A Week with the Folks (FINALLY!)

So.. I know this is delayed, but I had a great time with mom and dad here. Momma said she would do another guest entry (back by popular demand) so she is going to write about the weekend we spent in Cornwall together. So I'll give the highlights starting with last Tuesday, April 20th and going through Friday, April 23rd.

Tuesday- I had class, and while I gained intelligence, mom finished doing laundry for me, and dad worked. It is sooo nice to have a mommy cook for you and do your laundry. After class I came back and mom and I packed a picnic lunch to take to the park while I was at the gym. Mom and dad ate and fed the pigeons and afterward dad went back to work while mom and I went and booked the tickets for the sequel to Phantom, “Love Never Dies” and then to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V and A is maybe my favorite London museum. It has such an eclectic collection of goods. I loved the fashion exhibit. Wish I coulda worn some of those vintage clothes (especially the flower child clothes from the 60s.)

We ate at a Pret (cheapo sandwich shop… but the food is real good) on Trafalgar Square before going to Love Never Dies. I won’t spoil the plot for any of you, but it was a good production. The technology was prettttttty intense and the performers were all solid. The girl who played Christine was Sienna Boggess, who was Ariel in Little Mermaid on Broadway.

Wednesday- I took mom to the Tate Britain with me for art class. We were going to the Chris Ofili exhibition (he is a African British artist who focuses a lot on racial and gender justice) and it was really cool. A few years ago one of his works titled “The Virgin Mary” caused chaos in New York when the American public became outraged at the pornographic images and the elephant dung used on a religious piece. We saw that piece, and of course it wasn’t as huge a deal as the media and the extreme conservatives make it to be. The elephant dung was artistic, and the porno… well it wasn’t savory, but it made a statement.

We called up papa who met us in Green Park (by Buckingham Palace) for another nice picnic in the sunshine and then mom and I went to the Royal Mews to see if my favorite horse named Monarch was still around. When I was a wee little blond babe we visited the Mews and I boldly asked the caretaker of the horses if I could pet one. He graciously complied, letting me under the restrictive rope to stand in the stall with him and pet the horse named Monarch. The next year I was still a wee little blond with a bond to Monarch, and we went back in search of her, and again I was taken into a restricted area by a kindly caretaker and gave her sugar cubes.

In HIGHSCHOOL we went back to the Mews yet again, and inquired about Monarch to the right person, and this time we were taken into the private stables (much to the chagrin of the grumpy security guards) and I ran along the trotting Monarch while the caretaker explained that he had retired due to his age, but he was one of the Queen’s favorite because of his pink skin, and therefore he was still kept at Buckingham rather than being moved to the country.

This time around I told myself walking in that surely Monarch could not be alive any longer. I was “coming for closure” I told myself. But, even with my mental preparation, it did not soften the blow when the answer to our hopeful questions about Monarch came. I did cry. I cried for the beautiful horse that made a little girl feel special. And, I cried for another door to my childhood that had closed, leaving me to realize more strongly that I am growing up.

GOSH WHY DO WE HAVE TO GROW UP! Sometimes I wish I could be Peter Pan.

Ok, not really, but there are growing pains.

After the Mews we stopped by the Girl Guide office so mom could get some stamps and stalk the little brownies to get their pictures.

Wednesday night we ate at the Hard Rock Café. The one in London is the original. I have only eaten there once before, at the one in Cleveland on some indistinct birthday in my childhood. So, being a chain that is known for its Tshirts, I was not expecting the food to be that amazing.


…Well maybe it was the fact that I haven’t had American cuisine in awhile, but the food was amazing… so much so that we went back there for dinner on Thursday! Woops! The atmosphere was fun, too, and we enjoyed looking at the rock n roll relics and chatting to the people beside us who were stranded because of the volcano. The airline was paying for their meals… sheesh, I wouldn’t complain.

For theatre, my class was going to see a show called Posh, and mom and dad couldn’t get tickets for it because it was sold out, so we parted ways, and I sat through three hours of British upper class students partying and being destructive. Obviously, it was not my favorite of the shows we’ve seen.

Thursday- For Beatles class we went to the British Music Experience (quite similar to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland) and it was in the O2 arena, which is out near Greenwich, and is this giant dome sort of in the middle of nothing. It has a concert hall, lots of restaurants, a roller rink, and then this museum. It was basically like an indoor village. The BME was very interactive, you could record yourself singing or playing instruments, the exhibit was very “touch this touch that” and you could video yourself dancing and play it back.

We decided that we wanted to see Legally Blond, so we went to get tickets for it, arriving at about 2:20, to find that they were ushering people in for a matinee performance. “Oh no” I thought, “I hope we can still use the box office for tonight’s performance.” We tentatively walked up to the window, and the clerk told us we could indeed buy tickets for that night, but that they were rather full, and so we would be paying 65 pounds for orchestra seats. I turned to mom and told her that seeing Legally Blond for that much money was not worth it. As we were walking away the girl, eager to make a sale, said “I can get you in this afternoon for 22 pounds (she gave us all the student rate) each in the stalls (orchestra)” By this point it was 2:25, so we had to decide real quick for a 2:30 show. We took it, and after wrangling a very startled dad, rushed to our seats just in time. The show was so fun, and I loved the little dog, Bruiser.

After the show guess where we went? Yep, that’s right, the Hard Rock Café. Yummmmmmmmmm.

Friday- Oh my God, oh my God you guys. (Mom and dad couldn’t stop singing this line from Legally Blond. Oh dear) We took the tube partway out to Kew Gardens until the District line became suspended, so we took the bus the rest of the way. I love riding the bus, you get to see so much more.

Kew Gardens was GORGEOUS. It was perfect weather, and the gardens were enormous, with so many different and interesting flora and fauna. There was a rainforest greenhouse, a temperate forest greenhouse, an art gallery, a museum, a treetop walk, a bluebell field, a bamboo garden, and so much more. All of the cherry trees were in bloom and it smelled magnificent. We had fun just wandering around and enjoying the sunshine.

We came back in to central London and went to the Elephant Man museum for papa. The Elephant Man was a dude in the early part of the century (or late part of the 19th century) who had some disorder that morphed and distorted his body so much that he was ostracized from society until a surgeon rescued him and turned him into somewhat of a hero and let him live in the hospital for the remainder of his days. His story is a moving one, and I was glad to learn more about him.

That evening we went on a ghost tour that wasn’t so ghostly, but pretty historic. Took some photos, but no ghosts showed up. Sad.

Afterward we searched for my childhood favorite, Pizza Piazza, but we could not find it, so it must have closed. So, we settled on Pizza Hut instead.

And with the glowing image of warm cheesy pizza floating around in the space between your ears, I will leave you. I hope you are craving pizza as much as I am.