October 25, 2006
In and Around London, Part 1
London Theatre
Out of the 4 days I was in London, 4 of the nights were spent at the theatre. Life doesn't get much better than that! The fantastic thing about theatre in London is that it is so cheap! They have student concessions at nearly every theatre so we saw some remarkable shows for max $30 apiece. I tried to buy Wicked tickets here in Chicago and the minimum I could find was $60. And for the non-students, there is a half price ticket booth in Leicester Square (pronounced 'Lester' - I definitely got scolded on that one) that offers tickets to most of the shows playing each day at half price (if they're not already sold out).
My first night there we saw Wicked, with Idina Menzel as the wicked witch. She won a Tony for that role and was absolutely unbelievable. I cannot recommend this show enough, it's chock full of amazing songs, incredible voices, and out of control sets. Our seats were up really high, but even that could not spoil this show. A funny surprise was that the love interest in Coyote Ugly was the love interest in this show. So funny seeing movie people real life and in person.
And speaking of famous movie people, we got to see Tim Curry as King Arthur in Spamalot the next night.
(That's my sister in front of the giant glowing chalice)
Nothing like a giant glowing cup to draw a crowd! If you like Monty Python
at all, go see this show. It's hysterical, with all the good parts from the Holy Grail movie and none of the bad. Tim Curry is delightful (but when is he not??!!) and the rest of the cast is just fabulous. I laughed so hard the whole show long.
The next night was a more serious number with more famous people. We dressed up for
this show just because it was Kevin Spacey. That and we like to dress up!
Colm Meaney was also in it (click, I didn't recognize his name either but you'll recognize the face). The Old Vic theatre was a perfect place to see a play. Not too big and just the right amount of crazy decor to make it feel special. We had amazing seats for this show and it was really neat seeing K Spacey up close and personal. Live theatre really proves that he is a gifted actor. The play was really fantastic.
And FINALLY, we saw Tom Stoppard's new play
Rock N Roll. I had absolutely no idea what this show was about but had read several of Stoppard's other plays and thought, why not?? It was very interesting, a statement on communism in Europe peppered with Rock music that defined a generation. The movement of the show was really unique, with songs from Dylan and Pink Flloyd and the Stones and even the Beach Boys separating the scenes. Being the dork that I am, I loved the history lesson that was involved and told via the music. All in all, a really cool play but I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. You have to like that kind of thing.
11:50
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October 23, 2006
My Adventures in London
There are so many things to say about this trip. Even though I was only there for about 4 days, I saw and did SO much. I suppose I could start at the beginning. It is, as they say, a very good place to start.
The first day my sister and I toured the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.
(You can click all of these for bigger (somewhat better) pictures)
The Tower (which, technically, isn't really just one tower but several combined in a compound that includes various courtyards and gates and holding cells and prisons and a place for the Queen to stay. Just in case) is really quite amazing. It's amazing that they still deny torturing prisoners there when it was fairly obvious from the displays that they really did. It's amazing being able to stand in the "prisons" of very famous persons in English history. And it's amazing that the upper class really lived pretty decently when imprisoned. Probably close to my current living conditions, just without running water and electricity. But they had beautiful fire places, private rooms that took up whole floors of the tower, and stained glass masterpieces that let in some light.
Nearby the former prison buildings are the crown jewels. I didn't really get an explanation of why they are kept there. It's kind of a strange place to keep the royal goods if you ask me. But no one did. Not even the beefeaters. Sadly, no pictures allowed there...but I can't even imagine trying to capture all that sparkle on camera! The lighting is marvelous in those rooms. It captures every twinkle and sparkle of the fist sized diamonds on some of those pieces. Nearly unbelievable that those gems exist in a setting when entire countries are starving. That was the one thing that struck me when looking at the crowns and sceptors and serving dishes. All of this on display and so much devastation. No wonder our world is a mess sometimes. There is just too much to dicuss here so...
So to turn this away from a political statement, next we visited the Tower Bridge. This exhibit is totally worth the time and money. You get the view up and down the Thames:
The roundish building in the first picture is a city building which is the most environmentally friendly building on the planet. Supposedly. It looks awesome and apparently it uses hardly any energy at all. The tall building that looks like a giant pickle in the last picture is actually called the Gherkin. I couldn't even handle myself after I learned that. I'm such a small child.
The bridge, which most people think is
the "London Bridge," is only this beautiful because of a contest held around the turn of the 19th century. There were 2 other options, models of which were displayed in the exibit in the tower. Neither of which were terribly exciting to look at. This one was by far the better option.
That is about enough travel commentary for one day. I'll post more pictures later of other events and travels. And maybe even a finished RR shot in the next few days!
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