London - Monday, June 27th
OK, can I talk Tube? Super easy to use. Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. A few escalators here and there. Some of the stations are actually decorated pretty cool. Some stations are a bit messy. Lots of history. Some of the trains are new, but most are older. They can't be much bigger than what they are because of the size of the tunnels. However, I found it was every passenger for him/herself on the Tube, except in very few circumstances. I was pushed, shoved, back into, crushed, and stepped on. There was one instance when no one would let me off at my stop despite me saying, "Please, excuse me, this is my stop." Nobody moved out of the way. "Please, excuse me, this is my stop." Nothing. After the third time I pushed my way off the train.
But the day a fellow passenger knocked packages out of my arms and across the floor is the Day I Grew a Pair and started defending my personal space. I felt much better after that and the Tube and I got along much better.
Besides being allowed to eat in the cars, my inner 9-year-old-boy also got a giggle out of the anouncement, "This is a PIcadilly line service to Cockfosters." Immature, I know. I spend too much time with that age group. (You know it's all boogers and fart jokes with that crew.)
The Travelcard worked perfectly - excellent!
Anyway,
Today is my visit to The Victoria and Albert Museum. I have been very excited to see this museum since surfing the website. I bought a ticket online (well, caz did because the site wasn't working for me) to see The Culture of Beauty exhibit.
Plus, plus, there is an entire section devoted to the theatrical arts, as it were, about how a play starts on the page and is brought to life onstage. There were costumes and props and puppets and really cool stuff. BUT, how cool was it to come around the corner into the next room and see Our Hero in a recorded live performance of Look Back in Anger??? It was part of a series of clips showing past plays and musicals from the theatres around London. So, I sat down and watched the entire montage again.
(Hmm. Does there happen to be a DVD of this performance one can purchase?)
Anyway, I spent the entire day here. Took lots of pictures and had lunch in the cafe, where I promptly sprayed myself after opening a bottle of what I thought was regular water but turned out to be seltzer water - the fizzy stuff. "Shit," I said. Typical. "Can we get you something?" the two ladies next to me asked. "Yes, a rock to crawl under please."
I stayed at the V&A museum until about 4:30 p.m. I had been there since 10:00 a.m. Afterwards I headed further west to the Westfield Shopping Mall. The States have Westfield Shopping Malls as well - in fact I live fairly close to one, but this place was ginormous!! I waddled around on tired, sore feet and checked out the stores that we don't have in the States. And oh, look - another Marks & Spencers! Hello, M&S! You-hoo! Hello!
I bought some dinner at the mall and sat down next to two young boys - about 16 years old, I thought. They were talking about the pros and cons of getting married I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I gave myself away when the 'older' boy, with an attitude of wisdom and authority beyond his years, said to the younger one, "Well, that's really the only two reasons to get married - you get a meal and you get sex." My diet Coke just about went through my nose. "Don't count on it, buddy," I thought, turning to look at him (without reallizing I had done s). There was no more discussion about sex.
After four days of near constant walking, my feet had seriously given out. Just that morning, I had gone into the Tesco's Express looking for band-aids plasters for my poor feet. Tourist-sized box, please. However, there was no way I was going to be able to wear my shoes anymore, my toesies were that messed up and in pain. However, I had a plan. A tacky plan, but a plan nonetheless. Into Marks & Spencer's I went and purchased a pair of ballet-flat type of slippers. Ooh! Cushy! Comfy! And if you didn't look too close, they looked like regular shoes. That's what I wore for the rest of my stay in London. Cheap, I know, but I was desperate.
At about 8:30 p.m., I decided it was time to get back on the train and return to the hotel and nurse my tired tootsies. Hey, I think 'm catching on to this whole urban scene.