e u r o b l o g

So, “Avenue Q” was awesome. We were really close to the stage and it was a pretty small theatre to begin with, and the cast was great. Even more surprisingly, the audience was great, too–it was a pretty young crowd (which is good, because most older people would probably have walked out after the first ten minutes) and they had a ton of energy, especially for a matinee. It was really fun, and substantially more hilarious than just listening to the recording.

Today we tried to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (helping Cameron connect with the Commonwealth…) but they canceled it, so we went over to the Globe to catch “Antony and Cleopatra.”

The “groundling” area was actually really good, because we could see everything and move around and be antsy without getting yelled at. And it only rained a little bit (though that didn’t matter much for me–during a scene of drunken Roman revelry, one of the actors dumped a goblet full of water on my head. Hooray!)

Aaaand then we found Indian food in Knightsbridge, a few blocks away from Harrods, and Cameron didn’t hate it (!) and it was really delicious. In the last three days I have had falafel, Indian food, and a pasty (which I haven’t had since Stella’s closed, so that was really exciting), so it has been a good few days of food. Also, we’ve added to our hostel cooking repertoire–last night we added a package of shredded cheese to our noodles and sauce. Mmm!

We also went to King’s Cross tonight to find Platform 9 3/4, and  umm, I’m very pleased to note that they’ve renovated since last time I was there–they’ve now put on a sign that says that AND stuck a cart halfway through the wall in the place where the platform would be if, you know, Harry Potter were real. So we took some pictures and were generally very nerdy.

Tomorrow we’re going to Hampton Court and then we’ll try to watch people yell at each other in the House of Commons (which is open to the public in the afternoons and evenings). And…whoa….we’ll be home in three days.

Until then…

–Amanda

My mom complained that I haven’t been posting, so here it is!

I am, like everyone else, enjoying the trip. I’m pretty sure I enjoyed the Tent more than everyone else combined, but I’ve also been known to sleep outside a lot so that’s not really unexpected. Amsterdam was…an experience. It’s an awesome city and the people are really cool, even if our neighborhood (aka the redlight district) was a little sketch. London is sweet. I can’t really complain, considering today has been spent oogling Shakespearean toys and getting awesome tickets for Avenue Q tonight. I’m also excited for the city and because we are staying very near Hyde Park, part of the inspiration for Peter Pan, and that is my favorite story of all time. So, in short, life is good : ).

–Steph

During our last day in Amsterdam, we went to the Heineken Experience (a few of you should have gotten video email things from there) just to be dorky college-aged Americans–plus, you know, it was only 10 euro, and you got three beers non-alcoholic beverages and a “free gift”–a really nice bottle opener in a plastic mini Heineken bottle.

You also got a couple hours of weirdly entertaining entertainment, including two Heineken-themed “rides,” a room where you can “be your own DJ,” and a row of chairs in which you can sit and surround yourself in commercialism (the entire place was basically dedicated to showing Heineken commercials. My media studies classes would have a field day).

We got to the airport extra early, so as to avoid any problems flying into the U.K. However, because it’s us, this turned out to be entirely unnecessary–our flight was delayed, inevitably, and we sat around at the Amsterdam airport until 11 p.m. By the time we got into Luton and then took the bus into London, it was half past midnight, so we walked halfway to the hostel and then took a cab, since we didn’t actually know where it was.

Our hostel here is good, in that they include breakfast in the price, there’s a kitchen, and our room is pretty nice. (The bathrooms didn’t work for me this morning, but no one else had any problems, so I’m going to give the place the benefit of the doubt.)

Today so far we’ve gotten tickets to go see “Antony and Cleopatra” at the Globe tomorrow afternoon (they are £5 standing tickets, because nothing is as fun as standing up through three hours of Shakespeare! ….really! no sarcasm! We like Shakespeare. As long as it doesn’t rain). We wandered around Covent Garden, where we got trinkety things and I bought an umbrella–I’m okay getting rained on occasionally, but um, we’re in England.

AND THEN. We were wandering around and saw signs for cheap theatre tickets, so we investigated further AND THEN. We got £20 tickets to see “Avenue Q” from the FIFTH ROW this afternoon! In about an hour, in fact. Because we’re fabulous.

So we will see good theatre tonight and tomorrow, even if paying for said theatre means we will be going Bov-style and eating baguettes and Nutella for the rest of the trip. Because it’s worth it. (However, Cameron has promised to try Indian food while we’re here, so one afternoon/evening we have to eat good Indian food. And Steph and I can’t seem to avoid falafel stands, because mmm, deep-fried garbanzo beans. So good.)

–Amanda