the big three oh

The best is yet to come...

Got up early and was pleasantly surprised by the Zabinski's with a plate of brownies and cookies with candles on it. I made a wish...

Ted and I got on a train this morning from Peterborough to London. We met with Cathy and Theo after checking into our hotel in Kensington.

We took the tube over to Mark Spencer's and Harrod's where there conveniently was a Wagamama's to eat lunch. Love the Wagamama! Chicken Katsu forever! After fueling up, we headed to the shops and walked all over the place trying to convince ourselves that the exchange rate really wasn't that bad. You want to buy everything but it's twice the price.

After shopping and a nice cheese tray and afternoon tea in the food court of Harrod's, we headed out to Leicester Square where we thought Billy Elliott would be. Instead, we ran into Sharon Stone's premiere of Basic Instinct 2. We enjoyed the buzz but we didn't want to miss the show. I know Sharon came to London for my birthday for a reason!

We hopped back on the tube for another area of town...Not sure where and lo and behold, was a sign for BILLY ELLIOTT at Victoria Palace. The show was incredibly moving and very political. My favorite part was when he was dancing with himself - the current self and the future self. Beautiful picture of what we all go through when we're on the edge of greatness. There are obstacles but if we can just push past them, we will find the self we are destined to be. I found out later that all of the music was written by Elton John. No wonder Ted wanted to see a musical with a little boy doing ballet in it. We sat on the very back row of the theatre which actually ended up being the best seats in the house...People were so much smaller when this thing was built.

We walked all over the place when the show was over. We saw Buckingham Palace and more of downtown. We got on a bus and ended up at Trafalgar Square. We stumbled upon what we ended up calling the Antler Bar. It was a Scottish Bar filled with Antlers, very contemporary with hues of brown and blue everywhere. Our server was a girl from the Ukraine named Deanna. She didn't seem to care when I mentioned that I had just read an article about Ukraine and the Orange Revolution. There are many changes that are occuring in that part of the world to overcome the corruption. I felt a full circle moment there considering the show we just saw. I suppose it would be hard to hear what the outside world thinks is happening especially when she knows and obviously left for London to get away from it all.

We found ourselves in quite a dilemma when we headed to the tube station only to find the gate blocking the entrance. Ted and I got on a bus and prayed it would take us back to the outskirts of where our hotel was located. It did and we had hardly any trouble finding the place we saw for a mere 25 minutes. Theo and Cathy on the other hand had a totally different experience. They had to walk forever and freeze...This was the coldest night we experienced. They got on a bus but it ended up turning the wrong way. They didn't make it back to Clive's until after 2 a.m. They were troopers though considering they were all about making my birthday special.

Thanks to the 3 Musketeers - Ted, Theo and Cathy for making my three-oh the best!!

Solidarity FOREVER!