Last post from Europe!
Yesterday (Sunday) started with a lot of trekking around to my new hostel and checking out of the old one. After dropping off my stuff, I headed over to the Tate Modern Gallery and just walked around the area before that. The museum was awesome of course, although I haven't gotten hugely into modern art, I got to see my favorite artist, Rene Magritte (Surrealism) so that was exciting. They had a Frida Kahlo exhibit that cost £10 but I was having problems with my ATM card yesterday plus I was starving plus I was thinking about going to see a show so I decided against it.
Instead I just walked around Picadilly then realized that I had gotten directions to the wrong hostel. Whoops. They are part of the same company, but in different locations. Luckily the tube here is awesome so it wasn't that big of a deal. When i was waiting for a Circle Line train, a boy noticed how heavy my pack seemed to be on me (it's actually hot here in London!!) and started giving me tips but they didn't help much while my pack was ON me. Anyway, I think he was American. There are a lot of foreigners in London... not that I'm getting any ideas or anything...
This hostel is pretty dodgy (my new favorite slang picked up from Brits and Aussies), maybe even more than the Amsterdam one mostly because of the shower. Gross. Plus the people aren't very friendly. But I managed to talk to my dormmates a lot (2 French girls but they didn't talk, 2 Aussie boys.. one of which moved to London to be closer to his German girlfriend of 6 months, whaaaat, and two more German dudes. Germans are nuts, in a funny way)so that was cool. I've heard a lot of London hostels are shit holes so this ranks on the low average scale.
Enough about that, let's move on to today because it was packed! I got up early because on a whim last night, I decided I wanted to see Guys & Dolls. The selling point being that Ewan McGregor was starring in it. London has an awesome theater district, probably second to New York. Anyway so I thought I'd go check out the box office and see if I could get any ticket, apparently its one of the most popular shows in town and every show is sold out for months. I got there before 8am which was TOO early (it's a Monday) so I walked around Trafalger Square for awhile which was nice without all the tourists. It was quiet and around 8:45am they turned on the fountains and all the pigeons flew everywhere. Quite a sight.
I headed back to the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square and found that they didn't have G&D tickets for that day so by chance I thought I'd head back to the box office to see how long the line was. Well, it wasn't too long at all and I ended getting the 14th "day" ticket out of 20. Day tickets mean that they are £20 each for the very first row. Most people would say they are probably the worst seats in the house but I beg to differ, especially when you get to see Ewan that close! I met a couple girls in line from CA who are studying at the Uni at Edinburgh which you all know is my ideal.
After getting my ticket, I went over to the National Gallery so I could check out the art there. See some Caravaggio, you know. I ended up spending 3 hours there. THREE HOURS! So much to see, so stoked. Why don't we have galleries like that?! Grabbed some lunch after that and rushed back to Bayswater to grab a drink with Michelle! So great to see her and catch up over the past month. It's too bad the whole group of us will never see each other as a group ever again, they brought me so many good memories! When i get a chance, I will post some pictures from Paul's wedding which looked so fun. We should've crashed it.
Then I rushed back to the hostel to change, it was nice to actually look a bit nicer than the dirty backpacker style, ha ha. The theater was much smaller than I anticipated, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the theaters in NY are the same way. My row was practically in the orchestra pit I was so excited! Most people wouldn't know this about me, but I am such a nerd for musical theater, I absolutely LOVE it. The smile couldn't be wiped off my face for the entire show, which flew by. And yes, Ewan is just as handsome in person as he is on film. So cute, especially in that era clothing, prohibition time. And he has big ears and a birthmark on his cheek (because you know you wanted to know). He doesn't have the strongest voice in the world but he just exudes charm which automatically steals the show. You could hear the Scottish accent creep up every once in awhile through the NY accent. It was a very polished performance, great music, great audience. I need to go to more shows, seriously. Live theater just has a different feel than anything else, I hope it doesn't go out of fashion. Considering so many shows get sold out, I don't think it's a problem.
Sorry if this entry is all over the place, there are people annoying me in here plus this keyboard is WHACK!
See you guys when I get home! Give me a couple days though, I have a dead cell phone and I'm homeless! Reflections reserved for a time when i'm not paying for internet and I can type like a normal person.
Goodbye Europe, I'll miss you! And I'll be back!
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