My alarm sounded all too eager to make some noise at 3am this morning. Somehow I managed to comply to it's wishes, even before the next snooze went off. I got up, woke myself up with a few crunches (like a hundred, but who's really counting), and got dressed for the day. I was a little bit later in coming downstairs than I intended, but I had just enough time to fry up a couple of eggs, put 'em on one half of a toasted english muffin while I spread the other half with a little Nutella. Believe it or not, I actually threw together a pleasant PB and Nutella sandwich for lunch at the same time as well. Not bad for multitasking at 3am, eh?
Actually, Miya and I just shook our heads the whole time, wondering how we could now be so rusty and slow at a process that we once had down to an exact science only a few weeks ago.
All was dark when I walked out to the van at two minutes before 4. Most of the people from my house were still working on getting outside; I actually think that Abbey had just gotten out of bed at this point.
I picked an empty window seat towards the back of the van, one of my favorites actually. It was only when I happened to look out my window at the street I've been walking so many times that I actually realized where I was. I was in the van again! Our van! The travel van! The one that whisks us away to such incredible places! I'M BACK IN THE VAN!! :)
Time for present tense. I didn't realize just how much I missed this van the last few weeks until now. It really was really nice that we just had a few weeks to just live in one place and focus on something as stationary as school. Before Welsh school, I wasn't sure if I could handle doing more traveling, I was just finally getting worn out. But now that I look out my window again at those incredible country landscapes, I don't have a doubt in my mind; I am not backing down from living every day to the fullest.
It's pitch black out there now. I considered if this place was more similar to home than I previously thought, but that thought was interrupted as I noticed something interesting; we are on the outskirts of the city areas, and the highway is on a rise that looks out on dozens of miles of land...but there were maybe two lights that could be seen in the whole stretch of land. Two. Not the zillion that fill every single town I've been to in Utah. Two. And we were only about fifteen minutes outside of Cardiff. There were about twenty on the river as we crossed the bridge, and I once saw a road that was lined with street lamps. But now, I see one light every twenty minutes; one sleepy bedroom window that is lit, or one light against a metal barn. Everything else is just rolling, living land, dark green and black with the last shadows of a night almost finished.
I can't tell you how much I've missed this.
It wasn't long before I had to turn from writing in the present and into my trusty little black book so I could write about days past and gone. I was able to stay awake for the first hour of the drive and get some writing finish before I fell into the ever-entertaining state of what we pretend is 'sleep'. An hour and a half later, I awoke to the sensation of our magic teleportation vehicle coming to a rare halt. As I untangled myself from myself, I peeked out of my window and met a delightful sight: the Robin Hood Inn, with it's dirty white walls and battered roof. London was only a tube away!
We all tumbled out of the van and staggered down the sidewalk, drunk with the after-effects of an early awakening. I'm sure we looked like a bunch of zombies, but when you are an active participant, your perspective changes a little bit.
We got on our usual Hammersmith tube and made our way into the heart of London's circle line. It was only 7:30 in the morning, and I already had a major decision to make: go with a few of the girls to see a small production Daniel Radcliffe was in (Lydia and I had looked up the reviews for it last night, and it described a very dark comedy about a cripple who loved the f word. No joke, that was the whole description, so I wasn't super impressed.) or go on my own to see Wicked. I knew I wasn't ever going to have the chance to see a big production in the states, much less Wicked, so this was it. I had to go see it. Josie and Theresa were planning on going to see Les Mis, and I considered going, but I just couldn't spend my last day in London, probably forever, doing something I had already done. It's just not me. Lydia and Abbey were going to see The Cripple (the Daniel Radcliffe play). Miya and Calysta (our two Sister RM's) were going clear out to the Preston temple to do a few sessions, and Bronte and Mandi just wanted to go see something small that they hadn't ever seen before.
So when we took turns telling each other where we were going, I said I was going to go get tickets to Wicked on my own. Was I scared? Yup. Did I think it was a wise idea? Nope, but I was doing it anyway. I just couldn't miss the chance to see such a huge performance as Wicked in London. Last time we were here, I had a bad opinion of it, since I knew there were going to be lots of heavy British accents. But then it hit me, I knew nothing about the music, so I really wouldn't know the difference!!! Decision made.
More than anything I was bummed I would have to stand in the ticket booth line alone for two hours (we get there so early in the morning for the sole purpose of getting really far up in the matinee line for whatever theatre we decide to go to).
When the girls learned that I was going on my own, they gasped. Great guys, that helps. But I really didn't want them to worry, so I just shrugged it off and told them that it wasn't a big deal. But Abbey got a funny look on her face. She looked down and I saw she had a super conflicted expression. I was confused, she knew where she was going. Within a few seconds, she jumped up and over to where Theresa was holding a rod and asked her some questions. Theresa responded very unenthusiastically, but Abbey's face blossomed with excitement. With that, she ran back and past us to where Bronte and Mandi were sitting. She talked with them for just a second, and when Bronte nodded a yes, Abbey shrieked with delight and did the 'happy dance' we are all so familiar with now before running back to us. She was absolutely beaming.
We asked her what was up, but before I even got those words out, her face switched briefly to one of apology. "Lydia, I'm not coming to Daniel Radcliffe any more, but Mandi and Bronte are, so you don't have to worry about being alone." she said, before turning around to me. "Rachel," she beamed, "I'm coming with you to Wicked!!!" I was so thrilled I think I squealed a bit. Okay, I'm pretty positive I did. Nbd. :) But then I told her that she didn't have to change her plans just because I was going solo. In fact, I told her that she shouldn't, since she and Lydia had planned on going. But Lydia responded first, saying that as long as she had the other girls to go with then there were no problems. I looked hard at Abbey, but she was still glowing. She said that she wanted to see Wicked again more than anything, because it was her absolute favorite musical, and it was in London....but mostly because she had fallen madly in love with Fierro the last time she saw it here. Seriously, Miya spent days after she and Abbey saw wicked here together trying to find the right way to describe what happened to Abbey when Fierro came out on stage, and the final description was 'she just melted, all over the place.' So she said again that she had to go see it again while we were still here. And I just about died I was so relieved!!!
So when our train pulled into the first transition station, we split up from the rest of the group and hopped on a Piccadilly line tube with Abbey, Calysta, and Miya. One stop later Abbey and I transferred to another line again, and arrived near our Victoria Apollo theatre only about three stops later. Since Abbey had been there before, once we got out to the streets, she knew right were to go. The theatre was only about four blocks away, so that was convenient.
We got there at 8am, and though the ticket office didn't open until 10am, we were behind a healthy que of five people already. So we sat on the steps, now in que, and just happily chatted the two hours away.
I say with all the sincerity I know how to convey through the written word that Abigail Harper is honestly the happiest and most selfless girl I have ever known. She just bubbles over with an untamed joy, and her willingness to find the goodness in every person, place, and event is exemplary. I have seen her time and time again demonstrate such a contagious excitement for everything we have ever gone and done here that it has honestly made this whole trip better. I have also seen her resolve potential conflicts so subtly and with such selfless compliance that any hint of a disagreement is consumed by her positive outlook on the situation. Really, that girl has an extraordinary gift of charity, and I truly hope to become a better person because of her special example.
Well, once 10 o'clock rolled around, we excitedly made our way up the line and into the ticket office, where we purchased two of the cheapest tickets for the matinee. Get this: two neighboring tickets to London's top cast of Wicked, for £27, on the FRONT ROW!!! Zero problems with that :)
Once tickets were in our happy hands, we ran down to the tube and travelled over to our designated meeting spot with the other girls: George Washington. We all love this statue of George, for various reasons. First, it was as much a reminder of our distant homeland as is the rare slice of apple pie or the confusion we feel when we see a cricket field. Second, it's just a nifty life-sized statue. Third, it's where we all found each other after some of our group got lost in London the last time we were all there. So, that obscure statue outside of the London Art Museum and on the edge of Trafalgar Square may not be as awe-inspiring as the nearby lions, but it has a special kind of sentimental value for us.
When Abbey and I arrived, the other girls were not there. But we noticed that a street performer was setting up on the cobble stones nearby, so we walked over to watch for a bit. It turned out to be an overenthusiastic, highly flexible but un-exceptional yoga dude from Jamaica. I've never seen anyone more excited about the vibrations of the universe before, but this guy could have had them for breakfast that morning and been just jolly. It was pretty great.
While we were there, Josie and Theresa snuck up behind us and put their heads on our shoulders, announcing their arrival. We were excited to see them. Not more than two minutes later, Lydia, Mandi, and Bronte came up to us as well. Once we were all together, we bid George adieu, said hello to the Trafalgar lions, and then walked down the street to where we could see Big Ben.
On the way, we walked past the royal housing area. This place is always fenced off and the famous enduring guards with the red uniforms and funny hats stand to either side, sending well-deserved grumpy thoughts to the Americans that bumble past. As we looked over, though, we saw that the guards had fancier uniforms on today, that they were both on black horses, and they had unsheathed swords in their right hands. They weren't moving, but I thought that this was a strange pose for them. There was a gigantic crowd surrounding them, and arms attached to cameras were sticking high above the mass, taking pictures through the gates. We were on the opposite side of the road, but we could see past the gates just a tiny bit. There were a couple of yellow vested bobbies with black helmets on, talking rather fervently to four or five tightly-clustered men wearing black suits, black sunglasses, and had earpieces. After a little bit, the two units split up and the bobbies walked out while the suits got in formation and headed farther into the royal courtyard. I'll never really know what was up, but I'm glad I saw that bit!
After we saw Big Ben again for a bit, we found a nearby tube and headed off to Kings Cross station. Kings Cross is gigantic, but somehow we managed to find the wall leading to Platform 9 3/4!! There was a gigantic que for the trolley sticking half out of it, and apparently you had to pay to take pictures with it, so we opted for just going into the nearby Harry Potter shop. There was a ton of cool stuff in there! We had a blast looking at the wand replicas from all of the characters from the books, and the Marauder's Maps were cool too. I almost bought a keychain, until I remembered that I'm not much of a keychain person (and I had already bought a Welsh keychain at Llanfairpgogogoch), so I successfully left without buying a thing!
After we got back on the tube, we took the circle line almost all the way to the far side to get to...BAKER STREET!!! That's right, gentle reader, THE Baker Street. I knew it was going to look just like any other street, and I was cool with that. I also knew that we were going to see the home of a person that didn't actually live there, and I was cool with that. This is because Sherlock Holmes is one of the few people who never lived, but will never die either!! Take that, reality! :)
Well, the museum was indeed inside 221B, but the building was very small (as it should be), so touring groups could only go in as a group of twenty (which still would have been a huge group for that house). Because of this, there was a gigantic line outside (as is only proper), and there was an 8 pound fee, so we didn't go in. But the gift shop next door was open for anyone!
Now, the thing about me buying souvenirs goes kind of like this: if it's gonna just sit on my shelf, then I'm not going to buy it. If it's art for my wall or it's something that will be used/worn often, then if I really like the price and how it looks, then I snag it. I just HATE buying fake or unusable stuff. Seriously, it's just not normal for me to buy things like figurines or curio cabinet stuff. So when I went into the Sherlock Holmes shop, I ran into a bit of a struggle. I'm driving a small dagger into myself as I write this, but Sherlock never really lived here. He never really used any of those magnifying glasses or hats or anything. So...I couldn't buy any of them. And as I went around the store, I realized that nothing was, well, real enough for me to pay money for. I was in a bind, and didn't know what to do, until I saw a drawer of illuminated sketches that were matted. I was curious, so I looked, and found a whole big box of the original pictures from the Strand Magazine publications from the first-published adventures!! I was so excited! These were real, as real as Sherlock Holmes can get! So I picked out a gorgeous scene from the Hound of the Baskervilles, and walked out with a smile on my face.
By this time, we had about an hour until our show, so we decided to all go to the tube and part ways to our respective shows.... so we did.
When Abbey and I got inside our theatre, we excitedly found our seats and sat down. We were soo excited!! She couldn't believe that I knew nothing about the story or the music from Wicked, so she was flipping out at this point. Haha, it was like I was looking at a reflection of myself when I was introducing Abbey and Miya to Sherlock for the first time! :)
We happened to notice a couple of girls sitting in the seats just beside us that we were next to in the line that morning. After a few awkward glances, we broke the ice and just started chatting with them. After talking with them for a while, we learned that they were actually from Dublin and had come to see a ton of the shows here in London. When I mentioned that me and a friend of mine would be coming to Dublin in a few days, Laura, the older girl, said that she would be totally fine putting us up for a night if we ever ran into trouble while we were there. Otherwise, she would be more than willing to tell us what cool stuff there was to do in Dublin. So I handed her my little black book and she put in her contact information. Cool, eh?
Well, shortly after, the show began. And it was WICKED!!!! Oh man, I'll be buying that soundtrack when I get home, along with a plethora of other songs that I have discovered while I've been out here. I'll be coming home with many already (don't tell that to any lawyers), but this soundtrack is high on the list. Fierro and Glinda drove me a little bit crazy at the beginning for some reason, but I fell in love with both of them by the end. And watching how the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and especially the Scarecrow came to be was incredible! I was delightfully surprised at each one. Except for the Scarecrow, I teared up a lot at that one.
When it ended, I asked Abbey if she wanted to go meet the cast, especially Fierro (I loved seeing the melting process in action for myself). I was shocked when she looked panicked and said no. I asked her why not, but her terrified look persisted as she said that she was too nervous to actually go and meet him, that she gets super starstruck. But I knew she was going to regret it if she didn't take this chance, so I was a goober, and coaxed her up and out of the theatre towards the back. There were only two girls waiting out by the stage exit door. They already had program and pen in hand, but all I needed was my camera. I eventually got out my book when Dr. Dillamond came out, so we got his autograph. Abbey very sheepishly put out her ticket to him, so I applauded her for that. She kept going on about how handsome she thought Fierro was, but then would shy away and say that she didn't think she could do this. I told her we could leave if she wanted to, but she would always look very brave when I put this forward and would say that she was going to see it through. I would never have thought that big wig actors would be the thing to scare Abbey, but it certainly was.
After we got Glinda's signature, the man of Abbey's day walked out of the door. Oh man, her jaw dropped, her hands fell, and she just stared. Everyone around us (the crowd had grown) swarmed him, so it took a while for us to get to him, but eventually, Abbey and I got his signature and he gave us a big hug while we got a picture with him. Abbey swore as he left that she would never wash her shoulders too much after that again, and while I have seen Abbey smile great big gigantic smiles, I have never seen her smile bigger than in that picture on my camera.
We went back to George after that to meet our group for our 6 o'clock dinner, as we had previously decided, but we were very late getting there, and there was no one there. So we hopped back on the tube and traveled to the Bayswater stop. This was the closest stop to Kahns restaurant, our favorite spot in London for dinner. I must admit, I am so proud of my ability to navigate the tube network of London. They are crazy, but I feel totally confident in my ability to get to anywhere from anywhere in London now. Cool eh?
I had opted out of eating lunch that day, since I just really wasn't hungry or thirsty at all. So I didn't drink anything either. Um, normally that's not a problem for me at all, but since we had been on our feet and traveling all day, I actually started feeling a little weird by this point. Fortunately, the dizziness didn't hit until we got to the restaurant. The whole group was there, and the waiter knew just where to take us. For as late as we were, we were only behind the last group of people by about ten minutes, so we got our food when they did. But there was a really super embarrassing moment where I kind of, sort of, ALMOST passed out at the table. But I didn't, and I drank like five glasses of water. So after I had eaten something, despite still not being hungry, I felt a ton better.
After dinner was over and we had caught up with how everyone's day had gone, we all walked back to the tube, and headed to the far Hammersmith stop. The sun was setting at this point, turning the sky orange and the clouds a vibrant red. I would have been an idiot to not snap some shots of that gorgeous sunset behind the skylight of London, so I happily obliged to common sense.
After the last 20 minute walk from Hammersmith, we arrived at our happy van, and headed home to Cardiff. Boy, I didn't envy Anders that evening, though he and Tom switched off halfway.
I sort of dozed for most of the trip home, but spent the great part of my time jamming out to the awesome songs on my ipod. Almost three hours later, around 11pm, we once again tumbled out of the van, where we bumbled upstairs to our rooms and got ready for bed. After thanking my people upstairs for another incredible day in London Town, I finally crashed.
Ah nineteen-hour days, how I have missed you.
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