London is my home town now. Did you know you can change home towns? Well, you can. I went there last summer and decided, "this is pretty much the only town I have ever seriously thought about spending my whole life in," and that's when it became my home town. See how that works?

12 July 2007

It was early in the morning after a flight through the night, which is how they typically get people from the US to the UK. My aunt Sharon and I had left the airport in NYC in the evening the previous day, but even though our flight was only 8 hours, London is 5 hours ahead of eastern time, so it was early morning when I got my first glimpse of London out the airplane window.

It's difficult to remember what I was seeing. I had just slept on the flight. But I was fully awake and had my party hat on when we stepped off the plane into the airport and queued up at customs.

"What is the purpose of your trip?"
"For the heck of it. . ."
"Did you bring any hazardous things into the country?"
"If my excitement level is a hazard, then yes."

Somehow, even the cab rides in London are better than in the US. First of all, the guy who was to drive us from the airport to our hotel was holding a sign with my aunt's name on it when we made it to baggage claim. Second of all, he played lovely classical music while we were touring along through the city to our hotel in Victoria. It was beautiful. My eyes were pratically popping out of my head. I couldn't honestly believe that I was really there. And then I took my first picture of the trip when, to my astonishment, a freaking double decker bus passed us. . . with a Harry Potter poster on the side!! I can't even imagine a better first picture than that. Honestly. . . What kind of madness is this?!

We arrived at the hotel, the Sydney, and checked in. We had a bit of trouble with my aunt's traveler's checks so we had to walk to a bank, but that was quite a good walk. We landed in front of a street side café that had fantastic looking food, which ended up being fantastic tasting food. Tea, pastries, full English breakfasts (but we'll get to that later), and a delicious graham and chocolate cookie like thing that began sort of a running theme during our stay in the big UK.

We took a nap, but I was so excited about what was coming next. . . When we awoke, we took the Underground, leaving from Victoria station, and traveled towards our planned destination (I caught a lovely glimpse of Ron while boarding the train and snapped a fuzzy, but fantastic-because-it's-Ron-after-all, shot of him through the window). We went too far, had to go back on the Underground, and I was panicking, thinking we'd be late. . . But then, like a beacon, we stepped out of the Underground, asked for directions, and were suddenly staring up at the beautiful sight before us. . . the Everyman Theatre where we were minutes from seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. . . on opening day. . . in London. I think I had stopped breathing.

I had booked seats in this theatre in advance online before I even left the US. I had searched for the perfect place to see HP and the OOTP, and this theatre won by miles. First of all, they have couches and arm chairs for you to watch the movie on. Second of all, they sell all sorts of drinks, snacks, and even ice cream in the theatre! Oh, and get this. . . You decide suddenly that you want something but you are already seated? Not a problem. Press a buttom on the little side table next to your seat and someone will be right over to take your order, then they will bring what you want directly to your seat. It's like magic.

To be continued. . .