A Little London Music

London Bridge (not falling down)

We spent Saturday morning dozing as the train zoomed across England toward London.  Our energy levels lifted somewhat with the excitement of actually arriving in the city, especially when we ran over to King's Cross Station to see a certain magical platform.  The line of tourists was ridiculously long, and it wasn't even actually between Platforms 9 and 10 anyway, so we decided to come back another time.  Gavin, our fearless leader for the next two weeks, took us down into the depths of the Underground, which we rode to London Bridge.  After pictures (and me humming about the bridge falling down) we headed for the Tate Modern, an art museum at one end of the Millennium Bridge, facing St. Paul's Cathedral at the other end.

Looking up at St. Paul's 

Gavin encouraged us to wander the exhibitions for an hour or so, pointing us toward one in particular entitled "Poetry and Dreams."  I liked the atmosphere of the building, but the works were mostly surrealism, which I frankly don't understand, so they were only impressive in the sense of "I couldn't paint like that if I wanted to."  I did, however, enjoy several of the photography pieces.

"Early each day to the steps of St. Paul's..."

Soon we all started clamoring for food, so Gavin led us across the Millennium Bridge to eat lunch on the steps of St. Paul's (at which point I started singing "Feed the Birds" under my breath).  The cathedral was breathtaking from the outside, but we only got to go inside for a minute because Gavin hadn't known we had to pay to tour it.  Instead, he took us to the London Museum, which shows the history of modern-day London and the surrounding countryside starting from prehistoric days of flint axes and nomadic tribes.  My favorite part here was the mock pleasure gardens where videos projected on the walls showed tales of Victorian flirtation and intrigue.  There were also a few other things that reminded me of various Disney songs which I subsequently hummed to myself as I walked through the exhibits.

My favorite spot on a mock Victorian street

Our official instruction for the day was over at 3:00, but we'd been given open tickets in case we wanted to stay in the city until Sunday - which of course we all did.  So when we finished up at the London Museum, we found our way to our hostel in Westminster.  Having never stayed in a hostel before, and having heard many horror stories about them, I was pleased with the cleanliness and atmosphere of the place, but I couldn't help feeling that we had somewhat overpaid - especially since there was no WiFi included!  We had booked an 8 bed room with an attached bathroom, so it was just our group.

Despite the heat and tiredness, there was a flurry of activity as we all got ready for our respective evening activities.  Three people went to a concert in Hyde Park, two others went to see Wicked, and Marissa, Ali, and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera.  

Our first challenge lay in navigating the Underground, which actually went quite well despite a line closure or two.  (I was also excited by the fact that we were right by Paddington Station, although I found myself having to explain the nostalgia connected with that name to most of my group who had never read of that charming little bear.)  Then we had to find an affordable dinner near the theatre, and finally the theatre itself.  We ended up just buying food at a Marks & Spencer, then eating it in an arcade next door to Her Majesty's Theatre, where a nice waitress let us sit at an unoccupied table until the cafe got busier.  At the theatre, we bought souvenir programmes and brochures, then steeled ourselves to climb the many, many stairs to our seats in the balcony.  When we got up there, however, the view (both of the stage and of the Irish boy showing us to our seats) was pretty good.  

A hush falls over the crowd...

The chandelier lay under a cloth onstage, waiting.  The prologue scene commenced.  And when they raised the chandelier to the crashing chords of the title song, I got chills.  I will also admit that I cried during "All I Ask of You" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again."  Every principal singer hit notes that left me in awe and gave me goosebumps.  The sets and costumes were spectacular.  Hearing the music live with such a phenomenal orchestra was intense.  It was, in a word, amazing.

Singing snatches of the songs all the way, we took the Underground back to Paddington and walked back to our hostel.  The Wicked crew returned shortly thereafter, then the Hyde Park group, and we all collapsed into bed.  Exhausted though we were, we did spend some time chatting in the dark about our respective shows and various other things, "like a slumber party!" as one person exclaimed.  Eventually, though, sleep beckoned.