Friday, June 08, 2007

Baby Blue Lamborghini Convertible

June 6th, 2007



Wednesday was the day to head out by car, to Ruthin, Wales.
However, I had decided, by conversations with others, that I
would remain at my London hotel, and do my outside the city
excursions from there, via the tour companies. I had grown a
bit leary of driving in London traffic, and not sure driving out
in the country without a navigator would be that easy either.
Since my friends had decided to move on to Paris instead,
I opted to stay in London, and do all I could in the few days
I have.

Wednesday was walking day. Again. It seems like all I do.
First, walking all over the ship, and now all over London.

The day started a bit later, but once I got going, I got
around. I walked down to St. James Park, down around
Buckingham Palace, back up through The Old Greens Park,
by the Hard Rock Cafe, and stopped and had a nice lunch.

I then decided to go to the London Eye, and hopped in a cab.
Along the way, we got in some traffic, and the cab driver
whispered over his shoulder, Rod Stewart, and nodded his
head to the left side. Sure enough, there in a baby blue
Lamborghini Convertible, driving with the top down, was
Rod Stewart. I snapped a few pictures, usually just as he
turned his head away, so I may have trouble proving it, but
there he was indeed.

The London Eye, for those that do not know, is like a huge
ferris wheel ride, though it goes very slowly, and is made up
of large pods that a dozen or so people can ride in at once,
either sitting or standing, there's plenty of room to move
around. It goes higher than the buildings in London, and
the view is for miles. It's located right on the River Thames
embankment, so you get a birdseye view. The scene is
fantastic from up there, and you hardly get the sense of
movement at all. Even with my fear of heights, it did not
really bother me, as long as I stood away from the edge of it.
It was more impressive than I expected.



Then I toured the Aquarium, just next door to the Eye.
Very nice. They have some of the same fish we do back home,
but most of the local fish are different than ours. That was
quite interesting.

From there, I walked across the River Thames, back into the
heart of London, and back to the hotel. I then went out for a
simple yet nice dinner, and then to the theater. I had grabbed
a hot ticket for "Equus" that evening.

I was quite surprised, when entering the lobby, I ran into
Anne, a lady I had met at dinner the first night on the Queen
Mary 2. We seemed to bump into each other often on the boat,
and again in London. It was her last night in London before
heading back to LA, but we chatted a few moments.


"Equus" was quite powerful and dramatic, basically a story of
a young man still disturbed by his past, and the therapist that
he is brought to, in order to find some inner peace. In the
process, the therapist himself finds things more disturbing in
relation to his own life, and what all that entails. It was one
you really have to dig into and pay attention to, but it's well
done, and superbly acted.