Friday Night in London

Friday after class I had about an hour to eat lunch and pack, and then we set off for the train station to take the train to London. Because we'd prebooked our tickets, our fare to London was only 4 pounds, which is really cheap! The train ride is a pleasant hour, which was made even more pleasant by the pack of All-Butter Scottish Shortbread I picked up at the Marks' and Spencers in the train station. I absolutely love shortbread! I know you can get it in the states, but it's everywhere here, and pretty cheap.

After we arrived in London and checked into our hotel, I decided to go to the Portrait Gallery. (Thanks, Allen) I really enjoyed it, but my feet were very tired, so I only spent about an hour there. Unfortunately, they have a no-camera policy, so I don't have any photos of the museum. I really enjoyed reading the little biographies associated with the portraits. The biography of Frances Howard especially amused me, because they said of her husband:  'If he had not met with such a woman he might have been a good man.' 


Another portrait I liked was that of King Charles II. The blurb next to the portrait emphasized the king's round face. It cracked me up because it reminded me of my cousin Zoe!

After the Portrait Gallery I went to Yo Sushi. It's a chain, but they have a sushi conveyor belt, which is pretty cool! I didn't actually eat any raw fish, so I'm going to have to go back to report on the raw fish experience, but I did get firecracker squid which was really good.

After dinner I went to the south bank to see Michael Sheen in Hamlet at the Young Vic. I bought my ticket ages ago, so I got a ten-pound student ticket. I'd just like to say here that I love the National Theatre because it's state subsidized, so they can afford to have things like 10 pound student tickets. I'm going to see Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death later this spring. I would have paid at least 40 pounds to see it, as it has Patrick Stewart in it, but my ticket only cost 10 pounds. This country is amazing!

Michael Sheen (no relation to Martin Sheen, who is also awesome)

I actually didn't enjoy Hamlet as well as I had hoped. I think it was a very well-acted play, and the Young Vic is a great theatre. It's very small and out of the way, so you feel like you've stumbled upon something special. The biggest reason I didn't enjoy Hamlet was that it was three and a half hours long! I know that Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare's plays, but maybe someone should edit it. It's pretty boring in the middle.
I did appreciate the decision to cast Horatio as a female, as I played Horatio in middle school. Our production was abridged, and therefore significantly less boring, though the acting was understandably poor. But my memories of acting Hamlet were not enough to sustain me through the slow parts of this play. When I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead last summer, it made me want to see Hamlet again. Now that I've seen it, I think I'd be happy if I didn't see it again for another twenty years or so.