Tate Modern and Tony Blair: Our Last Day in London

So as I’m sitting here in this lovely, cold and quite cheap internet café (1 pound for all day, now, that’s not bad.) I must say, I love London. Seriously, I do. Our hostel is right down the street from Earles’ Court, where Rod Stewart will be playing in a week, not to mention Duran Duran in three days. Who could miss that? I might have to forgo our flight to Barcelona just to hear ‘Hungry like the Wolf’ live. (Please please realize I’m only kidding.)

British theatre is every bit as good as Broadway. Yesterday, thanks to the half-price ticket booth, we snagged ground floor seats to Les Misarables for 18 pounds! Now THAT my friend is bargain hunting. (I’ll go into bargain hunting later, for I am traveling with Sarah Miller, master of the pound, queen of saving money, the ever-loving "miser", who is doing very very well at teaching me to be frugal) But that’s a story for another paragraph. Les Mis was just as well done as NYC Broadway show, miles cheaper, and the British theater is certainly an experience. I’m so glad we picked the show we did, and loved every second of the play, theater nerd that I am.

Yesterday, we played the part of American tourists, although I must say the city of London is not difficult to figure out once you get the hang of it. After walking about the National Gallery and freaking out over the paintings we saw (literally). My hands were shaking with excitement when I got to the original of The Ambassadors. Luckily, I recovered enough to enjoy the rest of the museum, and it’s a good thing. (Yes, I know I’m a dork. But it’s amazingly different from when you see slides of these works in class to actually seeing the real thing. If you were an art dork like I, you’d get excited too.) From Van Gogh to Van Eyck, Monet to Manet, we certainly got an eyeful.

On our way to cross the Thames heading to Tate Modern, we passed the Parliament Building, where throngs of Brits with cameras were hanging about an obscure street. We asked what all the fuss was about, then craned our necks while the man next to me explained with much fervor that Tony Blair had just stepped out of his limousine. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. The Tate Modern was unreal. If you like Modern Art, well even if you don’t care much for it, it’s worth the trip. We just went into the permanent collection, but we stayed there for HOURS, sketching and thinking. It’s certainly a thought provoking spot.
I am learning SO much, even just in these last few days, perhaps this is best written in completion form.
Lessons learned thus far:
1. Don’t buy cheap airline tickets, it causes excessive delays.
2. Stay away from sketchy Slovakians in hostels.
3. Not all French people hate Americans, and Europeans are fascinated by the fact that we actually read the bible. It’s opened the door for some neat conversations.
4. Shop around for the best price on theater tickets, you can usually get a better buy.
5. Just because SoHo is a shopping district in NYC does NOT mean it’s the same in London.
6. Look before crossing the street (ahem…sarahmiller…ahem)
7. Asking the Australian girl for advice on traveling cheap on the Conteniant is asking for a lesson in shoplifting.

That’s all for now. Happy belated birthday to Lauren Powers and for those of you who remember, Kevin Creel. :P anyways LP I hope it was a good one, you old, grown-up woman you. For all the rest of you, thanks so much for your prayers and comments and e-mails. We thank God for you everyday!
Cheers!
sarah.hope