We Have Been Looking Forward To This,

for a few months,

it was glad rags on,

and under the railway line,

we were meeting up with Steve and Kai,

we had booked tickets for a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London,

ah!

we were soon at Charing Cross station,

outside of it one of the 12 Eleanor Crosses that are in England, the others are at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, but the best known of all above, Charing, then a little village near Westminster and nowadays named after the cross, Charing Cross,

we made our way past Oscar,

a bench made by Maggi Hambling,

we were walking to Leicester Square,

the square is famous for its cinemas,

street entertainers,

and lately the Ukraine bus,

queues already forming for some of the venues,

our first sight of Chinatown,

so time for a pose,

or two,

the restaurant we were going to is in Gerrard Street,

so we still had a bit of a walk to go,

into the main square,

and here we are,

under the gates to the far end,

and into the restaurant known as Gerrard's Corner,

time for a pose,

from Steve and Kai,

and us,

as our starters arrived,

as well as spring rolls, 

we choose crab and sweetcorn soup, crispy belly of pork and din sum,

all of which was delicious, then on to order our main courses, 'Cheers!',

a quick photograph,

Diana chose a noodle dish,

seafood for Kai,

sweet and sour pork for Steve,

Cantonese duck for myself, we also had another chicken dish with egg fried rice,

a garlic bean sprouts, with some prawn crackers to nibble on as well, the bill including a bottle of wine, 2 beers for Steve, a pot of tea for Kai and a coke for Diana came to £180.00 including a 12.5% service charge,

we made our way back outside, and took a walk up the street as Kai wanted to buy some bits and pieces to take home,

the sign, 

from the areas past history,

a quick pose,

as we made our way back down again, past the lions,

the legend,

past the restaurant we had just eaten in,

and out through the gates,

to Leicester Square,

a quick pose,

as we made our way past the bard,

William Shakespeare,

and one of the cinemas,

we were walking to the foot bridge across the Thames,

so we passed Charing Cross again,

with its stalls outside,

it was quite crowded,

as we made our way past the Victoria Embankment Gardens,

we were soon on the steps of the footbridge, looking back to one of the green Cabbie cafes,

this on the side of it,

the tower of Big Ben in the distance,

as we walked on the footbridge towards the London Eye,

so it was time for a few poses,

group photograph,

Steve and Kai,

Diana,

and myself,

the tower of Big Ben looking clean after its multi million pound facelift,

the footbridge is next to the railway lines going to Charing Cross,

to the left of the London Eye,

a fun roundabout,

and here we were,

at the entrance to the Royal Festival Hall, we are going to see a performance of Carmina Burana by Carl Orfe, 

time for a few photographs, 

before the performance,

the girls all smiles,

as usual,

a little liquid refreshment for Steve and myself,

the orchestra starts to assemble,

in front of the massive organ,

boxes on both sides of the auditorium,

I should mention that there is a 200 voice choir as well as the orchestra,

all ready,

for one part of the evening center stage the Southend Boys Choir, we were only there last week!

the music began, for over 30 years I have been trying to watch a live performance of Carmina Burana, but when ever I had to return to the UK it was never playing and then when we moved back, we bought tickets to watch it, but covid struck and the performance was cancelled,

but here we are now and the performance was magnificent, I loved every minute of it,

the performers take a bow at the end of the evening,

Diana made a short video of the end,

Performers

• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Hilary Davan Wetton conductor
• Jennifer Pike violin
• Ailish Tynan soprano
• Oliver Johnston tenor
• Grant Doyle baritone
• Highgate Choral Society
• The London Chorus
• Southend Boys' Choir
• 
  
• Repertoire
• Rossini: Overture, William Tell
• Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor
• Orff: Carmina Burana

time for a pose on our way home, from Diana,

and Kai,

we looked across the Thames,

and back towards the hall,

as we made our way back to the station,

we had just missed the train,

another one in 25 minutes, what a great day we all had, although a classical evening of music we all agreed it was a fabulous evening as only a live performance can be, when we arrive back in Beckenham we said goodbye to Steve and Kai and walked home, it was already late, so we watched a last part of a Midsomer Murder, I am only making this one post today as it took some time, again too many photographs! and with that we were off to bed.