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So Much Fun, It Should Be A National Holiday.
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; but thankfully, the
"lose the battles but win the war" theme is holding strong. :-) I'd
planned out quite a busy schedule for my time in England, and one of the
things I was most looking forward to was taking my adorable little cousin
Hannah -- who I can't believe just turned 18 on the 23rd -- to see The
Lion King on the West End in London for her birthday. After seeing it
in Los Angeles with my sister last year, I think it's the perfect
introduction to the world of theater and culture and all those things that
young adults should learn to appreciate at some point.
So after a really sweet Christmas Day with family, opening presents by the beautifully-decorated Christmas Tree, the works... we got up early on the 26th and headed to the Cambridge train station to catch a train into London. This would have been a marvellous plan... if there'd been any actual trains there. :-) Whoops. Someone totally forgot that Boxing Day is a national holiday almost on par with Christmas, when most of the shops and services shut down completely. Thanks to some quick thinking from my older cousin Shirin, we rerouted to the coach station, where some infrequent bus service would still get us to London-- probably, maybe, possibly, but not sure when. The first bus arrived after about a half hour of waiting, but was too full with people who'd actually gone to the trouble of planning ahead and booking a ticket. The next bus left around 11:45am, and we made it onto that, and after a long winding trip through the countryside, made it into London, driving through the east side of the city en route to Victoria Station. It was kinda cool, in that we got to fast-forward through many of the touristy sights of the city, with me pointing out everything from the financial district of the City to the Gerken building in the Docklands and the London Eye and Westminister bridge, Parliament Houses, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Buck Place, everything... Apparently, just one day with Jim and you too can be a tour guide! :-) We reached Victoria only at 1:35pm, so it was a bit of a rush to get to the Lyceum on Wellington Street in time for a 2:00pm show. But, a quick taxi ride past Buckingham, through Trafalgar, and up a few blocks, and we were there, collecting tickets, and in our seats almost five whole minutes before the curtains went up. Amazing. And it just got better and better from there. The performance was amazing, and the seats were pretty much exactly where I wanted them-- central, good view overall, and with an aisle seat so you could see the animal processions right next to you as they walked through the aisles up to the stage. It really was quite fantastic, though I somehow think the L.A. show was slightly better. Can't quite put my finger on why, though maybe it was because this theater was smaller, the songs here seemed slightly faster paced and the young African lions delivered their lines with thick British accents. *grin*  (The Circle of Life, from the no-cameras-allowed Lyceum Theatre.) Afterward, we walked a couple blocks back to Trafalgar and took the Tube from Charing Cross to Victoria. Again, this went off without a hitch until we reached Victoria and had to find the Victoria Coach Station that's a few blocks away from the actual Victoria Station. #&@$&@! So, after wandering around in circles for a while, with really poor directions from a couple people, we finally made it there, very subtly angled our way in front of about 30 waiting people, and caught the return coach to Cambridge. Not quite the day I had planned -- even to the point of it being rather bleak and rainy in London, which might not sound unusual except that the day before and after were sunny -- but still quite a wonderful day overall. It was a really sweet juxtaposition to see Hannah enjoying the show with child-like wonder, and later walking down Trafalgar Square in her plush winter coat looking quite grown up, but still hanging on my arm and repeatedly saying, "This was the best day EVER!" Like I said, adorable! (And like someone else said, wrapped around her little finger... *laugh*) // 12.27.2003 5:02pm // |
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