Nicole schreibt...

It was a short trip this time and the first one in a long long time where I would be completely on my own. While I love meeting friends and spending time with them, I sometimes feel like I'm rushing from meeting to meeting and hardly have any time for myself. However, even the best plans can go wrong... When I departed on Thursday, things were still looking good though. I had chosen to fly with Germanwings for once even though it meant going to Stansted, but I was curious to check this out for myself and if it was really a cheaper way to fly than using good old Lufthansa or British Airways to Heathrow. Well, first of all the flight was an hour delayed and then it was quite a slog around Stansted Airport, to the train which took 45mins to Liverpool St. Station and then another 30mins on the tube to Bayswater. Since I had been unable to find any hotel in the West End within a reasonable price limit, I had opted for one of the countless little tourist hotels in the Bayswater area, in my case the Pembridge Palace Hotel in Princes Place, where 42 pounds bought me a single room with breakfast. So even with an added £5.10 for a one day travel card on the tube I was still below my limit of £50 and the hotel was nice, clean and perfectly acceptable for me. I also liked Queensway, the main street of the area which was lined with nice-looking restaurants, the usual fast food joints and two supermarkets open till late. So while I'm not sold on the Germanwings/Stansted alternative, I'd definitely return to this hotel and area. So with the plane being late and transfer taking so long, I only just had enough time to drop my stuff at the hotel and go to the West End for a quick meal at KFC and then head over to the Gielgud Theatre for the most-hyped theatre event of the season: "Equus", starring Daniel Radcliffe of 'Harry Potter' fame. Between theatre purists screaming about a ridiculous publicity stunt on one side and hysterical fans on the other, the truth of course could be found in the middle. "Equus" is heavy stuff for any actor: It's the story of disturbed 17-year old Alan Strang who's sent to psychiatry after stabbing six horses' eyes out. Shrink Dysart uncovers his trouble with his parents, especially his father, sexual repression and a vivid fantasy life in which Strang has come to see horses as God-like creatures. The biggest hype of course concerned the last ten minutes in which Strang has to get naked for a love scene and an endless stream of silly jokes about "Harry's magic wand" followed. Now Daniel Radcliffe delivered a great performance and I didn't once see Harry Potter on stage - he looks a lot more mature than in the movies and of course lacks the cheesy round glasses. In fact now I am not sure if I can still buy him as innocent Harry after seeing his strong performance on stage. His co-stars were excellent too, though I couldn't get over just how huge Richard Griffiths really is and still manages to drag that bulk around the stage every night. The only bad thing about the evening was also the most ironic: The theatre purists had been screaming about the threat of countless teenaged Potter fans swamping the theatre and disturbing everyone with their lack of manners. However it was a middle-aged gay couple right in front of me that chattered and whispered incessantly during the entire first act making it hard to focus on what happened on the stage - not the teenagers around me who were well-behaved and quiet. I had been ready to give those two idiots a good earful during the interval but luckily they left and didn't return for the second act... Friday should've been my shopping day in the West End, but instead I woke up with a bad headache that later blossomed into a full migraine and I hardly left the hotel till 3pm, except to buy migraine pills on the high street (I did get as far as Waterstone's on Piccadilly, my favourite bookstore, but after throwing up there four times, I decided I better return to the hotel and crawl back into bed). Luckily the migraine finally cleared in the afternoon and I went back to the West End for some more strolling around the bookshops, but the mood had now left me. I had a decent meal in Pizza Hut on Cambridge Circus, where lone diners can sit by the window and stare out at the endless flow of people all over the square. Then it was time for the second play - yes, it is true dear readers, for the first time ever, I went to London and ONLY saw plays! - this one Alan Bennett's smash hit "The History Boys". It was a great evening out and I realized that all things considered, I much prefer a play that's thought-provoking and still an enjoyable comedy with many great one-liners to really heavy-handed highbrow drama such as "Equus". The whole cast was great, except for one unfortunate exception, the boy playing class stud Dakin just didn't have the charisma to pull this role off and got rather lost between the other boys and the excellent teachers. After a good night's sleep I finally felt good on Saturday and was glad after all, that I had chosen the late flight home. Having lost so much of that time I had wanted to spend alone to the delayed flight and the migraine, at least I had this day to still do some of the things I had planned. In the morning I first spent some time at the British Museum, a place I had wanted to revisit for a long time - now more so than ever after visiting the Parthenon in Athens (the friezes have been nicked by the Brits and are now at the museum along with countless other artefacts from the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean). After that I went back to my beloved Camden Lock Market for some strolling around and marvelling at the freak show. Although it almost makes me wish to belong to one of those teenage sub-cultures to see all the crazy stuff on sale there. Well, at least I bought pink socks and a T-Shirt of 'Emily the Strange', then had a nice Thai lunch and headed back to Bayswater to fetch my suitcase and then to Stansted. So despite the migraine on Friday throwing a serious wrench into things for me, it was overall a nice, quick trip with two plays definitely worth the money. Now bring on some good new musicals...