Day 9: London, 9 May 2013

Ah, and exciting morning (not really). Since we didn't get to the hotel until about 3:45am, we slept late this morning. I had to do laundry today, or start wearing dirty clothes. I tried various ways of using Google to find a self-service laundry nearby, but all I could ever find were Dry Cleaners and industrial laundry companies. But, thanks to our adventures on the Night Bus, I saw two different coin-op laundries that were near enough to the hotel that I figured I could get there on the bus.

I packed all of my dirty laundry, and the soap Amy bought for me on one of her treks to Tesco, into my small wheeled suitcase, and set off. The front desk confirmed that I should go right out of the hotel, then left. I really should know better than to believe any hotel employee would actually know how to get anywhere around where they work. I wound up going the opposite direction down a one-way street. This wasn't a problem walking, but it also meant that I couldn't catch a bus going in the proper direction. I also wound up walking about 3 blocks out of my way (I realized this later), and then was faced with a 3-way intersection, and had no idea which way to go.

I stood at the corner for a few minutes, then saw the Number 266 bus, which we had taken the night before (it's actually a 24-hour bus, rather than a night-only bus) coming toward me, so I knew to go in the direction that bus had arrived from. Hurray. It was only a couple more blocks down the road to the laundry.

Wow! The laundry here is expensive! It cost £5 for the washer, and £1 for the dryer. If you've ever used a coin-op laundry, you know that one go in the dryer is never enough for your pants, so that load took £2 to dry. I needed two washers, so it was an expensive adventure. The other thing that baffled me was the fact that there was no change machine, and the washers and dryers took only £1 coins. There wasn't even an attendant in the facility to provide change. I had to go to the nearby stores and politely request change. Most of them were very nice about it. Also, no vending machines to sell soap. Good thing I brought my own, and hadn't planned to just buy it at the launderette.

I was happy to see that there was a bus stop in front of the strip of stores where the launderette was, so I took the bus to get back to the hotel. It was very cold and windy, and I didn't feel like fighting the weather.

Tonight we went to see "The Audience" starring Helen Mirren. I knew very little about the play other than Helen Mirren was playing Queen Elizabeth II. I was sold at "Starring Helen Mirren".

Here is the official description of the play:

Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award-winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in the highly anticipated West End production of The Audience.

For 60 years, Elizabeth II has met her Prime Minister in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace. A meeting like none other in British public life, it is entirely private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said – not even to their spouses.

The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Prime Ministers and the Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each PM uses these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional. Sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive, the private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Twelve politicians have come and gone through the revolving door of electoral politics, but from young mother to grandmother, the Queen remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

It turned out to be a non-linear telling of her relationship with the various Prime Ministers, and the weekly Audience they have with the Queen. It required Helen to go back and forth between the various ages of Elizabeth, from when she first became Queen, until the present day. There was not an unbelievable portrayal of any of it. It was amazing to see how she changed every aspect of her appearance, from hair and clothing to the way she walked, talked, or sat down in a chair. I don't want to spoil it for you if you have a chance to see it, so I won't tell you the whole play. But if you do have a chance to see it, do! As a matter of fact, you just may have a chance, even if you don't visit London. The National Theatre Company will be showing it as a live event. Use Google to find out if it's going to be playing near you. I tried to look up the US link here, but it just keeps taking me to the UK sites. I hope they put it out on DVD. I would buy it.

Here's my autographed programme book. Rather than stand outside the stage door signing, she has the stage manager collect the items from everyone, after having written your name on the back, and then she signs and personalizes them inside and has the stage manage return them to everyone. 

I took a photo of her coming out of the door, but she went by so quickly that this was the best photo I got. Oh, well.

After the theater, we headed back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow's trip to Edinburgh. We want to take the 9:00am train so we can get there around 1:30pm. That means getting up about 6:00am. Ugh.