London
So I have been in London for 4 days and I decided that I need to write all this stuff down so I can look back in like 40 years and remember everything that happened.
Wed: Arrived at Gatwick airport at 7am (really 1am to all of us from Texas) Got to our hotel at 11am after an hour and a half bus ride from the airport into London. Walked around, got oriented with our surrounding area at the hotel, ate fish and chips, ordered my first glass of legal wine, and went to sleep at 7pm...
Thursday:...Woke up at 7:30am. Went to the London Eye with Lisa, Corey, Susan, and Alyssa. The London Eye is a HUGE Ferris Wheel that looks over London, right across the river from Parliament and Westminster Abby. We could see everything and got some amazing pictures. We then found a great take away place and ate our lunch in a church courtyard (very British of us) After that we went to see our first play 'Caroline, or Change' it was pretty good. All about a maid in the 60's and her jewish employers...it was also a musical. It was ok. We then went back to our hotel to change for the night time performance of 'Porgy and Bess'...don't waste your money. It was the worst play I have ever seen and it's supposed to be this big deal. Anyway. the highlight of the evening was seeing Patrick Stewart in the audience that night. We waited for him outside the theater, but we decided he left before the curtain call...ah well. That night we also learned that pubs in London close at 11pm...
Friday: We had a bus tour of London at 9:30 and of course my camera died in the middle of the tour...right before we got to Buckingham Palace. But we're going to go back so oh well. The 5 of us then went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. It was pretty amazing. I still have to go back to the portrait gallery. We also took some great pictures of Trafalgar sq. Then went to the theater. We saw Rock 'N Roll. It was AMAZING! I really want to see it again and they should make it into a movie and if it comes to Houston you should all go see it. It set between 1967 and 1990. It's about Communism and how Rock music shaped the people that shaped the fall of communism in the east. The interludes between the scenes were different songs from different artists of the time and it was fabulous. The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Plastics of the Universe. WONDERFUL. It was great for anyone our age and older. There was a group of old people in front of us who were adults during the time the play was set, People our parents age who lived and were the same age as the characters during the time, and then us who have only heard about it and are the first generation to not know what it was like to live during the cold war. Oh and the guy from Mona Lisa Smile, Dominic West was the star of the show. We waited for him by the stage door...wonderful times. So beautiful.
Saturday: We decided to go to Abbey Road today in the rain and that was fun. We just took a few pictures and then headed back uptown to go see Therese Raquin. Most people didn't like it. I LOVED it. The story was ok, its about a wife and her lover and they plot to kill her husband and how everything plays out after that. The acting and Stage setting (lighting and special effects) was amazing. The lighting especially was fabulous. They guy was also very nice to look at...a cross between Liam Neeson and Keifer Sutherland. The mother was the queen from Ever After...we didnt wait for her. We then went back to the hotel got dressed and went out for our first Saturday night out in London. We stopped at a pub by our hotel for a drink before going to some club that one of the guys in our group had heard about. We talked to a couple of guys, one that was sitting next to me and very cute...and actually had a brain...it was fab. Anyway, we then ventured to this club. We got out of the underground and a guy immediatly came up to us and said 'need some pills?' lol. we got to the club and it was interesting. Techno music and yeah. We ended up going up to this little corner nook thing and hung out. These British guys came up and started to talking to me and Susan. They were drunk and high and pretty cute. But one said so 'how do American girls from Texas end up at one of the least known underground techno drug clubs in Britain?' Answer...uhhh. He then asked how old I was and if I were drunk or high...when I said that I wasnt he left a few minutes later. We then left and tried to get back to Bayswater...which took about two hours to figure out the night bus...holding out our wand hand didn't work. We had fun though especially in the neighborhood the club was in...can you say dodgy?
Sunday: Today we hung out at the hotel, we all had to write our essays and yeah...that's about it. We're going to Parliament and Westminster Abby tomorrow and then another show. Its fabulous here
Things I have learned:
1. No matter how hard I try, once I open my mouth I have no way of fitting in.
2. People here are really nice to Americans, and are actually pretty fascinated with us.
3. Laws (especially traffic and drug) are more like guidelines. Like killing people is still a no no, but yeild to pedestrians...what? hell no. It's fun though.
I know this post was long, but I really wanted to get it all down...love yall if you got this far!
Wed: Arrived at Gatwick airport at 7am (really 1am to all of us from Texas) Got to our hotel at 11am after an hour and a half bus ride from the airport into London. Walked around, got oriented with our surrounding area at the hotel, ate fish and chips, ordered my first glass of legal wine, and went to sleep at 7pm...
Thursday:...Woke up at 7:30am. Went to the London Eye with Lisa, Corey, Susan, and Alyssa. The London Eye is a HUGE Ferris Wheel that looks over London, right across the river from Parliament and Westminster Abby. We could see everything and got some amazing pictures. We then found a great take away place and ate our lunch in a church courtyard (very British of us) After that we went to see our first play 'Caroline, or Change' it was pretty good. All about a maid in the 60's and her jewish employers...it was also a musical. It was ok. We then went back to our hotel to change for the night time performance of 'Porgy and Bess'...don't waste your money. It was the worst play I have ever seen and it's supposed to be this big deal. Anyway. the highlight of the evening was seeing Patrick Stewart in the audience that night. We waited for him outside the theater, but we decided he left before the curtain call...ah well. That night we also learned that pubs in London close at 11pm...
Friday: We had a bus tour of London at 9:30 and of course my camera died in the middle of the tour...right before we got to Buckingham Palace. But we're going to go back so oh well. The 5 of us then went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. It was pretty amazing. I still have to go back to the portrait gallery. We also took some great pictures of Trafalgar sq. Then went to the theater. We saw Rock 'N Roll. It was AMAZING! I really want to see it again and they should make it into a movie and if it comes to Houston you should all go see it. It set between 1967 and 1990. It's about Communism and how Rock music shaped the people that shaped the fall of communism in the east. The interludes between the scenes were different songs from different artists of the time and it was fabulous. The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, the Plastics of the Universe. WONDERFUL. It was great for anyone our age and older. There was a group of old people in front of us who were adults during the time the play was set, People our parents age who lived and were the same age as the characters during the time, and then us who have only heard about it and are the first generation to not know what it was like to live during the cold war. Oh and the guy from Mona Lisa Smile, Dominic West was the star of the show. We waited for him by the stage door...wonderful times. So beautiful.
Saturday: We decided to go to Abbey Road today in the rain and that was fun. We just took a few pictures and then headed back uptown to go see Therese Raquin. Most people didn't like it. I LOVED it. The story was ok, its about a wife and her lover and they plot to kill her husband and how everything plays out after that. The acting and Stage setting (lighting and special effects) was amazing. The lighting especially was fabulous. They guy was also very nice to look at...a cross between Liam Neeson and Keifer Sutherland. The mother was the queen from Ever After...we didnt wait for her. We then went back to the hotel got dressed and went out for our first Saturday night out in London. We stopped at a pub by our hotel for a drink before going to some club that one of the guys in our group had heard about. We talked to a couple of guys, one that was sitting next to me and very cute...and actually had a brain...it was fab. Anyway, we then ventured to this club. We got out of the underground and a guy immediatly came up to us and said 'need some pills?' lol. we got to the club and it was interesting. Techno music and yeah. We ended up going up to this little corner nook thing and hung out. These British guys came up and started to talking to me and Susan. They were drunk and high and pretty cute. But one said so 'how do American girls from Texas end up at one of the least known underground techno drug clubs in Britain?' Answer...uhhh. He then asked how old I was and if I were drunk or high...when I said that I wasnt he left a few minutes later. We then left and tried to get back to Bayswater...which took about two hours to figure out the night bus...holding out our wand hand didn't work. We had fun though especially in the neighborhood the club was in...can you say dodgy?
Sunday: Today we hung out at the hotel, we all had to write our essays and yeah...that's about it. We're going to Parliament and Westminster Abby tomorrow and then another show. Its fabulous here
Things I have learned:
1. No matter how hard I try, once I open my mouth I have no way of fitting in.
2. People here are really nice to Americans, and are actually pretty fascinated with us.
3. Laws (especially traffic and drug) are more like guidelines. Like killing people is still a no no, but yeild to pedestrians...what? hell no. It's fun though.
I know this post was long, but I really wanted to get it all down...love yall if you got this far!