After the Netherlands, Kim and I were looking forward to having two full days in London completely free. We got in late Friday night, and I had so much bottled-up excitement about being in London that I seriously thought I was going to burst. We checked in to Le Meridien on Picadilly, a posh hotel right in the middle of everything.
The coolest thing in my hotel room was a speaker in the bathroom that played whatever you had on the television. Simple pleasures! Flipping through the channels was like being at a UN meeting – channels in German, French, Dutch, Spanish, even a channel for Al-Jazeera. I loved watching the BBC in the mornings – the biggest news stories were Mark Foley and Bush’s passing of a law that pretty much outlawed online gambling for Americans. (Back in the states, no one had even heard about the online gambling rule – interesting…)
On our first morning, Kim and I walked down Regal Street to Oxford and hit two fun stores – Top Shop and H&M. I hit the hosiery department. I know it sounds lame, but I love funky socks, and with the sucky exchange rate of the British pound, it was about all I could afford. I wound up with a few pairs of socks, tights, a couple of skirts and pair of striped gloves.
a sign on Oxford StreetThat afternoon, we had awesome seats for
Wicked, and we were lucky enough to catch Idina Menzel reprising her Tony Award-winning role of Elphaba. I never thought I’d see her perform live. She was amazing – producing a series of chills up and down my arm throughout the show – and even a few tears during “Defying Gravity.” What can I say? I am a sucker for an underdog story.
Oh, and the guy who played Piper Perabo’s boyfriend in
Coyote Ugly played Fiero. He was pretty impressive, and not just because he was hot and had a British accent.
ummm ... technobarf?By the end of the show, we were overwhelmed by the drama of West End excitement and decided to walk over to the theater where
Billy Elliott was playing to see if they had any tickets available. We heard nothing but rave reviews about the show from anyone we talked to, including Jason, who saw it just a week or two before we arrived in London.
Kim and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Monday night, so we were thrilled and suddenly slightly concerned that we’d get out of work in time to actually make it to the theater. We did, and we really enjoyed the show. The accents were sometimes difficult to understand – think
Trainspotting and
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels -- but it was a really fun show. The dancing was amazing, especially the 11-year-old boys who had more talent in their big toe than I do in my whole being.
intellectual political statements abound in londonWhat else? We shopped, we walked all over our “neighborhood” one night – there was a Virgin Megastore on our block! – and on our last free day, we did some sightseeing, too. Kim and I had both visited London before, so we were content to wander around a bit. We went to Tower Bridge and then did something amazing – we hopped on the London Eye for a bird’s-eye view of the city. It was a really cool experience. You move so slowly, it’s almost imperceptible, and it took nearly 20 minutes to go around completely.
So, what did I learn about our friends across the pond?
The Brits call Tony Blair “George Bush’s poodle.”
The cabs are roomier than my college dorm.
Every building is beautiful.
I loved watching their nerdy grammar game shows.
I want go back.
Bright Eyes has announced tour dates in support of Cassadaga, and if you want to see the show in the venue closest to the album's namesake, then you'll spend the evening of May 17 at Hard Rock Live in Orlando. I'm thrilled that Conor and Mike and the always-bored-looking keyboard player and all the rest. Check out Pitchforkmedia.com for the full tour.
