25 Sept - Wed (continuing) day with Emma in London

We had been to Abbey Road  where people ( wearing hi viz gear with 'Free' written on it) must be employed by he Council to assist you with your photos as you go over the Beatles crossing.  Then I was delighted to go on the tour of Lords but then we found we were in a rush to get back to Covent Garden for our2.30pm backstage tour of the Royal Opera House ( and Royal Ballet).

Absolutely no problem when you have your own tube expert. 

One of the typical escalators in tube stations.

 At Covent Garden Station, to get to ground level, we came to a point were there where 2 options as announced - stairs ( equivalent to climbing 15 floors of a building) or a lift ( that went non- stop for 15 floors).  After a great deal of thought and consideration of about .001 seconds, we opted for the lift on this occasion.  Fancy that!  

The tour of the Royal Opera House was simply wonderful.

 The overpass between Opera and Ballet for staff

 Looking down into restaurant  and bar area Opera house

  Photos were only allowed in the public areas and it happened that we witnessed a couple of unexpected treats in the process.

Firstly, we were able to get a sneak look and listen to the orchestra practising  in the orchestra pit for a production.  Secondly, the staff were farwelling a long serving education manager and another long standing executive and some ballet students had dressed up for a 'farewell staff function', were in the public area and agreed to a photograph. Not only that, the male who was dressed as 'the widow' had 'some connection ' to the original Billy Elliott stage play. ( Really specific information here I know).

Then, when we were going through the ballet area our small tour group of 7, watched the two principal ballet dancers for Don Quixote rehearsing  in full costume.  It was like having our own private performance for 10 minutes.

In the theatre, they have about 4 shows on the go at any time and the sets are on rectangular platforms that are moved back and up and over and down to the stage for say a rehearsal of a ballet in the morning and the performance of an opera in the evening.

The floors are referred to as say "+2" or "+6".  This means 2 or 6 floors above stage.  We also went below stage, into the theatre itself and saw some of the props being made, stored costumes and other wonderful things.  Slightly different to the world of being an accountant!

Covent Garden

After the Opera House, a coffee and snack in Covent garden and then a bit of a wander where we went by one of Jamie's restaurant's - where our tour guides said they warm the seats for you and then put a blanket over your lap ( while you freeze) and eat during winter.

We noted some of the original rules of Covent Garden:

 And then moved on to the Apple store "because it was there" - and time for a free wi fi link

Then on to a bus to our apartment for a short break and then back to the theatre about 2 doors from:

The play we saw was a comedy and we really enjoyed it.

Back to the apartment via bus again,we were very tired but happy Vegemites.