London

United Kingdom

(A Note from Brianna)
Spring semester of 2006, I high-tailed it across the Atlantic
to spend a few fantastic months gallivanting around fancy London town.
I managed to study minimally, sleep even less, and in turn,
making time to eat and drink quite a bit more. It won't be anytime
soon that I find the time and energy to wander endless museums
and art galleries each day and spend each night collecting a
wild posse of global crusaders. The stories I could tell about
my foreign adventures with whiskey-drinking taxi drivers,
Louis Vuitton-wielding Royal ballerinas, and neurotic Bobbies
protecting their posts and warning of danger in forbidden forest...
Here it is!

While Brianna was attending the University of London
in the Spring of 2006, Alissa and I paid her a brief visit.
It was a weekend filled with whirlwind tours and magnificent
entertainment offerings. Never in our lives had we packed so many
activities into so short a time.

The three of us were neatly tucked into the London Belvedere Hotel County Hall.
A premium accommodation to be sure, it is as palacial on the
inside as it appears on the outside... in one of the suites, perhaps!
Our quarters were very tidy, albeit demure. Perfect for two, cozy for three,
it would have been utterly crowded for four. The true luxury we enjoyed
the most was having a private bath.

This is where we saw 'The Lion King.' The rock group 'Yes' may have recorded a live album at an earlier version of this theatre's site...
The Lyceum,
London
26 March, 2006 One simply cannot go all the way to London without shopping.
Brianna & Alissa
in shades of grey.
Tea Time,
26 March, 2006 Take me to the Crown Jewels, love!
Tower of London
Pictures
26 March, 2006
(Many pictures)

We saw Blue Man Group on the 25th, and The Lion King on the 26th.
As if that wasn't enough, we visited the British Museum, the National Gallery and the Tower of London as well
on those days. Not to mention an infinite number of Tube stations! Did I mention 'shopping?'
It was a day of depredation for me, or rather deprivation (both!)... not enough coffee!
We also stopped in at the rented room she was sharing in High Gate. Very nice.

A few pints for dessert, yes???
Post 'Lion King'
After-dinner
Pub Crawl,
26 March, 2006 That's Brianna, in the darkness beneath the sign of this former pineapple warehouse.
The Pineapple
Dance Studio,
where Brianna
practiced whilst
in Covent Garden Westminster Church...Abbey,' as it is popularly known.
Westminster
Abbey,
where the camera
is allowed...
(many pictures)

On 27 March, 2006, we saw the London production of Les Miserables.
It was a life-long fulfillment for Alissa, maybe even for Brianna. For me, it was
a great surprise. I expected to be quite bored, but in the end, I was reduced to
a pitiful sobbing mess, hopelessly neo-romantic, now a converted fan of Victor Hugo...
not that I would ever have the attention span to read one of his books...

Mind the gap.
On the Tube
27 March, 2006
(Would it be
best said 'in?') Off she goes, on the pedestrian bridge o'er Belvedere Street. Bye-bye, baby!
Brianna departs,
28 March, 2006
Now we were
on our own... 'Good Lord. You're NOT putting your hands in that filthy water, are you?!'
The Thames &
the Globe Theatre,
28 March, 2006