London By Coach

After getting up early, and then napping way too late... I finally got up, crammed in some reading, and then took off for the Sciences car park to catch my coach to London. The jetlag definitely hasn't quite worn off yet...

Today was the first of the school planned trips that you had to book in advance, so a whole bunch of us piled in a bus to go see the Lion King at Lyceum Theatre. The trip was a bit long, simply because there isn't really the same type of freeway system as we have in the states. To get to where we had to go, we had to drive through the city for a good hour and a half or so, we couldn't just pop off at an exit and take a few surface streets. Really, it'd be like trying to drive to downtown Sacramento without ever taking a freeway.

I didn't mind, but it would have been more enjoyable if everyone on the bus had been considerate of the other passengers and the driver. The comments reached such an obnoxious point, that Josh wanted me to give him advance notice if I decided to deck someone, so that he could have his camera ready. I told him there would be no violence, simply because I had no desire to attract the attention of half a dozen drunken frat boys. It was one of those groups that brought their own boom box and cranked it up for the whole coach to hear, while drinking the numerous beers they brought with them, and shouting at the driver. Oh yeah... fun stuff. Someone made the comment that they didn't need to spend 35 pounds to get drunk and listen to bad music, they could have done that on campus. I thought it was a pretty good point.

Ok, enough ranting

In true Stefanie fashion, I took pictures the only way I could... through the window. The shot above is a perfect example, and I thought I'd throw in a few more for good measure.

Brick is EVERYWHERE... it's adorable. These buildings were so tall that they literally filled the windows, and it was brick buildings with little colorful pop out shops for blocks. Oddly enough, we saw a lot of Pizza Huts, Dominoes, and so many versions of fried chicken it was ridiculous. There's places like RFC and NFC that are trying to catch the KFC craze. The advisor here said he could think of at least 4 places that had grabbed the "FC" but that they all basically served the same thing.

It's the UNDERGROUND! How famous is this sign? Yeah, it's a pretty big deal. I'll have to get a better shot, but it was nice to see, right?

Ok, last one of the through bus windows series...

This is the bridge just after the UNDERGROUND, and the entire length is painted in brilliant colors. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get the whole thing, but I think the perspective is rather fun.

Just before reaching our destination, we crossed the Waterloo Bridge. I saw my first glimpse of the London Eye, the House of Parliament, and all the fabulous architecture along the river Thames. It's official, I've finally been to London, and I think I'm in love. I really can't wait to explore the city, and Saturday will be my first chance.

And now onto the whole reason for the trip... the musical.

Here we have the corner of the theatre... the front was much more grandiose, with columns and signs everywhere, but we never actually passed the front. This was taken on the fly as we hurried through the streets looking for a bite to eat. We wound up in this classy little cafe with excellent food, and all at a decent price by London standards. I had a chicken rotisserie that was pretty much to die for. Needless to say, we all returned to the theatre rather full and content.

*Update*

Last night we went to see The Producers, which was coincidentally around the corner from the Lyceum Theatre... so after eating in the same little resturant, we had some spare time and went to get some pictures of the front of the theatre.

The theatre sits on a hill, hence the skewed perspective. People were also filing in to take their seats as the show was set to start within the next half hour. Needless to say, with all the
musicals currently showing, the West End is rather busy.

***

I took a look at the available souveniers, and wasn't really impressed. So I decided to buy a programme, or play bill, whatever you want to call it. I was hoping for pictures of the production or people in costumes or something. Well, no such luck... but it is still nice to have.

Oh yeah, me and the mad photoshopping skills. The maroon of my carpet looked rather unattractive next to the bright orange and yellows, so I decided to edit it out. Now if only I could significantly edit the following to improve the quality...

This is my view of the stage from, well, you guessed it, the very back row. Yes, tickets are expensive. To some extent, the view kind of ruined some of the effects, but there was still so much that impressed me. It is something that I highly recommend seeing if you haven't already. The opening scene will blow you away... it's phenomenal. Anyway, this shot of course is taken without a flash, because no 15ft built in flash was going to make a difference.

Once in the theatre, we did the typical, most touristy thing we could possibly do... we took more pictures. Here we have Stephen and Adelyn. Stephen lives in my building, and Adelyn is a friend of his. We've all gone to the market together, and sat on the coach together. I have to say, we all make for a pretty fun group of people

Haha, photo revenge. Well... sorta. This is Josh, who sat next to me on the coach ride there and back. You know, the one who wanted advanced notice if I was going to deck someone. And oh look, it's Stephen again.

And this is Kat, being a complete goof with her 50 pence binoculars. Kat is one of the girls I was fortunate enough to meet in the Atlanta airport, and she also lives in my building right below me. The building pictures are coming, sometime this weekend I'm sure.

I took a few pictures with Kat, Treavor, and Josh... but for some reason they didn't come out very well. I'll have to get better with this whole being in pictures thing, like Kat said, I need proof that I was here.

Ok, here it is... the last one for the night. I saw this while waiting for our coach, and I just had to take a picture because I know this is a certain someone's pretty much favorite movie. Well, it's not Gone With the Wind, but it's right up there. Enjoy babe!