August Bank Holiday

We kicked off our bank holiday weekend with a family dinner at New World restaurant in Chinatown, which has been a family favourite since I was a child. I met with some relatives from across the sea and we had a lovely dinner.

My favourite sister :) and her husband were in London and stayed over too, so that was an added bonus.

Then on Saturday, after a full English breakfast, we waved off sister and husband, before heading off to the South Bank...one of my favourite places in London.




We went to see Psycho Buildings, an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. It was described as "artists take on architecture"...and it was good. There were only about a dozen installations but they were all original and thought-provoking.











Our favourite installation was snappily titled Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted With Without Title by Gelitin. They had created a "lake" with rowers on the roof terrace on the Hayward Gallery. The best thing about it was that the public could participate; although we had to queue for an hour to participate for about 5 minutes.






I hate small boats so I was really nervous. This photo shows the rickety floating platform that served as the alnding area.

I was also paranoid that we would actually row off the roof...to a 3 storey drop below.

Aaarrgghhh.

Mr KE loved it.






After all that excitement, we had an early dinner at Wagamama.

Mr K-E had Chicken Katsu Curry and I had Yaki Soba (fried noodles). We also had some gyoza (little dumplings) and tori kara age (fried chicken pieces).











Then we were off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

(The summer production at the Royal Festival Hall)










We weren't allowed to take photos of the set, but here's a photo of the Hall before the show began.

Mr K-E had got us seats in the 3rd row (clever Mr K-E!) so we had a great view of the performers and orchestra.

The Royal Festival Hall is a brilliant venue, not stuffy and poky like the theatres in the West End. It opened after a complete refurbishment last year, and it is super-duper. It has proper air-conditioning!! (My number one complaint about theatres in the UK)