October 19, 2011

October 19, 2011

Another wonderful day :) We woke up around 7:30 and headed down to breakfast at 8:00. Beans today instead of tomatoes but otherwise the same…delicious. Today we spent most of the day apart—Franzi went to some museums and met a friend, while I did some other things. I started off on Oxford Street, happening upon another Disney Store (it had a castle inside of it) and window shopping and enjoying the hustle and bustle. I then headed to the British Museum around 10:30. I had never been there so it was fun to do something new :) It was a beautiful museum, filled with history. The highlight for me (and many others, I am sure) was the Rosetta Stone, which was very interesting and cool to see. I spent quite some time there and then walked to Covent Garden. I hung out there for a while, watching some street performers and listening to some beautiful music. I then decided to take a walk and ended up walking all over the place. It sure makes the city seem smaller when you walk it like that. AND it was another beautiful day so it was just lovely to be outside. I walked by the river for a while, as well, and then headed to get some lunch. You are all going to think I am crazy but I ate lunch at Chipotle. Here’s the thing—I’ve been craving Mexican food for about a month and a half and you just can’t get it in Florence. So I took advantage of the opportunity and it was delicious. When I had finished my meal, I sat there for quite a while, writing postcards. Then, around 2:00, I headed to the theatre to see Driving Miss Daisy.

So you know how I got at ten pound ticket to sit in the really high balcony? Well, I got there and, when I showed my ticket, they said they had a seat in the eighth row center of the stalls and would I rather sit there, at no extra cost? UM YES OF COURSE!! So there you have it—I saw Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in the eighth row center in one of the most incredible, if not the most incredible pieces of theatre I have ever seen. It was a stunning show. I cried after the show, I was so excited and even paid roaming fees to call home because I had to share my excitement “in person!” Wow—I will never forget that. After the show, I found a cute little cupcake shop where I bought a red velvet cupcake for later and then headed to Victoria station to meet Franzi. We had dinner at The Shakespeare pub where I had eaten in January and it was delicious.

At 7:00, we headed across the street to the theatre to see Billy Elliot. Our seats were wonderful! We got them on broadwaybox.com so we got them at a very good price, too :) It was my fifth time seeing Billy Elliot (I am embarrassed to say that…) but I was just as excited and I certainly was not let down. It was spectacular, as always, and the audience just loved it. My favorite part of the show is always after the song “Electricity” and everyone roars and cheers for Billy for at least two minutes (he even got a partial standing ovation for it) and Billy always looks so completely happy and overcome—even breaking character, but in such a good way! Anyway, I loved it. We then caught the tube home and headed to bed, exhausted, but happy :)