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And so begins the pictures of all the other stuff I did while in London, including John Barrowman's book signing, La Cage x3, Gareth David-Lloyd at Forbidden Planet, and running into Law and Order: UK.
Confused yet?
(Edited to add, warning for ramblings!)
I got to London on Tuesday afternoon, and made my way to the hostel I was staying at. And, for a change, I didn't get lost! I make it a bit of a habit to get lost pretty much wherever I go (not on purpose), so to find something on the first try was a bit of an accomplishment. Anyways, I got to the hostel, dumped my stuff, and headed back out, in an attempt to find the TKTS booth, and get tickets for Speaking in Tongues. Which I eventually did. But on the way to Leceister Square, I realized I was sort of heading past Dress Circle, which is where Wednesday's book signing was going to be, so I figured I'd go see exactly where it was, and pick up the book. And for the second time that day, I found something without getting lost! I Am What I Am successfully purchased, I continued my journey for theatre tickets. It took two tries to find the booth, but I did, and ticket in hand, I headed in the general direction of the theatre. Because I was walking everywhere, I decided that I didn't really have time to head back to the hostel, so I ended up at the theatre about an hour and a half early.
After hanging out in the Starbuck's just down the road until the show, I headed into the theatre. The show was really fascinating, and definitely took more brain work than most shows I've seen recently. John Simm was stunning, which wasn't a surprise. After the show, I waited near the stage door, with a grand total of about five other people, and got my program autographed by the entire cast. No pictures, but happy memories.
Alright, moving on to Wednesday. I got up early (anyone surprised?) and figured I'd head in the general direction of Dress Circle, maybe pick up the concert DVD, and grab breakfast or something resembling breakfast, before heading back to queue for John's autograph. The signing wasn't to start until 1pm, and I passed by about 9:15am. And there was already a line! So I grabbed a drink, and got in line. Almost four hours early. Not long after,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
broksgurl717 arrived, having basically come right from the airport. We, along with a few other people in line (sorry, I'm bad with names), took turns heading into the store to pick up the book and dvd. And then it was back to waiting, and, in my case, trying to not start reading the book. I don't have a lot of pictures from the signing, most of them didn't come out at all, but here's a few.
This is kinda where we were in the queue. The blue building is Dress Circle.
The queue going the other direction. And it keeps going significantly further than even this.
After the book signing, stopped back at our hotels to drop stuff off and change, grabbed lunch, and decided to go stalk to stage door of La Cage. We did get to see John walk in, although he didn't have time to do more than say hello to everyone. The show itself was absolutely brilliant! I don't think I'd laughed that hard in ages. John was fantastic, and Simon Burke was magnificent. I picked up a program before the performance, and afterwards we headed down to the stage door to wait. John was an absolute sweetheart, and since the weather was decent, took the time to sign for the crowd. Again, the pictures I got weren't great, but since I couldn't actually see what I was taking a picture of until the flash went off, I guess they're not horrible.
Thursday was basically taken up with getting to Birmingham for the convention itself. There was a jerk on the train, but aside from that the ride was just long. I started reading I Am What I Am on the train, drove people around me nuts with laughing, and that was about it.
Now I'm going to skip the next few days, since I already have a few posts on the con itself. So then there was Monday. Ah, Monday... We got to the hotel in London, dragged our luggage up the stairs (which were not only small and narrow, but not all even either). We grabbed lunch, and waited for our third roommate to arrive. I finally had a chance to get online at a little internet cafe down the street.
This was the evening that a whole group of us were going to see La Cage. I got dressed in my very short, very shiny, gold dress, and we headed over to wait at the stage door before the show again. We did get to see John arrive again, and I got an autograph, although I didn't get a chance to get a picture with him. Oh well. His parents had just arrived that morning, so they were at the show that night. I also almost got hit by the car door, as I had just put on my fancy heels (gorgeous, but not particularly easy to move in), so I wasn't moving quickly when the car pulled up. And backing up in these shoes is even harder, so when John opened the door, I was still trying to get out of the way, and nearly ended up on the ground!
And then it was time for the show. The time, rather than sitting in the very back, I had chosen to get a cabaret table seat. So I was sitting right up almost against the stage, just off center. Now, keep in mind, I had ended up with this specific seat by accident. Back when tickets first went on sale, I just let the computer choose the seat for me. I made the decision to get a table rather than a standard row, figuring it would just be fun. Really, really, REALLY good decision! But before i get to that... The first act was just spectacular. Seeing it from the back actually helped a lot, since it let me get a good overall of the show, that I wasn't able to get from the front. John was spectacular, but I expected no less. His performance of "I Am What I Am" almost had me in tears, and I don't cry. But wow. It makes any other version of the song look almost amateur. Just amazing, and I had goosebumps everywhere during it.
But it was towards the end of the second act that the awesomeness happened. Which, apparently, the rest of the world knew about, and I somehow didn't. What I had found out earlier was that I had the seat that everyone wanted. And I had no idea why. It turns out that during "The Best of Times," John sits down on the steps (yeah, the ones next to where i was sitting!), reaches for my hand, and sang to me! And then kissed the back of my hand and wiped off the lipstick. And I had no idea that it was about to happen! Can I just say, "HOLY SHITE!" It took me about five minutes to stop shaking after that.
After the show, there was a massive crowd at the stage door, but I got to tell both John and Simon how much I had loved the show. This time I got my poster signed, and while John was very polite when he said thank you, Simon recognized me from the table, and asked if I'd enjoyed the show. While I went into the performance I huge fan of John's (I know, big surprise!), and came out of it a massive Simon Burke fan too. He was absolutely captivating!
Tuesday, we had no real plans until that evening. I'd heard from multiple people that Gareth was doing a signing at Forbidden Planet (thanks everyone who let me know) as a launch for Girl Number 9. So we were planning on heading over there in the late afternoon, and had no plans for the rest of the day. So we headed towards Covent Garden, to do some exploring and other random geeky things. After getting ourselves lost a few times, we decided to start wandering towards Forbidden Planet. En route to the store, we wandered past Dress Circle, where John's book signing had been. About half a block up, there was a group of people with cameras and microphones, etc, and bunch of people looking at them. Turns out we had run into filming for Law and Order: UK. We watched them for a bit, and then continued on. After stopping into Borders and buying way too many Torchwood and Doctor Who novels, we headed back to Forbidden Planet to possibly get in line. As we came around the corner, what do we see? Law and Order... again. And what I still find amusing is that all three US Law and Orders film in New York, and I'm there relatively often. And in the three days I'm in London, we run into Law and Order: UK, not once, but twice!
Following the encounters with the filming, we went to get in line at the store. Turns out the line was actually around the back, so we went to join the still relatively small crowd back there. The crowd did eventually grow a bit, but I got the impression that most people were there just to see Gareth, rather than to support Girl Number 9. There were, however, these stunning posters that I wish had been for sale, so if anyone knows where to get one, let me know! The "launch" was nothing special, it was basically just the trailer playing over and over again on a little screen, and Gareth signing for people.
After that we went to talk to Gareth for a few minutes, before trying to figure out what to do next. It wasn't that late, but there wasn't really anything that we wanted to do. Solution? Go see La Cage again! Of course, at this point it was 6:45, and the show was at 7:30. And even though I consider most of London walkable, its not actually a small city.broksgurl717 now knows exactly how fast I am capable of moving! We made it to the theatre just early enough to get tickets (all the way in the back again), and make it all the way up the stairs to our seats. Up there, we found a few people we knew from online, the convention, and La Cage, so we decided that no one was in the seats next to them, so we shifted over to there for the performance. And I know we drove everyone around us nuts, but it has to be the most hysterical performance! And jokes that we'd now seen twice, went a bit haywire. I'm not sure that the average audience goer would have noticed, but we did!
As per usual, we waited at the stage door following the show, to get our last in person views of John and Simon, and to get one more thing signed. I had grabbed one of the free La Cage ads from the box office window, so that was what I got signed. After John had signed though, we stepped a bit out of the way to wait for Simon. Who was wonderful, and took a picture with me. Its not a great shot, but we were very tight on space, and I was pressed up against a wall.
And that was the end of the trip. Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel, and since my flight wasn't until a bit later, I hung out in Victoria Station, before heading to Heathrow. Which was very boring. Between check in and security, I think it took all of fifteen minutes (and I think I might be overestimating there), and then I sat. And started rereading I Am What I Am and my new Doctor Who novels. Lots of hours later, I got home to Pennsylvania, and three weeks later, I have finally finished my report!
Until next time (meaning I can now start the report from New England Fan Experience)!
Confused yet?
(Edited to add, warning for ramblings!)
I got to London on Tuesday afternoon, and made my way to the hostel I was staying at. And, for a change, I didn't get lost! I make it a bit of a habit to get lost pretty much wherever I go (not on purpose), so to find something on the first try was a bit of an accomplishment. Anyways, I got to the hostel, dumped my stuff, and headed back out, in an attempt to find the TKTS booth, and get tickets for Speaking in Tongues. Which I eventually did. But on the way to Leceister Square, I realized I was sort of heading past Dress Circle, which is where Wednesday's book signing was going to be, so I figured I'd go see exactly where it was, and pick up the book. And for the second time that day, I found something without getting lost! I Am What I Am successfully purchased, I continued my journey for theatre tickets. It took two tries to find the booth, but I did, and ticket in hand, I headed in the general direction of the theatre. Because I was walking everywhere, I decided that I didn't really have time to head back to the hostel, so I ended up at the theatre about an hour and a half early.
After hanging out in the Starbuck's just down the road until the show, I headed into the theatre. The show was really fascinating, and definitely took more brain work than most shows I've seen recently. John Simm was stunning, which wasn't a surprise. After the show, I waited near the stage door, with a grand total of about five other people, and got my program autographed by the entire cast. No pictures, but happy memories.
Alright, moving on to Wednesday. I got up early (anyone surprised?) and figured I'd head in the general direction of Dress Circle, maybe pick up the concert DVD, and grab breakfast or something resembling breakfast, before heading back to queue for John's autograph. The signing wasn't to start until 1pm, and I passed by about 9:15am. And there was already a line! So I grabbed a drink, and got in line. Almost four hours early. Not long after,
broksgurl717 arrived, having basically come right from the airport. We, along with a few other people in line (sorry, I'm bad with names), took turns heading into the store to pick up the book and dvd. And then it was back to waiting, and, in my case, trying to not start reading the book. I don't have a lot of pictures from the signing, most of them didn't come out at all, but here's a few.This is kinda where we were in the queue. The blue building is Dress Circle.
The queue going the other direction. And it keeps going significantly further than even this.
After the book signing, stopped back at our hotels to drop stuff off and change, grabbed lunch, and decided to go stalk to stage door of La Cage. We did get to see John walk in, although he didn't have time to do more than say hello to everyone. The show itself was absolutely brilliant! I don't think I'd laughed that hard in ages. John was fantastic, and Simon Burke was magnificent. I picked up a program before the performance, and afterwards we headed down to the stage door to wait. John was an absolute sweetheart, and since the weather was decent, took the time to sign for the crowd. Again, the pictures I got weren't great, but since I couldn't actually see what I was taking a picture of until the flash went off, I guess they're not horrible.
Thursday was basically taken up with getting to Birmingham for the convention itself. There was a jerk on the train, but aside from that the ride was just long. I started reading I Am What I Am on the train, drove people around me nuts with laughing, and that was about it.
Now I'm going to skip the next few days, since I already have a few posts on the con itself. So then there was Monday. Ah, Monday... We got to the hotel in London, dragged our luggage up the stairs (which were not only small and narrow, but not all even either). We grabbed lunch, and waited for our third roommate to arrive. I finally had a chance to get online at a little internet cafe down the street.
This was the evening that a whole group of us were going to see La Cage. I got dressed in my very short, very shiny, gold dress, and we headed over to wait at the stage door before the show again. We did get to see John arrive again, and I got an autograph, although I didn't get a chance to get a picture with him. Oh well. His parents had just arrived that morning, so they were at the show that night. I also almost got hit by the car door, as I had just put on my fancy heels (gorgeous, but not particularly easy to move in), so I wasn't moving quickly when the car pulled up. And backing up in these shoes is even harder, so when John opened the door, I was still trying to get out of the way, and nearly ended up on the ground!
And then it was time for the show. The time, rather than sitting in the very back, I had chosen to get a cabaret table seat. So I was sitting right up almost against the stage, just off center. Now, keep in mind, I had ended up with this specific seat by accident. Back when tickets first went on sale, I just let the computer choose the seat for me. I made the decision to get a table rather than a standard row, figuring it would just be fun. Really, really, REALLY good decision! But before i get to that... The first act was just spectacular. Seeing it from the back actually helped a lot, since it let me get a good overall of the show, that I wasn't able to get from the front. John was spectacular, but I expected no less. His performance of "I Am What I Am" almost had me in tears, and I don't cry. But wow. It makes any other version of the song look almost amateur. Just amazing, and I had goosebumps everywhere during it.
But it was towards the end of the second act that the awesomeness happened. Which, apparently, the rest of the world knew about, and I somehow didn't. What I had found out earlier was that I had the seat that everyone wanted. And I had no idea why. It turns out that during "The Best of Times," John sits down on the steps (yeah, the ones next to where i was sitting!), reaches for my hand, and sang to me! And then kissed the back of my hand and wiped off the lipstick. And I had no idea that it was about to happen! Can I just say, "HOLY SHITE!" It took me about five minutes to stop shaking after that.
After the show, there was a massive crowd at the stage door, but I got to tell both John and Simon how much I had loved the show. This time I got my poster signed, and while John was very polite when he said thank you, Simon recognized me from the table, and asked if I'd enjoyed the show. While I went into the performance I huge fan of John's (I know, big surprise!), and came out of it a massive Simon Burke fan too. He was absolutely captivating!
Tuesday, we had no real plans until that evening. I'd heard from multiple people that Gareth was doing a signing at Forbidden Planet (thanks everyone who let me know) as a launch for Girl Number 9. So we were planning on heading over there in the late afternoon, and had no plans for the rest of the day. So we headed towards Covent Garden, to do some exploring and other random geeky things. After getting ourselves lost a few times, we decided to start wandering towards Forbidden Planet. En route to the store, we wandered past Dress Circle, where John's book signing had been. About half a block up, there was a group of people with cameras and microphones, etc, and bunch of people looking at them. Turns out we had run into filming for Law and Order: UK. We watched them for a bit, and then continued on. After stopping into Borders and buying way too many Torchwood and Doctor Who novels, we headed back to Forbidden Planet to possibly get in line. As we came around the corner, what do we see? Law and Order... again. And what I still find amusing is that all three US Law and Orders film in New York, and I'm there relatively often. And in the three days I'm in London, we run into Law and Order: UK, not once, but twice!
Following the encounters with the filming, we went to get in line at the store. Turns out the line was actually around the back, so we went to join the still relatively small crowd back there. The crowd did eventually grow a bit, but I got the impression that most people were there just to see Gareth, rather than to support Girl Number 9. There were, however, these stunning posters that I wish had been for sale, so if anyone knows where to get one, let me know! The "launch" was nothing special, it was basically just the trailer playing over and over again on a little screen, and Gareth signing for people.
After that we went to talk to Gareth for a few minutes, before trying to figure out what to do next. It wasn't that late, but there wasn't really anything that we wanted to do. Solution? Go see La Cage again! Of course, at this point it was 6:45, and the show was at 7:30. And even though I consider most of London walkable, its not actually a small city.
broksgurl717 now knows exactly how fast I am capable of moving! We made it to the theatre just early enough to get tickets (all the way in the back again), and make it all the way up the stairs to our seats. Up there, we found a few people we knew from online, the convention, and La Cage, so we decided that no one was in the seats next to them, so we shifted over to there for the performance. And I know we drove everyone around us nuts, but it has to be the most hysterical performance! And jokes that we'd now seen twice, went a bit haywire. I'm not sure that the average audience goer would have noticed, but we did!As per usual, we waited at the stage door following the show, to get our last in person views of John and Simon, and to get one more thing signed. I had grabbed one of the free La Cage ads from the box office window, so that was what I got signed. After John had signed though, we stepped a bit out of the way to wait for Simon. Who was wonderful, and took a picture with me. Its not a great shot, but we were very tight on space, and I was pressed up against a wall.
And that was the end of the trip. Wednesday morning we checked out of the hotel, and since my flight wasn't until a bit later, I hung out in Victoria Station, before heading to Heathrow. Which was very boring. Between check in and security, I think it took all of fifteen minutes (and I think I might be overestimating there), and then I sat. And started rereading I Am What I Am and my new Doctor Who novels. Lots of hours later, I got home to Pennsylvania, and three weeks later, I have finally finished my report!
Until next time (meaning I can now start the report from New England Fan Experience)!
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