Mousetrap and the View from the Shard

You know what sucks?

Having plans in the evening and nothing to do until then.
Looking for Musical tickets but them being damn expensive.

That's what happened on Saturday. Our Au Pair group was looking for three musicals specifically - Wicked, Mamma Mia! and Les Miserable - but there was nothing to be done for less than 40 pounds. 40!

Turns out that wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to us as we finally managed to go and see Mousetrap, the longest running theatre play in London which is based on a story by Agatha Christie. I won't tell you who the murderer is, but it was one hell of a play. Really entertaining, especially if you like the books, movies or any old detective story. I even met two of the cast at the Starbucks outside (which is a great one, with waitresses and funny little charging stations!) and talked to them for a bit.

After that my friend and I didn't actually have a lot of time, so we grabbed a bit at McDonalds and took the bus to the Shard. The impressive glass skyscraper operated with two lifts that get you to the two top viewing plattforms in no time.

And wow. The view is definitely worth it. We were lucky enough that my friend got tickets for two for her birthday, but even so you should spent the money if you can effort it. You can see everything from up there. London is a rather flat city besides a few modern buildings, but even those don't compare to the tallest building in Western Europe.

Tipp for your time slot: go shortly before sunset. That way you get to see the city while the sky turns darker and darker with beautiful colours changing the landscape until you can see all sorts of light - cars, buildings, street lamps - lightening up the dark grounds.

We stayed up there for more than an hour even though we were sure there was some kind of time limit, but on the other hand, we were the last time slot available. When we drove back down we were able to see our picture that was taken at the very beginning cropped out and badly photoshopped into a View from the Shard and lets just say... keep our eyes open when taking the pic. You will regret it later if you don't.

The day ended with our group, now reconnected to the rest who went home for a bit while we were up in the air, sitting on the couch eating pizza, drinking champagne and laughing about a guy we nicknamed 'paint brush' on "Ex on the Beach". Really, a show worth watching when you get drunk.