I know that this is late... but I figured I should get it down before it goes completely out of my head all together. My last few days in London, once all the papers were over, were very fun and involved very little sleep.
Thursday was the last days of classes. The morning was of course spent frantically typing at my computer finishing the last sentences of my essay. Which I finished with a whole hour to spare. There was a nice man cleaning the windows with a crane which scared the bejesus out of me, Then went to class, saw people for the last time, and walked out almost a free woman.
Friday was one of my last days in London, so I decided that I would go out and about and get things done, aka Christmas shopping. Looking back now I can't actually remember what I did this day. I know I went to Harrod's at some point. That night I was supposed to meet up with friends and go to Draper's Bar (the on-campus bar). But Katy (a friend from class) and I didn't realize that we needed tickets to get in. It was also absolutely freezing outside, so we decided that going back to my apartment with some wine would be a far better idea. Looking up at the clock, we realized that it was 4:30 in the morning and that it was probably time to go to bed. It was a fun night even though we didn't get to party it up.
Saturday morning I woke up disgustingly early for no apparent reason. It ended up being a fortuitous circumstance though because I decided to see if there were any tickets to the sold out show War Horse... and there were! I was so excited to get matinee tickets. Then Katy called me, because she was up ridiculously early as well, and we headed over to London Bridge to go to Borough Market. The Market itself is located under the train tracks right next to an old Cathedral. The atmosphere was awesome.
I was so excited that on my last day in London I was going to visit and see some more new places. Borough Market is the premier food market in London. There are lots of organic growers, cheesemongers, wine sellers, meat- everything from ostrich to buffalo, olives, mulled wine and hot ciders, tapas... basically if you can imagine all this fantastic food every where you look... that is Borough Market.
The air was filled with brass bands playing Christmas music and fragrant smells hitting you from all sides. I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't come and visited sooner. I wanted to bring home so many yummy things, but I knew that they wouldn't clear customs and that I couldn't finish it all before getting on the plane the next morning, so I sniffed and sampled instead. I did buy a chorizo sandwich for lunch that was super yummy.
Once we had had our fill of samples and yumminess we decided to walk towards our respective theatres. Katy was going to see a show at the National, and I was headed to Covent Garden, but as we had plenty of time to kill, we decided to walk along the Thames. We walked over London Bridge (which looks in no danger of falling down, thank goodness) and then along the North Bank, back and forth over various bridges, until we reached the National Theatre. We saw some spectactular views on the way there. The London Eye and Parliament and then the East End with all those cranes.
Once we got to the theatre we said our goodbyes and I headed towards Covent Garden to see War Horse. I am so thankful that I got tickets. This was one of the greatest shows I have seen in a long time. And the puppetry was absolutely fantastic.
The show is based on the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. Basically the story is of a boy who due to family rivalry gets this horse. He then trains this horse, wins a miraculous bet, and then World War I breaks out. The horse is sold into the army and sent into trench warfare in France. The boy decides to go and find the horse and the rest of the play details their journey through the ravages of war. It was a great, great show.
Afterwards I met up with Keelia, Cristin, and Drew for dinner at Carluccio's in Covent Garden. It was a great dinner with some great people and a perfect way to end my last day in London.
Now something that most of you will not be surprised at is that up to this point, I had not packed a thing. So after I got home from dinner I started packing up all of my stuff into two suitcases. It too a lot of shoving, rearranging, and sitting but I eventually got it all in there. As I had an early flight, I just decided to stay up until my car came to get me at 5am.
I fell asleep several times on the way and inside of the airport. Thankfully I had to foresight not to book my flight through New York or Chicago, because there were so many flight delays and cancellations.I got on my flight safe and sound and immediately fell asleep. I landed in Dallas, went through an extremely long customs process, and then had a long layover. This also ended up being fortuitous because I got to fulfill my Mexican food craving. Then I got on my next flight to Reno. My sisters picked me up and drove me home. It felt fantastic to sleep in my own bed.
In a bit of reminiscing, here are a few things that I will and won't miss about London.
I won't miss...
fire alarms
fire doors
sloppy flat mates
water spouts that only have hot or cold water
lumpy beds
bland food
crowded night buses
people who smoke everywhere
playing ultimate in icy rain
MegaVideo
broken elevators
kebabs
I will miss...
hearing accents every day
drunkenly mimicking them
cider
year-round chocolate oranges
proper tea
kettles
knocking on my floor to talk to Drew
easy public transportation
being close to Europe
taxi drivers who don't have to use GPS ever, and can speak English
markets like Portobello Road
the history
playing ultimate in the mud
always having new places to explore
no guns
Sitting here, this last morning in London, I am suddenly struck by regret. I am also frantically packing and have to run out shortly to run some errands, but all I can think about at the moment is all the things that I didn't get to do while I was here. A person can only fit so many things in.
So I am going to start a list of all things that I wanted to do, but didn't get a chance to. This is mostly for me so that when I do come back, however far away that may be, that I have something to remember what I didn't do last time.
Note: Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Bath, and Warwick Castle are not on this list, because I did those with my mother when I came to London when I was 13.
The List:
The Churchill War Rooms
The Imperial War Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum
See More Shows, especially see the Old Vic, Young Vic, Royal, Globe, and RSC Theatres.
St. Paul's Cathedral
Hampton Court Palace
Wimbledon (preferably with tennis going on)
A Football match
A Rugby match
See Leeds, Liverpool, Brighton
Visit Nicky and Mike, and see Whitstable in Sunlight, and the Cliffs of Dover
Harry Potter Tour
Wales
Scotland; Glasgow, Edinbrough (preferably for the Fringe Festival), and the Highlands
Go to National Parks and hike the moors and dales
Greenwich
Kensington Palace
Hyde Park
Play in an International Ultimate Tournament
I am sure there are more, but that's all I can think of for the moment. But instead of sitting here contemplating (boring) or packing (necessary, but I hate it) I am going to run around getting last minute things and see one last show!
This is a theatre review for a show I went to see at the end of November.
When I went to see The Roman Tragedies, all I knew is that it was Shakespeare, it was in Dutch, and that I would be there for six hours. Normally, this is not my ideal theatre-going experience, but I trudged my way down to The Barbican to go and have a look for myself. What I didn’t expect was a vibrant and engaging theatre experience that kept me entertained and invested from the moment I stepped into the theatre until I laid my head on my pillow long after the performance was over.
Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies; Coriolanus, Julius Caesear, and Antony and Cleopatra have been put together by Ivo Van Hove and his team from Toneelgroep Amsterdam to form this theatre piece. The plays run roughly chronologically through Roman political historyand have compressed, contemporized and put into a concise, coherent package that even those who do not know Shakespeare will be fascinated by.
The sordid details of the political intrigues, romantic struggles, hard-fought wars, pained deaths and complex lives of the leaders of Rome are put into a modern-day political arena. The production puts the plays into context with the current political schema that is resonant, beautiful, and unapologetically real.
Van Hove has made a world in which the audience becomes the unspeaking citizens of Rome, and as an audience we are implicated in the political drama. There are many couches and chairs upon the stage that the audience is invited to occupy, sharing the stage with the actors. The almost operatic orchestration of actors, audience, music, cameras, and television brought to life a world that enthralled and engaged the audience for the entire performance.
The acting was superb, and with arguably the best actors that the Netherlands have to offer, why wouldn’t it be? The best bit of the play is Antony and Cleopatra, during which I could not tear my eyes from the stage. Though the multimedia, subtitles, live music and refreshments were more than enough to keep me involved during the rest.
One memorable moment during Julius Caesar, I had gone on stage to get a sandwich and some wine and was enjoying watching the actors up close. What I didn’t realize is that the ‘war’ was about to commence, and when it did, I was settled a bit too close to the large drums and strobe lights for comfort. But then again, war isn’t supposed to be comfortable, is it.
The multimedia aspect of the play added another dimension to the performance. Having scattered television screens filled with cinematic images that the cameras captured, along with English subtitles gave a rounded, far-reaching, and decidedly mechanized aspect to the otherwise vibrantly alive theatre experience.
While some of the political points were lost on me over the six-hour play, some things were lost in translation, and not all aspects were scintillating or cohesive, the performance that Toneelgroep Amsterdam puts forth in Roman Tragedies is a fantastic theatre experience that is not to be missed.
This past weekend I was invited to go and visit Robin in Canterbury and then spend the night with Nicky and Mike in their home in Whitstable. I could not turn such a wonderful offer as this down (despite the fact that I really should have been writing these ridiculous essays instead) so I packed up my things and got ready for a fun filled weekend with friends.
Saturday morning I got on the bus at Victoria station and headed to Canterbury where Robin met me at the bus stop. We wandered around downtown, which was festively decorated. My favorite, and undeniably the most impressive display, was the dinosaurs that were raising money for teenage cancer research. I was too old to take pictures with them, so I took pictures of them instead.
Before getting to our Christmas shopping, we had lunch at this absolutely lovely cafe called BoHo (which Robin just informed me is frequented by Orlando Bloom. I knew it was cool.) where I tried chicken liver and bacon on bread, which was delicious! And Robin had her first souvlaki. Sometimes you do find good food in Britain, and it is such a treat. Then we had some dessert, carrot cake and chocolate cupcake (Robin thought the sparkles would be inedible, but I don't like cherries so I decided not to prove her wrong) and hit the streets. It rained a bit as we were wandering, but we managed to get all of our shopping needs done.
I would just like to take this moment to say that Christmas shopping has been a bit difficult for me this year, because I keep having to think, "Will that fit in my suitcase?" It is terribly inconvenient. This is mostly just a warning for my family.
When we decided we were done, we hopped back on a bus to Kent to go back to Robin's place to pick up her things. Then we headed back to the bus stop to catch a bus to Whitstable to Nicky and Mike's house. It gets so dark so early here, that I couldn't really seen any of the very cute village that they live in, but we explored it the next morning. We got off the bus and it was raining again, but managed to get to their house in a fairly dry condition.
This picture of Nicky and Mike is from one of Robin's previous visits. They made her Yorkshire Puddings. This picture is also pretty true to form, Nicky is doing something and Mike is hiding from the camera in the background. He did this in Belgium too, silly Mike.
Can I just say that I love Nicky and Mike? They are the sweetest people ever. They had rooms all prepared for us, hot tea, christmas presents! Ah! I am getting excited and happy just remembering. We sat down and visited a bit before dinner, sipping at tea. We attempted to watch a bit of Fawlty Towers (which I liked so much I already bought for myself) but by then dinner/supper was ready. Nicky had made some pizza, we remembered the ranch dressing (I honestly didn't know how much I liked it until I didn't have any) and sat down to a lovely dinner with wine.
We opened Christmas crackers. Mike told us all about the traditions about them, you pull them apart with someone else, and who ever gets the bigger part gets the things inside. Inside each one is a paper crown, a small 'prezzie' and as Mike says, "an absolute rubbish joke." Which was entirely true. We all put our paper crowns on and Mike told us that when you do these crackers at bigger Christmas parties, everyone has their crowns on at first, but by the end of the night the children have all binned theirs and the women have either taken them off or are wearing them around their neck and then men have fallen asleep and have them drooping over one eye. I don't know if this is necessarily true... but Mike's crown stayed on the longest, and it was drooping.
After dinner we played games. I have missed playing games a lot. We played Boggle (thanks Kyle!), which I brought with me, and we played a game that was like Pictionary and Taboo put together that I can't remember the name of, then a dictionary and drawing game over tea. Then off to bed!
Sunday morning we came downstairs and Mike made us bacon sandwiches for breakfast. Yum! And of course more tea. (I think at this point I am drinking more tea than most British people, which is a tad frightening.) We watched a bit of Fawlty Towers before Robin forced us out into the rain.
It was cold and drizzling out, but Robin wanted to try driving Mike's car, and walk around Whitstable. So Nicky and Mike lent us some macs (long raincoats) and we hopped in the car.
We went to a car park, which was empty, and Robin and Mike switched. Robin drove around the car park for a bit, sometimes when she tried to shift she reached into the door because everything is on the opposite side. Thank goodness the pedals are the same.
Then we drove into town, on the way, one of Mike's windshield wipers decided to go awol and kept flipping over. But we managed to get into Whitstable and went down Squeeze Gut Alley. It's an old smugglers alley that is skinny enough to squeeze your gut, get it?
Mike picked us up on the other side and then dropped us off in the middle of the village. On a Sunday most of the shops were closed, but there was a lovely little bookstore that I could have spent hours in, but we kept wandering around.
Whitstable is right on the coast. It is where the Thames drains into the North Sea. It was raining most of the time we were wandering around, and my cheap umbrella is basically useless at this point (it is not coming home with me) and kept turning inside out.
We saw some windsurfers (crazy people) and a craft fair (more crazy people) and a vendor there told me that she had her hat made out of possum (possibly the craziest of the lot). Amazingly there was a break in the weather for most of our trip back and the sun poked it's head out. It was a really beautiful moment.
There were some quaint beach huts that we passed. I can imagine that it would be a really lovely place in the summer time, but as the rain had started up again, along with some freezing wind, we hightailed it back to Nicky and Mike's.
When we got back Nicky threw some of our clothes in the dryer and we had some warm tea. We watched some more Fawlty Towers before we have a lovely lunch of Cotswold Pie. It is basically lamb roast with veggies, topped with mashed potatoes in a casserole dish with melted cheese on top. Yummy! Home cooked food is the best.
Then we had to get back in our clothes, pack up our things, and get in the car to go to Canterbury to see a Pantomime. What is a Pantomime you ask? Well I didn't know either.
It is an English tradition of Christmas plays. Wikipedia says, "Traditionally performed at Christmas, with family audiences consisting mainly of children and parents, British pantomime is now a popular form of theatre, incorporating song, dance, buffoonery, slapstick, cross-dressing, in-jokes, audience participation, and mild sexual innuendo. There are a number of traditional story-lines, and there is also a fairly well-defined set of performance conventions," which is absolutely true.
We went to see Peter Pan. We went to the Marlowe Theatre tent. Normally the Pantos are in the real theatre, but as it is being renovated they have it in a very large tent. It was probably the most ridiculous show I have ever been to that is joyfully self-aware of its ridiculousness. Mike was telling us beforehand about some of the conventions, which at the time I thought he was exaggerating, but he actually wasn't at all. Every time the goodie comes on stage you cheer, every time the baddie comes on stage, you boo. If a character holds up a sign, like 'clap' or 'don't laugh' you do it.
There are certain phrases you respond to, like if a character says, "Oh no I didn't," the audience responds, "Oh yes you did!" And there is ghost bench and they sing a ghost song, in this case a short snippet of "Ghostbusters," and when the ghosts don't go away the characters and the audience both say (bobbing their heads back and forth), "Well, I guess we'll have to sing it a-gain then, won't we. Whoop!" And then they sing it again.
They take songs from other things, in this case the sang songs from Journey, Wicked, Goo Goo Dolls, Coldplay, Les Mis, and even Hail Britainia! It was ridiculous. And fun. And I can totally see why the British love it. I certainly did.
After the show was over I had to catch my bus back to London for classes on Monday. I hugged everyone goodbye. I don't think it has hit me yet that I am actually leaving England, because at the moment it just feels like I am headed home for Christmas Break, not like I am headed home. (Does that even make sense?) I am sad that I won't be able to see Nicky and Mike for quite a long time. Thankfully they have family in the US, so I might see them sooner than if I had to wait until I come back to the UK.
It was a great study break (as has been writing this blog) but now I have to stop procrastinating and actually get some work done. I also have to get, "Oh yes I did!" "Oh no you didn't!" out of my head as well.
I know that I have complained several times about my flat mates on this blog. And this is why...
These are the dishes that they left out on the counter for other people to clean. They still have food on them, and massive amounts of cigarette ashes. These are communal dishes.
I don't know if I told you all about the Ranch Dressing incident, but here goes. I really like ranch dressing. Especially on pizza and veggies. But they don't have Ranch Dressing anywhere in the country, and nothing even close to it's deliciousness. So when my Mom came to visit she brought me a bottle. I was really excited!
The very next day I got a text from my flat mate Faith, the really nice, clean one, that said, "Just saw Livio eating some of your precious ranch. Drama!" Drama? No kidding. That was my Ranch Dressing that had been in there for one day. He takes my tea, my olive oil, and lots of other things that he thinks won't be missed, and really I don't have actual proof, but I don't worry about it that much because I can replace those things and I'm leaving shortly. But Ranch Dressing was a step too far.
I had a very loud, very pointed conversation with him about respecting other people, their food, and basically called him a dirty, selfish little man. And as you can see with the dishes above, I don't think I was wrong.
But only 11 days until home. So I can deal until then. Especially when I get to see things like this outside my window.
Somehow in the last couple years Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas until finals are over. Obviously in London this are slightly different than in LA; the weather is different, the school system, lots of things. But somehow that frenetic pace that comes from procrastinating on papers, essays, reviews, exams, whatever all seems to coincide with Christmas shopping, travel logistics, making plans, trying to see every friend and family member, and in general running around like a chicken with your head cut off. Somehow I can't imagine this ever changing.
Next year I won't be in school, (unless something drastic happens and I either have to repeat a year or will have made some plans for grad school, which is not currently in the plans... not that I have a plan, but you know what I mean) and I don't know where I will be living, but the frenetic pace of life that seems to happen around the holiday probably won't change.
I am leaving here in less than two weeks. I don't know how I feel about this. I know that I am ready to go home and see my family and have the holidays and see snow. But somehow I can't wrap my mind around the fact that London is almost over. That being a hop, skip and a jump away from Europe is over. That hearing accents, and bland food, and ubiquitous umbrellas and tube rides and tea is over.
It seems like I will be coming back. Not that I would want to come back to this apartment necessarily. (I think I would kill some of my flat mates if I had to live with them for one day longer than absolutely necessary.) But London I will miss. Next time, I will be a bit more picky about living arrangements if at all possible. Freshers do not make good flat mates, except Faith.
Maybe I am getting nostalgic because I should be writing papers and getting work done and getting Christmas shopping finished and planning how I am going to fit all my stuff into two bags, but instead am blogging, and watching Up! which makes me miss home too.
At the same time as all this thinking, I am looking forward to the next semester. I got an internship for next semester with a film production company (I don't know if I am allowed to say names, yada, yada on the internet, so we will wait on that one) that I am really excited about. And I am taking some acting classes, which I know my father will be happy about, and some playwriting classes, which he will be slightly less excited about, (Hi Dad!) and we are still working out the rest of the schedule.
I am looking forward to seeing my friends, my team mates, and my room mate! And for it not to be quite so damp-cold. And an oven and cooking supplies! (Let's not get ahead of ourselves now Katie.)
I don't think it will feel like Christmas really until I step off the plane and see some snow and actually get to hug my family. But until then, everyone have a wonderful holiday prep season.
It was FRIDAY. I was headed to the apartment in Wapping to meet the family and the friends and Robin. I was supposed to get there before Robin did, but due to Friday traffic I was stuck on the bus. I still maintain that I could have walked much faster than the bus went. But Robin made it there safe and sound all by herself.
A collaborative cooking effort had taken place in my absence to make a Thanksgiving feast, and to unclog the sink. We had turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes (thanks to Matt) and cranberry sauce (thanks to Mom). It was so nice to have a home cooked meal that tasted like home. I am getting rather tired of the British fare. And the company couldn't be beat. Matt read us a very interesting poem/story/thing that they usually use to confuse French people as to what Thanksgiving really is. Oh Matt...
After lots of laughing, some improvised pumpkin pie, ice cream, and tea, we sat down to watch some more tennis (it was awesome). Hugh fell asleep and people started wandering off to bed, so Robin and I went home. There wasn't quite enough space for all 11 of us to sleep in the apartment, so we had a sleepover at my place. Before leaving we said bye to Matt, Christine, and Alexi. They had an early plane to catch the next morning.
The night was very entertaining. And good. And now I have a lot of leftovers. Still.
SATURDAY. Portobello Road. If you come to London on a Saturday this is something that you just have to do. Have to. I mean there is a whole song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks about it! Obviously there is slightly less dancing, and it isn't during WWII, but you get the idea.
Robin and I got there first. It is much more difficult to get 2 people out the door than 6 people. We waded through the sea of people to look at the stalls. Thanks to modern technology and international cell phone plans we managed to meet up with the group, except for Andrea and Abigail who were examining everything more closely and actually buying things.
Robin and I were more interested in looking. And the food. When we finally met up with Mom, Jim, Hugh, and Zach we were all hungry. But we stopped and got some pickled garlic, feta stuffed peppers, and lots of olives. Robin got a chorizo sandwich. Then we went into the strangest pub atmosphere ever. It looked like a traditional Irish Pub. It was called Shannon's. But instead of pub food they had thai food. And they were playing 90's Pop music. I guess I got my fix of Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.
Then we went back out into the road and kept wandering around. Splitting up of course, it's too hard to stay together in such a crowded place. But my Mom called about 10 minutes later saying she found the Kingston's. They are another family that we have known forever, but they are from the Bay Area. Surprise! (I don't think I have ever travelled anywhere in the world with my parents and not run in to someone they know.) We caught up with them for a bit and then went our separate ways.
We finally met up with Andrea and Abigail, who had definitely done some shopping. We waited in line at the Hummingbird Bakery and finally everyone came together and we got back on the tube and back to the apartment. It was a lot of walking in a chilly day, but it was really fun to see everything.
After a bit of a rest we went to dinner at The Captain Kidd, but instead of eating in the pub downstairs, there was a restaurant upstairs. It was surprisingly good food. I had some guinea fowl, which I had never tried before, and it was absolutely delicious. There was a lot of 'gamey' food there, but Robin order a very yummy pasta dish, and when they gave it to her to go, it looked like this.
Back to the apartment we watched the finals of the tennis, played some boggle and had a very nice relaxed evening. Before Robin and I headed back to the apartment we had to say goodbye to Andrea and Zach, who were catching a plane/train back home to Tahoe/Paris.
SUNDAY we went in separate directions again. I had to see a play for a class in the middle of the day, so after Andrea and Zach left, they went to Greenwich by boat. Robin and I went to Spitalfields and Brick Lane. It was pouring rain throughout the day, thank goodness for umbrellas and layers. This day was far more exploring and very little buying, except food. We got to Brick Lane after having explored Spitalfields and decided that we were hungry. We had some good street food, Robin got Chinese and I tried some Moroccan. Then back to my apartment to get our stuff and Robin and I caught the tube, she to the bus station to get back to Canterbury and me to the National Theatre to see Mother Courage and her Children. (I will be doing a more extensive post about theatre shows I have seen later.)
After the show I caught a cab to Wapping and we had leftovers at the apartment! Spent the night on the couch after falling asleep watching The Green Mile with Hugh. Another good, full day.
MONDAY I had classes again. So I caught the bus to my apartment, went to classes, and packed up a bag of my stuff for them to bring home for me. After class I basically sprinted to my place to get grab, grab my stuff and I hailed a cab to their place (I really didn't feel like bringing my suitcase on the bus). Once I got there, everyone was basically ready to go, amazingly.
So we caught a cab to Victoria and had dinner at Wagamama's. I had been to another one of these restaurants before, but the last time I didn't know it was Rex's favorite restaurant in the whole entire world. I ordered the seafood ramen because she said it was her favorite.
After a very good dinner we walked back through the freezing wind to the Victoria Palace Theatre to go and see Billy Elliott the Musical. It was a fun show, not as good as the movie, but good. The kid playing Billy Elliott was very cute. It's amazing what 12 year olds can do (Abigail definitely included).
After the show we went back to the apartment. I helped pack up all the left over food to bring home. There was a lot. As it was late and getting home would have taken ages, I decided to stay again. This time I got to snuggle with Abigail (who miraculously has learned not kick people in her sleep!) on the bed.
TUESDAY morning it was time for them to leave. We got up early, finished packing and checking and double checking that nothing had been left, and waited for the car to take them to the airport. We said our goodbyes. Lots of hugs before they drove away in the van. I took my bags of leftovers back home on the bus.
I miss them all already! And I think I am about ready to come home. Unfortunately I have a lot of school work between then and now.
And that was the adventure of having my family visit in London.
My family came to visit! It was very exciting and exhausting. So now that everyone has boarded their planes home, I guess that it is time that I got on the ball and actually posted again. It has been a busy week and a half for me and the rest of the family, but I can't tell you about their experiences, I can just tell you mine. (I am going to warn you all in advance, this post is going to be rather wordy because not nearly enough pictures were taken, at least on my end, most of the photo credits go to my sister Andrea.)
SUNDAY is when my family arrived. I was so excited that they were all coming to visit that I couldn't really sleep, like that kid in the Disneyland commercials. Although in retrospect this would have been a fantastic idea as the rest of the visit I felt a bit sleep deprived.
My mom rented a very nice apartment in Wapping (pronounced Wopping) right on the river. (As the East London underground line is currently under construction, the location made my commute to them a little difficult, but we made it work. Yay for buses.) Once they got to their house, they unpacked and did a little napping. (Jet lag.) Then I went and met up with them, finding Hugh fast asleep on the couch (as we came to find out, he would do a lot).
After greetings and catching up we walked down the road and had dinner in a pub, The Captain Kidd. I think we ordered like 5 different kinds of pies, steak and kidney, steak and ale, chicken and mushroom, sheperd's pie... you get the idea. (Andrea was in heaven, she loves pies.) It was nice and relaxed. Then we went to the grocery store, came back, watched some tennis, and they went to bed and I went back to my apartment.
(Wapping is the old wharf area. It was heavily bombed in WWII and afterwards fell into disrepair. Recently a lot of money was put into the area, making a nice, young neighborhood with some good restaurants and pubs. Although not very far from where I am living in Mile End, the feel of the places is very different. You can see this riding on the bus and all of a sudden you see all these Indian/Bangladeshi sari stores and Indian restaurants and street vegetable stalls.)
MONDAY I had classes. So they went out and about and explored. We had a slight miscommunication, I thought that I was going to go right after class and meet them in London for dinner, but I couldn't get in touch with them when I got out of class. Then my mom called and said they were all pooped out and went back to their apartment. So I hopped on the tube to get the bus... and I met up with them back at their apartment. Almost everyone was asleep on the couches.
We went to a nice Italian place nearby for dinner. There was a funny episode on the way back where we were teasing Hugh (Guess where he got the idea for his blog title?) about checking for his wallet. The waiter had jokingly given him the bill. I commented how it was funny watching guys walking out their doors and patting themselves down to make sure that they had everything. Hugh said, "Yeah, I would freak out if I didn't have my thing." And Jim said, "Well I think anyone would freak out if they lost their thing." Oh the sexual insinuations. This set off a string of jokes and we made Hugh laugh so hard he couldn't stop coughing, which in turn led to jokes about not letting himself get sick over losing his thing. I love joking with my family.
Once back at the apartment we watched some of the Tennis World Finals. (Which was actually in London only a hop, skip, and a jump away at the O2, where I watched the Gymnastics World Championships.) Hugh fell asleep on the couch again. We think it has mystical powers over him. He can't sit on it without nodding off.
Andrea headed home with me that night. We had a sister sleepover and got caught up with each other. I had some work to finish for the next day and she fell asleep while I was still talking to her, which was a very entertaining experience. But we managed to share a single bed, something that we never would have been able to before.
TUESDAY morning Andrea and I got up, got some coffee (tea) and croissants (chocolate for me!) and got on the tube to meet everyone at The Tower of London. Over 1000 years of London History. It's pretty intense. We went on a tour with one of the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) and then walked past the crown jewels and into the Henry VIII Exhibit. (You know, I found it all fascinating. Unfortunately I had to go back to campus to meet my playwriting group for our project. Everyone else was freezing, so they got some lunch and went back to the apartment.
I showered and got ready to go out to a show. My mom and I decided on it, but we let it be a surprise for everyone else. We met at The Real Greek in Covent Garden, a restaurant recommended by Jim's brother, and it was very yummy. Dinner was delicious Greek food, (we attempted to coerce Abigail into trying hummus, but she refused, we teased her like all good siblings would) and we had some good desserts that Andrea could eat too, baklava.
During this time I was constantly checking my phone (a habit I usually loathe in restaurants) because Zach, a friend from high school who was studying abroad in Paris, (my mom dated his dad for a bit, but that is a story for another day) was getting off his train and was going to meet us at the theatre, but we were cutting it close. Then we walked towards the theatre to see Avenue Q. Zach came in from Paris. Narrowly making it into the theatre. But we all got to see it, and it was so much fun!
I saw Avenue Q in New York when I visited Rex two summers ago, but it was everyone else's first time seeing the show. It's very unique, as a musical. It makes me smile just thinking about it. After the show we all went our separate ways. Well they all went to the house and I went back to my apartment, but we all went home and went to sleep.
WEDNESDAY I had no classes and no meetings. We decided to take a bus tour around London. It is a hop-on hop-off bus, or was supposed to be (I would not recommend this bus tour unless you get on the red one, and you actually get on and off). It gives commentary. Fun stuff. Most of the stuff I had seen before, already taking a tour around the city at the beginning of my stay here. This bus trip quickly got interesting though.
We started our journey at Tower Hill. Abigail had to pee when we got on the bus. Now, not that I am one to talk about needing to pee, but watching her try to hold it in was absolutely hilarious. My laughing didn't help her any, so we got off the bus near Parliament and Westminster Abbey. As a group we all went towards the public toilets, had some great fun fishing out the correct coinage to let everyone in, and then made our merry way, making fun of Abigail the entire time of course, towards the bus stop next to Westminster.
This day was very cold. It was sunny, thank god no rain, but the icy wind that kept coming at us was very, very cold. Mom, to try to combat the cold pulled her scarf over her head and hunched her shoulders against the wind, making her look like an old woman who was missing her cane. I cleverly said that the scarf aged her twenty years and was promptly smacked in the back of the head. Then Hugh laughed and pointed at me, so I smacked him in the back of the head. This is what happens I guess.
Finally another bus came. This was the blue tour and we all had to use some sexy headphones to hear the commentary, no more live guide. It was cold up there too. We drove by Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard was happening. "Are we getting off Mom? Mom? I guess not." So we kept driving. And driving. We saw a lot of London, some parts more than other. We went past Hyde Park and up to Speaker's Corner, around Marble Arch, down to Berkeley Square (pronouced Barkley) which has the most haunted house in London, then around Buckingham Palace again out towards Harrods.
Harrods was another place that we debated getting off at. I think that attempting to go into a department store with over 200 departments with all 7 of us would have been very difficult. However, everyone was getting hungry at this point. It was around the Victoria and Albert Museum that I pulled out my conveniently hidden sandwich. Having travelled with my family before (although admittedly it was usually waiting in pilot lounge's for my Dad) I know that sometimes getting food gets put on the back burner. So when I pulled out my 'Brie My Baby' sandwich, they were all envious. (Except for Andrea, who could not in fact eat any of it because it had almost entirely cheese.) I did sustain them with some sour apple candies.
Instead of stopping we kept driving, past Kensington Palace, the Natural History Museum, Notting Hill, Paddington Station, J.M Barrie's House (Peter Pan!), and then past Marble Arch... again. And then we went back down and circled Marble Arch. Marble Arch. And finally we got to move on and somehow got our bus stopped outside the most expensive tourist attraction in London: Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. (I also think that this is the most stupid, creepy and pointless museum.) The bus turned off and we ended up sitting there waiting for more than 20 minutes. Abigail actually had the right idea at this point of getting off the bus and getting the tube to somewhere with food. Her sage advice was not heeded.
Instead when the bus started up again we went by Baker Street (yes like Sherlock Holmes) and down towards Oxford Circus. We kept joking that the bus would turn around and go past Marble Arch against just for old times sake, but the traffic was so bad that we were getting passed by pedestrians. So finally, at the next available opportunity we hot tailed it off that bus and right into shopping traffic. Now thankfully I mostly knew my way around this area, was able to avoid all the crowded shops and get to a nice little restaurant where it was warm within about 7 minutes. I am going to pat myself on the back for that one, it's not so easy at Oxford Circus.
After everyone defrosted and was fed, we decided to boycott the bus and took a nice walk south towards Trafalgar Square. We walked through Soho, and down to Piccadilly Circus and then Trafalgar Square. (I was a little confused by the new statue, as there had been people up there the last time I visited. I later figured out that it was this... One and Other. Watch the best bits.) We went up to the Wellington Monument and had fun climbing on lions. Pictures!
Then back towards Covent Garden, we wandered and watched street performers. There was one guy who was heckling us, he told us he had a masters in theatre. (If only I could juggle... then I could have his future! Just kidding Dad.) I volunteered to be a part of his "light a match with a yo-yo trick." Which was successful. After the show was over, Hugh went to give him a pound and said, "I think I would give him more money if he had hit you in the face with the yo-yo."
They went to grab some beers and warm up. Hugh and I went to get some tea and some carrot cake instead. Very yummy carrot cake! Mom, Jim and Abigail left early. Hugh and I met Zach and Andrea in the bar, decided that we had done enough exploring for the day and got back on the tube home. We somehow beat them back to the apartment. They got groceries. We made some dinner. Watched some tennis.
Matt, Christine and Alexi showed up. They are family friends from way back that now live in Switzerland. They came to have Thanksgiving with us. So greetings and more food. Then I headed home.
THURSDAY was actually Thanksgiving. But we decided to hold off the eating and merriment until Friday because I had classes all day Thursday and Robin wouldn't be able to come until Friday.
Looking back, I have absolutely no idea what everyone else did this day. Thursday was rather eventful for me because I had rehearsed reading rehearsals (mouthful I know!) starting at 11am. Then we broke for lunch, met up again at 2 to continue rehearsals. Then we had a lighting/tech run through. Then class meeting. Then an editing meeting. Then at 6 we had our actual performance/read-thru. Basically I have been working in my dramaturgy and translation class on a group playwriting project based on the structure of Schnizler's La Ronde. It was a very interesting process, but as I have to write an essay on it, I am not going to write about much of it here.
Now something that is different about classes in University here as opposed to the US, is that professors can serve you alcohol. It's still weird for me. But as we were performing plays, and they were basically an evening of theatre, our professor brought us snacks and wine. So after the performances were done, there were not that many of us left so we finished everything. (There may or may not have been an excursion upstairs in which a plate of food from the reception may have gone missing.) And for those of you who don't know me, I am a lightweight. A fact that has been reinforced in my mind several times now. The glass or so of wine that I had was definitely enough.
Continuing on. Unbeknownst to me, one of the girls in my class is rather famous in her home country. Her mother is a famous Russian pop singer. So is her father. She has a recording contract. And to think I thought her a ditz... anyway she decided that we had to go back to her place because they were (rightly) kicking us out of the theatre.
After the most ridiculous cab ride and transportation fiasco, we ended up at her apartment where I was taught, to my detriment, how to properly drink Vodka... by a Russian. I will just let your imagination fill in the blanks between karaoke, her mother skype-yelling at us, pizza, and a pullout couch.
FRIDAY morning, miraculously, I was not hung over. But as I had been more than tipsy when we left school I had no idea where the hell in London I actually was. So I tried to leave with my Russian friend, but she wanted me to run some errands with her first, so I declined and wandered around forever trying to find a sign, a tube station, anything. My phone had also run out of credit. I eventually found Victoria Station. I took the tube back to my place.
Everyone else had gone to Hampton Court Palace. But as that is quite a ways away it would have been pointless to try to meet them there. So I showered, napped, did some work, and met them back at the apartment for Thanksgiving!!
I am going to stop this post here and continue Thanksgiving in the next post.
