London (Day 3)

We woke up pretty late considering our planned day. Neither of us can help it… Elle is exhausted and the bed i am sleeping on is the most comfortable i have seen in over a month, I’m catching up on lost hours! After Elle taking 2 hours in the bathroom, we set out, destination, Buckingham Palace. We took the bus then the tube (central line) to Green Park Station. We wondered through Green Park to the Palace. It was quite plain to look at, and I found myself more fascinated at the guards, police, military and security personnel that at the actual palace. Thats not to say I didnt get a photo of me in front of it. Now there is one thing that is very dangerous about getting your photo taken in front of something… Every tourist in a two mile radius then wants you to take their photo with their family… Elle and I were stuck there for a good few minutes as tourists mobbed us and robbed us of our kindness!

We eventually were able to move on, and headed towards St James Palace, which turned out to be the better looker. We took a few photos of the guards that aren’t allowed to move (complete with loaded automatic rifles i might add) and headed out across St James’s Park towards 10 Downing Street. It was a fair hike and we were stuck behind a garbage truck for a significant period of the way… But the ducks were pretty. We saw the Horse Guards and the Cabinet War Rooms, as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth offices. Whilst we were standing at the back entrance to 10 Downing Street, Tony Blair arrived. Now I would say the Prime Minister, BUT he resigned yesterday. He arrived, walked inside, and then a minute or two later as Gab and I were walking down the street, he left again, complete with bulletproof Jaguar, Convoy motorcycles, and four fully armed guards in a very very nice looking Range Rover. I got it on film, and will post it to YouTube, see www.youtube.com/geordieb1

We then continued on to see Big Ben, which was very impressive and much more than some old clock. The Houses Of Parliament were also quite a powerful scene, because i had spent many an evening watching broadcasts from London which showed the Parliament behind them. We walked across the Thames river and found a pub for lunch. I had steak and ale pie and it was very very nice, even though the mash was instant mash. Elle had the only Vegetarian option on the menu, a lasagna, which she whinged about all afternoon, even though she had said previously that some pasta like stuff would be nice… Very strange! We finished our meal and started heading for the Tate Modern. We walked along the river boulevard, called Southbank, which I found very amusing. Melbourne’s Southbank is better laid out and less pedestrian. We walked for a very long time, neither of us knew it was so far, but eventually we got there and fell onto the grass outside for a significant period of time. After we had regained some strength we moved inside the “Turbine House”.

The exhibition that was in there was named “Cities and their changing face”. It was an amazing exhibition, and featured a number of different artists. One particular exhibit was by an Indian Woman who was investigating the lack of public toilets in New Delhi and the living conditions people had to endure. Elle left me to go to work after about two hours and I entertained myself there for about an hour after that. I then left to head towards my final destination for the evening, Victoria Station, and the Apollo Victoria Theatre, home of Wicked, The New Musical!

I arrived at the box office at about twenty past six, and lined up for tickets, there was a couple of American tourists ahead of me and as i got called to the window, they were enquiring about two tickets, I asked for one and the box office guy turned to the guy serving the two Americans and asked if he was going to sell those tickets, they were the last two in the theatre, It turns out the two girls couldn’t sit together, so they had decided to see the show another night. Pure luck! So i paid my 25 pounds, very worth it in my opinion, as my seat was worth 85 pounds. I then had to entertain myself for about a half hour, so i headed out to get photos of the front of the theatre and of the local buses. I also grabbed some food (a vegetable pastie) and headed back to the theatre. When i got there I was compelled to buy a t-shirt. It is very nice, black, with the Wicked London logo on the front. The doors opened and so i headed out to do my usual, and check out the Lighting and Sound consoles. They had two GrandMA consoles, one running live backup, that controlled the movers, statics, practicals, smoke, and AV. The AV was run off two projectors on the front of the dress circle. The sound console i couldn’t identify, but got a photo of and all of the radio mic receivers and eq units and effects units were very impressive. They had added house lights throughout the theatre, which i found interesting. I got a few photos of the pre-show state also. I can’t wait until this show comes to Melbourne, I am going to get a secondment on it. I was sitting next to a quite nice American family and I got chatting to the mum, they were from Washington. They were well traveled and loved the theatre, so I gave them a chance, and it paid off, they were very nice theatre neighbors.

The house lights dimmed and the orchestra started playing the opening theme. It was magical to be back in a theatre again, as i cant remember the last time i was in one. The music in this show was truely amazing, the lighting changed the scenes so effectively, the set was elaborate and quite stunning, but out of everything Kerry Ellis who played Elphaba was the most amazing voice i have ever heard, she sent shivers up my spine with the most amazing control over her voice and flawless switching between text and song. This musical renewed my faith in the theatre industry, the theatre was packed out with over 2000 people and the atmosphere was electric. I could go on for weeks, but i won’t, YOU ALL NEED TO SEE THIS MUSICAL!!!

The show finished and I exited the theatre, finding my way to the bus stop after asking a few bus employees where to go. I still got lost on the way home and took way too many buses. I caught Elle on her way back from work, which was nice and then went to bed!