But the tide of "must watch all the things" has swept over me… and it's fitting that I see one of these big brash West End shows right here at the end… (whimper-- the end of the London-extravaganza!)
But first-- so we left off with me taking a night bus back to London from Lancaster/the Lakes… I think I might have said I'd describe that adventure… But I think some things are better left to die… Not really, die, of course… I slept a little-- a VERY little. Then got back to the flat early enough that I took a nap/some proper sleep for a few hours Monday morning. So half the day wasted-- but I wasn't!
Monday, then, was slow but lovely and I tried to make it count still. Had to go to CAPA to pay for my tix to Les Mis, for one thing… Oh I will miss not just the theater (theatre??) but also the CHEAP theater!! It's almost like in London they WANT people to see the theater-- ;)
Then I pottered around a bit-- and FINALLY rented a bike from the Barclay's bike rental scheme that's all through the city-- Part of the mayor's attempts to green up the city and make it less car-friendly and more other-items friendly-- specifically bikes. You're a funny funny individual, though, if you think I'd bike in the city proper… Oh hell no! I don't know how the bicyclists do it-- with the double decker buses and cabs and what have you swerving around… Nope, my speed is more just riding around Kensington Gardens/ Hyde Park… Which was apparently also the idea of EVERYONE at Kensington/Hyde Park… :) It WAS a lovely LOVELY day-- and all of London, as the saying goes, flocks to parks and such whenever the sun is out and the weather is above 60 degrees f… Weirdly, there seemed to be some kind of pro-marijuana/Rastafarian celebration happening in Hyde Park where I parked my bike-- over by speaker's corner… MAN, I thought I was back in Amsterdam for a second! I started taking pictures in a "look, all of London is at the park" way, when I noticed the smell… Then I thought a bunch of paranoid potheads might not appreciate me taking pictures of them-- So I wandered away… :)
Off to grab an ice cream (also a rule in London on a nice day-- their ice cream is nothing-- NOTHING-- compared to the stuff I ate last summer in MI…). And to take an insane number of pictures of birds in water… I am having too much fun taking random pictures here-- another thing to add to the list of things I will miss SO BAD!!
OK--so Monday was just some errands and some catching up and some riding around the park… (ah!)… Then today I realized I was down to 10 DAYS LEFT IN LONDON!!!!!!
And I died inside a little…
Do you think it would be possible for me still to find some guy to marry for a British green card, so I can stay???
I have a bit of a list of things I haven't gotten around to doing yet--or was for some reason or another waiting to do… and the London Eye was one of them. And for a combination of schedule and weather reasons, today looked like the best day to do it!
It's expensive--as everything in London is expensive. People seem to be mixed about if it's worth the money or not. For those who think it's a waste of time, I have to wonder what were they expecting??!! It seems to me to be exactly what you imagine it must be. You're in a HUGE Ferris Wheel (invented for the Chicago World's Fair-- Go USA!) and desperately taking pictures you hope will turn out of the London skyline… over a period of about 30 minutes. And I waited in a line at least that long for the privilege. And yes, I think it was worth that… I'll probably never do it again-- but I HAVE now done it!
It made me remember the Iamsterdam sign I HAD to pose with the other weekend. There are all these things to do in these European cities I've been to before that didn't exist almost 20 years ago! What will it be in Paris, I wonder??? (Speaking of Paris, I just looked it up, and it seems as though Jim Morrison is still at the Pere Lechaise [sp?] Cemetery. I could have sworn I read that the Parisian government had exhumed his body and moved him b/c they thought he was bringing the *wrong element* of tourist-- i.e., me. I had been holding a grudge about this ever since… But if he's still there… What was I reading?!)
I DO have an idea of something to do in Barcelona, btw… Not exactly new to me, but… I am still obsessed with Fast & Furious 7, even though absolutely no one I know has seen it yet. How is this possible, btw??!! I can't justify spending the money to see it again in the UK, though. It was NOT a cheap ticket, and I felt compelled to see it in Imax… BUT if I see it again in Spain, then I can practice my Spanish! And then it's practically educational! In fact, I am improving myself by seeing it. AND I've already seen it once, so it will be easier to follow along. AND there's only about 19 lines of dialogue, anyway. AND I can see all the cars go boom!!! I so love this idea-- Look out Barcelona!! ;)
Back to the Eye-- afterwards, I had been thinking about visiting the National Gallery one more time-- especially as it's free. But it was SUCH a nice day-- and these are not to be taken for granted (a difficult concept for someone raised in CA to understand, but I think I'm starting to get it). So instead I walked, and walked, and walked… Down from Embankment to London Bridge on the South Bank side, then across to the City and back towards Soho… slowly and taking time to stop and smell London. And take pictures of the several Shaun the Sheep statues I saw along the way.
Took a bit of a break at Starbucks-- the only US chain I frequent out of country. Indeed, only one of two US chains I've visited in London. The other was Chipotle… and even thought I adore Chipotle and had been really looking forward to this, it was disappointing. Why visit disappointing US chains when the London stuff is fabulous!?
Then, time for dinner-- and I'd seen a raw food restaurant in this trendy neighborhood called Seven Dials… so I thought I'd try it out… (How many cool restaurants will I not have a chance to visit??!!) On my way to the door-- out on the plaza-- I saw John Goodman… OMG… He is looking a bit rough… somewhere between tired and older and someone who recently lost a good deal of weight. Anyway, I tried desperately to play it cool in the way I always do… and probably come across as oddly twitchy to all these people I do this to… In the restaurant, I quickly told the servers and my neighbor at the bar. One waitress ran downstairs to see for herself, but he was gone already. Another waitress then came up and said she'd just seen him, too. There were nudges and nods towards me--verifying my story, if you will. People then reminisced who were the most famous people we'd seen. There were several at this very cafe, it turned out… The most famous one of which of the list has completely escaped me-- but the Olsen twins' sister was one of the not SO fancy ones. Also Florence of "and the machine." Them crazy artsy types like raw food, apparently. The guy sitting next to me hung out with Vivienne Westwood… It was a fun little bonding moment all around.
And it struck me how much I like these places--these people… all white people dreads and guys with gold teeth and girls in flowing tie-dye dresses. I was absolutely comfortable sliding up to the bar and chatting with them about being star struck… And all eating raw food and talking almost ridiculously earnestly about words like "energy." I am SUCH a hippie!! When I was younger, I really REALLY fought that label-- arguing that I bathed, didn't smell of patchouli, didn't live in a teepee, things like this. But, in my more mature years, I realize: who am I kidding? I'm straddling the line-- teepees are on my horizon… I'm voluntarily staying in a hostel, after all, where I'll get to sleep in a converted storage container. And this is by choice! A yurt must be in my future!
The food, by the way, was also quite good. A not-baked-but-stuffed (that was a fun little bit of magic) beefsteak tomato with lots of stuff involving corn, cashews, and cauliflower. Shoulda taken a picture. It looked way fancier than hippie food has any right to look… There was some nutty pesto as well. It looked like it shouldn't be filling at all, in fact. But it lasted me GREAT-- all through the show!
Then, I wandered up to the show… Les Mis (I'll never be able to spell it correctly so let's use the abbreviated version)! This makes two HUGE musical standards in less than a week. I have Memories and I Dreamed a Dream just bouncing around in my head now… Let it Go might finally get a bit of a vacation. (Btw-- in keeping with recent obsessions, the "Till I See You Again" song from FF7 is also cruising around up there…) It was a great production-- lots of explosions and smoke and sets moving around on stage. I tried to decide if this or Treasure Island had the more complicated sets-- and that is a good sign-- both are set-design winners! This one also had music-- lots and lots of music. In fact, no one spoke in the whole three hours. If it had to be said, it had to be SUNG! And I had heard the story on a book on tape once when I was in high school--but I really didn't remember the story much. There is a random French Revolution in miniature in the middle of it! (Ah the French-- all these failed revolutions--it adds to the drama, see?!) And everyone dies in the end… and there is a lot of God… which is interesting given how crappy everyone's lives turn out. But it's also so LOVELY!! Sigh! I wept like a baby, of course!
Now, this show just kind of fell in my lap. CAPA had a couple of tickets available if I wanted… But that still leaves *5* shows for me to see in the next week… b/c I am crazy and I'm really running out of time!! TO refresh your memory: Merchant of Venice at the Globe Thursday, Blues Explosion show at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Sunday, American Buffalo (with John Goodman!!) Monday, Romeo and Juliet at the Globe (GASP!) Tuesday, and Everyman at National Theatre Wednesday-- WHEW!!!
And then I leave, and go wandering Europe and Airbnb for the next few weeks… And that will be fun… so let's not be sad… … …
A month from now I'll be in the US already… … …
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