Having recently returned to Skokie after three years living in California, I was residing at my parents' house and working at Kinko's when I decided it was time for me to see Europe.
Not all of it, as many students do on an extended jaunt during or after college. Without that as an option, I opted for a week in London--with a day in Liverpool--followed by a week in Paris.
I instantly loved London, even if I wasn't the theater buff I am now (though I did see a musical called City of Angels that I remember fondly.
So since 2000, as I've come to explore much more of Europe, I've frequently included a brief stay in London, whether as demanded by flight plans or simply because I like it so much.
This typically lengthy preamble is to inform anyone unaware that as I write this at the end of my first day in London, the first stop of a trip that will also take me to Krakow, Vienna, Budapest and Paris, that this is not my first time here.
It's my 8th, with the last time being about 18 months ago, which I recapped in a 3-part series on SethSaith.com. Then I spent 4 days along with my friend Paolo before 2 on my own in Paris.
So having seen many of London's foremost tourist sites, perhaps a few times, on this visit I'm not aiming to do all that much besides seeing theater and going to a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert Saturday night at Wembley Stadium.
Still, there is always something to see and do in the British capital, and Day 1 was pretty cool for one when I was admittedly running on fumes.
As I kind of am now, after having just lost the last 20 minutes typing something I mistakenly deleted.
So I'll make this fast.
The flight from JFK to Heathrow was smooth.
My hotel, the London City Hotel, is bare bones and my bathroom is down the hall, but it's well-located right next to the Borough tube station. So for $112 in the heart of London, it's a real bargain even if I had to shlep my suitcase up 2 flights of stairs.
In the morning, I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum for the first time to see an excellent, wide-ranging exhibit called David Bowie Is.
It opened my eyes to just how involved Bowie has been in every facet of his career, including album cover design, stage design, etc. This was well-balanced by the exhibit depicting how wide and disparate Bowie inspirations and influences have been, from Little Richard to Judy Garland to Broadway shows and various authors, designers, etc.
In the evening, I saw Matilda, a recent musical based on a Roald Dahl book and featuring many children. It's also running on Broadway and was favored to win the Tony, but lost to Kinky Boots.
Having now seen both, I can't vehemently disagree, but felt Matilda was also quite terrific.
On my Seth Saith ratings scale, I would give it @@@@1/2 (out of 5).
I can't go into a longwinded description at this point, but it centers around a brilliant and rebellious girl named Matilda, and felt a bit like a mix between Spring Awakening, Pink Floyd The Wall and Harry Potter.
I also wanted to go to an afternoon matinee of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, which is getting great reviews.
But even though it was on the Leicester Square TKTS board at a time I could have attended, I thought it wiser to check into my hotel--having only been able to leave my bag upon arriving around 8:30am--and take a nap.
I can't quite tell how tired I am at 11:23pm, only 5:23 back home, but I think I've written long enough for now.
So until next time...
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