Random Sights, Waterstones, and Leicester Square

Today was my last Friday in London for a while...I know that I will be back at some point, but it will be really difficult to leave.  I'm not sad about leaving Nido, though...bring on the hostel!  :)  We had our final Professional Development Seminar, discussing Global Trends and Analysis.  The Cine Lumiere was incredibly warm, and the number of bodies crowding it did not help, so they shortened the session slightly to keep us from all becoming ill.  I wandered around a bit in the early afternoon, catching up on some things that I had planned to do eventually since this was one of my last chances.  I started by going to Westminster Cathedral to see the view from the tower...once again, I was struck with how close everything actually is.  Since I ride the Tube everywhere, the city seems huge, but from my view, it is all actually pretty compact.  And the view was stunning...not to mention the cool wind that can be felt from that height!  Today is the feast day of St. John Southworth, whose body is enshrined at Westminster Cathedral, so when I arrived, they were just finishing the midday Mass and his body was on display...definitely not an experience that I am used to!

Next, I went to the National Theatre to buy a copy of the script for "England People Very Nice."  I had planned to see it again with my mom this week, but it turns out that this is their dark week...bummer.  Ah well, now I have the script to relive the experience.  Since I was on the southbank, I wandered along to Borough Market for lunch...it's definitely an experience.  I passed on the ostrich and venison in favor of a boring chicken and veggie pasty (something that I still had not tried, despite being here for almost two months).  After my picnic came the highlight of my day: I went to Waterstones, snuggled up in an armchair, and read for two hours.  And it was wonderful.  :)

In the evening, I went to Leicester Square (always fun on a Friday night!) to see "A Guide to Sexual Misery" in the basement theatre.  It didn't really fulfill my expectations...either the reviewers all went on a really good night or they have a far different sense of humor from me.  (From what I had read, I expected to be rolling in the aisles...the only chuckles I had were from audience antics.)  However, when it ended, I was able to slip into the upstairs theatre (shhh!) to catch the end of Miss Polly Rae and her Hurly Burly Girlys (who, honestly, I should have just come to see rather than this show).  The part of the show that I saw was fantastic, as always, and it really made me wish that we had a similar venue at home.  (Anyone interested in opening a comedy/burlesque club with me?)