as you like it, tate modern, elephant man, covent gardens

            Monday night—

            Dinner was at YoSushi!—I’ve always wanted to go to one of the sushi conveyor belt restaurants and tonight I finally fulfilled my dream. Little dishes of sushi/dumplings/seaweed salad/rice magically float by and you grab whatever your tummy desires. After you’re satiated, you simply pay according to the color of your bowl (blue is 2.7 pounds, yellow 3, etc). It’s a brilliant idea—and also a wonderful money-making scheme, catering to the human desires of instant gratification and gluttonous eating. 

sushi conveyor-- all my dreams come true

The evening was spent at the Globe Theatre with another performance—this time we saw “As You Like It,” and I had a pretty good first floor Gallery seat (obstructed by a pole, but c’est la vie!). The first act was a bit slow, but it definitely picked up the second act. It just gets long, watching the unedited version of Shakespeare plays-- especially when you’re standing the entire time, or sitting on wooden benches. And it’s cold and drafty. But I can’t complain much! I’m in London! At the Globe! 

            Tuesday, we had the day free, so I started the morning off with a traditional British sticky bun (like a cinnamon roll with currants) and a white Americano (cream on top, please!). Then I headed to the Tate Modern (free, as many of the museums here are) and spent a lovely time wondering around. The Tate Modern used to be a Turbine Factory and it’s this enormous, spacious, brick building six stories tall. It was incredible—modern and post-modern art from the early 1900’s to now and from all around the world. I saw Picasso, Cy Twombly, Joseph Beuys, Lee Bul, Rebecca Horn, Mark Bradford, Bram Bogart, Li Yuan-chia, Sergio Camargo, and so many more! From performance art videos, to wooden sculptures, to an entire room full of Rothkos! I popped into a tour group for a bit and learned a tad about Dali’s early work then watched a video about blind people painting their self portraits. 

body suit by Lee Bul

Picasso

 

for the birds?

            Lunch was was takeaway* Itsu (my third cheap sushi in two days—can I live here please!?) before I met up with Aseye and Sophie.

            We headed to the matinee of “The Elephant Man,” featuring Bradley Cooper. It was in the Royal HayMarket Theatre, which was built in 1720, making it the third oldest London playhouse in use.

We had gallery seats, so we climbed a load of stairs to reach it. It was a rather short play (not even 2 hours with intermission) and the acting was brilliant. Dear old Bradley was wonderful and Patricia Clarkson was magnificent too – there was even a small ounce of nudity on her part, cheers Patricia! The directing was excellent and the costuming fabulous…however, I wasn’t a fan of the actual play/script. I thought the character development lacking and the story unresolved. Slightly disappointing, but I was glad I went.

            Afterwards, Sophie, Aseye, Rachel, LucyRose and I headed to Pret for dinner. Pret has (almost) single-handedly kept me fed this trip. After dinner, we wondered up and down a few streets, popping into a haberdashery, a café, a stationary store, and a sweet shop for a Romney’s “Kendal mint cake”. The lady informed me it was for “climbing up mountains,” so I bought one, intrigued. Turns out, it’s basically just a bar of mint flavored sugar. Like the inside of a peppermint patty. I’m still puzzling over the mountains bit.

            We wondered through Cecil Street, the book-store alley of London, then headed to Covent Gardens, a large open-air market with tiny shops (luxury as well as kitschy) on the side.

inside of covent gardens

street performer juggling fire

For the sake of being in London, we went into Whittards Tea shop where a plethora of tea and biscuit samples awaited us. 

whittards tea shop

english toffee tea measured into a golden scale

 Venchi chocolate was also a delight—can we get a chocolate fountain, SAGA?

            After a bit of shopping, Rachel and I split a beef and onion pie from The Pie Shop, and it was quite delicious—a pot-pie with a beef and gravy situation.

            Then it was 8 pm and it was time to head home because we have to pack and be out by 9 am tomorrow! We’re headed to Penshurst and will be spending the day and night there. Note: this is a long blog post because I'm procrastinating packing.

Cheers, friends!

*British slang for “take-out.” It’s significantly less because they don’t charge you sales tax to eat in the restaurant.