Now I've seen both Captains on stage!

[beelikej]

From my previous post you already know I did a lot of reading during my time in London. I had about 15 hours of traveltime and spent all my evenings in a bubblebath. In between reading I did manage to go into town and do some shopping and sightseeing. I also visited the theatre for a musical, a comedy show and a play.
Here's a picspam of the first two days: Tuesday August 14 + Wednesday August 15.

London, Day 1: Trains & Theatre


08:22 - 10:25 a.m.
Got up in time to start traveling an hour ahead of my schedule. This is me waiting at the busstop in front of my house to catch the bus to the trainstation. I was on time for the 8.46 to Rotterdam.


10:25 - 12:25 a.m.
When I arrived there, I found out the train to Brussels wouldn't go across the border! Instead I had to change trains in Roosendaal, but no one on the Dutch side had any information about trains to Belgium. How convenient. Fortunately (ahem) I had dealt with this issue before, hence me traveling an hour early, so I knew I had enough time to take the slow stoptrain to Antwerp. (named thus because of the thousands of stops at even the smallest villages;)


12:25 a.m. - 13:32 (1.32 p.m.)
In Antwerp I got on the intercity-train to Brussels


13:45 - toilet at Eurostar waiting area in Brussels Midi/Zuid station


14.40 - boarding Eurostar!


14:56 - departure Eurostar; finally time to relax for lunch:)
As you can see from my bookmark, I spent my time on trains and stations well; I'm already half way in book 1 of The Hunger Games!


Hello London! Arrival at St. Pancras/King's Cross railway station, where I take the Underground (Tube) to Russel Square. (I planned my vacation right in between the Olympics and The Special Olympics)


My hotelroom is on the seventh floor; see that door in the distance? That's mine. I believe CSI called that Murder Central *grins*


Lovely corner room with my precious, precious bathtub. We will be spending a lot of time together.


After freshening up I take the Tube to the NEW & IMPROVED Leicester Square; there are now wavey fences and fountains. The trees are decorated with huge medals in honour of the Olympics.

I go to the TKTS counter for discount theatre tickets, but don't see any worthwhile shows. So I check my list of alternative theatres and decide to walk to SoHo.


Deanstreet, Soho. What? I took the picture for the streetsign, you perv.


I buy a ticket for the musical Soho Cinders at the Soho Theatre. It's a modern day version of Cinderella about rentboy Robbie, who falls in love with candidate-mayor James.
Here's a great review by nick730


Before the theatre I have dinner at Soho Joe...


An Aberdeen Angus Burger with Chips (Fries) and a glass of milk:)


Around 22.30 I take the Tube at Tottenham Court Road.


Today's loot: bought marvelous Comfrey & Mallow footbalm at Neil's Yard and Peach & Almond bubblebath (oh yes) at Marks & Spencer.


And then it's time for my bath and book; only 100 pages to go! (Yes, I manage to finish the book before bedtime:)


London, Day 2: Camden & Captain Jack


I asked the hotel for extra towels and used them to make an exercise mat. To get started I had the first 3 minutes of Gilad's video on my iPod. I had also made sketches and notes of the complete 30 minute work-out. I managed to finish the whole session \o/


An English breakfast with milk instead of tea;)


The backwall of the Windsor Room with the Tube platform at Russel Square. You can even make out destination Cockfosters (always good for a giggle:)


The plan was to go shoeshopping in CamdenTown, but I didn't see any shoes I wanted, so I made the usual photos of the shops and then went to Waterstone's to browse and buy books instead.


My two favorite shopfronts


Look how cool:)


Check out London at the bottom left. (Or try to make evil and needle rhyme at the top right:)


Next on my to-do list was score a ticket for sold-out play The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-time. So I took the train to Waterloo station and walked to the National Theatre at the Southbank.


On the way I saw this awesome sculpture across the Waterloo-bridge.


I had a great view of the London Eye before I finally found the theatre, which turned out to be several theatres in one big complicated building.
If you ever need to go to the Cottesloe my advice would be to take the tube to Embankment to cross the bridge to the Southbank from there; it's much easier to reach the entrance from that side.


There was already a long line of people waiting (hoping) for return tickets, so I decided to get some food first and sit near the water for a while. Hey, that's frozen yoghurt (blueberries) with granola (with bits of strawberries) and totally counts as a late lunch (because it's fruit and a milk product;)

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a ticket, so I went back to Leicester Square to get a ticket for my alternative choice at TKTS (see below). I bought two bubblebath-bars at Lush on Piccadilly Circus and took the tube back to the hotel for some reading:)


Of course I had dinner at Mother Mash:
Colcannon Mash with Aberdeen Angus steakpie and traditional gravy and a glass of milk;)


I walked back to Leicester Square for dessert with Ben & Jerry while watching the fancy lights on the cinema-building. I had two scoops: the Vermonster - Maple syrup ice cream with caramelised pecans and a caramel swirl + Apple-y Ever After - Apple pie ice cream with pieces of apple & chunks of rich pie crust (= flavor created in support of UK marriage equality)


Then I went to the ARTS theatre for The Complete World Of Sports (abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Years ago I had seen The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (abridged) which was fun and I figured this new show would be fitting to make up for me completely missing the Olympics. Basically it's three guys on stage (the funny bald one + the smart sophisticated one + the dumb pretty one) doing all sorts of sketches about the history of sport.

The girl who sold me the program said I could have it signed after the show, which I thought was nice. But when I discovered who was part of the group this time, I went into fangirl mode and worried about it for the rest of the performance.... because the role of the pretty one was played by Matt Rippy.
I admit that name didn't ring a bell with me right away, but his face looked familiar and from the program I learned why: Matt Rippy also acted on TV as a sexually confused WW2 pilot, the REAL Captain Jack Harkness, in Torchwood.

Obviously I had to get HIS autograph;)
Just in case you're wondering: YES, his eyes are really that gorgeous and his jaw really is that square.


He put an arrow next to his name because he was worried I hadn't recognized him in his swimming outfit *grins* He also mentioned me by name. asls;dgae;lgjegoeg;sdnlv;lfjal;gj.

What a splendid evening:)


The rest of my loot: books (including part 3 of The Hunger Games Trilogy, so I can continue right after part 2 - see below.) and breakfast to bring on the tourbus tomorrow morning, with a special mention for the newly discovered salted caramel flavoured yoghurt.


Bath and book time: halfway through part two: Catching Fire.
Bubbles are Yuzu & Cocoa = Chocolate Orange scent.

To be continued! (I have almost 100 photos of Stonehenge to go through)