Day 32

Today was a very full day. We started out by leaving to go to Portobello Road at about 8:30. After walking around Notting Hill for a while and getting thoroughly lost, we asked directions and found our way there. It was interesting, just your average market on a street with lots of clothes and cheap souvenirs. We then rode over to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard at 11:30. At first we were next to one of the gates but there were tons of people everywhere and they kept pushing into me and almost knocking me over and being generally retarded, so we moved over to the Victoria Memorial where there weren’t very many people. Marissa stayed by the gates and I had fun taking a picture of the crowd she was in and then finding her in the picture. But since there were so many people there and we couldn’t really see into the gates it wasn’t super eventful, but they did walk past us a couple of times which was cool. After this was over we went and got pasties for lunch (yum!) and then Robyn, Marissa and I went to Harrod’s to look around- you can’t go to London without going to Harrod’s. We wandered around the food halls, the Harrod’s brand gift shop, books, and the children’s clothes and the toy section. They had this designer clothes section in the children’s clothes and it was ridiculous. Like Junior Armani and little Dior and Ralph Lauren and others. I couldn’t even afford most of that stuff, let alone buy it for a child that will grow out of it in a week. But it was fun to wander around the store and see all the fun and outrageously expensive stuff they have.

After all that we went home and rested because we had been walking around a lot all morning. I took a little nap and had a really super strange dream in which I overheard that my friend had married someone in secret and she and her husband found out I knew, so I had to run around and hide or else they would kill me. Then I ended up accidentally killing someone with a faulty gun and of course had to run again. All in all it was a very stressful dream and when I woke up I was stressed and disoriented. But anyway, at about 7 Robyn and I left to go to our show of the night, Brief Encounter. It is basically just the play of a movie from I think 1945 and it was really interesting. It was very creative, combining some film with the acting, like they had a screen with a “movie” playing and the actors would walk into the screen and then appear in the movie. I enjoyed it. It was funny because before the show started we were shown to our seat by this guy dressed up in an usher outfit that looked kind of old fashioned, but we didn’t really think anything of it. Then this other usher lady came and talked to us and welcomed us because we were in the front row. After she left we started getting suspicious, because she was really made up and her hair was done up. Then we looked around at these ushers and realized they all had microphones on. Then this couple sat in the middle of the front row and they looked very 1940s, so we predicted all of these people were in the show, and we were right! It was a very interactive cast. At intermission they came around and gave us some refreshments and we got cucumber sandwiches. I didn’t want one because I think they are gross, so I said no thanks. The woman kept trying to give me one but I said no thanks again, and then she said “you have a will of iron, madam.” It was amazing. She actually turned out to be the director of the play, which was fun. After the play was over we rushed over to the theater where Zorro was just getting out so I could finally get my poster! If you will remember I didn’t get one when we went and I was sad about it. But now I have finished my poster collection and have a total of 12. I am really excited to hang them all up!

P.S. Happy Birthday to Kenzee!