Europe

We had another leisurely start today, getting down to breakfast around 9 am. Over a lovely breakfast, we planned what we would do today.

Since we had tickets for the ABBA Voyage concert in the afternoon, we decided to grab a cab from the hotel and head to the Columbia Road Flower Market in Bethnal Green (which was in the general direction of the concert venue). We had a lovely walk through the bustling flower market.

After strolling through the flower market we walked to Victoria Park, which was very lively. Victoria Park was opened in 1845. During the Second World War, it was closed to the public and effectively became one huge anti-aircraft gun base. The guns conveniently intersected the path of German bombers returning after attacking the docks and warehouses further south in what is now Tower Hamlets.

From Victoria Park we continued walking toward the QE Olympic Park area and on to Pudding Mill Lane to the ABBA Arena. The ABBA Arena is a purpose-built venue to host the ABBA Voyage concert, seating around 3,000 people. The concert is performed by the most incredibly life-like 3D renderings of the ABBA band members, with a live 10-piece band. It’s not possible in words to do justice to the quality of the show. Even though you know the actual band members are not really live on stage, the effect is such that you almost forget that they are not real. The whole show is absolutely stunning. It has been reported that the show cost £140m to put together and, now having seen it, we can understand why! It is truly incredible.

After the concert finished we caught a cab back to the hotel. We stayed only briefly in the hotel before heading out for dinner. We felt like having spaghetti so we wandered up the road to a quaint little Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge, where we enjoyed a bowl of spaghetti.

It was still quite light when we finished dinner so we decided to walk through Hyde Park before heading back to the hotel. We were surprised by the number of people still in the park on a Sunday evening.

After walking about 3km through Hyde Park we returned to the hotel to retire. We’ll have to be up a bit earlier tomorrow, since we’re catching the Eurostar to Paris, before heading to Versailles.