London to Bath: 5 Days of Pure Bliss in the U.K. (Part 2)

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Continuation from Part One...

After an awesome day of sightseeing, I returned to my hostel to shower and get ready. Sadly, all of my roommates had checked out so I wasn't sure when or if I would be getting new ones. And then my phone started going off, reminding me that my GRE scores were available. So I went and got a Global Card, went to the nearest pay phone, and dialed in to America to check my scores. A definite improvement but not amazing - 1040 (better than my 910 before) with a 630 on the quantitative which will look good. We'll see as I turn in my applications starting this week. Well then I finally started getting ready and got all dressed up in my skirt, purple shirt, and heels and headed to the Apollo Victoria on foot. Of course with the heels (because let's face it -- I NEVER wear heels), it took about twice as long as normal to get there. But I got my ticket, bought some souvenirs and headed to my seat.

I got pretty lucky -- four seats from the front, dead center. I couldn't take pictures during the show, but I did get to take a picture before and after. And as I sat, I talked to some Americans around me about life, Europe, London and the Queen, what was going on in America including the chaos of Obama's medical plan and Sarah Palin's book release, and just the local sights. I didn't realize how much I had missed America. I was feeling a little excited to be going back soon as the women around me told me that they would be returning the following week. Well after chatting for awhile, the lights finally dimmed and the music took off. I have to admit that I am/was a Wicked geek before the show and so I knew the songs, had read the book, and was way excited to finally see the story acted out. So as the monkeys started dancing around and opening the cover to expose the cheering members of Oz celebrating the death of the witch, I was beaming.

I don't want to give away too much, but the story was much different from the book, especially the ending. And it was nice because the leads were British people so their accents made the songs new and exciting. I giggled at the Elphie dance, I laughed until tears formed in my eyes during Sarah Earnshaw's "Popular" number, I dropped my mouth in awe as Elphie took to the sky during "Defying Gravity," I felt devastated as Fiyero was taken away and Elphie couldn't get anything to go her way, and I felt like crying as the witches said their final goodbye and the stage was covered with a large veil as a bucket of water became a lifeline. Although I have to say that I think Glinda/Galinda kind of stole the show, at least the actress in London did. And I bet Kristin Chenoweth (the original Glinda) probably did too although Idina Menzel (the original Elphaba) has a pretty amazing voice so you never know. But at the end, I felt sorry for both of them, but Glinda's ending was almost worse -- she lost her fiance, her best friend, and got told to hide the truth, put on a smile, and lead the people of Oz. And the actress did amazing as she looked like she was fighting tears as she made her proclamation as "Glinda the Good" although Glinda was not so good all of the time. Even she did some bad things that had bad endings...mostly for Elphaba. Overall, it...was...awesome!! And I think there were a lot of lessons to be learned from it: animal rights, misconstrued intentions, second chances, the power of friendship, how anger destroys everything, and that nothing is as it seems. And after it was over, I walked back towards my hostel around 10:30 at night, the wind slightly blowing against me thinking of how I was first introduced to Wicked. It made me sad, especially considering how things have ended recently with some of my friendships. But it also made me think that I'm tired of feeling this bad and this run down all of the time from the past, not able to do anything about it. So in the words of Elphie: "Alright enough, so be it...so be it then." And I went back to my hostel, accidentally woke up my new roommates, changed, and went to sleep.

The next morning, I met my new roommates who I wished I had met earlier - the three Portuguese girls. They were so nice and so much fun. We talked for awhile the next morning before they went off to go ride the Tube and I went back to my sightseeing bus tour. I rode around on the Yellow Line this time, got off first at the National Gallery and saw some beautiful exhibits including some from a couple that used to live in Idaho. And I heard the tale of how the four lions on the Trafalgar Square monument -- apparently when Big Ben strikes thirteen, the lions will get up and walk around the square. Just an old English tale. Then I spoke with the tour operator guy for a bit before the next bus came, looked up at Buckingham Palace and saw that the Queen was still not there (the EU colors were flying again), changed buses at the Eye while shooting some great shots of Big Ben and the Thames, then went to the London Tower. This huge fortress has been the home of an armoury, a treasury, the home of the Crown Jewels, and even a place of execution as Anne Boleyn was beheaded here.

The Crown Jewels were stunning and glittering and behind vaults and security and you were not allowed to take any pictures. But imagine the most beautiful jewels embedded in the crowns and times that by a million and you have the crown jewels. They were stunning. Then it was over to the White Tower to see the new Henry VIII displays. He was kind of a scary, ugly man in his later age and the displays on all levels of the tower, told of his wives, his love of jousting and it's amazing how long jousts really were, his armour, how British souvenirs (pounds) were made, and many other things. It was quite a nice display. Then I went over to the Bloody Tower to learn about the two princes that were brutally murdered, a tale that still has no conclusive reasoning or ending. And as I walked out, a nice fall breeze was still in the air and it wasn't raining. Next to the tower, in the former moat area was an ice-skating rink so I sat and watched people for a bit as I waited for the bus.

Next stop was the Globe Theatre, the former playhouse of William Shakespeare. There were a lot of playhouses including the Rose and as I walked through the museum waiting for my tour, I learned all about Shakespeare's times. During the tour, we saw the replica of the Globe and learned about the different levels. The bottom ground level was where the "groundlings" stood for one penny, the second floor were the merchants, the third the more prestigious class, the gentlemen boxes for the royalty or higher ranked people, and the very top floor for well...the men that were getting "serviced" by the local prostitutes during the show. After learning all about it, I had to go catch the bus so I snuck out the side door and walked along the Thames until I got back to the bus stop. And I road the bus around for awhile as the sun was setting, enjoying my last night in London as the lights were coming on. It was very beautiful. And before I knew it, I was back, walking to my hostel. I had some time after I packed so I went downstairs and checked my email. That was kind of a stupid thing to do as I just got very aggravated by the timing of some things. So I went walking, down the marble-pillar lined streets, up towards Victoria Station and just people-watched. And I talked to some people, wandered around, bought some more beautiful souvenirs for people I actually care the opinions of, had a very nice traditional English dinner with a glass very good red wine, and sipped some tea while watching all of the people around me.

And as I walked back to my hostel late that night, I thought of all I had to be thankful for. I was in ENGLAND, I was in Europe living the life I had dreamt about since I first started college. And I was tired of feeling bad all of the time and thinking of the past and getting discouraged because I can't earn someone's forgiveness. So I just took some deep breaths and smiled as the nice London night bared down upon me. It really is a glorious city...much different than I had ever imagined. And I loved the noise, the people, the feel in Victoria, and how I walked around at night alone and never felt threatened, even when I was in heels and couldn't make a quick get away. And I wasn't going to waste my last night in town feeling horrible. And when I got back to my room near 11pm, I was happy to see that my new roommates were still awake. So we talked for awhile about traveling alone, Norway, Alaska, America in general, Thanksgiving, and all of these other little traditions. And they told me all about Portugal and how they had always wanted to go to America. They even taught me that "fixe" pronounced "fish" means "cool" in Portuguese which came up after one girl (a scientist also) and I were talking about fish. And they even said they were at Piccadilly Circus and saw the movie premiere for a Rachel Weiss movie, but never caught a glimpse of her or Susan Sarandon even though they were inside. They were pretty excited though to be that close to celebrities. And after we all got very tired, we turned the lights off, they told me good luck on my trip and we said goodnight and goodbye.

The next morning, Day Five, I woke up, showered, changed, then snuck out of my room, whispering goodbye to Marta who was starting to wake up. And then I checked out of my hostel -- it was around 7:30am. A short walk to Pimlico, two Tube rides later, and I was back at Heathrow, going through the insane security and waiting for my plane. I got delayed for awhile going to Oslo so I got some yogurt and a white mocha from Starbucks -- my first Starbucks probably since last Christmas, and then we headed back to Norway. And in Oslo, I only had enough time to get back through security after going through customs and call my mother to update her on some things that happened before I was on a plane and headed back to Bodo. Well it has been a few days since I've been back and I can't believe how lucky I was to go. It was a very expensive trip but completely worth it and much better than staying home! And it was even better than I imagined -- sort of how my whole Norway experience has been. When I finally closed off the past and issues back in Alaska, I started having the best time in Bodo and I should have done that from the beginning. I am extremely lucky and was reminded of that when I got home and my roommate had drawn me a picture of London and me walking across Tower Bridge seeing the sights and she had taped it to my GRE envelope thinking it was GRE scores, telling me to think positively about them. It ended up not being my scores and she didn't know that I had checked them over the phone, but it was still very sweet. And the following day (Thanksgiving) just reminded me that you have to focus on the good friends you do have and not the ones that you don't. After all, there's a reason they're not in your life and others are. So I can't wait to see what else the future holds before I leave Europe December 21st. It's going to be exciting!!

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Photos

Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in London
I WAS SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!