This morning I hopped a cheap Ryanair flight into London (Stansted). I left cool and rainy Ireland and landed (on-time) in London, where it was 21° and partly cloudI had heard stories about Ryanair, but also heard it’s the cheap way to get from Ireland to the rest of Europe. Flying Ryanair is really like herding cattle. Everyone “lines up” in front of the gate and heads out to the plane at once. It’s first come, first serve, so whoever is on the plane first gets the best seat. You can “upgrade” for 5 €. Not sure what that really buys you. Happened to get there at a reasonable time, so I got an aisle seat. It does worry me a little that the automated in-flight message mentions the use of walkmans and discmans. Seriously, who owns either of those any more?!? And more importantly, what else has ryanair failed to update on the plane?
Landed at Stansted airport and took the train to Liverpool Station, where I switched trains and then headed to the hotel. The hotel, which may or may not have been a 4 or 5 star hotel, was not ready for me yet. I dropped my luggage and hit up the concierge to see if there were any tickets available for Wicked. I have been dying to see this and everyone I know has already seen it. Managed to get a decent ticket.
Once that was settled, armed with my city map, I headed out to explore and to hopefully find some lunch/dinner. After about 30 minutes of wandering, happened upon Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. The view from the National Gallery out over Trafalgar Square:
Headed into the National Gallery and as usual, my favorites were the from impressionist era like this and this. Just can’t get into the ladies with the naked babies (a.k.a. the virgin and child), the many portraits of a man/woman, or the kings. Don’t get me wrong – it’s all great art. And the frames of these paintings were pretty impressive…
As I headed back to the hotel to nap and cleanup, I saw a man wearing a bib that read “Working not begging”. Is that any better than just begging outright?!? I suppose this is a city where you need a license or permit to beg. Hotel room was still not ready, but they managed to find me another room to check into. Turns out I should have just waited longer. The nap was unsuccessful – the hotel room is next to some maintenance room or something. Sounds like someone is throwing bowling balls at the wall my headboard is up against. Super sweet.
Wicked was amazing! After an insanely long week of not sleeping, I managed to stay awake through the entire show and thouroughly enjoyed it, despite sitting next to a teenage texter (who was yelled at twice by the usher) and in front of swine flu/sars guy (who was coughing the entire time).
Grabbed a taxi home – wasn’t about to brave the Underground at night in a strange city all by myself my first night in London (my mother would be proud). The driver took me home the “scenic” route – past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye, all of which are absolutely amazing lit up in the night lights. It was worth extra 2£ fare – definitely going back tomorrow night to enjoy the lights.
