One night in Bangkok (AKA 36 hours in London)

 Here's the secret to a successful European assignment:  It's all about the bucket list.

We've done lots and lots of traveling in the three years we've been rambling (more traveling than evidenced by this here blog).  Admittedly, my list was over ambitious to begin with, and truthfully grew a bit out of control once we got here and started swapping stories with our jet-setting buddies, but with four short months left on our current European go-round, I still had three major trips left. Normandy and Northern Portugal will likely have to wait for another day, but thanks to an agreeable husband and a good friend with a matching list seeing the London production of Wicked.....  CHECK!

It was a whirlwind trip, leaving home Friday AM, back in time for Saturday dinner, but without the kids in tow, we covered a lot of British ground.  We flew into Gatwick, grabbed the fast train into the city, jumped off at Victoria Station, giggled with glee when we passed the Apollo Victoria Theatre  and its larger than life Wicked marquis, stashed the bags at our hotel, and promptly headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing before that night's performance.

We made it to Harrods and saw Big Ben and Parliament. We happened upon a small Occupy London protest, the bulk of the protesters having gone home and taken the day off in honor of Armistice Day. We toured Westminster Abbey and breathed the royal air, realizing that if you were a  regular-ol-guest at William and Kate's nuptials,  you really couldn't see very much as the choir stalls blocked the view for most of the congregation.  (Family and VIPs were seated right behind the altar, in front of the choir stalls).     Then we ducked into a cafe for a champagne tea, stepped into Westminster Cathedral and walked back to our hotel to change clothes before the show began.

The performance was outstanding.  It's a little ironic that seeing this particular musical made it onto my bucket list, as I *hated* the novel, but Wicked, the Musical is far better written than Wicked, the novel.  Its story is more streamlined, its characters and their motivations more clearly developed, and its intertextual connections to the original Wizard of Oz more skillfully utilized.   The signature number, Defying Gravity, is indeed a show stopper. (The link is to a you tube video, if you wanna see). Now that I've seen the London version, I do believe seeing the New York production tops my  stateside list, even though most reviewers report the production quality in London is better.

After the show, we wandered down the street and into a local watering hole, closing down the pub drinking warm ale with a bunch a middle aged locals.  (British Ale is typically served warm and the pub's last call wast midnight, so closing it down wasn't that much of a feat).   The next AM it was back to the airport for our flight home.  Lots more of London to see, for sure, but I feel like we saw and did enough to make the short trip worth it.  Made some great memories with a great gal-pal and most importantly, showed that blasted list who's boss. :P