Thursday, April 23, 2009
London cont..
If I've omitted anything I'd love to be corrected, but I think that after Giraffe we went to the vicinity of the Theatre, via Covent Garden where I got the Stormtrooper hoody that I'd seen a kid at the Pub quiz wearing, and the 'robots in disguise' t shirt that I'd wanted to steal off Chris TR for ages. Was really hard to choose, so many cool SW t shirts.
Then we checked out St Martin in the Fields church near Trafalgar Square, which has an awesome main window.. the lead is curved to make it look like the glass is distorted, in the shape of a cross. Was very cool, but I always feel like I will get thrown out by an irate warden if I take a photo. The crypt was cool too.. they've turned into a spacious cafe/gift shop/brass rubbing centre. Bit wierd wandering over gravestones tho.
Went to the theatre to collect the tickets then had a snack in a nearby park by the river. Unpacking our picnic we discovered that the 'Lucky Egg' had not been quite so lucky after all...
Le Cage Aux Folles was brilliant. We were both really glad this was Graham Norton's night off.. because his replacement was brilliant. Its a great story, about not being ashamed of who and what you are.. I cried when he sang "I am what I am". The Cagelles were great too, scary faces but great legs!!! One dance was hilarious, when they kicked the beach balls out into the theatre.. one Cagelle had this angry face on when he kept having to boot the ball back out. Anyway about to get all emotional and let my feelings about stuff out so will move on..
Alison knows me so well that we walked the wrong way for about 20m so I could take photos from the bridge. Tricky without a tripod, but a beautiful scene...
Still too full from Giraffe to go to a restaurant for 'Afters' as was our plan, so headed for the Youth Hostel at St Pancras. Got distracted by the roof in the station..
Alison kept herself amused (having already taken her own roof pictures last time she was here!)
Had a bit of bother getting in (lol) and checking in, and more bother getting a glass of squash and a hot chocolate but the new cafe bar place was nice. Was v late by the time we headed for bed, having tried to check for cheap theatre tickets on the iPod. The other people in the dorm must have hated us.. last in and first out!
Fruit cake and coffee for breakfast, whilst revising plans due to the crap weather. We were going to go on the eye first thing, but the rain came way earlier than was predicted on the previous night's weather report. So, went to Leicester Square for second breakfast in a Pret, while we waited for the theatres to open. Got tickets for Billy Elliot. We were really tempted by the bargain tickets for Hairspray, but they were only for the evening performance, and it would have been a horrid drive back that late for Alison. The afternoon sorted it was off to London Bridge to go to the Dungeons. Gave up when we saw the size of the queue, esp as there was no sneaking in a different door this time, and neither of us wanted to wait in the rain for 40mins to be scared silly!
Lots of un-necessary train journeys and killing time in stations followed. I won't start my rant about the toilets in St Pancras! Food in Spoons at SP, then to the theatre. Billy was brilliant. Love the story and the adaptation was fab. Really clever use of the set and the policemen's shields. Was a bit shocking to hear kids swear at first.. dunno why.. I should be used to that!! The song with Billy and Michael was great.. Michael in a dress telling Billy that Ballet was weird lol. The dancing was the best thing tho.. I think I will have to go see a real ballet.. although prob one with mostly men.. something about the strength and grace that really draws me in.
Unfortunately the performance was more eventful than we had hoped.. after a long interval we got asked to quickly leave the theatre.. got outside to find lots of people.. and 3 fire engines. Eek. Still a bit of time before needing to meet Ruth at Stanmore, so I tried to be decisive.. and took us to Hamleys hehe. Very tempted by the Rogue Shadow on sale (but still more expensive there than on the Lego site!) and the Clone Trooper was cool..
Couldn't resist the Apple store either, so a bit late for the train back to the car park. Still, lateness not our fault, train had to stop for ages to get some poor woman medical attention. Hard to text people to let them know when you're stuck in a tunnel. Got really sad on the train home. Really sad now too.
Poor stolen Giraffe didn't make it... but its ok.. I performed Bostick surgery, he's fine now..
Then we checked out St Martin in the Fields church near Trafalgar Square, which has an awesome main window.. the lead is curved to make it look like the glass is distorted, in the shape of a cross. Was very cool, but I always feel like I will get thrown out by an irate warden if I take a photo. The crypt was cool too.. they've turned into a spacious cafe/gift shop/brass rubbing centre. Bit wierd wandering over gravestones tho.
Went to the theatre to collect the tickets then had a snack in a nearby park by the river. Unpacking our picnic we discovered that the 'Lucky Egg' had not been quite so lucky after all...
Le Cage Aux Folles was brilliant. We were both really glad this was Graham Norton's night off.. because his replacement was brilliant. Its a great story, about not being ashamed of who and what you are.. I cried when he sang "I am what I am". The Cagelles were great too, scary faces but great legs!!! One dance was hilarious, when they kicked the beach balls out into the theatre.. one Cagelle had this angry face on when he kept having to boot the ball back out. Anyway about to get all emotional and let my feelings about stuff out so will move on..Alison knows me so well that we walked the wrong way for about 20m so I could take photos from the bridge. Tricky without a tripod, but a beautiful scene...
Still too full from Giraffe to go to a restaurant for 'Afters' as was our plan, so headed for the Youth Hostel at St Pancras. Got distracted by the roof in the station..
Alison kept herself amused (having already taken her own roof pictures last time she was here!)
Had a bit of bother getting in (lol) and checking in, and more bother getting a glass of squash and a hot chocolate but the new cafe bar place was nice. Was v late by the time we headed for bed, having tried to check for cheap theatre tickets on the iPod. The other people in the dorm must have hated us.. last in and first out!Fruit cake and coffee for breakfast, whilst revising plans due to the crap weather. We were going to go on the eye first thing, but the rain came way earlier than was predicted on the previous night's weather report. So, went to Leicester Square for second breakfast in a Pret, while we waited for the theatres to open. Got tickets for Billy Elliot. We were really tempted by the bargain tickets for Hairspray, but they were only for the evening performance, and it would have been a horrid drive back that late for Alison. The afternoon sorted it was off to London Bridge to go to the Dungeons. Gave up when we saw the size of the queue, esp as there was no sneaking in a different door this time, and neither of us wanted to wait in the rain for 40mins to be scared silly!
Lots of un-necessary train journeys and killing time in stations followed. I won't start my rant about the toilets in St Pancras! Food in Spoons at SP, then to the theatre. Billy was brilliant. Love the story and the adaptation was fab. Really clever use of the set and the policemen's shields. Was a bit shocking to hear kids swear at first.. dunno why.. I should be used to that!! The song with Billy and Michael was great.. Michael in a dress telling Billy that Ballet was weird lol. The dancing was the best thing tho.. I think I will have to go see a real ballet.. although prob one with mostly men.. something about the strength and grace that really draws me in.
Unfortunately the performance was more eventful than we had hoped.. after a long interval we got asked to quickly leave the theatre.. got outside to find lots of people.. and 3 fire engines. Eek. Still a bit of time before needing to meet Ruth at Stanmore, so I tried to be decisive.. and took us to Hamleys hehe. Very tempted by the Rogue Shadow on sale (but still more expensive there than on the Lego site!) and the Clone Trooper was cool..
Couldn't resist the Apple store either, so a bit late for the train back to the car park. Still, lateness not our fault, train had to stop for ages to get some poor woman medical attention. Hard to text people to let them know when you're stuck in a tunnel. Got really sad on the train home. Really sad now too.Poor stolen Giraffe didn't make it... but its ok.. I performed Bostick surgery, he's fine now..
# posted by Harley @ 8:43 AM 
