London 7: Broadway Shows

An older female tourist also from the US once told me that every winter when fares were really cheap she would fly to London for a week just to watch as many broadway shows as she could taking advantage of the half-price tickets one could get at those ticket booths in Leicester Square.

As soon as I got off the plane and after we dropped off my bags in her apartment, Kim and I hurried to the theater to watch Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  We were late half an hour but since I already saw the movie, which had been a family 'cult' favorite when my kids were younger (we all adored Guy Pearce), it wasn't much of a loss.  It was very colorful, quite fun and the costumes quite outrageous, more than in the movie version, and the actor who played Terence Stamp's role carried the entire show 'fantastically' playing only second to the bus (with the gigantic glittery silver shoe on top) around which everything revolved.  This was the last performance before the show took a month-long break, which was why we had to catch it.

I saw ads for 'Hair' in the underground walls but to my dismay, its run ended on September 4, the day I flew to London.  I missed it when I first got to New York, I missed it again. Well, so much for the Age of Aquarius.

My last day in London was rainy so I was tempted to just stay in Kim's apartment.  But remembering that slim, fashionable, white senior tourist made me drag myself from bed.  I got dressed, carried an umbrella and took the underground to Leicester Square.  I was decided on Jersey Boys and Frankie Valli,  for its 3 o'clock matinee.  I went to a booth, tickets were already sold out.  I was so disappointed but didn't give up.  I went to another booth.  The young lady was nice (sometimes they are snobbish) plus there were still available seats, she said.  I got the lowest priced ticket,  20 pounds sterling instead of 32.50.  She promised to give me a good seat, anyway.

I grabbed a slice of mushroom pizza and then walked several blocks along the Charing Cross Road to the Prince Edward. My seat was in the fourth row of the upper level which was the third balcony I believe, high vertically but still close horizontally to the stage so my view was very good.  It was a very good seat for the price I paid. And the songs were my songs.  I had almost forgotten that Ragdoll, which was my favorite as a teen was by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  Of course there was also Sherry, Walk Like a Man, Stay, Bye Bye Baby Goodbye, Big Girls Don't Cry, and it seemed like hundreds more songs but it was the rendition of Dawn (Go Away) that was sooo beautiful.  More than a week in New York and I was still humming it in my head.  We found it in i-tunes but it was different listening to it live, even if not by the original performers.

So, two broadway shows ... and not just any two shows.  Not bad for one trip.  I am happy.

Happy Birthday, KIM

We won the orchids centerpiece at the APMAA dinner-dance we attended Friday night the 24th. It was already the 25th in London, my daughter Kim's birthday. I attached the picture to my birthday greetings for her in an email.

Happy Birthday, Bunso!!

Earth Hour in Pittsburgh

Earth Hour caught us at the lobby of the Sheraton where we were staying. We couldn't get to our rooms as power was turned off and our electronic card keys wouldn't work. Instead of waiting for security to take us up we decided to wait it out at the reception area. For a change the kids were quiet. They just sat there and stared, mesmerized, at the candlelights.
(March 2010)

Tornadoes Rip New York

On Thursday, the 16th, two tornadoes hit Queens and a part of Brooklyn hard. However, according to News 1, it was a macroburst that felled down all those trees. I still am not sure what a macroburst is, though. Several areas including mine were affected though the heavy damage was to the trees, a thousand or so were uprooted (the figure according to the news), and fortunately for the residents, only the inconvenience of heavy traffic arising from blocked streets and loss of power and/or TV and cable connection only. The houses and buildings, mostly brick, were able to withstand the winds. Of course there are some exceptions.

I walked around this afternoon with my camera and took pictures particularly of the neighborhood around the elementary school P.S. 174 which was badly hit. Three of my grandkids studied there. The usually quiet and clean streets were only now starting to clear. The corner where I stood waiting for Karl or Erika and Lee Anne is still filled with debris. Cleaning crews have been working nonstop but several roads are still blocked. A lot of work still needs to be done.

And I thought that tornadoes only happen south of D.C.

(September 19, 2010)

London 6: No Photography Allowed Inside

Trafalgar Square with Nelson's monument .. this was the view from the steps of the National Gallery as I came out. I would have loved to have taken photos of its interior especially of the ceiling arcs, and also of the jewellery collections. Or the portraits at the National Portrait Gallery located just behind it. Even if you just went for the Tudor portraits, you've already won. Imagine those paintings in the very same room with that mean skirtchaser King Henry VIII !

Windsor Castle's State Apartments especially the paintings and other artwork and military displays were simply fantabulous though a bit ostentatious, but I would have treasured photos of those, too, not only of the massive exteriors.

(September 9 and 10, 2010)

London 5: London Grub

Fish and chips and sausage with mashies and peas. These are typical (and cheap) english meals. (Yes, they still use coke glasses and coke bottles over there.)

One can have his meals at pubs, too. London Chinatown is a bit different from the other chinatowns. More soul? Their lechon kawali (or oven) was really mouth watering, but the prawns were a bit tasteless (frozen??).

And don't eat at those Chinese buffets elsewhere. I did at a joint close to the Victoria and Albert Museum despite my daughter's warnings. Blaah!

London 4: Shoreditch and the Saatchi

I will always remember the Saatchi Gallery for the giant red print of Che(r). Also of the sculpture which I had to make sure was really one - the huddled group in one corner. And of one arrangement of speakers which reminded me of the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway.

After she finished work on Thursday, Kim and I walked from the Liverpool Street Station to the area known as Shoreditch. We passed a lot of shops, bars and restaurants, some odd, like a bar on an actual red doubledecker in a big parking lot. (across the three black and white wall drawings.)

It was a place for the young, Kim told me like a warning. I could see for myself and I was already thinking, where did all these yuppies come from?
The bars could not even contain them. They spilt in the corners and filled the sidewalks. The males in white shirts with half unknotted ties and jackets on their arms, a drink in one hand.

Farther were a concentration of Indian restaurants where 'sales reps' accost you to persuade you with their specials, much like in the halo-halo days of Central Market in Manila. We tried one and we discovered a very healthy (lots of turmeric) and tasty dish-Biryani. So no regrets. ( At Dishoom in Leicester Square, a more expensive place, it wouldn't be that good.)

(September 6 and 9, 2010)

London 3: The Osborne House

The Osborne House was only meant to be a summer home but Queen Victoria and her family found it a perfect refuge from the trappings of royalty that they spent a lot more time here than was expected. In fact, Victoria spent most of the rest of her life here in seclusion after his prince's death at the age of 42. Upon seeing Windsor Castle and the State Apartments, my reaction was 'Wow', here however it was a feeling of sadness and eerieness especially when I was in the bedroom where the lonely queen died (1901) and the dining room where a wake was held before bringing her to London. On a positive note, at least one realizes that she and Prince Albert and their nine children and some grandchildren were able to live as normal as they could and enjoy each other in this lovely home with its vast grounds and gardens. Most of the giant oaks and other trees were planted upon the behest of the prince when they acquired the property and have always been silent witnesses to history. The terraces, the Swiss House and the walled garden are all worth visiting. Photography inside is not allowed but I was able to take pictures of the outside from the upper level windows. At least I was afforded a view of what royalty saw when they looked out their windows.
(September 12, 2010)

London 2: Across the Solent

We were on our way to the Osborne House in the Isle of Wight in the southern part of England. From London Waterloo we took the train to Portsmouth Harbor Station and the Wightlink Ferry was right there to take as across the Solent to the town of Ryde in the Isle of Wight. Here we would have to transfer to a small train to town then take the green double-decker to East Cowes where the royal house was. It was a beautiful day, sunny blue skies with dabs of white, fluffy cotton clouds. The sea wasn't mediterranean blue, it was pale greenish grey, but it came out alive because of the sun and the sky and the tiny dots of white sails and the path of white froth left by our ferry behind. Ah, the excitement that a boat ride can generate!
(September 12, 2010)

London 1: Dover Beach

the sea is calm tonight

the tide is full ...

I don't know if this was how it was in Matthew Arnold's days, but what amazed me with this beach is its immense density, pebblewise. The vertical height of the stack of pebbles may be two meters at its highest, one other tourist guessed. I thought the mostly gold and russet stones were clean and nice to look at upclose.

(September 8, 2010)

Lee Anne and the Bride

Lee Anne is only thirteen going on fourteen but looks so grown up in this photo. This was taken at the grounds of Leonard's of Great Neck in Long Island before we went in for IAAI's annual dinner-dance. I love the composition of this picture. And the contrast of the black and white dresses.

(August 27, 2010)