London, England

Sorry to be out of touch for the past couple of days, but I have just been having so much fun in London that it has been difficult to make the time to blog.

I arrived on Sunday after a train ride through the Chunnel from Paris to London. When I arrived, I had not established a firm time to meet up with Shelley so I decided to do a nice walk (about two miles) from the train station to the Regents College Campus. Once I arrived, I was turned away since it is a highly secure campus so I found an internet cafe nearby and sent Shelley an e-mail. She had already tried to contact me and set up an exact time and place to meet (Starbucks across from King's Cross station at 5pm). I headed that way and to meet up with her. Apparently, though, there are three Starbucks in the King's Cross area and, after going to two out of three of them, I figured I had missed her in the small window of opportunity we had.

With pack still resting on my shoulders, I decided to figure out a show to see and meet up with Shelley at the college after she got out of the show she was attending. I decided to see Billy Elliot and had a blast. I was lucky that the cloak room attendant let me check my luggage with her. The show was simply bliss and a perfect way to spend an evening after a long day of traveling and missed encounters. I would highly recommend anyone to see it and it put into my head how much I missed theatre.

After the show, I decided to see as much theatre as I could while in a country where I understand the language. So far I have seen Billy Elliot, La Cage a Folles, and We Will Rock You. The first two were terrific and delightful. The latter made my skin crawl. I enjoy the music of Queen and thought that I would enjoy the show but it was a terrible waste. At least most other people in the audience enjoyed it. Tomorrow I am going to see a show at the National Theatre. It should be really good and it is not a musical for a change.

I haven't done a terrible lot of touring while I have been here. Yesterday I did several hours at the Tate Modern and today I went to Harrod's to see what it was all about. I did so much of the tourist stuff on my last trip to London, I haven't felt it a necessity to return to any of those places which means I can afford more theatre. Plus, it has been great getting to see Shelley and my other friend Karyn while I have been here. They have introduced me around, so when the two of them are busy with class or work, I have been escorted around by some of their other friends. I am absolutely loving London and I wish I could just unpack my bag and stay for a while (especially now that the Pound is doing worse, making my dollars go a lot further). But, alas, there is still much of the world left for me to see.