Shall we say, we didn’t do a great job of thinking this one through? On our last visit to Belfast earlier this month we took a bus tour through the city and to the Titanic Belfast museum. This time we thought we’d take the free shuttle bus from the port into town and then wander the streets of the city on our own. We did manage to visit the St George’s Sunday Market, and do some window shopping in the city centre before walking through the Belfast Spring Continental Market on the city hall grounds but we did all this without a plan, without a map, and without cell service so we spent a fair amount of time feeling lost not to mention feeling overwhelmed by crowds. We need to remind ourselves that it’s great to wander afoot in smaller communities but in cities it’s much better to have a plan as well as at least a map if not gps service.  Sometimes you find the adventure…
Off the beaten path is Hampstead is the more than three hundred year old Burgh House with a fascinating history. It’s now a community center, local museum, gallery, concert venue, event space, and more open to the public four days a week. We popped over for a bite to eat and to peruse the galleries to learn a little more about Hampstead history.
Ever since its debut on Broadway the two of us have wanted to see “Wicked the Musical”. Today we realized that dream. In the Apollo Victoria Theater in London’s West End we were witness to the incredible prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the story of the Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
London’s National Portrait Gallery’s temporary exhibition, “Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens” presents an amazing collection of portraits, jewelry, personal effects, books, costumes, and more to illustrate not only the lives of the six women who married the second Tudor king, but the effort across five centuries to keep their memory alive.
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