(Also read the next post first if you want, "Back to the Beat," as they were posted both late and at the same time but from my last few days)
So here I am waiting on the plane for takeoff (obviously this is posted online later) and so so sad to be leaving!!! On Thursday (yesterday) I woke up a little late (about 11) and went into town to shop with Michael for a bit before he went to see a matinee of Charlotte (they’re like best friends) in Priscilla. We had light lunch at Costa, one of my favorite coffee chains here (coming in second to Cafe Nero and Pret) and walked through Carnaby Street. We always have a good laugh and stories together and shopping is always fun with him although he usually spends most of the time laughing AT me...love him to death though. Then he went to Priscilla and I headed to the tube to go to Camden Town, a big shopping market and unique area, which Ros and I intended to go to together when I lived here, but never got around to it. So it was good...there are lots of interesting people and goth shops around there, surprisingly, but the houses and buildings are all pastel colored and there are two (if not more) outdoor markets and tons of shops. So that was fun and it was relatively nice outside for it. Then after about 2 and a half hours in Camden, it was time to get back to Central London so I got back on the tube and headed to Oxford Street, which, I intended to do that morning, had I woke up on time, haha. I went in TopShop first, of course which oh my gosh is massive!!!! They are adding on floors and expansions and sell sooo much there now! One of my favorite brands of bags and such, Nica, is now sold there along with a really large Freedom Top Shop jewelry section, and an ENTIRE FLOOR of shoes. :) It was heaven let me tell you. But I’d been to a smaller one in Wakefield with Ros so I only just got a few accessories and a present for one of my sisters at the big one, but it was amazing to look around. Also, TopShop in London, despite the fact that there are never any sales (I mean never), unlike the New York one, it is still cheaper prices even with the exchange rate to buy things at the London Top Shops rather than in New York. I also went in some other favorite shops like River Island and Jane Norman and Accessorize and Monsoon. Didn’t buy too much at that point, but I had gotten a new bag of luggage for a pretty good price (considering it’s size) at the H & M in Camden, and placed all my purchases of the day in there. I really like the bag and I think it will be quite useful in the future as well. It’s black pho-leather and duffel style (but chic-er) and no shoulder strap. But it holds quite a lot and was the perfect size for what I needed. They did charge me extra at the airport for it unfortunately, but oh well, not much I could do about that, suppose I can consider it part of the price of my flight, and I put it on my Virgin Atlantic Card, which will hopefully get me some miles! By the way, after this flight miles are redeemed, I will have only a couple hundred miles short of a free flight to London or the equivalent on Virgin Atlantic! So, when I’m a poor starving artist and want to come visit (or live permanently!!!) I can do so and only pay taxes on the flight! Yay! I expect it will be in 2011 sometime that I come back...the fall or winter at the very earliest, but that would only be if I were seeking/interviewing for a job.
Anyway where was I. I then walked up Tottenham Court to the Bagel Nash next to Hairspray and the convenience store, both of which were manned by the same storemen I used to see daily! I picked up my bottle of Evain for 79p (sooo cheap here!) from the store where the man there said hello and chatted with me about my stay and then went to Bagel Nash, where the nice guy who was still there from two years ago or whatever recognized me and gave me the discount I used to get of 10% for working next door on Hairspray! So I thought that was nice of him! And my usual bagel and granola parfait were familiarly delicious, nothing like it. :) So after shopping a bit on Oxford Street it was about half 6 and time to head towards the Strand to see Ros’s show, Love Never Dies, which my friend Helen is Dance Captain and Swing for as well. However...I couldn’t take the tube because there were people lined up in standstill queues all the way up the stairs and into the street of Oxford Street Station! So I tried to ask many people along my way for directions, made it to Piccadilly Circus, decided to take a tube, but got off at Leichester Square instead of Covent Garden (couldn’t remember which one I knew the way from--it’s about in between) and unfortunately had no idea how to get there from Leichester Square, although I knew it was fairly close, not at all a straight walk. And if you dont know, London is not a grid like New York, it is loads of five and even six way intersections, roundabouts, and reallly impossible to sort out if you get lost, to be honest. And after several failed attempts to regain my bearings, it was past 7 (show at 7:30) and I decided to give up and hailed a cab. I was only 5 pound cab ride (in pretty heavy traffic mind you) from the theatre so that was all right and I made it there with time to spare and change into a new jacket/top and the heels I’d brought along to wear out after.
The show itself was gorgeous, really. My seat was in the Upper Circle (meaning top balcony) in Row D on an end, so my view was slightly obstructed (I paid less as well though so it was okay) but really a beautiful show. Took definite strides in combining projection with scenery and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It just opened on Tuesday, so the house was very full and there were only programmes and cds as merchandise since it’s so new. Most of the music was absolutely brilliant and the actors also were mostly stunning both vocally and otherwise. I knew without reading anything about it what time period it was because of the architecture and design. I am a sucker for Art Nouveau anything, really, so I think that was half the reason I loved the set. But the projections went on a giant scrim, which the actors were behind, and during one song, images of Coney Island zoomed on the scrim with a spot on the actress, making it look like she was in a film, and set pieces and trapeze artists surrounding her, also looking as though they were part of this giant film. Amazing. It was really sad but powerful ending, as you can imagine with a title like Love Never Dies, but I enjoyed it a lot! I met Ros at stagedoor after, and she beat me to it! I took my time leaving the theatre and getting to stagedoor because I knew Ros used to take ages getting ready to go out after Hairspray, but little did I know, she got to change and get ready during the final scene! So that was surprising haha. We were headed to Sophie’s. First though, Ros and I got a little lost, as Ros had never been and it ended up that we had walked straight past the pub!!! Oops! She used a phone a friend lifeline as I told her she was doing and we headed the other way, laughing about the fact that neither of us noticed the massive pub and “Sophie’s” sign that we had passed in confusion. We went to meet up with Rachael, Michael and a bunch of the Legally Blonde cast and crew, as it was the Deputy Wardrobe, Tim’s last day at Legally, he is moving on to Hair, when it comes to London. Tim also was wardrobe Dep on Hairspray so I knew him too, lovely guy in his mid-forties and close friends with Rach--they’ve worked together on various West End shows in wardrobe for the past four years! We also met Rach’s two friends, Annika, who worked at the White Hart, the pub we all used to go to after many many Spray shows, and her other friend whose name I can’t remember at the moment, but she is stage door receptionist for War Horse, also on the west end. So for awhile I sat with Annika, Rach, Ros and Michael, they stayed for about two, and then Ros and Michael had to catch trains to be up “early” the next morning (okay, well I don’t think anything later than 7:30 is “early” haha) but it was lovely to see them. Then I went with Rach, Annika, her friend, and another wardrobe for Legally named Mary from New Zealand to a club down the road in Covent Garden called “Roadhouse,” which while a bit trashy in comparison to some London Clubs, was still better than any in America that I’ve been to, for the most part. They first told us they closed doors at 1:30 (it was 1:45) and wouldn’t let us in, but after we told them Annika worked at White Hart and the rest of us on Legally (haha me included), we got in, free of the 5 pound cover charge as well! Ah have never paid for a club in London whilst out with my friends from Spray and such, thanks to that little perk of working on the West End! As we walked in, the security guard, obviously knowing many of the other girls, gave them all big hugs with open arms, and me included, which was hilarious. I shared drinks there and we danced and it was all good fun, and we left about three in a cab home, which we all shared except Mary who caught a night bus. Got home about 4 and woke up about 9:30, in time to pack up and head into town for a little while...of course Rach still slept haha!
I went to Embankment and walked along the Thames for a bit. The weather was glum (of course because this is the day I’m leaving, London is even sad! haha) and that post-rain sort of smell--the London version of it. I didn’t realize before that London does have a different scent than New York and such. Of course it changes per where you go, but overall in general the air smells different, somewhat fresher, and the sky somehow manages to be gorgeous despite often being overcast. So I stopped along my way at the Embankment cafe and had Porridge :) and a latte and some sort of sparkling special orange juice. I went to Waterloo bridge to take a few pictures and to the cashpoint and the store to get more chocolate of course! I headed back to Rach’s then, and called a cab (the cheapest one!) to come a bit after 14:00. My luggage was basically all set, so I carried it downstairs and said bye to Rach and now here I am. So sad to be leaving lovely London, but I am sure it won’t be too long before I am back here. I love it here and someday I will live here for more than two months. What an amazing amazing last spring break. I think I will go into the last few months of school with new energy and I know I’m ready to move on to bigger things after Penn State. Farewell London, thanks for giving me the time of my life, again.
Cheers,
Sam
