Part 2: London , the rest of the weekend.

We all agreed that we wanted to go to the British Museum. Lindsay went on a Starbucks run and brought us all coffee to get us going. We stopped at the concierge on the way out to see if could get tickets to a play. She was surprised to find that there were three available that evening, third row orchestra, for The Phantom of the Opera. We were thrilled. So off we go to find our way to the museum. The Marleyboned station is located directly out the back door of the hotel. Karina acted as the tour guide, figuring out the correct trains to get us to our destinations. Only two train changes and we would be where we wanted to be. Ok, it was a Saturday. and it was Christmas time… a zoo! People were pushing, people were hurrying, but generally in polite mode. It was easy to get caught up in the hustle. I like moving fast, and you definitely had to move fast or get trampled. Once on the street, we found walking on the outside of the sidewalk, sometimes on the curb, was the best way to move ahead.

The museum was surprisingly non-descript from the outside. Inside, it is amazing!! A main feature is the Rosetta stone:
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/goto?id=OBJ67

Also, the Egyptian artifacts are impressive. Like Karina said, “pots, pots and more pots!”

We decided just to stay downtown instead of returning to the hotel before the show. So… off to Harrods (with a Starbucks stop, of course..) where I purchased a Harrods ornament, supposedly something one must do every year… It was fun moving through the store that is about a block long and three stories high. It is very garish inside but it was decorated for Christmas, so very cheery!

The play is performed at Her Majesty’s Theater located in the Picadilly area of London. The theater was designed in 1896. It is ornate and very intimate. We sat in the third row, off center to the left. Awesome seats!
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/westendvenues/hermajestys.htm

After the show we went to an old pub about two blocks up, off the main street. It was very bright and festive looking so we went in. It was just a little after 10pm and they had stopped serving food :(

We were ok with that, but they stopped serving drinks at 11:30… some kind of law. It was OK because we wanted to walk around and see all the lights and the people hurrying from one place to another. As we got up to leave the pub, we noticed a happy group of people standing at the bar, enjoying their last drinks… It turned out to be most of the cast from the Phantom. The very cute boy who played Raoul, the smitten boyfriend and the girl who played Christine… and other cast members. We engaged in conversation, telling them how much we enjoyed the performance. To make my night, the cute boy asked if I had been sitting in the first row, I said no, the third row. He said, Oh, I remember you, we made eye contact! I was thrilled. I didn’t know that they really did make eye contact. Anyway, quite an exciting end to the evening. We then walked for a long while checking out all the lights and activity. We got ourselves back to the hotel about 1am. Fun, fun.

The next morning we slept in, took leisurely showers and decided to have breakfast in the lovely atrium in the center of the hotel. It was almost 1pm before we headed for the British Library. This a newer building, opened in 1998. Despite the modern outside, it houses some of the oldest and most amazing things. The original Magna Carta, the original Handel’s Messiah, the first written bible, many, many other old documents. It also holds a display of more contemporary artifacts, such as some of the Beatles original song lyrics written on napkins… not kidding! Anyway, a WOW!

http://www.bl.uk/about/history.html


To complete my goals for the weekend, we made our way to Paddington train station and located the correct train to get us back to my house. The Maidenhead station is about a 10 min cab ride to there. The girls were carrying two bags each since they had been traveling throughout Europe for almost three months. We purchased our tickets and had five miuntes to make the train which was at the furthest most track, of course. So, off we ran, Lindsay hauling two big suitcases and Karina and I with the rest. We were comical at the very least. We made the train though with less than a minute to spare. Lindsay used the suitcases as a seat, I found a seat and after a few stops, so did Karina. Again, fun, fun! We made it successfully to the Maidenhead station. It was dark, we had no idea how long it would take and we gotten on the train that stops at every station on the way. After about 45 minutes we reached our destination. I was thrilled. Not only had I gotten a good taste of London, I also was able to make my on the tube and train routes! Yeah…Goals completed!


…More to come ---- London, the “drunk train” and.. a weekend in Istanbul!