April 6-8: Easter Weekend in London

Thursday, April 5 was the big day: Mary Poppins. My manager and I had meetings at our client’s office in Campden in central London that day, so we just stayed downtown. After dropping our bags at Carrie’s hotel and picking her up, we cabbed it over to Prince Edward Theatre, though I think the tube to Tottenham Court stop and walking might have been faster, thanks to all the traffic… We got our tickets and made our way up to our nosebleed seats just in time, and without any dinner. Ever wonder what the view looks like for the spotlight guys? Yeah, we found out first-hand. But that’s what you get when you order the cheapest tickets available online, and they still put us back ₤29 each. The show was charming and has inspired me to rent the movie at my next possible opportunity. The set design and special effects were particularly impressive: sure enough, on-stage Mary pulled a coat rack, large potted plant, and even a twin bed out of her carpet bag. During the final number, Mary Poppins rose out into the audience lifted by her umbrella and all the way up out of sight.

After the show, we were pretty hungry, so after tracking down an ATM for Carrie we made our way into Wetherspoon’s on Chancery Lane. Turns out, this is a pretty large chain of pubs; Carrie and I had just had dinner there in Woking the night before! We quickly ordered food and beers before they closed the kitchen at 11 PM. The pub/lounge/restaurant was huge! There’s a huge open room with a screen showing the music video of the pop song playing at full volume, a room in front, a room even farther back, and an upstairs area. But like so many pubs in London, despite the relaxed law around closing at 11, Wetherspoon’s shut down around 11:30 PM and we headed back to the Marriott Marble Arch.

Friday was a bright and sunny and warm day, just like Thursday had been. It didn’t feel like London at all. Carrie’s friend, Helen from Newcastle, arrived at the hotel in the late morning as Carrie and I were still getting ready. After lunch at an Italian café down the street we made our way to the Embankment dock to catch a Catamaran Cruise. Helen’s day travel card got her a 30% discount and my train ticket into the city from Woking from the day before got Carrie and me a two-for-one deal, so all of us managed to avoid paying full price. Though we were on a ‘hop-on, hop-off’ tour, we didn’t do much hopping until the boat pulled up to the Greenwich pier. We alighted there and grabbed a half-pint at a local pub before heading out to explore. We walked through an open-air market and then went into the park near the dock and up to the front of the Maritime Museum before making our way back to the dock for the next boat back.

We were getting a bit cold and hungry as the sun went down, so I got in touch with some high school friends who wanted to meet up. Adrian Baker and Travis Aylward are both studying this year at the London School of Economics to get their masters degrees. Adrian had only just a few days before found my contact information on Facebook and realized that I was also in London. It was a pleasant surprise to see them and catch up again. We met them out at Nottinghill Gate in Bayswater, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at finding a pub that was both still serving food and had available tables, we settled for the TexMex place near the tube stop. After eating and catching up over a few pitchers of red sangria, we headed out to a few pubs in the area. But the 11 PM closing time plagued us still as we were just barely able to get a pint at the first place before they stopped serving and then were unsuccessful at the several pubs we tried after that. Adrian and Travis were generous enough to offer us a drink back at their flat, so we got the grand tour. Let’s just say that their living conditions were in stark contrast to the giant flat-screen TV and high-end Grey Goose they were serving… Aaaah, the life of a student. We didn’t get too far into “Swingers” before it was time for us three girls to call it a night and make our way back to Marble Arch.

On Saturday, the weather once again cooperated and provided a sunny, warm day for us to spend outside. We walked the entire distance alongside Hyde Park until we were back aroundPortobello Road for the famous weekend market. Here, Helen had to bid us farewell in order to retrieve her bag and meet a friend on Oxford Street before catching her train back to Newcastle so she could spend Easter back at home. Carrie and I put blinders on as best we could in order to make our way all the way to the end of the market in order to meet another of Carrie’s friends, Marie, who lives in the area. We got a tour of her lovely English home currently under renovation, but which is going to be fantastic when the work is completed. Marie proceeded to then guide us through the market and showed us the ‘best’ area to get good quality wares. Carrie and I found some great pearl earrings before going in search of the crepe stand we’d seen to have some late lunch. My ham and cheese crepe cost ₤5 (yes, that’s US $10) and I ate it off a paper plate in the street, but it was delicious. Though granted, Portobello Road Market is a tourist trap with inflated prices, London is truly unaffordable. Fares and prices continue rise, sometimes monthly. And we won’t even mention the US exchange rate right now, or I’ll start to cry. If you’re curious, check it out: XE.com. Regardless, I wasn’t going to let it stop me from getting a cute casual dress, so Marie and Carrie helped me pick one out and Marie brilliantly bartered the guy from ₤20 down to ₤18 and we left the market victorious. Nottinghill Gate, but this time we made a right and headed up towards

Carrie and I needed a rest back at the hotel, and we wanted to raid the Executive Lounge for snacks and waters, so we parted ways with Marie and headed back.

Once we were refreshed once more, and all dressed up for a Saturday night out at the pubs, we met Adrian and Travis out at the Indian restaurant in Holland Park where they had just been served dinner themselves. Adrian used to live very nearby when he worked in London at an insurance company as an internship the summer before his senior year of college. When they had finished eating and Carrie and I finished the beer we’d shared, we made our way to another local pub that mercifully had a non-smoking section. London is going smoke-free in July, right after I leave. Please make note that this is a full year before Chicago gets its act together and follows suit. Ridiculous.

Closing time once again came quickly and so we left to try one last place: the boys’ favorite watering hole near their flat where they’re known by first name by the manager. We were thus able to be served past closing and enjoy several rounds of English Trivial Pursuit on one of those pub TV game systems that steals all your change. So addictive.

We called it a night as this pub closed its doors as Carrie and I had an early morning ahead of us.

For Easter Sunday, we arranged to meet up with some of my Paddywagon friends to go to The Church. For those of you from London, you’ll know right away that this is not a church at all, but a converted theatre where people go to continue their weekend partying on Sunday morning. It was great to see Penny, her friend Larissa, and Megan again, and we got to meet the legendary Irish guy from Galway that Megan hooked up with during the tour. The venue played good fun music and we generally had a good time, but I think I’ll tick that box and not feel the need to go to The Church again. It got a bit ‘rowdy’, to put it nicely, and watching female and male strippers is not my idea of fun on any day, let alone a Sunday. I was happy to leave with Carrie at 3:30 PM (it closes at 4 PM anyway) to help her try and make her flight back to Barcelona that evening.

It was a good Easter weekend, I was so happy to do the boat to Greenwich and see the Portobello Road Market, as those were both items on my London 'to do list', and I cannot stress enough how beautiful the weather was the whole time. We were really lucky to have so many days in a row of sunshine. Hopefully the streak will continue, at least until Wednesday when I head out to meet Bryce in Amsterdam.