London - Day one!

London trip = success. And lots of pictures. So I'll just explain picture by picture.

The plane ride was pretty uneventful. It was packed, barely enough room for suitcases which sucked, but oh well. We met a guy from the UK that gave us some suggestions for places to go, what was worth paying for, etc. And he knew Russel Brand before he was famous, which is awesome.

We got to London at 10:15 into Gatwick Airport...I had the directions to the hostel, but alas, the train stuff was NOT clear. We were so confused. By the time we got on the train and to the London Bridge Metro station, we had enough time to take one leg of our journey and then we walked about half a mile to our hostel, which wasn't bad at all.

Here's Kristen and I on the train:


And London Eye, first thing we saw:



Woke up early the next day because I wanted to do all my theatre kid things...bought my ticket to Billy Elliot at one of the many half price ticket stands in Leicester Square, then headed over to Covent Garden to see some My Fair Lady scenery.

The Underground Station:


Don't remember:


No, I did not find the muffin man. :-(


The Opera House!


Some telephone booths:


More of the Opera House...it's gorgeous:


Oliver was playing down the street...fitting:


Official Covent Garden:


And they had Christmas Decorations up!


St Paul's Church in Covent Garden


More Covent Garden:


A tea shop I stopped in to look, and bought Grandma a small jar of orange marmalade:


Putting the Christmas decorations up around London:


One of many musical theatres!!!


St Paul's Cathedral:





I thought it was cool that you could rent bicycles. Like a bicycle vending machine kind of.


Tower Bridge in the distance:


The Millennium Bridge!!! LIKE HARRY POTTER!!!


River Thames:


Old Globe Theatre:


St Paul's Cathedral from the other side of the river:


A better view of the Millennium Bridge:


A better view of the Old Globe Theatre...didn't have time/££ to go inside, but it was cool to see the outside and the shop and read some history:


Fleet Street. And a Barber shop sign. On Fleet Street. :-) (hint: Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for those who are not versed in Sondheim):


London:


Some government building, I do not remember exactly what:


The Tube:


Piccadilly Circus:


Admiralty Arch:


St. James Park:


A plaza...I can't find the name anywhere, but it looks really familiar, so I feel like it's famous:




More St. James Park...so beautiful, perfect for a fall day:



Churchill's War Cabinet Museum, I believe:


Big Ben story - Pretty much the thing I really, really loved about London was that you could be walking and all of a sudden it was like, "Hey, I've seen that in a movie" (like the Millennium Bridge and Covent Garden and Tower Bridge, all of them I didn't go looking for, I just kind of found) and you've just stumbled across a famous monument or whatever. That's what I feel like I am missing in Madrid, I just don't have those associations that go back years to monuments in Spain. No pop culture or reference to anything in Madrid. So I'm walking along, past the plaza, towards Westminster Abbey (I didn't know what Parliament looked like, and I didn't realize that Big Ben was also right there)...I'm walking...and I hit an intersection, look to my left, and there's Big Ben. THAT was the moment that I was just like, "EFF. I'm in LONDON. WOOOWWWWWWW..." and I start like bawling on the sidewalk. Just was really, really awesome. And Big Ben was not as lame as I expected it to be, I LOVED it, I thought it was gorgeous, and the whole area was just amazing:


Parliament Square & Westminster Abbey Area:









Buckingham Palace - Unfortunately, I completely spaced on the changing of the guard (which apparently only happens every other day), and I just forgot to go. Oh well, I will go when I go back, I would definitely like to see it, but the palace was beautiful:








A park near the palace of memorials...the Australia-Britain one was lovely, it had water flowing down the whole thing. Really cool:





Hyde Park Corner:


What I imagined London to look like in my head:


Christmas Decorations!!


HARRODS!!! Went in for like 10 minutes and couldn't handle the crowds (and prices), but at least I made it in a little bit lol.



Train station:


BILLY ELLIOT!! This is what I went and saw that night:


And I ate at the Spaghetti House. Paid a little too much, but it was close to the theatre and all I had to do was sit there and they would come to me. I tried to order a shepherd pie at a pub, but I didn't understand how it worked, so I ended up sitting there for a half hour and finally giving up...I was cold, wet, hungry, and cranky. But it was delicious and the waiter was super nice.


My ultimate decision on Billy Elliot: Glad I went, the dancing was just BEAUTIFUL, the adult acting was great, but I didn't care for most of the music unless it was a dance number, and I thought the the kid that played Billy was extremely talented, but not an actor. Singing was good. I mean, they train these kids almost 6 months to play Billy. BUT the kid that played his friend was brilliant, so impressed with both of their acting in that relationship, but the kid that played Michael just went for it. My ONLY ONLY ONLY wish was that they hadn't cut the end of the movie and replaced it with the cheesy dance number. I LOVE the ending to the movie, when you get to see the future Billy, Michael, and how the dad has really accepted and supported the kid. That was the part that really moved me in the movie and what I was looking forward to. Although the part in the musical when he brings in the letter from his dead "mam", and the dance teacher is reading it and can't get through, but he has the whole thing memorized so he sings it for her...UGH. Everyone around me was a mess. That scene and the dream ballet were my favorite, and I wish the show would have moved me more than it did. (Next to Normal should have won Best Musical...all I'm saying...)

Here's a video from Billy Elliot of the main song (music's by Elton John). The song is based on the quote from the movie:
(In response to the question "what does it feel like when you dance?")
Billy: "Don't know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going... then I like, forget everything. And... sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I've got this fire in my body. I'm just there. Flyin' like a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity."