A Wicked Weekend in London with Anna
After a restful night in Streatham, Anna and I got up ready to walk the streets of London. We had arranged a hotel for Saturday night so that we could really take advantage of the London nightlife instead of dealing with a 30+ minute commute to Streatham. We lugged Anna’s bags through buses and the tube, but before checking into our hotel, we stopped in Leicester Square to purchase tickets to a Saturday night show! Leicester Square is located in the theatre district of London, the equivalent of Broadway more or less. On the weekends, one can find hundreds of tourists queuing up to buy theatre tickets. There is the TKTS booth (which I think is the same name as the main one in Times Square) but the queue there was by far the longest. There are loads of other ticket booths and windows offering to sell tickets for any of the shows, and sometimes at a discount. As Anna and I waited in line, we contemplated what to see. She had her heart set on “Billy Elliot” and I was open to anything.
About 20 minutes later, we reached the front of the line. We were greeted by a young man who was clearly wearing bronzer with glitter on his cheeks. Perhaps he was really getting carried away with his “theatre” job. Anyway, we were disappointed to find out that the “Billy Elliot” tickets were very expensive. Plan B: “Oliver” the musical…well, it was sold out. So finally, we ended up deciding on “Wicked.” The well bronzer boy mentioned that he could get me a good deal on Billy Elliot tickets all week if I was interested…I figured, why not?! It would be my last week in England so I bought myself one ticket to see Billy Elliot the following Monday.
Now that we had solidified our Saturday night plans, we took the tube to our hotel in the Paddington area. Anna had stayed in this hotel about a year ago when she visited and had a good experience. The check-in area was pretty fancy and nice, but our room wasn’t ready yet and so we left our bags in storage. Our next stop was the Royal Collection Shop near Buckingham Palace. This is where one can purchase royal memorabilia and items like china with Queen Elizabeth’s patterns, bathrooms with her initials, pencils and erasers with her crest…you get the idea. Anna had her heart set on a pillow which had the union jack and across it read, “God Save the Queen!”
We took a stroll past Buckingham, through Green Park, and down Piccadilly Street until we came upon Fortnum & Mason’s. The store was packed with tourists and I set off to find some lovely delicious souvenirs. I picked out some quality tea including a Smoky Earl Grey, some biscuits, fancy jams, lemon curd, and even some cupcakes for a snack. The Easter goodies were beautiful but I never imagined that a chocolate egg could cost so much, I mean even if it did have real gold flakes on it! At this point, it was time to grab some takeaway food, and settle into the hotel before the show started!
Once we made it back to Paddington, we collected our bags and went to find our room. Strangely, the room was located in a building across the street from the lobby. Then we had to go down a narrow rickety flight of steps to the basement and there we found our room!! Anna was less than impressed, apparently last time the quality was much better. Now we had wallpaper that was peeling off and a bathroom with subzero temperatures. We wanted to complain but we barely had enough time to scarf down dinner, change, and get over to the theatre!
“Wicked” was playing at a theatre right next to Victoria station. We had pretty good seats on the floor not too far from the stage. “Wicked” is essentially the story of the Wizard of Oz but told from the perspective of the good witch, Glenda, and the “wicked” witch of the west. It was a comedy, and I would say, more of a chick show, but it was very cute and I enjoyed it. Once we pushed our way out of the theatre, we hopped the tube to the Piccadilly Circus area but walked in the opposite direction of touristy Soho. We were hoping to just stumble upon a lively pub where we could enjoy a few drinks. As we contemplated one lounge, the people standing outside convinced us to give it a try. Nice atmosphere but really overpriced cocktails and poor beer selection. After our first drink, we moved next door to a more traditional, crowded pub called The Phoenix. They had an awesome selection of beers and ciders from the UK and abroad. We tried a Belgian white beer with strawberry and a German wheat beer. I would have been happy to sample each of the ales on tap, but alas, the pubs in England do not stay open very late! Just as they were starting to kick everyone out around midnight, we were approached by a very drunk Irish man. His name was, Paddy (imagine that?), and he and his friends had traveled to London for the weekend to watch a rugby game in which Ireland played England (and won by a point) and have a good time. He asked us if we knew where the hot spot was, and we explained that we were just as clueless as he was. Anna told him that he was lucky to be talking to a doctor and a scientist. His half open eyes looked at us with disbelief. From there, we got into a conversation about vaccines. He told us about his son, Shawnie, who got the chicken pox twice. Let’s just say that Paddy didn’t believe in vaccines anymore and when I did not think it was the time or the place to give him an immunology lecture. As we chatted, I could see his other friends snickering at him in the corner. Finally, a very large and loud bouncer yelled again for us to go, and we wished Paddy good night and hopped the tube back to Paddington!
Sunday morning when I awoke I was so excited to enjoy a hot, hot shower at the hotel. Don’t get me wrong, I was loving my time in England, but I must say that I really missed a good shower. It isn’t as enjoyable to take a shower where I have to hold the showerhead in one hand, and try to soap up with the other, and worry about when the warm water will run out, or how cold and damp my room will be when I returned. Much to my dismay, I could not get anything more than a cool shower! No hot water at all!! Totally unacceptable! Anna had to end up showering, more or less, in the sink because she couldn’t take the cold shower! Anna was furious that the hotel standard had changed so much. After we ate our “English breakfast buffet” we talked to the manager. After much complaining and negotiating, the best we could get from him was a 10% discount…better than nothing!
Now that we settled that, we could enjoy the rest of our day until Anna had to fly back to Sweden. We decided to do a bit of shopping and since I had been given the suggestion to go to Camden Market, we headed to north London. Camden Market was insane: crowded with tourists and locals, tons of crazy and random stuff for sale, yummy street food, and great people watching. We had some delicious crepes, both sweet and savory, when we arrived. Everyone waiting at the crepe cart was a French tourist! Leave it to the French to travel all the way to England and eat only French food. We wove our way through the thick crowds and the narrow rows of the market. I never realized how enormous the market is-just when you think you’ve seen it all, another market pops up around the corner! It felt sort of like the Venice Beach of London with all of the “freaks” and artsy types including the tattoo/piercing crowd and even a nice demonstration by the Hare Krishnas! I find it comforting to see that mocking the Hare Krishnas seems to be a universal joy! Once we tired of the crowds, we took the tube to Oxford Circus. First order of business was to order a Belgian waffle drenched in Nutella from a street vendor. Then we were off to visit Liberty. Liberty is a high-end department store in a beautiful huge Tudor building. Liberty carries many of the fine designer items but is also known for their beautiful patterned fabrics. I could have spent hours in the store smelling all of the exotic perfumes, checking out the many scarves, and admiring the fine clothing. Next, we just had a look in Burberry, it seemed mandatory! We fantasized about how one day we would come back to London in our Burberry trench coats, go to high tea at the Ritz, and have a day at the Sanctuary Spa.
We ended our afternoon with afternoon tea at Harrods. Harrods is the epitome of all high end stores and is owned by the Fayed’s (as in Dodi al Fayed, Princess Diana’s fiancé). It makes Sak’s or Neiman Marcus look like Walmart. The store is enormous with every luxurious item you could imagine including an elaborate Food Hall section which is essentially like a market with fresh fish, perfect produce, beautiful backed goods, and even a huge selection of fresh eggs among other things. We had our tea at Laduree, a French tea room. It was a beautiful, ornate area with picture perfect pastries and sweets on display. We sat in red velvet cushioned chairs and we had a meal essentially consisting of tea with sweets which we ate with real silver. Anna had violet tea and I had a special blend. We tried pain au chocolat, raspberry tart, macarons, sandwich-like pastries with cream in between flavored with orange blossom, rose, and red berries. Macarons are not to be confused with macaroons, which in the US, are like a coconut cookie. We had so many sweets that we felt a bit sick to our stomachs but it was a nice way to pamper ourselves at the end of the weekend. Before we knew it, it was time for Anna to make her way to the airport! It was sad to say good-bye! Even though it had been 6 years since we had seen each other, it really felt as if no time had passed! It’s always great to have a friendship where you can pick up right where you left off even if many years have passed. Hopefully our next visit will be in Sweden!
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