May 19: M&S, Carnaby St., Westminster Abbey, Movie Premiere, "The 39 Steps"

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My day: May 19, 2009- Tuesday
So Tuesday morning, after getting a lot of sleep, I woke up just whenever (didn’t have an operating alarm clock). I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink for more than 24 hours…which never happens with me! Sometimes I pretty much eat around the clock. Haha. However, my body does pretty well with not eating. If I get hungry, and then if I don’t get a chance to eat (rarely), the hunger just goes away. I don’t get a headache or anything. I would be good on the show Survivor in that way!

Anyway, so I walked outside the hostel, and saw it was raining. Luckily, I had decided to wear my raincoat that morning. I also took out my umbrella. I walked on down Bayswater Road toward Oxford Street, and I ended up going into a popular department store here called Marks and Spencer. They have at least 3 floors, so I took an escalator and then asked someone if they carried alarm clocks. I found one that was only 3.5 pounds (about $5.40). I actually had to ask a cashier how to set the alarm on it, though! It’s one of those that’s not digital, and I was a little confused as to how it worked. She was helpful. I saw that they had a café, so I stopped there and bought an egg and sprout (I think) sandwich, a bottle of lemonade, and a bowl of fruit. So I sat in their little café, looking around and looking at my papers that I had with me. All of the people there seemed to be local…there were 3 business men sitting near me, and some older (middle-aged) people. 😊

Right next door was Selfridges, a more upscale store, and upscale it was. They had little mini shops inside there, including: Gucci, Tiffany’s, Cartier, Stella McCartney, Ballenciaga, Alexander McQueen…the list goes on. I walked around like I had some money, checking out the clothing and jewelry! I was paying attention to whether the employees said hi to me or not. I figured whatever their impression of me and my appearance was would influence whether or not they greeted me. Who knows…some did, and some didn’t. I certainly didn’t look wealthy; I had a sort of Bohemian look going on that day. It was fun seeing all those expensive things, but I can’t imagine actually paying that much money for clothes. We’re talking 400+ pounds. I remember one little cotton dress pretty much looked like something you could have gotten from Wal-Mart, but it cost a couple hundred pounds. I think the most expensive item I saw was about 3000 pounds. Yeah, ridiculous!

Then I went off in search of Carnaby Street, which I’d only heard about from one person. Ok, here’s the story. So, you know Jim Sturgess and his fan website that Ali from New York owns and runs? Well, in one of his interviews, I believe he said if he wasn’t acting he’d probably be working in a shoe store on Carnaby Street. Somehow I remembered that, so I figured if I went, I could tell Ali and everyone about it. So that’s exactly what I did! One time I was trying to get a lady’s attention so she could take my picture with the big Carnaby Street sign, but when I said “excuse me” and looked at her, she shook her head slightly. I was thinking that was rude, but then I realized she probably thought I was trying to sell her something. There was a girl on the street who was handing out/selling something.

Ok, after that, I was getting pretty tired of walking around aimlessly, lost and confused. So I took the tube to Westminster. And what was directly in front of me when I got off the tube? Big Ben, right in front of me! Naturally, Parliament was, too. I was finally seeing the famous London landmarks. Right close by was what I figured Westminster Abbey, and indeed it was. There was a big protest/strike going on right in front of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. There were lots of people there on the area of green grass, and a lot of policemen…or should I say bobbies. 😊 So I took a tour of Westminster Abbey, and got a student discount with my international student card. Westminster Abbey is big! Also, there are a lot of tombs!! I believe Westminster Abbey has more tombs than any other building in the world. I enjoyed seeing the coronation chair, where every British royal (except 2) sat when they officially became queen/king, since the 1300’s I believe.

The oldest door in Britain (from the 1200’s maybe?) is there, too, but it’s not in the church part of Westminster Abbey…it’s in the cloisters, where the monks lived. I should probably read up on all the kings and queens because I can’t keep them straight. Half of them have the same name! 😊Just kidding, but it seems like it. The architecture is something to see, very unique. I should mention that Westminster Abbey is still an actual church; they have services there.

I had just been watching Princess Diana’s funeral (we recorded it a few times back in 1997) before I left for London, and so I was looking forward to seeing where her service was held - Westminster Abbey. So, on the tape of her funeral, they carry her casket in through a door where there is “normal” flooring…but then I noticed that after a while, the floor becomes black and white-checkered. So anyway, when I walked inside, up ahead was the checkered floor, but I was coming from a different door. Once I found out where the altar was and listened to my free audio guide, I understood the layout of the church better. I then realized that I was sitting on what I think is the exact spot where William, Harry, and Charles stood during the service! How weird. On the tape, I noticed there was this big, dark rectangle on the floor, leading up to the altar, and I saw it when I was there. It’s actually a memorial to someone…they have big squares all over the floor of the Abbey, where either someone was buried or they are just memorializing them. They have a certain area of the Abbey called “Poet’s Corner” that is dedicated to writers and poets like Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, and Charles Dickens.

There was a small museum attached to the Abbey as well (like I said, it’s a big place!). The room it was in had also belonged to the monks, and it was built in the 1200’s I believe. The crown that’s used during the coronations was in there, along with life-size representations of certain kings and queens. The clothes they were wearing were either authentic or recreated…I was a little unsure about that. There were some torn pieces of really old playing cards that were used to stiffen a dress for one of them. There was a handful of seeds and straw that were used as stuffing for clothing of one of the kings. Oh, and Westminster Abbey is the place where all the coronations take place, as well.

Let me talk a little bit about the audio guides. They were these little, electronic black boxes with a cord on each one. When I first got mine, I saw that there was a place to plug in headphones. I thought, “Aw man! I can’t listen to it.” But all you had to do was place it up to your ear to hear the guide. So almost everyone that was walking around looked like they were talking on their cell phone. Haha. There were 28 different sections on it, and as you walked along inside the Abbey, you hit a button to move to the next section. I must say, I had a little trouble keeping track of where I was versus what I was listening to. Sometimes it would say, “Up about half-way on the right side..” or something, and it wasn’t entirely clear to me.

I asked one of the workers there (I forget what they called them, but they had on red robes) a couple of questions. I wanted to make sure what time “evensong” was, where a choir sings at the church and everyone can come. He quietly said to me that the next 2 evensongs would not contain the men, only the boys singing, and he didn’t really recommend that. Actually, as I was nearing the door to leave the Abbey, they were practicing…the men and the boys. So some of us sat and watched them. Then right before the door is where the grave for the unknown soldier is. He was a soldier who was killed during World War I I think, and they didn’t know who he was. So they honorably buried him at Westminster Abbey, along with the kings and queens.

After I left, I walked around outside and stepped into a classic red phone booth. I decided to call Mom! I had to read the instructions a little bit to understand how to place the call. I still didn’t know how much it would cost, so I put in 4 pounds and dialed her cell phone number. I wasn’t sure if she’d answer, not knowing who it was, but she said that the number that showed up looked like a London number. We talked for just a minute (probably literally a minute), and then it disconnected me. I tried again, and this time I saw that there was a countdown to when it would hang up. So we didn’t chat for long, and it cost 8 pounds aka about 12 U.S. dollars! Probably won’t do that again!

I then caught the tube to Leicester (it’s pronounced like Lester) Square, which is where I had read you could get half-price theater (or should I say theatre) tickets. Indeed, that is THE place to get theater tickets. There were 2 discount theater offices in the Leicester Square tube station alone! At first I wondered if that was what I had read about. Nope, there were at least 10-15 more outside. They were all over the place. They didn’t really have discount tickets for the shows I was more interested in seeing, and I didn’t want to pay a fortune. I was going to catch the tube back to the hostel, and in fact I had already crossed the street and was walking into the tube station. Then I realized I would have just made a useless trip over to Leicester Square and would have wasted like 2 or 3 pounds coming over there. So I went back to a ticket booth and got a ticket for “The 39 Steps”, showing at 8 pm. It’s based on the really old movie of the same name, which I think was made in the 1930’s. For the play, they have 4 different characters playing at least 150 people. It’s kind of hard to explain what all they did, but they would change their hair or outfits and be another person in the blink of an eye. I had read about the show on some travel message boards. Now I’m gonna have to rent the movie and compare. The ticket I bought was the last one that they had for the show that night. And no, it wasn’t just a line the person told me so that I would buy a ticket!  Ok, so I’m going to backtrack here…

After I bought the ticket to the show, I had some time to kill. I figured I’d grab something to eat. So I was wandering by the same areas I had already seen at least twice already, and then I realized that a whole bunch of people were gathered around the front of a movie theater, and there was a red carpet. I had noticed some people earlier, but I figured they were there waiting to see a new movie. Nope, it was a movie premiere! I stepped right on up, and tried to figure out which premiere it would be or if I recognized anyone. At first I thought that it was for Night at the Museum 2 because there was a big poster of it stretched across the top of the theater. Not so. It was the premiere of a movie called The Tormented. Somehow I ended up having a GREAT spot near the red carpet. In fact, I was closer to the stars than anyone I guess. When the actors were being interviewed and filmed, I was like 4-5 feet away from them.

They were celebrities I guess, but not in the U.S. Still, it was exciting, and I took lots of pictures! I figured I could look it up later. Circling the red carpet were movie posters for “The Tormented”, and the next day I looked it up online. Sure enough, there were movie premiere pictures! I watched as they were posing for those! Haha. I didn’t know of any of their names, but I learned them later. One of the guys was pretty popular with the girls. They would scream whenever he’d walk up to them and shake hands with them. Some other UK celebrities walked down the red carpet as well, but I don’t know who they were. So it was all exciting! I had to leave there at 7:15 to go find the theater where “The 39 Steps” was.

The audience was not very big at all for “The 39 Steps.” That’s because it’s not a huge production, like Mamma Mia for example. That night it was cold and windy! I had a jacket, of course, but I didn’t have a scarf, and I could have used one. I could have used some long sleeves, too. If it wasn’t for the wind, it wouldn’t be as bad. That’s how it’s been every day, though. It’ll be sunny, but there will be bursts of wind, and when you’re not in the sun, it’s especially chilly.

Update: On May 21, I was watching t.v. and saw the trailor for “The Tormented.” It comes out in theaters on Friday, May 22. I’m gonna have to see it now and pick out all those people! By the way, I have only seen ONE gas (aka petrol) station here so far!! It’s near where I’m staying, and the price is 98.9 pence per liter.

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Photos

random street pic
near Oxford Street

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a shoe store on Carnaby Street

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another shoe store on Carnaby Street

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the ground on Carnaby Street

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London College of Fashion at Carnaby

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the people on strike

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I think it's some sort of government building...not sure

Comments

[Debbie Michalcik]

hey
Hey Courtney, Just had a chance to check out your blog. It is awesome. Good pictures, looks like a beautiful place. Glad you are enjoying ourself and life. Hope you have a good and safe trip. Just know you are in out thoughts and prayers. Have a great trip!!! Debbie Michalcik