Photos galore

...about 40 new photos posted to the flickr site. This is just from the first two days! More lovelies to come...

London, 3/29/07

Day 2 - London

We were off to a lazy start in the morning, but we did get a good breakfast at the hotel. They offered milk, juice, toast/croissant, coffee, fruit, and cereal. So we had a little of all of it. We went back up to the room to shower and get ready, and wandered out into the city around 10:30. We stopped off at Harrod's department store to have a look around and maybe do some shopping. Now, right here I'd like to say that I wasn't initially that interested in going to a big mall in London. There are so many other things to see and do. But I must admit that Harrods was well worth the time we spent in there. They've done so much to make it an 'experience' and not just shopping. The escalator to get to all of the floors is covered in Egyptian-style art and sculpture. And when I say 'covered,' I mean that everywhere you look there's something beautiful and Egyptian in style. And that's just the escalator. All of the staff were exceedingly helpful, and nice, the presentation of everything was lovely, and the pricetags were, well,...reflective of the attention paid to detail. We had originally thought to purchase some little thing in one of the shops, but ended up spending our money only in the Harrod's gift shop, where you can buy little pens and keychains and things with the Harrod's logo for only twice what you would normally pay for such an item.

After Harrods, we went in the direction of The Tower of London. It's all cool, and Hogwarts-y, and if/when I ever get to go again, I'll spend the extra time and cash to take the Yeoman Warders' tour. It's where these guys in Beefeater costumes tell you all about the history and interesting things that happened in and around the tower complex. We got to listen in to a couple of them and they sounded really cool. We went through the Jewel house, and got to see the Crown Jewels.I'd been warned that the lines can get crazy there, and that you may spend a lot of time in line, and not much time checking out the Joolz themselves, but we must have hit it on a good day. For the most part, we were able to head right on in, though when we got to the really amazing jewels, there was a conveyor-belt we had to stand on to keep us moving. So I didn't really get to do the drooling that I'm sure I would have done had I been able to spend more time in front of all of those diamonds.

After that, we went to the lower Wakefield tower to see the various instruments of torture...of which there were three. Three. I'm guessing, that if I'm the one being tortured, three would be more than enough, but as we were heading out, and I asked Mom,"is that it??" She replied, "what, not bloody enough for you?" Actually, no. Now that you mention it. Does that make me a bad person?

Interestingly enough, the Bloody Tower, where we went next, was not where they did the torturing. It was where they locked people away. People like Sir Walter Raleigh and his family, and those little Princes that were never to be seen again. Okay, I guess that's kinda bloody.
We headed to the gift shop, where I got some lovely replica jewelry that may just be useful for summer Shakespeare, checked out the ravens (legend has it that as long as there are at least 6 ravens around there, the Tower and the Monarchy will stand), and had some honest-to-goodness Fish n' Chips (but it wasn't wrapped in newspaper, so we may have gotten the touristy version. It was pretty good, though.).

It was pretty overcast, and threatened to rain all day, but we continued to just walk around the city. I had marked on a laminated map in wet-erase marker all of the spots I thought we might want to see, but in a quick bit of rain, that all was washed away. So we had to wing it.We were walking along the Thames and I looked up to see the unmistakable sight of the Globe Theatre (cue: choir or angels). MMMmmm....Glooooobe. Yummyyyyy. We got tickets to the last guided tour of the day, and walked through the exhibition for the half-hour or so before it began. I played the geek (again) by taking photos of simply Everything in it. They had gorgeous costumes from past productions, and I got to see them up close, noting the incredible amount of research and work that must have gone into each of them. There were little booths you could go in, press a button, and hear different RSC actors through the years doing the famous speeches from Shakespeare's works. Yummy yummy. They had a large display of props that had been built for specific productions, using the techniques and materials that would have been available during Shakespeare's time. Again with the yummy.For those of you who REALLY know me, you know that for me, this part was simply heaven.

We got the guided tour of the inside of the theatre (but alas, not backstage, as there was a production in rehearsal, or something like that), and I have to tell you, It Was Amazing. So absolutely gorgeous. There were no performances we could attend while we were in London,or I would have been all over that. It must be life-altering to see a production there. And to actually Perform on that stage?? Euphoric. There was another American mother and daughter duo on the tour with us, so we found we had a lot in common - the daughter is even a Doctor Who fan. I told her about my TARDIS sighting and she was very jealous. But when she found out that they'd filmed an episode right there in that very theatre,she seemed to perk up. I hope she figures out a way to see the episode before two more years, when it's likely to air here in the states.

One thing that really impressed me about the Globe was how much attention they pay to outreach and education. It really seems to be a main focus of the facility, not just simply something to attract grant money. They really put a lot of work into study and research, as well as hands-on teaching of students of all ages and nationalities. They really do seem to do everything in their power to do things the Right way. It's inspiring. In addition, they commission new works to be performed in addition to their Shakespearean productions. I guess it's a way of saying, "Shakespeare was once a new playwright,too."They had a production coming up called In Extremis, that sounded intriguing. It doesn't open until May, or something like that, so we couldn't see it, but I have ordered the script from Amazon. Who knows, maybe it'll find it's way into production somewhere around Wilmington sometime soon...

As was becoming our (my) habit, we stopped in the gift shop on the way out. I could have spent way more money than I had, but ended up only getting some replica coins, mini-editions of a few plays, a lovely poster, and Mom got me this cool watch - it's made out of the same stuff as those Livestrong bracelets, but it's black, has a digital timepiece in it, and says, "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me," from Richard II. Fitting, innit?

On the way back to the hotel, we managed to stop by Trafalgar Square and 10 Downing St. Not a whole lot to do there but take some pictures, so I did.

London, 3/28/07

London, First day
Flight was uneventful, but staggeringly uncomfortable. Despite two sleeping tablets, I couldn't sleep until the last hour or so of an 8 hour flight. I tried every way of folding or stretching my legs, but it wasn't until my mother lifted up her armrest and let me put my head in her lap like I used to do when I was little that I could finally get a little sleep. Well, that worked like a champ and I slept until they turned the lights on in the cabin just before landing.

We took the Gatwick Express train from the airport to Victoria Station, and our hotel was just a few blocks walk from there. We arrived at the hotel too early for check-in, so they allowed us to leave our bags downstairs and head out for some sightseeing. We headed straight for Buckingham Palace (the queen was in, but I think her doorbell must have been broken - no one ever answered the door), Westminster Abbey (absolutely gorgeous, but photos weren't allowed, so you'll have to trust me on that or go see it yourself), Big Ben, The London Eye, and Whitehall Court.

While trying to take a photo of Big Ben as seen through the London Eye, I walked across the lawn of a park, past the necking couples and picnicking families, and what should I spy on the other side?The TARDIS. Yep, really. Ok, maybe it wasn't THE Tardis, but maybe just A Tardis. Still. The TARDIS, the London Eye, AND Big Ben all in one photo? I am a walking MasterCard ad - Priceless.

We headed back to the room around 5:30 or so, to rest for a bit and freshen up before heading back out for dinner. I discovered that the free Wi-Fi was exactly as described, and took advantage of it by sending a few messages latting friends back home know I'd arrived, and by posting some photos of our adventures so far.

We headed out to dinner, and just went wandering around looking for something yummy. Mom recognized the restaurant Grumbles from a guidebook, so we went in there. There was no one to seat us, and we found an empty table, so we just sat down. A dismayed-looking waiter approached, briefly speechless. When mom said,"we didn't see anybody, so we just sat ourselves - is that okay?" the waiter replied, "No..! We are completely booked until nine o'clock - the restaurant is full!" ...mmmmkay. So we quickly gathered our things and scampered out to find another restaurant. A few doors down, we found Sole Mio, an Italian place. They welcomed us inside, took our coats, offered us bread and olives, and there we had a fantastic meal of fresh tomatoes, avocadoes, and mozzarella, along with some cheese fried and topped with anchovies and a tomato sauce. Those were the appetizers. Then for the main course I had some pasta in a tomato-based sauce, with mushrooms, cheese and eggplant (sorry - "aubergine"), and mom had chicken with some cheese and eggplant.
Did I mention the cheese? It was all very yummy, and topped off with a cappucino. Absolutely delicious. And they were very nice and friendly, and our neighbors at the next table, very close by, were a fun couple of guys, cracking jokes and offering to let us pay for their dinner. Aren't the English nice?

We went back up to the room, watched some 'telly,' and slept like babies until morning.