Day One

So.  It was an overnight flight.  I tried to sleep on the plane.  As is my usual practice, I'm not entirely positive that I succeeded.  I never actually feel like I've slept on a plane (I certainly never feel myself wake up) but there were a couple hours unaccounted for, so perhaps I did.  I can't believe I just sat there trying to sleep for four hours -- I don't have the patience.  So, yeah, probably slept.

My travel partner, Debra, did not.  This might explain why, when we got to the hotel, Debra crashed.  Zonked right out on the bed, on top of the covers.  It was about 4:00.  I decided to go for a wander, and left a note that I'd be back in a couple hours for dinner.

My wander had two main purposes:  (a) getting my bearings in this neighborhood (I've never stayed in this hotel before -- thank you, Priceline); (b) getting out to the half-price ticket booth to buy a theatre ticket for that night.

Yes, a theatre ticket.  I was engaging in patented plan to defeat jet lag -- basically forcing myself to stay up until 11:00 or 11:30, by finding "the loudest most obnoxious musical" I could find and buying a ticket.  (London, I should note, has been absolutely terrific for this in previous years.  I mean, really, We Will Rock You -- the musical based on the songs of Queen?  I'm telling you, the only purpose to this musical is helping people defeat jet lag.)  So, I went out to Leicester Square and the half-price ticket booth.  I scanned the boards to see what was up, and there really wasn't anything.  And then.... I saw it ...

Dancing in the Streets.  The Motown musical.

Yee-ha.

So, I buy me a ticket and head back to the hotel.  Debra is too pooped to go out to dinner anywhere, but there's a department store across the street with a food hall -- and they have tons of premade sandwiches.  (This will turn out to be a regular stop for me -- pretty much grabbing a sandwich and some fruit before I head out each day.)  So, I buy some sandwiches and we eat back in the room.  Then I'm off to Dancing in the Streets.

I felt kinda bad for the cast, because the theatre was half-empty, and it'shard to get an audience all riled up when it's only half an audience.  But they tried, and they were reasonably talented.  And the show didn't have a story or anything -- it was just one Motown song after another, which made it pretty much ideal for my purposes.  OK, I very nearly dozed off during the Endless Love/Three Times A Lady set, but, hey, I probably would've even if I wasn't jet lagged.

And that was pretty much the end of the first day.  I came back to the hotel all pumped and awake and more or less re-set to London time -- ready to attack Day Two.