From Backroads to Broadway

Day 14, July 11, London

The trip from Glasgow to London was pretty uneventful — until I tried to use the loo on a moving train. I’m struggling to do my business and maintain my balance while a recording (in a soothing British accent, natch) cautions me to be careful as the train may suddenly slow down, accelerate, or take a curve. Such an adventure!

The train seats were rather uncomfortable, so my back did NOT enjoy the trip. As with the London-to-Edinburgh leg, I gazed out the window as we rolled through the Scottish and English countryside as Ron sat beside me, headphones on and in his own world.

A funny thing happened on the way to the loo. I wore the T-shirt at left on the train; as I passed a group of women sitting in a four-person booth where the seats face each other, I heard one of them murmur “Things Rick Astley will never do” and chuckle — so naturally I had to stop and let them read the entire list. Even funnier — I didn’t buy the shirt on this trip, LOL. I ordered it from a wonderful snarky online store called m00nshot.com (The “0” in moon are zeroes, not the letter O).

We dropped off our bags at the Holiday Inn Regent’s Park (the same hotel we stayed at in the beginning of the trip) and went exploring for a while, returning in time to clean up and meet Gary and Jim for dinner at a tapas bar in the West End, then cross the street to see “Hercules” the musical (based on the animated Disney film).

What a spectacle! I haven’t seen the movie and didn’t know what to expect. The production was extremely entertaining and had just the right amount of cheese. Most of the performers were fine, and Trevor Dion Nicholas (as Phil, Hercules’ mentor), and Stephen Carlile (as Hades) were GREAT. Carlile — whose over-the-top portrayal was terrific — led a spectacular group dance number right before intermission, and Nicholas was great throughout. The standout performances, however, were the 5 gospel-tinged singers who played the Muses — they narrated the story, moved things along, had some incredible songs and costume changes, and were funny as hell. We thoroughly enjoyed the production!

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Hercules! Hercules!!

With equal parts excitement and exhaustion, we returned to London by train from Glasgow. Kirk, nestled by the window, seemed content to watch the scenery. Focusing on my iPad, I rode along, streaming Soul Eater on Crunchyroll, and enjoying a healthy buffet of Diet Coke and Twizzlers!

The train ride took up most of our day. By the time we checked back into Holiday Inn Regent’s Park, we had just enough time to “freshen up” and head to a belated birthday celebration for Jim Glasgow, courtesy of Gary Kearns! Woo hoo! I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

Our evening of celebration was set in the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a theater that Gary and Jim have been to several times during their time in London. Knowing we would be seeing a musical production of Hercules (the animated film version and NOT the television series featuring Kevin Sorbo), we had no idea what to expect!

Understanding there would be some changes, we went in hoping for some care-free entertainment. The first thing that really caught my eye was the very family-friendly atmosphere within the theater. Accepting that it was what it was….hello! A family show turned musical. There were still plenty of laughable moments that the younger audience may have missed!

However, as fans of all things CAMP and SILLY, we were over the moon with the overall show. While there was plenty of action to keep our attention, the characters I enjoyed most were Hades, played in the quirkiest and over-the-top way by Stephen Carlile! His characterization was so on point that I don’t think I’ll be able to watch the Disney version again without thinking of him.

In a league of their own, the brightest performers of the night were the ladies that brought The Muses to life! They were OUTSTANDING!! Candace Furbert, Sharlene Hector, Brianna Ogunbawo, Malinda Parris, and Robyn Rose-Li brought all the campy fun you could hope for while moving the storyline along with all the sass you could stand!

It does say a lot about the evening’s entertainment when the birthday boy was able to enjoy the show even with a mammoth of a man blocking his view of the stage…..I saw the picture he took. I felt terrible and apologized. He laughed and just said it’s part of the experience of the theater. Had we known there was an issue, I would’ve gone and asked for a booster seat!*

*Jim, I’m kidding, I never thought of doing anything like that at all! I only thought of it as a ridiculous solution to the issue this evening as I was typing (Hugs!)!

Gary and Jim: Thank you again for inviting us to join y’all for the evening. As always, it’s our absolute pleasure to see y’all every chance we get! Love you guys!

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Day 15, July 12, London

We opted to spend a couple-ish hours at the London Zoo, which is in Regent’s Park. After peeking at the giraffes, we walked through Monkey Valley — a caged enclosure where we got up close and personal with nine colobus monkeys. The zoo has built an environment where the monkeys can swing, perch, and cross rope bridges — things they do in the wild. I was cautiously curious about what to expect!

We walked through the enclosure and spotted all nine monkeys in various locations — on the ground, perched in a man-made platform. After we exited the valley, we looked back and saw that one monkey was on the footpath, forcing a zoo employee to hold up the group until the monkey decided to move on.

We also visited the rainforest exhibit, where sloths and monkeys were all around us — hanging upside down in a corner, perched in a tree, etc. We visited the tigers, lions, storks, flamingos, and pelicans before taking our leave. One thing we noticed is that each exhibit has the same information — the animal’s native habitat, what they eat, how mankind’s practices has affected them, and their status on the endangered species list. We thought that was informative and helpful.

From there, we proceeded to Camden Market (for the second time on this trip). Ron — a fierce Googler — found a unique shirt shop to visit. For information on THAT adventure, please visit his section of the blog.

Our final stop that day was Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre to watch the production of Noughts and Crosses — a Romeo and Juliet-like story about star-crossed lovers, with the added twist of being an inter-racial romance across different classes of people, with Blacks having the money and power (the “crosses”) and the Caucasians as the lower-class rebels (the “noughts”). We had third-row seats in the middle of the stage —a fantastic location on a beautiful evening.

The play was powerful and made you think about race, class, and rebellion. The actors in the lead roles — Sephy and Callum — were fantastic, as was the entire cast. The actress playing Sephy looked familiar; I found her bio in the cast info and realized she’s Corinna Brown, who portrayed teenaged lesbian Tara Jones in the three seasons of “Heartstopper” on Netflix. She was great in that as well, so now I want to re-watch it (I’ve already seen it twice) before the final chapter (a feature-length movie that just finished filming) comes out.

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Monkeying Around

Staying near Regent’s Park in London, our days were always easy to fill with “Things To Do”. Realizing the London Zoo was nearby, we chose to spend a morning there. As fans of visiting a local zoo when we’re on vacation, we were very curious how this one might be different.

The zoo is very casual; although it was very popular, it never felt crowded. The exhibits were all very well-explained and informative. We were both very happily taken aback when we realized the consistency of the signage in describing how each creature lived in a world that’s changing so much around them. Reinforcing how easy it is to forget the overall impact we have on the planet while just living our everyday lives…..it was effective and never sanctimonious.

One of the more memorable parts of our visit was the rainforest building. The experience the zoo has created with several open-concept enclosures is hard to describe accurately. Seeing a mother sloth with her infant lazing on her belly as she swung beneath a branch three feet away from us was absolutely incredible!

While hanging out in Monkey Valley, watching a crowd part like the Red Sea when a colobus (monkey) dropped onto the trail was surprisingly funny (and yet not)! We were happy to witness all the action from outside of the habitat when the little fella decided to drop in!

In honor of our new zoo buddy the colobus, I’m giving the London Zoo two bumps* up!

*See, because the colobus has wee little bumps where we typically see thumbs, I thought I’d both show a little respect to the gaseous critters and throw out what might be the only FACT I will remember from the entire trip! Hah hah hah! I’ve got it worse than a gibbon!

Following a delicious halal BBQ lunch at Camden Market — yes, that Camden Market, the one bursting at the seams with moody teenagers, vintage windbreakers, and more vegan leather than should legally exist — we dove headlong into a shopping adventure.

Or tried to.

What began as a hopeful quest for the “Unique Shirts” store ended up a full-blown goose chase through a labyrinth of aggressively hip stalls and suspiciously confident mannequins.

Kirk and I wandered. We searched. We retraced steps. We rotated maps. At one point, I’m pretty sure we looped through the same alleyway three times and were silently judged by a couple that looked suspiciously like ourselves, only older.

The store, it turns out, had either moved, closed, never existed, or was hiding behind some enchanted wardrobe portal only accessible to those deemed worthy by the gaggle of Google gods protecting it to their own ends.

Dearest Google:

 Why have you forsaken us?!?

 Sincerely, Desperately Seeking Uniqueness

Dinner was at DeMartino (aka: 196-198 Great Portland Street) which, bless it, is practically two deep lunges from our hotel, assuming you’ve been staying up on your yoga stretches…..

The dining room is very welcoming, with warm lighting and family photos — like if your Italian grandmother opened a restaurant and had the sense to put professionals in charge of the kitchen.

The food? Bellissimo.

My gnocchi could have brought about a ceasefire. Kirk was positively glowing over his linguine aglio olio e pepperoncino, and my gelato? Three scoops in, settling into my second spoonful of the brightest bite of lemon while praying my brain doesn’t explode, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end our meal!

The restaurant has a warm staff, generous portions, and a lively buzz, even in the late afternoon of a steamy London weekend. And honestly, in Marylebone, finding a place with both good food and decent prices is like spotting a unicorn with a wine list.

Because nothing says “fun in London” quite like a brisk walk through a lovely neighborhood park on the way to an open-air theater conveniently situated near our hotel, we made our way to a bit of entertainment that we chose at the last minute.

That said, Tinuke Craig’s direction of the dystopian star-crossed-lovers tale “Noughts and Crosses” had real bite, tackling Malorie Blackman’s series about intense social commentary with Shakespearean weight. It was gutsy, stylish, and unsettling in all the ways the best dystopias should be — though the dated source material sometimes tried to wrestle the steering wheel.

Still, there were moments of stunning stagecraft (the chorus of racial scrutiny constantly looming was a haunting, powerful choice), and Sephy, played with luminous optimism by Corinna Brown, shone like a nightlight in a very bleak bedroom.

I may have some notes about the adaptation’s age — but I’ve also got goosebumps from that closing scene. So. You win some, you win some complicated ones.

And thus, our day of BBQ, blunders, pasta, and powerful theatre came to a close. No shirts were bought. But gnocchi was devoured and perspectives were… well, stirred. That’s a win in my book!

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Day 16, July 13, London

We took the Underground to the Leake Street Arches, a collection of murals and street art in tunnels near the Thames, across the river from the London Eye. We found multiple murals that were outstanding — I’m guessing that if we visited it again in a couple of weeks, it might look different. One mural was particularly beautiful to me: a Keith Haring-ish design on the ceiling of a side tunnel. Not sure how the artist, Max the Virus, completed the mural, but I’m pretty sure it took him a while.

After spending about an hour at the murals, we looked for something else to do; we both have a penchant for books, so Ron led us to Skoob, a smaller version of Half-Price Books, where I struck gold: a book about Truman Capote’s society “swans,” a biography of Sir Laurence Olivier, and a biography of movie mogul Louis B. Mayer. I’ve read the Capote book and can’t wait to dive in to the other two!

Our final event in London was a visit to Cadogan Hall with Jim to hear Gary and other members of the London Gay Men’s Chorus stage a tribute to Live Aid — which had occurred exactly 40 years before in London and Philadelphia. The chorus created a unique approach: the first half of the show included songs that were performed in 1985; in the second half, they sang songs by current artists who they imagined would perform if the event were produced today.

In the first half, we heard a variety of tunes, including “Your Song,” “Rocket Man,” “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Drive.” In the second half, the chorus performed “Bad Romance,” “Dancing on my Own,” “Fix You,” and “Spice Up Your Life,” among others, before closing with “Let It Be” and encouraging an audience sing-along. The evening was fantastic (and accompanied by some kicky choreography); several members performed solos or duets, with particularly strong performances on “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Drive.”

Something else made for a memorable evening: I tripped and fell, ending up with a nasty cut and minor rug burns on my left forearm. During intermission I stood in the aisle, looking at my phone to get the results for the gentlemen’s final at Wimbledon, when I dropped my phone. I retrieved it and stepped into an empty row to clear the aisle — forgetting that the rows had a slight step up, so there I tripped and down I went (fortunately not on top of anybody). A couple of ushers rushed over to check on me, then sent me to the downstairs lounge where a bartender was waiting to apply a plaster (Band-Aid) to my cut. Embarrassing yet memorable!

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LiveAid Concert

We woke up on the last morning of vacation realizing we had only so much time left and, as usual, too many things left undone. Oh, we hit the high points on our itinerary every day. Some might say it’s because I operate on vacation mode like a military commander; I prefer to think of myself as well-organized and disciplined…..

Realizing our last two days were very loosely constructed due to things being what they sometimes are, I took it as a challenge to be flexible…….trust me, that can be an “issue”. However, the things that were planned went pretty well, including breakfast at Gail’s Bakery, a London bakery chain; the one we went to was in Southbank.

We had looked at things to do in Southbank while we were planning. After our brief time there today, we’ve agreed to return to the area to visit a couple of sites or attractions that we chose for forego this time.

Gail’s Bakery had a lot of people working away as they could easily be seen behind the bakery glass, freshly preparing the treats we were about to devour! Kirk always enjoys a nice pain au chocolat, opting to try a sour cherry and chocolate scone as well. Facing a pickle, I stood there ogling the goodies, still undecided, until one of the young men behind the counter dropped some of the nicest, tastiest-looking buns down in front of me. What I meant to ask for was a chocolate and pecan sticky bun; due to my confusion, I ended up with a hot cross bun and a pair of spelt cookies after I just started pointing, requesting whatever I was pointing to at the time! Everything was very tasty and I have zero regrets about my (non-decision) decision!

Barely across the street and a handful of steps away, we walked to the Leake Street Arches for a colorful start to our day. This area has been around for a while, having become a legal space for street artists to be creative.

We’ve gone on a few lookey-lou adventures and this one was definitely everything I had hoped it would be. Although it can be incredibly chaotic to look at, now and then an artist is able to create a work that is inspirational not just in message but in the colors they chose as well. The number of layers sprayed one on top of the other is a mystery to me. Now and then, we would find a small piece peeking over the edge and wonder what sort of story it had to say back when it was created……It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to share that experience.

Feeling a little “extra”, we wanted to throw new pics into the mix! Choosing our favorite piece of street art, Kirk and I took turns doing “The Andy” — partly in solidarity with one of our Highlands tour van mates who inspired the pose but also as a way to be a little “extra”, ‘cause that’s how we roll! We’ve agreed to see how many other places on the planet we can successfully pull off this pose without getting arrested or falling off the top of a building!

There was a mighty big hole in our itinerary following our street-walking adventure. It was about this time we were considering hopping on an open-air bus for a ride around town. It was scheduled to take two hours. We had more than enough time to do it. We even saw a husband and wife walking over to the friendly driver right across the street.

Mentioning to Kirk that I really didn’t want to feel “trapped” on a bus for two hours today, I made a note for our next visit and suggested visiting a local bookstore that resells books at great prices. Acquiescing, Kirk and I recalibrated our day and headed off in the general direction of Skoob Books. Cute name, no? As our route took us up and over one of the local bridges, we saw herds of runners on the opposite trail along the Thames, racing for charity. Halfway across the bridge, I heard a large vehicle coming up behind us and caught sight of the previously mentioned husband and wife (alone) atop the bus, taking pictures of the distant cityscape and happily snapping photos of the runners as if they were on safari!

Kirk noticed them. We laughed and kept on walking….. When we got to Skoob Books*, I really got nervous. I just knew Kirk was going to HATE it. The bookstore is tee-nincie** Instead, he dove right in after asking the person behind the desk a couple of questions to get oriented to their layout. She stepped out from behind the counter and walked me over, trying to help locate some of the books on my (vacation) list provided by the helpful librarians in Glasgow, as well as a few that our friend Blythe recommended when we weren’t too busy vogueing atop a faerie glen!

All in all, the staff member and I nearly turned the little bookstore upside down while she remained very kind (and exceptionally patient). Unfortunately, I didn’t find any of them, but Kirk had already plucked several books off the shelf so I knew it wasn’t going to be a wasted trip.

*In the back of my head I kept thinking “Skoob” is a very odd name for a store, trying to think of what family lineage the surname Skoob belonged to. It wasn’t until a week after our trip was over (swear to God) that I woke up realizing the Skoob was just bookS spelled backwards! D ’oh!

**While not an actual system of measurement, it was Mom’s way to describe something such as a bathing suit when it was (perhaps) a bit too small.

As we left the bookstore, we realized we didn’t have enough space in the luggage for the newly gotten goods. We do this sort of thing so often it’s almost comical. ALMOST! We finagled everything between us and went in search of a tote bag to use as a carry-on. Now, mind you, we weren’t looking for style or substance; we just wanted a cheap duffle-type (gym-adjacent) bag that could be as disposable as a used coffee filter.

The funny thing about trying to find something when you need something is like trying to find something you’ve been stumbling over for 13 days, cursing as you keep kicking it and ending up needing it in the end….and kicking yourself.

We made it all the way back to our Regent’s Park neighborhood when we started to get desperate. Knowing we had seen at least one souvenir store near our hotel that sold little ragtag bags, we figured we were in for a quick fix and off to lunch. Uh, NOOOO! We ended up asking locals, strangers, and finally Google for suggestions. In the end, Kirk walked into Lululemon in the upscale area of Westminster while I stood outside the store hangry and needing a nap. I will say, though, that the bag he bought is pretty ding-danged nice! We’ve agreed that it will rest in perpetuity with our luggage so that we avoid Round 2 of this little side adventure! Fingers crossed that we remember to do that!

Before Gary’s concert, on our way to the restaurant we passed through one of those public parks you imagine having an intimate cup of espresso with a “friend” as you discuss where to spend the rest of the evening. I absolutely couldn’t resist taking a pic or two. Please try to ignore the couple in the background OBVIOUSLY enjoying themselves too much.

After joining Jim and Bob — another friend from back in my time with the Turtle Creek Chorale — we snagged a pre-concert bite. Sitting there throughout our meal, my leg nervously bobbing up and down as we awaited showtime, caused Kirk to keep an eye out for any impending waterfall of cutlery or overturned drink glasses, we made it through with very minor FLESH WOUNDS…..then it was clip-clop over to the evening’s festivities!

******Walking to the concert, I stopped Kirk for a minute and apologized for interrupting his conversation with Jim earlier. I hadn’t realized until dinner that evening that Kirk and I had been wild goose-chasing around Camden Market the day before (in vain), EACH THINKING the other wanted to visit the “Unique Shirts” store. At the time, I’m sure we both looked as crazy as a couple of rabid raccoons; unfortunately, we just never stopped to talk about it like adults, reduced (instead) to two wild animals hissing and pointing in opposite directions as we careened through the crowd! Kirk appreciated the quick chat, saying he figured the same thing out during dinner, too!********

Back to our regularly scheduled chaos.

The venue for the London Gay Men’s Chorus performance was Cadogan Hall. I had been told the chorus performs there pretty regularly and the acoustics serves them well. I noticed while Googling the hall that the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra called this location home as well, so I was very enticed by our final evening of entertainment.

Our seats were well-selected, allowing everyone a clear view of the evening’s shenanigans. The concert’s theme was ultimately a celebration of the Live Aid concert, celebrating not only the music but the inspirational message of hope and activism as well. The concert shared two perspectives. Remembering many of the artists that volunteered their time, energy, and efforts on the day, the chorus began the evening with a beautiful arrangement of “All You Need Is Love” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Along the way, the chorus introduced the idea of what it might sound like if more current artists took part in a similar day of giving. While the selections and flow of the music kept us either smiling, clapping, or snapping our fingers, one of my favorites was their choreographed version of “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. It was entertaining to see the performers really get into the swing of this particular song!

The evening ended with a shared sing-along of “Let It Be” by Paul McCartney. The crowd had been invited to sing along with the chorus; toward the end of the song, the chorus members exited the stage, leaving the instrumentalists on stage happily playing along as the crowd sang to them. Cheering their efforts, the instrumentalists took a quick bow and left the stage smiling, bringing the show to a lovely conclusion. It was a very fun evening and I’m very thankful to have shared our final night in town in that way.

***P.S.: Planning has begun for our next trip to see Gary and Jim for the holidays in a couple of years so please let’s keep that between us, okay?

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Day 17, July 14, London

We were up early to catch our car service to Heathrow for our flight home. We piled our luggage outside the hotel and waited for our driver to arrive, which he did promptly at 7:00 a.m. He loaded our bags and drove us to the airport, and proved to be an interesting and charming companion; we hope to run across him again on a future trip. By the time we checked our bags, retrieved our boarding passes, went through customs, and found a place to have breakfast, we agreed that while we enjoyed the trip, we were ready to go home, see Penny, recuperate — and save up for the next adventure!