Sunday, April 18, 2010

Best Day Yet

Yesterday was by far the most enjoyable day I have had in London thus far. Why? Because it was just so full of random bits of awesome.

It started normal enough, with a matinee performance of the Mark Morris Dance Group performing at the London Coliseum. The show was a mix of opera, orchestra, and dance. It was really enjoyable, and the dancers were absolutely phenomenal!

After the show, we decided to search the theatre district to find discount tickets for a play called "Private Lives" featuring Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City...alas, they were all sold out. We have to see another show in addition the shows the professors have lined up for us, and we're all at a loss of what to see. All of the big musicals are expensive, but we're leaning toward seeing "Thriller", a musical set to Michael Jackson songs.

After we were turned down at the half-price ticket booth, we set out to find the actual theater that the "Private Lives" is shown at. Along the way, we stumbled across this scene:


We had managed to walk right into the Queens Day festival of Holland!!!

Confused? Yep, we were too. Luckily, we talked to some vendors and found out that every year in Amsterdam there is a celebration of Holland's Queen's birthday, and then the next day they bring the celebration to London and party on Trafalgar Square!

Still confused? We were too. But we just decided to go with it, listen to some good music, and of course, buy an obnoxiously orange t-shirt that said...



CAN'T DUTCH THIS!

After we wandered around the festival for awhile, we decided to make the trek down toward Big Ben again to get some pictures in the daylight. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I'll be heading down there again! By this time, it was getting dark and we had to get back to the flat. After walking for awhile, we got on the tube and took one stop down before realizing that the line we needed was closed down. For the entire weekend.

This was our reaction...



Obviously, the sunglasses on the underground were necessary.


We then had to find a bus that would take us, and then had to walk from the closest stop to our flat...which was a mile away. What should have taken us about 45 minutes to get home took us almost 2 hours.

It was just so much fun though. As we walked through the city, we realized wearing the bright orange shirts was a symbol for being from Holland and we had quite a few people come up to us and ask us "Are you Dutch?" Giggling, we would say no, and it would become obvious we were American and they would smile and walk away shaking their heads. Add in the amount of posing with statues and skipping down the sidewalks, and it was obvious we were having the time of our lives.


It was carefree, it was unexpected, and it was a total and complete blast. I'm so glad I'm here, and I'm so glad I've met these girls.

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