After a couple of weeks of getting into a new routine, I headed up to London for, hopefully, some sightseeing with the Imperial War Museum top of my list. The list also included going to Harrods and buying a pen (Just so I could say I’ve bought something from Harrods), Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London, Whitehall, the Houses of Parliament (and Big Ben), Westminster Abbey, the Strand and Fleet St, St Pauls Cathedral, and maybe the London Eye. This was over 2 days which also included catching up with some friends, and seeing Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Wishful thinking.
Although the day started off well with me getting up at the right time, I caught the earlier train from Portchester, I got a seat with a table and a power point for my laptop, some really nice people were sitting opposite me (they offered me Champagne!! I refused as I had a long day ahead), and I completed all my work that I had set out to do. But when we arrived outside of Basingstoke station, we were informed that there was an “incident” at Winchfield station further up the line and there would be a delay. After about 15 minutes the train moved up to the station and we were informed that someone had fallen in front of a train, and there would be a substantial delay. I wasn’t too fussed, as I had my iPad with a good eBook to read, and Lohengrin on my iPhone. 15 minutes further on we were informed that the local police had taken control of the scene and announced that it was now a crime scene and there would be a substantial delay, 1-2 hours if we were lucky. We also had been boarded by passengers from other trains thinking that we were headed to London. When it was announced that there was that delay, almost everyone decided to leave and try to find another route to London. The only real option at the time was a train to Reading and a train to London, which is what most people went for. I caught a Cross Country train to Reading, and then the express to London, which, while a nice ride, completely through my plans awry.
When I arrived in Paddington Station I decided that my plan of action should be to catch the tube to somewhere in London I’m familiar with, find some lunch (i.e. Maccas) and plan a trip to the War Museum. When I was on the tube I ended up sitting next to a lady that I helped at Basingstoke station, and we got chatting. I got off at Oxford Circus, and decided that I should just go there for lunch – BIG mistake, it was a zoo on the street, and when I got lunch at Maccas it was an even bigger zoo in there, I managed to get a seat (right place at the right time), and over lunch I realised that the IWM was down at Lambeth, and the tube stop was the penultimate stop of the Bakerloo line, and getting from there to Covent Garden was going to be a bit tricky. I decided I’d have a look around some of the shops for items of clothing I’m needing to buy, (sweaters, socks, jocks etc…) and that was a big mistake, so I wandered to Covent Garden from Oxford St, via High Holburn (a small section of it anyway).
I arrived at the Royal opera at about 15:10, with the outside doors being opened at 15:30. When they were opened I dropped my bag and coat at the cloakroom, found a chair, bought a drink and had a flick through the Program. For the fashionistas out there, I was wearing black shoes and chinos, with a purple/white striped shirt with a purple tie, supplied by (i.e. bought from) the lovely (ish) people at Marks and Spencer, as I like to wear jackets to the Opera, and my suit hasn’t been finished yet, I decided I’d wear the Royal Navy Commanders Jacket I bought for a bargain at Sabre Sales in Southsea for £25 :-D My seat was up in the gods, but nice and central (see pic), no armrests though, which was a change from what I’m usually used to.
The Opera was spectacular, although there were way too many codpieces based on Blackadder I which covered areas that I was not wanting to have my eyes drawn to. The only real complaint I have is that some of the singers were singing out into the audience when in a conversation, that only being an issue is that Wagner wanted the singers to interact with each other in his operas, but when Hans Sachs is singing to Walther, and Walther is singing to the audience it is a bit disconcerting. Apart from that issue, it was a spectacular performance of a spectacular Opera, and if I ever finish puberty and become a bass-baritone then I would love to sing the part of Dem Nachtwächter, who has 2 small parts in the 2nd Act. I have decided that I can’t put any Wagner into my top 100 list of favourite pieces, as his 10 “main” operas would fill the 10 of the top 15 spots, so it’s not really fair. So they get their own category. After the performance (standing ovation, naturally) I went to the stage door (after retrieving my bag/coat), to get some autographs in my program. I got Renato Balsadonna (Chorus Director), Emma Bell (Eva), Nicholas Folwell (Konrad Nachtigall), Wolfgang Koch (Hans Sachs – my favourite main part of the Opera), Toby Spence (David), Sir John Tomlinson (Veit Pogner), Richard Weigold (Hans Schwartz), and Simon O’Neill (Walter von Stolzing). When I performed in the Chorus in the Mahler 8, Simon O’Neill was the tenor soloist, and he still remembered me almost 2 years later!!! (I’m an autograph hunter, I always get a score of the piece I’ll be in the chorus for, and get all the conductors/soloists to sign it). While I was waiting I got chatting to a lady about opera houses around the world, what’s good and bad, and about what’s coming up at the Royal Opera, and also travel (hard not to).
After the Opera I caught a train to Lee in the south-east of London, where I stayed with family friends. While I was waiting for the train (it was late(!)), I got chatting to some people, one of whom was an Aussie, and I was having a great time. So apart from the train troubles it was a great day all up.
The next day I was going to be catching up with a friend from back home for Brunch, but she had work the night before, so we postponed to dinner. As I had nowhere to be until I was catching up with another friend at 3, I stayed and had a chat with Richard and Ian, which was a great time, and helped me to realise that I don’t have to do touristy stuff every time I’m in London. I caught up with Mike at the London Eye (zoo!) and we had some all-you-can-eat Asian and chatted, after he left I had some time to kill before I caught up with Leanne, so I wandered around, I’d like to say aimlessly, but I’ve always got some kind of plan as to where I’m going, however, it was rather random. I caught up with Leanne at Waterloo station, and after wandering around a bit, we decided on an Italian restaurant under the line to Charing Cross station, the food was good, and 2 of the 3 people who served us were quite nice, I’m starting to get the hang of tipping now. I caught the 20:09 train to Portsmouth Harbour, via Basingstoke, and I got home around 22:15. All up I had a great time in London, and I wish I had both the time and money to see Meistersinger again.
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