Coat of Many Colours

We went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat this evening at New London Theatre. By the way, the London Underground system (affectionately known as the "tube") is really quite a nice and relatively inexpensive way to get around London. We've had no problems thus far.

So, anyway, the musical was great, though they did this odd thing of rehashing many of the songs at the end in some sort of encore performance--it got a bit long (we believe it was for the kids--it's billed as a "family musical") but was a fun time.

Before the show we ate at a nearby Indian restaurant and had their "set vegetarian meal" for £13.50 a piece. We later decided it would have made more sense for one of us to have the set meal and another to order a la carte, as we couldn't come close to finishing all the food. The service at this location was quite good, making the earlier Indian restaurant experience truly feel like a fluke (as I thought then).

After the show, we stopped in the nearby White Hart pub, advertised as the "oldest licensed establishment in London." It was pleasant enough, and while we were quaffing our pints, the actor who played Jacob/Potiphar in the show walked in. We resisted mobbing him, though it was interesting.

--Greg

PS--We did promise information on bookstores, and hopefully we'll get to see some tomorrow. We did spend a bit of time in an Oxfam, which is basically a national Salvation Army-type thrift store, though the prices more closely resemble an upscale thrift, if that's not an oxymoron.

Food update

Just in case you were wondering, last night for dinner we ate at a location close to the hotel, aptly named Pizza Organic. The food was great, the atmosphere was nice, and the food was organic. Couldn't ask for much more really. That's all.

--Greg

The Tower of London from a distance. 

The White Tower within the Tower of London. 

The Tower of London

A few facts:
If you have a student ID from college that doesn't have an expiration date on it, you can still get a discount, even if you've been out of school for 4 years. I saved three pounds off the admission price at the Tower of London, even though I look way older than Katie, who doesn't have a usable student ID. Even still, we spend £24 on admission (or about $48). That's an expensive tourist trap/world historical site.

We showed up in the afternoon, on the notion (provided by Katie's Lonely Planet London Guide) that the lines (or, forgive me, queues) would be next to nothing in the afternoon, and we could just walk in. This (with all due respect to the editor of the guide) was a load of dung. I'm sure the lines were shorter, though they still approximated amusement park lines.

There was much interesting to see, including the bedchambers of long-dead kings, the historic armories, and, of course, the crown jewels. The crown jewels themselves were an interesting experience, in that there was a LONG (though fairly quick moving) line to enter the building, then each successive room had its own serpentine lines to maneuver. Most of the rooms contained large video screens displaying the crown jewels in close up as well as their use in various coronations, etc. When we finally got to the room with the actual crown jewels (behind thick glass, with perhaps the most impressive diamonds in absentia), there were two moving sidewalks on either side of the glass forcing the lines to move at a certain pace (though you could go back around and do another lap on the treadmill). And I was initially surprised that no mention was made of the theft of the crown jewels, though perhaps that was included on the audio tour that we neglected to purchase.

We barely got to see the Bloody Tower, as the complex was closing at 17:00 (5 p.m. local time). The nearest beefeater rushed us through and toward the nearest exit.

The Tower of London complex is not for the faint of heart nor for those who don't like to go up and down long flights of narrow stairs and across uneven cobblestone roads. It certainly isn't all-accessible. The most interesting parts were perhaps those that were closed off as "private" or "no admittance," making one wonder what secrets lay just beyond the public's reach. All-in-all a must see, even at outrageous exchange rates.

To Sleep Perchance to Dream...

OK. We're safe and sound in London. We checked into the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum which has a free wireless Internet connection (I paid twice at Seattle's airport for Internet access.) from which I am posting this now.

We went out for Indian food at a small place about a block from the hotel. The food was fine but the service was pretty awful, which is unusual for an Indian restaurant. Usually I find the service at decent Indian restaurants to be impeccable. The waiter did peg us right away as Americans and asked where we were from, what the weather was like, what our New Year's Eve plans are, etc. The typical small talk (that wasn't my complaint with the service).

And, of course, the £19 lunch/dinner comes to about $38 in U.S. dollars. And that was with us being careful. Wonderful exchange rates!

I'll finish this now, as I'm on about 2 hours of sleep and trying to adjust to the drastic time change. It's nearly 6 p.m. here but not quite 10 a.m. in Spokane, meaning I just had Indian food at about 8 a.m. as far as my body is concerned. Perhaps good sleep isn't in the cards...

--Greg

Cooling our Heels...

Well, we're spending the day in Sea-Tac airport, waiting for our early evening flight to London.

I can't say that the trip's been uneventful thus far.

We got to the airport about 6:40 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. flight to Seattle and quickly realized we should've checked to see how crowded it was going to be. There were lines out the door for ticketing. We also could see long lines for security. Quickly adding the two together, it became clear that we might miss the flight.

Fortunately, we were able to bypass ticketing, as we decided to carry on everything rather than check any bags. The line at security moved pretty quickly, at least until we got checked. In separate security lines, my bag got searched as there was a pair of scissors in my bag that I didn't know about (I do know better than to bring a pair of scissors in the carry-on.), but that was quickly dispensed with. Katie, on the other hand, had a more difficult time explaining the pepper spray that she forgot to remove from her keychain. That search didn't go as smoothly, as questions needed to be asked, forms needed to be filled out, etc. One crying jag later, and Katie finally made it to security, slightly worse for wear. We did make our flight (obviously), so hopefully that will be the biggest drama of the trip.

And one or two lessons learned...

--Greg

On Vacation!

The store is CLOSED!

We were actually open this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There weren't many customers in the store, but that was ok, as I used the time to prepare the store for our vacation.

Katie and I are leaving early Monday morning and then spending the day traveling to London. We'll be there from Tuesday afternoon until January 4th. The store will reopen for regular business hours on Wednesday, January 5th.

We'll be visiting many wonderful bookstores in London, amongst other sites, and I'll try to update this blog with stories and pictures of our trip daily.

And then, after the trip, I'll be keeping a regular blog of the goings on of the store. There are actually interesting things that happen almost daily!

Wish us a safe trip!

--Greg