London Whirlwind

Well, it is our very last morning in London, and we are about to bid it goodbye and catch the Eurostar to Paris! My life feels very, very surreal right about now. The last few days have been a whirlwind of exploring and we've had such a great time. Day before yesterday, we explored Brick Lane market with Kayla and Morgana (and I ate an amazing Spanish empanada and salad AND shared a delicious gluten-free whoopie pie with Morgana). Afterwards, Helen and I went to the British Museum. I was pretty tired and achy, but I appreciated the Rosetta Stone. :) Then we embarked on a mission to find Platform 9 3/4. We had two issues with our tube cards and ended up paying extra only to find out that the platforms were all under construction. After wandering around for like half an hour, Helen said she would pretend she didn't know me if I went up to someone and said, "Excuse me, where is platform 9 3/4?" so we left. According to friends later, it is actually there somewhere still, so I guess I'll just have to find it when I go back with my parents. After that, I tried to withdraw money and my card wouldn't work (all fixed now), so that was a pretty frustrating afternoon, and we were really tired so all we did for the rest of the day was get dinner.

Me, Kayla and Morgana after exploring the market

Yesterday, Helen and I went back to the National Portrait Gallery and saw the rest of the floors, including the Victorian floor, which was really interesting. There was one picture from a Parliament discussion in 1888, the year Puget Sound was founded, and it made our school seem much older than it feels to have that there after seeing portraits of so many pieces of history. Then we had lunch and went to Kensington Gardens. We probably spent half of our day traveling yesterday. The tube was hung up because someone had been under a train! One line was closed and others were delayed, and even after it was supposedly "fixed," the trains were going really slowly. Kensington Gardens was absolutely beautiful. It is a huge park, with lots and lots of tree-lined paths (the best so far), with lovely large sycamore-esque trees and smaller birch trees interspersed along the intersecting walks. There was a huge pond in the middle and SO many birds (almost too many, but it was fun to watch the swans). The Palace is under construction, like so much else here (blame the 2012 Olympics), but the area was still open. There was a special Enchanted Castle exhibit in the Palace, but we didn't go in, we just wandered around the grounds, through a shrub-lined path (not as good as trees, but still pretty), the Orangery and the most beautiful little garden (which, once again, we couldn't actually go inside of). It was a nice walk, if a little chilly, and made me want to come back someday and just sit on a bench and write a book.

Me at the gorgeous garden right in front of Kensington Palace!

We returned to our hotel to pack up our things in preparation for leaving, and then we got ready for the evening! We went to dinner at the same Italian restaurant as before and got their fixed menu two-course meal-- salad, pasta and dessert! The gelato was amazing. It was very fun to be dressed up and out for a night at the theatre. :) We walked to the theatre and hyperventilated for a second when we saw the movie poster and thought about how Keira Knightly and Elisabeth Moss were INSIDE THAT BUILDING, and then we hyperventilated even more when we got to our seats and found out that here, "royal circle" means balcony and balcony means... really, really high. We were in the last row of the balcony and the rows were almost vertical. We were basically level with the ceiling, and it was this huge, old, beautiful building with very high ceilings, so it was somewhat disconcerting at first, both because it felt like the stage was about a thousand feet away and because we were afraid we might not have a good view. It was actually totally fine, though, and the play ("The Children's Hour" by Lillian Hellman) was absolutely AMAZING. It was so good. Ellen Burstyn was also in it, and she was great, and Keira and Elisabeth were extremely good. I know some people (not me) are skeptical of Keira's acting ability, but anyone who is should go see her live. It was pretty much a perfect show-- they didn't miss a beat. And the play/story itself was great. It ended and we hyperventilated more because it was quite an emotional ending, and then we ran outside and to the stage door, which was luckily not hard to find. Helen and I got the last spots at the railing, which was lucky because we were right up front. We waited for a while as the actors trailed out. We got Ellen Burstyn's autograph and Elisabeth Moss's and talked to her, and then Keira came out and she was so nice! We complimented her (I don't actually remember what we said, haha) and she signed our tickets. I asked her for a photo, but she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry but I really have to run!" But she was very nice and smiled at me twice, and I probably wouldn't have stopped if I was her either. So basically I had a conversation with Keira Knightley. One life dream, fulfilled. :P Then she got in her car and they drove away and Helen and I very very giddily made our way back to the tube. It was great. My first time meeting a celebrity. :)

Keira after the show! She was talking the whole time so I didn't get a picture of her smiling, but she was really nice

And now we are sitting in St. Pancras Station one twenty-pound cab ride later, hoping we didn't leave anything in the hotel room and waiting for our train, which won't come for an hour and a half. We'll be getting to Paris a little later than the rest of the Dijonettes because our train was already scheduled when we found out what time we were supposed to be there, and that's kind of a bummer, but I can't wait until we actually arrive at Hotel Jean-Bart!