May 2 London

May 1, London

It turns out there are trains every half hour between MK and London; I could have saved money by commuting to see the plays and visit some museums. The Jenkins Hotel where I'm staying isn't much for 95 pounds - $150; bed is okay, bathroom makes a phonebooth look roomy. If I come back into London I'll buy a day trip, $20 and it includes unlimited use of the underground. I ended up spending twice what I should have for the train trip - the pane of glass at the ticket window interferes with communication and I ended up with a day return - changed it to a weekend return in London, but didn't realize until the transaction was complete that it would have been cheaper just to buy a one-way back on Sunday. I have encounted some very helpful people in England, also some very unhelpful, and the two ticket agents were decidedly unhelpful.

After I checked in I walked to the Museum of Natural History - turns out, over 4 miles, a full hour walk. Fun but I wouldn't do it again. The museum was free admission; huge crowds, but they didn't interfere much. I only looked at 3 exhibits, beginning with the dinosaurs. They have scads of skeletons, which is interesting; they have also arranged displays, some of which (an animated Ty Rex straight from Jurassic Park) are for the kiddies. Others, like the computer simulations that show how they work out how the big beasts must have walked, got up, sat down, etc. are really great. I recommend it.

I next went to the Earth exhibit, which begins with an escalator that enters the center of the earth. It's one of the few pictures I took (for the most part, you can find better pictures than I would take in any encyclopedia, or all over on the web.) Great multi-media display about volcanos, glaciers, underwater volcanos, erosion, etc. Also an excellent exhibit. I was getting tired so stopped for tea and a chocolate muffin, then went on to the Darwin exhibit; focused on insects. Also very educational, not quite as exciting to me as the dinosaur exhibit, but well considered. I caught a bus about 2/3 of the way back to my hotel, lay down for a nap, then showered and changed for dinner and the play.

It is not much over a mile to Drury Lane and Covent Gardens, so I decided to walk again. Not a good decision; no sooner was I committed to walking than it started sprinkling. Gradually the sprinkle turned to a downpour - at least I had a portable umbrella, but my pant legs and shoes were soaked. Then I reached Covent Gardens, where I was supposed to meet Lynne for dinner, at PJ's Bistro. There are three Covent Gardens - metro stop, opera house, covered market. No-one had any idea where PJ's bistro is; several thought I was looking for "Pizza." I got at least three very confident but totally wrong sets of directions, walked around in driving rain for over a half hour, finally stumbled onto the place, where Lynne was waiting, also drenched. The bistro is good; I had a very nice grilled chicken breast with potatoes and pea pods, cooked perfectly.

The play, Warhorse, was spectacularly good. It is a simple story about a boy and his horse, except the horse gets requisitioned for the army at the beginning of WWII, the boy joins up later to try to find and save his horse, lots of trials, injuries, etc... It is told with a combination of top-notch acting, very imaginative full-size puppets, and folk music (solo and choral). The horse puppets were so well done that it frequently seemed the three people operating them were struggling to restrain the horse, rather than animating it. (It has as happy an ending as possible under the circumstances, by the way.) I was riveted throughout - so much so that I'm tempted to come back and see it again before I leave. I hope a version of it is put on in Portland.

One final adventure - still raining fairly hard when I got out - London has the same scarcity of street signs as the rest of England - hard time figuring out the way back to my hotel so ended up taking a cab. 8.8 pounds, about $13, to go a bit over a mile. London is an expensive place indeed.

May 2

It was still raining when I got up this morning, so I gave up the idea of a morning visit to the Tower of London, instead spent an hour uploading pictures of castles, had a leisurely breakfast, and walked to the British Museum, where the plan was to meet Eric and Sam, his partner. I had decided after talking with Lynne last night to see the exhibit of Renaissance drawings, but I nearly passed it up because the other exhibits were so wonderful. While waiting for Eric and Sam I started with an exhibit of artifacts from various traditional societies, including some excellent Eskimo artifacts and one small Easter Island statue. I ordinarily don't take many pictures in museums, because usually much better pictures are readily available, but there were several I couldn't resist, and I also decided I wanted to provide a sense of the neat things they are doing.

I moved throgh the North America and Central America exhibits, then went down stairs to a very large Africa exhibit. This included a large exhibit of masks and costumes for ceremonial use, which proved serendipitous, because it provided me an interesting background for the Lion King. I took a couple pictures of the most interesting ones, then entered the contemporary Africa area, which was even more intriguing. I was especially fascinated by several sculptures that were made from weapons turned in during a pacification campaign - I will upload a few of the photos I took of this exhibit. Every one of these sculptures was simply stunning.

I finally made text messaging contact with Eric and learned that their train line is being repaired so they would be delayed, and we decided just to meet at the theater. That turned into an adventure in its own right, and I finally ended up leaving his ticket at the ticket sales "Will Call" window - he made it to his seat with at least 2 minutes to spare.

Before leaving the museum, I paid the 12 pound fee for the drawings exhibit - I enjoyed it, but it was quite crowded, and it was difficult to really appreciate it. I would have enoyed it more if I had gone as soon as I arrived at the museum, before the crowds built up. Still, many of the drawings were very interesting, and they more or less took me back to the days when I was studying drawing.

The Lion King: It was really good, really polished, really opulent. Brilliant costumes, life-size puppets, masks, shadow puppets, kites, African music and dance, more modern music pieces heavily influenced by R&B, modern dance, ballet, aerial dance - all with great pace and timing, simply brilliant, a 2.5 hour riot of sensory experience. Every bit as good as Warhorse, although in a very different way - Disney-slick, very polished. My first reaction, halfway through the first act, included "heartless," but by the end of the first act I reversed that decision; it did not lack heart; it just had the edges softened, the shadows reduced, the light spots enhanced. I do think I'm glad I had not seen the movie - I cannot imagine a movie engaging the imagination enough to achieve the sense of magic delight that the play achieved. So much genius - the costume design, puppets, choreography, everything. It was a wonderful experience.

I think I will try to get into London for a couple more theater or dance experiences while I'm here - but I will do it by day trip from now on. Less expensive by far, and my room in MK is a lot more comfy than any hotel room I can afford.