A cold, sunny day in London!

So I'm currently listening to the Hamilton album. It's been so long since I've blogged! My goodness! So it's currently our late winter break (I'm not even sure what it's called). I decided to take a day trip to London. Well, actually, in November last year I was able to score Hamilton tickets the very first second they went on sale! And somehow, by the grace of God truly, I was able to score a ticket during my break! My seat was in the Royal section, row 3, seat 3! I want to go on and on about how amazing Hamilton was, but let me recall the whole day, starting from the very start!

Approx. 7:30 AM

I could talk about my overnight bus journey, but that's a whole other story. It was fine but it's pretty interesting getting from Paris to London by bus, especially overnight. I'll tell that story another time. So I arrived around 7:30 am at Victoria Coach Station and took my time getting off of the bus and to the station's bathrooms to get changed. It's not the most glorious place to get ready, in a bus station's bathroom and waiting area, but I'm young. That's what I keep telling myself. When I'm older and can afford better maybe I'll be able to change in like..a hotel or something. Okay, I could have stayed 2 days, instead of 1, and changed in my hostel, but even that adds on pounds (that should definitely be read as a pun). Ok, I've dolled myself up..I'm ready for some cheap, English breakfast! I mean under 9 pounds for a meal cheap. I head to Cafe 388 near Shoreditch. Thanks, google. 

Approx. 8:30 AM

I arrive..near Shoreditch. I only discovered where I was after the fact. I just knew that I was going northeast of central London. The neighborhood was definitely almost gentrified. As I walked further in and closer to Shoreditch I definitely saw how gentrified it was. Ca va, *shrugs.* Cafe 388 was definitely like your local diner with great, cheap food. Price and style wise, it compares to Regency Cafe (which I definitely did not want to go to, thanks to their super rude behavior towards a friend of mine and I a few months earlier) but taste wise, it's superior. I decided to create my own breakfast and wow, it was CHEAP and good. 7.5 pounds for an egg, 2 slices of buttered toast, 2 cumberland sausages (the best breakfast sausage a mon avis), baked beans, 2 hash browns, a pancake, and syrup. The service was great and locals and travelers a like were in an out. I know this because I sat there for almost an hour and a half trying to kill time before heading to AIDA Shoreditch! I left around 9:56 and headed to my next destination.

Approx. 10 AM

I wandered through the streets of Shoreditch taking pictures of street art, spotting London's new cat cafe (fully booked, of course), and seeing a bunch of young French tourists (figures, as we're on the same vacation). It only took 15 minutes to get there, yet somehow I made it there towards 11 am. I had one mission: obtain the rose latte and take pics for the gram (to be posted after Lent, of course). The rose latte, was BEAUTIFUL! It had bits of dried roses on top and it tasted lovely, actually! It was as if I was drinking a sweetened rose. It did have a heavy plant/rose taste, but with the sugar and soy milk it was pleasant. I assumed that it had had coffee in it, but confirmed with the barista afterwards that there was actually none. It was pink thanks to beets, but I didn't detect the taste. It's actually a clothing store with a mini cafe in the front of the store, for you know, purposes of adding an extra layer of the hipster vibe to the already hipster store located in the very hipster neighborhood. I had a girl take my picture with my latte. It had to be done!


Approx. 11:30 AM

I hopped on the double decker bus and made my way to very front of the top deck (this is my seat!) for the hour long journey to south London (Lambeth). It should not have taken an hour, but for some reason traffic was heavy on a Thursday late morning/early afternoon? I didn't mind as it was freezing cold outside and I was definitely exhausted. Overnight bus journeys are no joke. I was headed to the Empathy Museum. When I got off of the bus I had no sense of where this museum could be as it was in a quasi-residential/business area.

I walked by a park and arrived at some flags near a huge, brown box. A big, brown shoe box, rather. I was there for the exhibit "A Mile in My Shoes." I saw it online but didn't do that much research on what it actually was. Well, I entered the brown box, and saw polaroids of people wearing worn shoes, a ton of shoe boxes, some seats and a friendly face. The girl explained the "exhibit" to me: she'd need my shoe size and afterwards she'd give me the shoes of a migrant and an iPod mini containing the migrant's story, told first-hand by the migrant herself. I could walk around, literally in her shoes, while listening to her story. She suggested walking through the park that I had passed on my way there. I listened to the story of Chetna Patel. She spoke about how she met her husband and was arranged to be married to him a few hours later. She and her husband moved to London, where they opened a small shop in essentially a ghetto area. That ghetto area is now being gentrified, rent has risen, and Chetna has to close her family's shop. She said that she loved her husband. I'm really glad about that. I was expecting a more heart-breaking story but I got that once I entered the Migration Museum, which was in the building behind the huge shoe box.

Approx. 12:55 PM

I stepped inside the Migration Museum and immediately connected with the stories that I had begun to read inside. Brexit was highlighted, along with migrant stories of previous decades. It's amazing how history repeats itself. Before leaving, I wrote my immigration story down and placed it on the wall with other migrant stories. Not much was new to me, nor was I surprised by the things that I did not know. History repeats itself. We humans are too often afraid. But, as a side note, "Immigrants, we get the job done." (HAMILTON reference)

Approx. 1:30 PM

I decided to walk to my next stop on my list: The Phantom of the Opera! I walked from Lambeth to Victoria to see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. Somehow, once again, by the grace of God, I was able to score front-row tickets for the price of seats much further back and up in the theatre. I'm convinced it was a glitch in the system, seeing as all of the seats around me were definitely double the price of what I paid. Glory! I've been in love with the POTO since the 7th grade, and I'm not sure what took me so long to actually buy tickets to go and see it in London, but I'm so glad that I finally got around to seeing it! It did NOT disappoint. I definitely was on the verge of tears as "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" began. The costumes, the set, the music, the actors, and the actresses were all wonderful and it was definitely what I thought it would be and more. Sitting on the front row was amazing and it wasn't too close at all. It was perfect and I'm so thankful to God that I got to see it in that way!

Approx. 5:10 PM

Phantom is over. It's time to head down to Brixton so I can get myself (and some of my friends, I suppose...) some Jamaican patties! They don't make them in Paris, and as a Caribbean-American without access to her patties, I crave them. Somehow I was able to make it down to Brixton, grab my patties in frozen form from a bakery/restaurant, and head back to Victoria to see...drumroll please... HAMILTON!

Approx. 6:15 PM

I get to Victoria station, walk towards Victoria Palace Theatre, and already see a line. I asked one of the hosts why there was already a line forming and she essentially said that people were there early and that I might as well grab something to eat before the show. Celebrities, bloggers, and London natives alike have been telling me for ages that Nando's is delicious and one of their favorite "cheeky" bites. So, it was time for me to get myself a "cheeky" Nando's. I figured since it's a popular chain that there would be a nearby one, and there was. I walked 4 minutes from the theatre there, and there was already a wait. Apparently, I was not the only one with Nando's on his or her mind. I went to the waiting area, turned around, and recognized a familiar face---Tarinn Callender from Hamilton! I texted some best friends about whether or not I should go over and talk to him (I mean, he was eating) and the one who responded immediately was like duh, why wouldn't you?? I mustered up the courage (I'm seriously being so silly, as my high school classmate is on the USA tour with them right now) and spoke with him! Because I never know what to say to "known" people, I was just like "hey, are you in Hamilton? I follow you on the gram and I'm really excited to see you perform!" He obviously received me well, asked my name, and I don't really remember the rest of the conversation. I awkwardly said hey to the girl he was eating with, not realizing she too was in the show. I just said hi to her, awkwardly. She too was super nice. I later tweeted them both, but definitely my purpose of tweeting the girl was to let her know that I knew that she too was in the show. I don't really think she cared about whether or not I recognized her, because, she's in the show, and has nothing to prove...I guess? I hope that even makes sense. They both were super nice, and when I finally was able to get a table, I chose a table right next to them. HA. It's pretty funny because before I left on the bus to London, a semi-crazy woman told me that I would meet a London guy. Well, she wasn't wrong.

Approx. 7:15 PM - HAMILTON TIME!

So to be honest, I never finished the Hamilton soundtrack. I never watched the bootleg online. I loved the concept but never had the energy to sit through the 2.5 hour soundtrack and didn't really want to read the summary. I wanted to see it first. I love musical theatre, but for many of the newer shows, I have to see the show before I can truly get into it. I think that this is normal. Let me just say, Hamilton was FIREEEE. The audience was so hype after every single number and the energy on stage was contagious. The cast truly killed it. American history can really be boring, but wow, Lin-Manuel Miranda really gets you into it! He made you want to be excited about the history/story he was telling. There wasn't a dull moment, and even after the slow songs, they hiked the energy right back up afterwards. Hamilton is absolutely worth the hype. You can truly tell that the cast is having so much fun on stage, especially my new friends, Tarrin and Kelly. I didn't stay after to meet them and the rest of the cast at the stage door, mainly because I'm awkward in these situations, but more because I had an 11:30 PM coach to catch!

Needless to say, I had an AMAZING and quite fatiguing, time during my 1-day trip to London. I could also describe my overnight bus journeys but I truly don't have the energy to do so at the moment!