Day 39 March 25th 2017 London
Photos of Our Day
Our day began with a tour of the Royal Albert Hall organised by Martin an old and dear friend of Chris’s and one whom Mel had not yet met. Chris and Martin had seen Eric Clapton at Royal Albert Hall in the nineties – memories live on.
What we found was a great tour with a very informative and fun guide. The excitement was added to by the preparation of the Royal box for tonights performance. No one knew who of the Royal family would be there only that someone would be.
We also discovered that any person or group could hire out the hall for about British pounds 17,000 – 24,000 per night. Bargain.
As we walked around there were special tips and sights:
The glass ceiling dome is 137 feet tall and the dome was designed to be of glass.However it created 6 second echo which meant it has always been covered – first by a curtain and now by aluminium sheeting supplemented by acoustic hanging mushrooms. The ceiling was built in Manchester – it weighed 300 tons took 6 weeks to get it to London.
Prince Albert died before the opening and Victoria decied to build a memorial to his memory. This diverted the funds necessary to complete the hall to building a lavish monument. Individual seats and boxes were sold to individuals – each with a 999 year lease.This entitles the leasee to 200 concerts a year free of charge, with a maintenance fee about 1000 pounds per year. Currently there is a box available for 2.5 million pounds. Individual chairs are sold for about 150 thousand pounds.
There is an amazing diversity of performance – hosting Cirque de Soleil each year as well as boxing, sumo wrestling, tennis, rock concerts, the Proms and ice skating theatre. One show requires water tanks underneath the main part of the hall. Tanks that hold 16 thousand gallons of water used to recreate water gardens for Madame Butterfly.
A magnificant organ dominates the theatere. It is thought to have 10 thousand individual pipes. The actual number is in dispute and ranges from 9,999 to 10005. The organ is 65 feet tall and 60 feet wide.
Maximum patronage is seating for 5900 including standing room.
As we finished the tour we passed by a bar / restaurant with a room dominated by a grand piano donated by Sir Elton John. The wall had fantastic portraits including Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin and Jacqueline Du Pre.
As we toured the hall the guide pointed out a house outside the windows – once the College of Organists, now privately owned and more importantly the house of the family in the TV series Mr Selfridge
After leaving Royal Albert Hall we visited Albert’s memorial – the one that had diverted funds from completion of the hall. The memorial a creation of marble and gold.
A walk through Kensington Gardens- because Mel wanted to wander around the Princess Diana memorial fountain. We were both surprised. Not your average idea of a fountain- it is a circle of moving water of differing paths and passages.
As we exited the part we dropped into the Harrods Food Hall. Chris was beside himself with the amazing array of scotch eggs! The displays of food and the building itself make it all seem unaffordable and grand.
On to Hyde Park where we happened upon a memorial to Kiwi serviceman who had died in the First and Second World Wars. And then a late lunch before a stroll through the lanes and shopping streets of London to the bus stop.
Mel caught a bus home. Chris and Martin found a spot to have a couple of pints and went then venture our respective ways home.
