Purse-pinching bastard!

After the tour of Bath, our trusty coach took us to our London hotel, the Britannia International at Canary Wharf. This was the nicest hotel yet. It was not in the center of town but was still quite accessible by Docklands Light Rail and the Underground. After check-in, the rest of the group dashed off for a quick fish and chips dinner before going to see Wicked in the West End. I stayed at the hotel to meet up with my pal Lydia. We walked through light rain over to a nearby Indian restaurant, Lime, where we enjoyed catching up over some yummy food:

Wild Duck Shashlik £9.95 Succulent breast of wild duck marinated in a rich and aromatic mixture of exotic spices. Cooked in a clay oven with vegetables, and a lamb dish. We followed that with a shared molten chocolate cake (not Indian, but pretty dang tasty!).

On Friday morning, March 19, local guide Stewie and driver Dell took us on a bus tour of the sights of London. Stewie shared lots of information abotu the various neighborhoods. It was especially interesting to drive around the Wharf area and Wapping and to hear stories of the olde

days.

Then we walked over to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. While I was snapping this wonderful photo, some low-life was pinching my purse from my tote bag! I immediately realized it was gone, but it was already too late to do anything. I immediately called home and woke up hubby to get him to cancel the debit and credit cards.

I had to soldier on for the Globe Theatre tour, which was quite well done. A docent took us through various exercises to help with understanding of Shakespeare's styles and the audience of his time. Unfortunately, I was distracted as my mind was racing through scenarios for replacing my lost IDs. By the time to Globe tour was over, EF had sent an employee named Bruno to take me (and Nancy, bless her heart) to the American Embassy so I could get an emergency passport. Bruno turned out to be French, which explained why we had a lot of trouble understanding him.

The embassy experience was interesting, though unfortunate. Before we could enter the embassy we had to turn over all electronics (phones and cameras) and our bags were scanned as we were metal-detected. After seeing several people behind various windows (and receiving an official scolding), and after Nancy loaned me $100 via credit card, I was issued a passport that would serve to get me home. Bruno then escorted us to the Spice Cellar Restaurant, where we were to meet the group for dinner. Since we were very early, we went across the street to an Illy shop for hot cocoa. Later we met the group for our Indian buffet before going to the West End to see a play, The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre. It was a very funny show and the kids all seemed to enjoy it very much, as did I.