Highlights-London
I slept, with minimal stirring and no “eyes wide open, now what?”, until 10:00am after turning in at 11pm. A Melatonin tablet the night before might have helped. Who knows? The key today was to stay alert through the Back to The Future musical to continue my seven hour time zone adjustment as quickly as possible. After lunch, I worked on my journal in the room. It is my reference for these posts. I visited Greece and Mesopotamia at the British Museum (a good stay awake activity) then walked through neighborhoods I recognized near Covent Garden to reach the Theater District. Following a pre-show dinner at one theater, I walked to the Adelphi to see the Back to the Future musical. I took a bus back to the VSC (Marble Arch) at 10:30pm.
Notable Items
Lunch was at Boulangerie Paul across the street from the Victory Services Club (VSC). Normally, I won’t often include “I ate lunch” as notable, but I was struck by an unexpected opportunity. It was one of those travel experiences, usually early in a trip, that jolt me with “you’re not in the land of ‘red or green?’ anymore.” I entered and could hardly believe my eyes.
Look at those beauties
There before me in the glass display case was a stack of brie sandwiches! Two halves of a sesame seed encrusted baguette (just a little crunchy) stuffed with lettuce and long slices of brie. I *had* to have one of these. I was so transfixed by the slabs of cheesy goodness (I like brie) that I didn’t notice the lettuce until I started eating it, warmed, later. It was a memorable encounter with sandwich creativity (“artistry” might be a stretch). The sesame seeds shooting all over with every bite (it’s the way I roll) were a minor thing.
My room was serviced by a member of the housekeeping staff (that’s so much more cumbersome than the politically incorrect “maid”). As she was leaving, holding the door slightly ajar, she leaned back into the room and asked “Open or closed?” What the heck did that mean? I sometimes have this experience when I travel. Someone will say something to me, I hear the words, but I don’t know what they mean. It can be English or Spanish.
Two thoughts quickly came to mind. The first was “the door” open or closed, but that seemed not only uncommon, but impossible because hotel doors usually close automatically. How was she going to keep the door open? My second thought was she meant the window, but she was in the doorway, not near the window.
I started thinking harder—probably at glacial speed, I’m 66 after all. She repeated the question like everyone else does because they can’t see my thought bubbles as I work things out. I’ve learned from previous trips to the UK-Ireland that some communications need decoding because hearing doesn’t equal understanding when the phraseology is unexpected (“Is that for dine in or takeaway?”).
I was looking at her (it’s not staring if you aren’t focusing on something specific), puzzling away, when she added “the switch” with an eastern European accent, her fingers on the light switch by the door. Ahhh, “the lights” open or closed (“on or off”) because they were off when she entered and she turned them on to do her work.
I attended the Back to the Future musical and pre-show dinner. First the dinner.
I didn’t know where the dinner venue was. I vaguely remembered that it was not where the musical was being performed (it was on tiny print in a section of the electronic ticket that I read too fast to notice. Solution? Ask the ushers at the theater!
The first one I asked wasn’t sure (that’s a training program for you). She consulted an associate. She gave me a set of directions in a British accent (directions in American-accented English are hard enough) that sounded like: go down the block and turn left, walk to Tavistock Street, turn right, blah, blah, turn left, it’s the theater where Hercules is playing. That may have been 60% of the information she conveyed, but it was enough to find the theater.
The dining area was a lounge area on the 1st floor (2nd floor in the U.S.). It was likely the location of intermission refreshment because there was a bar in the middle a room with a ceiling of great height accompanied by chandeliers of great proportions. I was nattily dressed in my green jacket and wool button down shirt. Some diners were similarly dressed. Others dressed for McDonald’s (sigh, we live in an “always casual” world). I paid 39.50£ in advance for the three courses. I started with smoked salmon, moved to a medium-well beef roast, and finished with sticky toffee pudding under ice cream. The drinks I ordered, carbonated water, diet coke, and an espresso with dessert (extra caffeine to stay awake) were almost as costly as the meal: 27.30£. People have to make money. Sometimes it is my role to assist.
The Back to The Future musical was a pleasure. It was my primary motivation for coming to London a few days earlier than I planned (it closed 12 Apr). This is no place for the scene by scene notes I took so I’ll just give the highlights of what I thought was interesting. The story and dialogue were modified for the limitations of a physical performance in a theater. They couldn’t repeat Marty’s escape from Biff and his henchmen in the square, for example.
I’ve seen the movies (first and third, second is no fun) many times. I’m not a film critic, so I will only note that the second episode is dark (thus no fun) and has the look of “we wrote Crispin Glover out of the story at the last minute” all over it. I was looking forward to observing the differences beyond the singing and dancing (comes with the territory in a musical). The music and dancing were fun. It was all very lively and well done (a live band helps). The Huey Lewis songs from the movie, The Power of Love and Back in Time were saved for the end.
Back in my hotel room after 10:30pm and a long (but warmer than walking) bus ride from the theater, I noticed a curious thing (“The power of love is a curious thing.”) In my case it wasn’t the power of love. It was really cold air flowing into the room under the door like a gale force wind off an iceberg. It wasn’t as cold as what I’ve experienced under doors in Montana in the winter, but way out of line for London in April. Lacking spare towels, I partially blocked it with the pillow I wasn’t using and my shoes turned sideways.
Travel Gear Note
I will sometimes post observations about the gear I brought on the trip: how it is working, what I might do differently, and new things I am trying. Readers may find these thoughts interesting. If not, just skip these sections. You were warned.
The last several trips out of the country, I have been carrying a fanny pack as a cross body bag. The pack is an excellent way to keep from having to overstuff my pants pockets. The pants I have used lately for travel don’t have deep pockets either.
An anti-pick pocket measure recommended by Rick Steves and others is a money belt or something similar that you stuff inside your pants. I thought the designs on travel gear websites were lame. I purchased an Eagle Creek wallet, ran a minimalist cord through the belt loops, and have been wearing the cord around my neck with the wallet only slightly tucked into my pants. The pants I’m wearing have deeper pockets so I only need to put money, passport, credit cards, and an emergency information card in the wallet. It is more comfortable than the feeling of a lump under my arm from the cross body bag.
