pictures

home tomorow night - yeah! pictures to follow buy I want to put them on Picassa and do a bit of basic editing and will then put the links to them on this blog for anyone who is interested. curious exercise this blog. long periods that I couldn't post and not sure what it read like. I have enjoyed this trip but don't know how interesting it was to anyone not on it.

tired and wired

so its 11:30 and I am just back at the hostel after seeing Wicked. shouldn't be tired but my roomate from last night got up at 6 and took an hour to get ready and leave at 7. twit should have got his shit together the night before and left quickly and quietly. just got back from Wicked which was very good and should go to bed as |I am tired but also wired so I am doing this first. took a tour today that included a boatride on the Thames to Greenwich. Johnny Depp is filing a new Pirates of the Caribean movie in Greenwich but the most we saw was lots of closed sets and a few actors in period british navy uniforms. however later when I was in teh Greenwish market (crafts, collectibles etc) I saw a guy who could have been Johnny Depp withot makeup or swagger but who knows. I stood astride the Prime Meridian of longitude with a foot in the western hemisphere and a foot in the eastern hemisphere. was going to cross the thames by walking a pedestrian tunnel under it but the lift was out of service. took a train to St pauls and walked along the embankment to the Parliament Buildings and Westminster abbey and then to the theater which was across from Victoria station. when the show got out around 10:30 I could have taken the tube or a buss back to the hostel but I wanted to suck up as much memory/atmosphere I could as I don't think I will go out tomorrow except maybe during the day. walked a couple of blocks back along Victoria street to the Thames and could see the London Eye - just a Ferris wheel but a really really big Ferris wheel. walked past Westminster Abbey, the houses of parliament and big ben and down Whitehall street to Traflgar square. then up Charing Cross road past thebars, restuarants and theaters getting out. getting to 11:00 on a Thursday but still lots and lots of people around. continued up Charing Cross Road which changed its name for no apparent reason to |Tottenham Court road and psat the Spearmint Rhino, a 'gentleman's club' and the two doormen look like members of the russian mafia. there is a young woman outside having a smoke. she pulls her jacket closed and before she does I can see she is wearing some kind of sexy uniform and must work in the club. she looks more like a tired single mom than a sex object.

Priscilla

saw the musical of Priscilla Queen of the Desert last night cause I wasn't sure what to see and it had wond awards. It was gaudy and colourful and tacky and spectacular and a lot of fun. Probably not a great musical but a lot of fun. I liked the theatre it was in too. Not a huge number of seats on the floor but three levels of balconies and each of the balconies had 3 or 4 rows of seats set fairly steeply above each other so everyone had very good sightlines. today I am off for a boatride on the Thames and a walking tour of Greenwich and then I see Wicked. tomorrow not much touristy stuff as I get ready for the flight home the next morning. the trip draws to a close.

meetings etc

this trip is winding down or I am. have a ticket for a musical tonite and Wicked tomorrow night and then Friday I am going to a museum and getting me ready for leaving Sat am. my flight, subject to confirmation, leaves sat 10:35 from Gatwick. I have to be out there 3 hours before flight and that means I will need to catch a train at 5:30 AM. much fun.
meet intersting people when hanging around. a brazilian guy who needed a place to sit at breakfast. he is in London a few days and then off to Iceland. Not sure why but he does have an interest in natural history. having some pasta arrabiata at an inexpensive cafe frequented by students and got talking to a couple of oung guys, one brit and one swiss about various things including law, economics etc etc. Going to se Priscilla Queen of the Desert tonite (the musical) which won lots of awards thsi year and should be fun.

henry iv and jack the ripper

so I walk over to the new globe theater and buy a cheap ticket and am a groundling. the globe theater recreates the original as well as they could and the seats are either wooden benches in the galleries or standing around the stage which is what it was in |Shakespeare's time. I opt for standing in front of the stage as being cheaper and closer to the action. I am a groundling. I get in line early and am right in front with my elbows on the stage and it is very very good as theater should be and I think as shakespeare shold be. afterwards I wander around and then go for a guided walk on the subject of Jack the Ripper and home to bed. Today not sure what I am doing.
Was shocked though by something totally uncivilized. wandering around the town of london area and came across a pay toilet set-up (50 p about $1 Cdn). Can't remember seeing one of those in a long long time.
Bikes Bikes Bikes - see people of all ages and both genders riding bikes around london. clothes range from full lycra to street and business clothes. was standing outside the tube station when someone emerged from the tube carrying a folding bike which he assembled in less than a minute and cycled off on.

First day in London or there's a man in my bed

So I go to the 1/2 price theater ticket booth and get a ticket for Warhorse (recommended by couple I met in Sahara and involving a horse and puppets - don't know anything else and haven't checked). book online a ticket to the Globe theatre for Tuesday afternoon. wander around london and then off to dinner and the play. It is incredable and unlike anything I have seen before. I have heard talk that Steven Speilberg is making a movie out of it.
walk back to the hostel and enter my room in the dark and go to bed and there is someone in it. some front deskscrew up and I take another bed. Have breakfast with him the next day and he is a scot leaving for Australia to live down there. while we are at breakfast a yound guy is looking for someone to site and he joins us. he is from New Jersey, living in Anchorage and working temporarily in Scotland but visting London. is in the oil industry and interesting. Off to the Globe and then a walking tour of some kind.

last day in Marrakech

our last day in Marrakech and I have no big plans. go to the artisans ensemble and look at some beautiful leather goods I can afford but don't need. Don't buy. mail a couple of post cards, go for a walk in the mid-day sun (mad dogs and englishmen go out in the mid day sun) and go out for a final meal with the group.

leaving morocco - get up at 6 for two cups of bad coffee before leaving for the airport. at airport I check in with airline, go through security, go through passport control, go through boarding and then sit in airpland being told that because of earlier delays we have missed our takeoff slot and are waiting for next slot. Ah the glamour of travel. get to Luton (london) and wait 1/2 hour for luggage and then take bus into city. it drops me off at Baker street tube station and I am trying to figure out how to get to St Pancras station across from my hostel when I realize I am a mile away and put my pack on and grab my bag and start walking. along the way I pass the Royal Acadamy of Music and notice a young chinese woman who is unlocking her bike. at the next cross walk she asks me where I have been explaning that she has seen the Canadian flag on my pack and is also from Canada (Burnaby). she is studying piano performance here and we walk and talk a few blocks until she turns off.