My Weekend in London - Day One

I woke up Friday morning ready for my adventure running around London on my own. The first challenge, however, was getting there.

Taxis, Trains & The Tube …

It’s amazing how a simple thing like phoning a taxi can seem so daunting when you’re in a foreign country. So, I nervously call “Andi Cabs” and with the timidity blaring through my American accent, I manage to order the taxi and it arrived right on time!

I had a fantastic cab driver. We laughed and cracked jokes all the way to the train station, which was great ‘cause it kept my mind of my next scary task … buying a train ticket. I made Neal walk me through what I needed to say and he swore there would be a person at a ticket booth from whom I could buy my ticket. There was a booth, but no person. Then I spot them … these very complicated looking automated ticket machines. Let’s face it, none of us enjoy looking like we don’t know what we’re doing, and we certainly don’t want to look foolish. There I am staring at the machine, experiencing a private summer from the heat of looking foolish, and I have no idea what to do.

Finally, someone takes pity on me and walks me through pushing the right buttons and then out pops a ticket and I’m good to go … or at least I thought I was. As soon as I turn to walk onto the platform I’m confronted with gates that are closed and I again have no idea what to do. Then I remembered all the other trains I’ve successfully boarded around Europe and most of them you have to run your ticket through a slot in order for the gate to open onto the platform. So I ever so coolly look for this slot, and bingo, there is one and I’m now safely on the platform.

I was already ready for a pint and I hadn’t left the train station yet. The train ride was great. The London exit is called “Waterloo,” and needless to say I couldn’t get that tune out of my head. You know the one, ‘cause it’s now going through your head. Sorry.

Neal had arranged for me to stay at his friend Johnny Jay’s place in the Putney area of London, so once I got to the Waterloo station I had to follow Johnny’s instructions to get to his flat. Listen at me sounding all British! Thanks to great directions, I arrived at Johnny’s flat, aka, the lap of luxury, with no problem. This place was fabulous. Here’s the view from my bedroom window … nice huh? As difficult as it was, I managed to pull myself away from the lap of luxury and head off to The Tube to find my way to the London Palladium to pick up my tickets for the 7:30p show of “Sister Act.”

I guess navigating your way through the subway system is a lot like riding a bike ‘cause in no time at all I was figuring out where I needed to connect to different lines in order to make my way to my destination. My stop was “Oxford Circus” and up to this point, moving through the train system was just as ordinary as walking around Milwaukee. A manageable amount of people, no big deal. Then, I found my way out of the station onto Oxford Circus and the word circus could not have been more fitting. I couldn’t believe the amount of people. I sometimes like to listen to what I call “conversation fragments” and one fragment that rang through to me just as I was trying to cross the street without getting killed was … “I hate London.” I couldn’t help but laugh cause at that very moment, I was completely enamored with it! I instantly picked up my walking pace to keep with the flow of traffic and before long I was knocking people over right along with the rest of them!

I found the theatre and picked up my ticket, then headed off to do some shopping. Turns out I was in the perfect area for that. Amazingly, I managed to not spend any money. Okay, I did spend some, but only in LUSH where they sell homemade cosmetics, soaps, etc.

I walked my legs off ‘til about 6p when I finally crashed at a Starbucks for a pick-me-up before the show. The people-watching was fantastic. The Café Mocha gave me just the boost I needed and at 7p I headed to the theatre. On my way inside, there was a huge group of “Nuns” preparing to go in as well. I tried to resist, but to know avail. I had to have a picture with them.

I took my seat next to Barbara and Helen from Liverpool (home of the Beatles) and as soon as the curtain rose on Sister Act it was ON! The show was fabulous. The set was extremely high-tech with moving parts and pieces flying in and stuff dropping into the floor … really cool. The star of the show, Patina Miller, who I’m pretty sure is my cousin, was too amazing for words. She commanded the stage from start to finish! Another highlight was Ako Mitchell who played Eddie the cop. He had some “steal-the-show” moments. And, I can’t forget Sister Mary Patrick (the hyper, high note singing one), played by Claire Greenway. She was as good as the actress who played the character in the movie, if not better!

The show let out about 10:30p and the streets were still heaving with people. I’m not sure how this happened, but I found myself in line at McDonald’s ordering a Big Mac meal. It’s probably been 2 years since I’ve had a Big Mac, but for some reason that seemed like the perfect late night meal to have after seeing such an awesome show … and it was!!!

So, with my stomach sufficiently stuffed, I navigated my way back through The Tube and found my way home to rest my weary self and wake up refreshed for day two of my London adventure … more on that tomorrow!