale to the act was him climbing up a ladder, which he just stood straight up right and climbed, no support, then juggling a set of knives from the top of the ladder, while rotating the ladder 360degrees.  It was pretty impressive.

By the time the juggler was finished it was time to meet E and A, and we had dinner, then walked to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane.

On the way we passed the royal opera house:

The play we were seeing was Oliver, with Gryph Rys Jones as Fagin.

It started off a little slow, but by the second half it was wonderful.  Nancy was great, Bill was terrifying, and Fagin was human and believable.  All in all, another great night.