A Mid-Westerner in Mid-Wales

For the final trip with A during his holiday, the three of us travelled to London.  A actually hooked us up with a friend of his from Florida so we had a place to stay.  We stayed in Bermondsey which, when we told our Welsh class, produced some gasps.  Then again, the biggest gasp came from a lifelong Aberite (Aberystwythian?).  Let’s just say it has come a long way since Oliver Twist.

We had some great weather like the rest of A’s trip and enjoyed walking around and seeing some of the tourist sites we had yet to see.

Spring Flowers Near Buckingham Palace

We caught the tail end of the Changing of the Guard (the Queen still wasn’t there), walked around the outside of Parliament and wondered why there was so much security considering there wasn’t a government at the time, and took the tour of Westminster Abbey.  Westminster was quite a site to see.  Essentially it is an Abbey that became a church which is now a national mausoleum.   It was pretty surreal to see all the sarcophagi of kings, queens, adventurers, artists, scientists, that one has learned about all through my childhood.  That doesn’t even touch on the memorial plaques of people not buried there (I am looking at your Billy S.!).

One of the activities we had planned before going to London was to see a West End show as music and musicals are a big part of IAC’s and A’s life.  Perhaps it was their wish to see one of England’s most famed composers or perhaps it was to rub it into all their American friends but it was decided that the three of us would see Phantom of the Opera II Love Never Dies.  Despite our seat in the last row of the upper most balcony we all were excited to see our first musical performed by the original cast.  The show was great (except for the story).  The set design was visually stunning (except for the story).  The music was engaging and struck a balance between completely new material and a recognition of the connection to Phantom of the Opera I.  But, alas, the entire production was brought down in the end by the ludicrous story.  What I am trying to ask is, how could this story be the final product of 20 years of work Sir Webber?  20 weeks maybe, but not 20 years.  Did James Cameron give tips to Sir Webber?

At my request, we took the DLR out to Greenwich to visit the Royal Observatory.  The exhibit on time was quite interesting and told the story of the Longitude Problem.  The astronomy section of the museum left a little to be desired.  We also took the typical tourist photo.

If only bridging the ideological gap between east and west were this easy

In our time running around London we visited several of the weekly markets, rode the London Eye, visited the Tate Britain (saw Millais’s Ophelia, Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott), and ate all kinds of food not so easily acquired in Mid-Wales.  We ate Taiwanese, Brazilian, drank bubble tea, and even introduced A to baltis.

It was a long, exhausting weekend but worth it once again.