It's all over but the bills...

So, I'm writing this from work, as I am back on this side of the Atlantic. I tried to post from the airport, but the booth that I went to had a net nanny program that wouldn't allow me onto the site because of high pornographic content. I couldn't even go directly to my blog because it said it was high pornographic content. Maybe because I said genitals on it or something. Anywho...

So my last full day in London was spent walking and shows-ing, if that's a word. I got up, late, and went to the British Museum, which was just a couple of blocks from where I was staying. I must have ended up taking the long route though, but it gave me a chance to see what was around. It's a really nice looking neighbourhood, and the University of London campus is also right near there. A lot of the faculties have their offices on right on the street. I came up to the museum and happened upon a comic/graphic novel shop that looked kind of cool, so I went in and perused and bought some Dr. Who comics for my honey. If I had known what other people liked, I would have picked up other stuff too!

Onward to the museum I went. The British Museum is an amazing facility. They have displays from most countries (including North America). The museum is completely free to enter (like most of the museums there), but they have specialized displays that they charge for, and then of course, souvenirs and such. I wanted to go because they were having an exhibit of Michaelangelo's sketches. Basically it was things that he sketched when he was designing the Sistine Chapel and some of his most famous works. There were a lot of naked man drawings. They were amazing. I also checked out the Egyptian and some of the Greek/Roman stuff. They had Egyptian mummies (maybe they were daddies, I don't know) that were really cool too, and mummified pets (it was a spiritual thing, they liked to take their pets to the afterlife with them).

Okay, I just realized I had told you about the museum, but really it's so cool, how could I not!~

After spending about 3 hours there, I made my way down to Piccadilly Circus. I wanted to go to a giant toy shop called Hamley's to pick up the Dr. Who toys I had seen in the window. Then I just spent some more time window shopping. I was heading back for the train when I saw a ticket booth and I got a ticket for The Producers. I decided to go back to my hotel room and change and grab dinner before the show. As I was going down the first escalator in the Tube station, they started playing emergency announcements telling us all to leave the station. So, that meant I had no quick easy way back to my hotel. What's a girl to do? Try to take the bus! After finally getting the direction of the buses correct, not an easy feat, I finally decided to wander around a bit more. The tube station had reopened (but not until after the Fire Brigade had been there, sirens blaring), and I decided to head right to Covent Garden, where the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is (for the record, I didn't find the muffin man). When I bought my ticket, the guy gave me some vague directions to the theatre. I thought it would be easy to find. I found signage for every other theatre in the area. Even though Drury Lane is one of the most famous theatre streets and theatres in history, I guess it doesn't warrant signage. So I started wandering and I found this upscale burger joint to have dinner at and a Bailey's milkshake, yum!

So I leave the restaurant because it is 7pm and the show starts at 7:30. It has started to rain by this time (I know you're all shocked because the weather had been perfect up until this point.). Actually, I think it was closer to a small monsoon. I started wandering in the completely wrong direction and ended up in Leicster Square (south of Covent Garden) and had to make my way back. After getting soaked, I ended up back at the tube station I started at and asked a homeless gentleman selling those magazines like the ones here for directions. He asked if I was seeing The Producers and gave me directions very kindly. I gave him the money for the magazine, but didn't take one.

I made it to the theatre with about 5 minutes to spare. Enough time to pee, because oddly enough being in the rain makes you have to pee, and get to my seat and drip on the poor folks next to me. The show was great and did help take me out of my dark mood!

Went back to my hotel after the show and I was scheduled to be picked up for my airport transfer at 7am. Started packing and rearranging to fit all of the souvenirs and gifts in. Packed everything except the toiletries and the next day's clothes so I was ready to go. After a stunning 2 hours of sleep, I was up at 6am to shower and get ready. When I came downstairs at 6:45 the driver was already waiting for us. After a couple of stops and a nice scenic drive through town before it was bustling with traffic and people, we were back at Victoria station to take the train out to Gatwick. A relaxing 30 minutes. The train stations along the route were already packed with the commuters from the outskirts of the city. We made it really early to the airport, checked in and spent the next 3 hours wandering around the duty free spending what we had left. I found World of Whiskies and picked up something for my dad. Also got some chockies for the plane trip and some breakfast.

The plane was delayed again, but this time only by 30 minutes instead of and hour. I managed to get an aisle seat again and there was no middle person in the row so we had plenty of room to stretch out and some extra space for our things. There were several screechie children on the flight, that didn't make me really happy, but I put my headphones on and ignored almost everything while I did my Sudoku puzzles.

Landed in Calgary about 2:25pm the same day I left. I got to spend a day and a half in the same day! Saw mom and dad and had some Timmy Ho's at the airport. After we got back to Innisfail and dropped off my stuff, the 'rents took me to Las Palmeras (the best Mexican place ever!) for a yummy dinner. Finally slept around 11pm, which was 24 hours from when I got up to leave London in the first place. But I think I was up for closer to 36 hours total with the lack of sleep and all.

So, that's my trip to London in a nutshell. I have 525 pictures. If anyone wants to see them, I'll see if I can download any of them into the blog, or just ask and I'll e-mail some out! Hope you all get to travel to London some day and enjoy it as much as I did.

Cheers

They say there may be a drought in London this summer...

However the continual rain is leading me to believe otherwise.

Well it's been a busy couple of days indeed. I finally wore my pedometer and Monday and Tuesday I clocked about 23.5 kms. Then last night, I was getting off of the Tube and the thing unclipped from my waist and I then accidently kicked it off of the platform and under the departing train. Ooops.

Monday I decided to take the secular route and I started my day at Westminster Abbey. I guess I wanted to take the Da Vinci code route. WOW!!! What a place!!! The only downside is that they don't allow photo taking inside (it think it's a respecting the religioin thing...blah, blah, blah). The artwork is freakin' amazing! They rose stained glass. I saw the tombs of several of the British monarchy, like Liz the I and Mary, Queen of Scots. There was an amazing monument to General Wolfe (all of you need to pull out your Canadian history books now). The graves of Tennyson and Auden and Dickens are all there too and memorials to several of them. There was a display of funeral effigies and all kinds of amazing religious relics. Oh, and I saw the actual coronation chair (Liz the II sat in it for her coronation) and the tomb of the unknown soldier that no one is allowed to walk on.

After strolling past parliament and Big Ben, I crossed the river to Southwark (or Bankside). I wandered past the Aquarium and the London Eye. I stopped and did a little sketch of a building I could see across the way. I kept walking and wandered past the Royal National Theatre. They have a bookstore that only sells books on theatre. Nothing else. Play manuscripts, history, biographies, they had it all. It may have been the happiest place I've ever been! I kept on walking after a browse and ended up at the Globe. Since it was included in my London Pass, I stopped and toured the theatre, where they were rehearsing Titus Andronicus and the interpretive centre. I walked back to the London Bridge tube station and went back to the hotel. After the 13 kms of walking, I didn't really feel like doing much else, so I spent the evening in.

Yesterday, I started at St. Paul's Cathedral. Again, no photos allowed. All I could think of was Mary Poppins and the feed the birds song. Man, I may not be religious, but the artwork is so amazing in the cathedrals and churches here. And the architecture of all of the buildings, we just don't have anything like it at home (except in Quebec, of course). I went into the crypts and saw the tombs of Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington (for whom the boots are named). They also have a memorial bust to Sir John A. Macdonald (again, pull out the Canadian history books). I wanted to take a photo of that, but I behaved.

After I went to the Museum of London. It's basically like the Royal Alberta Museum, it gives a history of the city and the development of the Area. The coronation coach was there. There was exhibits from Roman Londinium and the lifestyle and such, all the way up to the present.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I went to the London Dungeon first thing in the morning. What a hoot! They take you on a semi-guided tour of some of the darker moments of London's history. Now, when I was at the Tower, they said that there were very few recorded cases of torture, but I think it's more unrecorded than anything. I got sneezed on by a guy with the plague. We were taken through Traitor's Gate at the Tower by boat, I had my photo taken with a guy about to cut off my head. We went through Sweeney Todd's barber/surgeon shop in old Fleet Street (so named because the river Fleet used to run through there, but the stench was so bad from all of the waste, they covered it over. It still runs, but underneath). If anyone is planning a trip, I would highly recommend this attraction.

Last evening was my Jack the Ripper tour of Whitechapel. Wow. Even today, Whitechapel is so not the nice clean touristy part of London. It's mostly East Indian (we walked through Little India) and definitely not a huge tourist area. Some of the buildings still stand as they were (or close to) in 1888. The Ten Bells pub still exists and the White Chapel itself. I have lots of photos. The tour lady was excellent. She had lots of photos of the area and of the women themselves (post mortem). Glad it wasn't dark out when I went!

After another 10kms (before I kicked the pedometer under the train) I headed back to my hotel to change. Went for dinner at a really nice little Italian place near the Tube station. Drank half a bottle of wine and got myself a little tiddly.

Today, so far, I have taken in the British Museum. It's quite an undertaking. I didn't stay too long, (I was there last time I was here) but I did take in the exhibit of Michaelangelo's drawings. So cool. The man was a master. Even his sketches (which he hated) were perfect works of art. He had such a grasp of the naked male form (I'm sure we would all like to grasp a naked man though!).

Now, I'm heading off to Picadilly Circus to do some last shopping and try to snag tix to the Producers tonight. It's my last night here, and tomorrow I will be on a plane back to Calgary. Kind of sad I didn't do more, but I think it'll be nice to come home.

Until then, cheerio!

Today I bought an umbrella...

I did so because it doesn;t stop raining here until after I;ve done my sightseeing.

I am currently posting this from, of all things, an internet phone booth. It;s like a video phone with a keyboard and everything. It;s a couple of blocks from my hotel and I;m standing after a long day of stair climbing.

The Tower of London was on the agenda today. If any of you are planning mountain climbing, I would suggest spending the day there instead. It;s a totally cool place. They have real yeoman (beefeater guys) and everything. I saw the famous chopping block where many a famous wife of Henry VIII lost her head and the chapel in which they were buried. I also saw some very pretty sparkly crown jewels. Honey, remember, I like diamonds A LOT!!!! I saw diamonds that were almost the size of a fist (or at least fair replicas of diamonds the size of a fist).

The Tower was pretty much my full day, especially cause it took 3 hours and it is Sunday. Afterwards I went to Picadilly Circus(I seem to be there a lot, but it;s kind of the heart of the theatre district). I popped into the Virgin megastore and had a celebrity sighting! No, not Brangelina or Madonna or Gwenyth. It was Liza Minelli;s ex, David Gest! You know, the gay guy who looks like he;s made out of plastic? Well, he;s less plasticy looking in real life, but definitley trying to regain some lost youth and failing, if you know what I mean.

That;s really all for today. Tomorrow, I;m going to find Dr. Who toys (the people who want them know who they are. I love you honey!) and try to get into The Producers. I made it to Blood Brothers last night with no trouble and no ticket line. Cryed this time too. One of the performers I saw last time is still in it!

Cheers!

Maybe I'll just ignore my Visa bill when it comes...

Day 2.

After falling asleep around 10pm on my first night, I woke up at the stunningly late hour of 2:30am and proceeded to be awake for the remainder of the night. I went for my hotel brekkie around 7am (when they open) since I was awake. I took a very slight nap afterwards as I had a ticket booked for Madame Tussaud's for 10am. I dressed and attempted not to look completely bleary as I felt and made it down. They've changed it somewhat since last time I was there (which is good, it would be boring otherwise). I took my photo with Hugh Grant and one with a very special friend for Kayla (you have to try and guess which one!). Britney Spears was pole dancing and I guessed it was just practicing for her future trailer trash status...oh wait, what am I saying I future for...

Anywho, I thought I should go and get my London Pass and start sightseeing as I seemed to have gotten a second wind by that point (more like a second breeze, but I'll explain later). After I picked that up I meandered along and ended up in Trafalger Square right by the National Portrait Gallery. Oh, I also found the Canadian Embassy, it's right on Trafalger Square. So I thought I would check out the Portrait Gallery, especially since one of da Vinci's paintings that's mentioned in the book is in there (Virgin on the Rocks, yup I saw it). I got yelled at by a security guard for taking photos (with the flash off, the flash is what damages the paintings). After wandering through about 4 of the exhibits my second breeze disappeared and I thought rather than drooling on the priceless works of art, I would head back to my hotel and take a nap.

After a short 3 hour nap and lunch. I made my way back down to Picadilly Circus to catch Hayfever by Noel Coward at the Haymarket theatre. This is the production starring Dame Judi Dench. The show is of course sold out, but they have this great thing called a returns queue and the premise is simple. If someone returns their tickets, they offer them to the folks in the line at face value, cash only. Thankfully this very nice couple, who I sat with of course, had a spare ticket and were willing to take my £45 instead of the £50 that they bought it for. It was worth every penny. The show was amazing. Such a nice change to see things that aren't Citadel productions (not that they're bad, I'm not slagging my work!). Just to have the chance to see Judi Dench perform live was a such a treat and I will always cherish it.

Day 3

After coming to my senses and remembering my mom had given me gravol-esque tablets so I could try and sleep on the plane, I thought perhaps I should try it on dry land. It worked, I slept a full 8+ hours and woke up to the cleaning staff trying to come in at 8:20 this morning.

Today I went to Notting Hill Gate and down the Portabello Road Market. If anyone has seen the Disney flick Bedknobs & Broomsticks they know the song about the market. It's like a giant farmers'/flea market and you could buy someone's mother I'm sure if the price was right. There were tons of antique stalls and knock off purses and such. I wished that I had the ability to cook in my hotel, the fruit and veg looked so amazing and smelled wonderful. I also found this nifty little bead shop down there too, so I spent way to much money on beads.

A little side note here. If you are planning to come to London, remember, it's a tourist town, they will bleed you dry. The prices don't look so bad, but multiply it by 2 and you'll realize what I mean. I've spent $180 canadian just on theatre tickets for 2 shows.

But I digress. After the market I headed to Earl's Court where they are having an exhibition called Bodies. It's basically plastinated people parts on display. This isn't the same one that caused all of the controversy a few years ago by putting the people in poses and stuff, but it's the same sort of idea to use as a teaching tool about the human body. Most of the bodies were men, there were lots of plastinated privates and such.

After jetting around there, I headed back to Picadilly Circus to try and get a ticket to Mamma Mia!. That show has it's own bouncer. They have the doors roped off and don't let you near without a ticket already in hand, probably cause it's always sold out. Thankfully, there was a gentleman scalping outside and I spent another £45 to see the show. Totally worth it! I don't think there was a person who wasn't singing and dancing along by the end.

When I finish posting this, I'm heading up the street to the Phoenix theatre to try and get in to see Blood Brothers, my most favorite show. And I definitely don't want to see my Visa bill...

And I'm finally here!

After much trepidation, I have finally arrived! My flight was delayed arriving in Calgary from Vancouver. The 25 minute departure delay ended up being almost an hour departure delay, and thusly, we arrived at Gatwick about 45 minutes later than we were scheduled. For those of you at home, it was almost 4am. For me, almost 11am. And I wish it had been as simple as and then she checked into her hotel and went to sleep. Walked almost 1km to passport lineup and waited for a man to ask me questions when I could barely remember my own name. Then to baggage claim to watch a hypnotizing track of neverending luggage that wasn't mine. And a good side note here, if any of you plan to travel, DO NOT lock your suitcase. I saw a couple that had been cut open because of locks, glad I didn't do that to mine! After walking another km out of the arrivals gate, had to take 1/2 hour train to London. Hotel Link was great, I didn't have to worry about transfers for trains or anything. After the train trip and finally getting on the minibus (boy you thought the drivers were crazy there! It's not only the drivers though, it's the pedestrians.) we took another 1/2 hour through the city streets until we got to the Royal National Hotel. Checked in at 1pm finally. My room is pretty good, it has 2 twin beds, so when my other personality or my imaginary friend comes by, they have a place to sleep. My only real problem is with the shower and the fact that it's made for people under 5 feet tall. You have to be a contortionist practically to wash your hair which is really fun, but all good other than that. I just had dinner at a little hole in the wall Italian restaurant near my hotel. I spent my dinner listening to these 3 characters who could have been straight out of a film. The one older gent is divorcing his wife and was supposed to meet his lawyer, his soon to be ex, and another gent, who may have been another lawyer. His lawyer showed and I had heard him on his mobile with the other gent. He gave them explicit directions and then became miffed when they didn't show when they said they would. Then he sees them and she has gone to a restaurant on the other corner and is using the 2nd gent (who seems like a kindly soul, kind of a lost puppy) as a go between. I couldn't have written better dialogue myself.

So that's it for day one. I'm heading back to the hotel and gonna watch some telly and plot my world domination...I mean, my day tomorrow (forget I said anything!!!! I mean it!!!!) and hopefully I will have more colorful characters for you!

Cheers

Just about ready..

Well, it's just about time to leave for the airport. EXCITEMENT!!! I got an inhaler for my little coughing prob and I hopefully won't be annoying the other travellers too much. I'm all packed, I'm all showered, and I'm actually doing this. My dad is looking over my shoulder and hurrying my along, so I'll update you all when I have actually landed and gotten over the jetlag, or I'll do it with the jetlag, which will be even more fun!

Cheers :)

4 days and counting...

Hi everyone.

Well it's 4 days to my trips (okay, closer to 3 1/2) and I am sick sick sick. Possibly the worst time to come down with a bronchial cold or something or other. That's okay, drugs are good and I will stay heavily medicated until I leave, and possibly on the plane as well (Gravol is good for 8+ hour flights). So this is just the start, arriving in London on May 18 and leaving May 25. In the meantime, you can check here to see what kind of wild and crazy things I will do when left to my own devices.

Happy thoughts to all!

Trish