And so the London trip is over. However, we got a lot in over the weekend! Seth was filming most of Saturday and so Juli and I crammed in not one, not two, but three museums (all free)! First, we went to the British Museum, which was a hop, skip, and a jump from our hotel. (wow! I just remembered we also all managed to get in a visit to the National Gallery on Friday, where Juli sketched her own version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers). Anyway, at the British Museum, Juli and I mainly focused on their mummy collection. We saw the mummy of a child who was about Juli’s age. We talked about how it was so hard to believe this was a real kid, just like Juli, who had parents, who went to school, had friends, and was now here in a museum having strangers looking at him. Strange world.
Juli and I got adventurous afterward and took a double decker bus (riding on top in the front) in the direction of the Natural History and Science Museum (right next to each other). We were seeing the city in a completely different way. We loved it. With it being all glass in front, we got to see more than we could in any other way. It was fantastic! The ride terminated at Parliament and the bus driver was no help in getting us to the next bus we needed. This was often the case in the U.K. The people we encountered were very nice but they stunk at giving directions! And so we walked a bit until we found a bus that was going to, at the very least, get us closer to our destination. Juli was tired and hungry but every place we got to cost a fortune. We were getting closer and closer to the Natural History Museum, which I figured would be at least a bit more reasonable. And that’s exactly what we ended up doing. Eating the kids meals there! Both of us! We did a quick tour of both museums before heading off to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. We had made plans to meet two of my sister’s friends at the playground. They had offered to spend time with Juli, giving me and Seth a date night.
On my way back to the hotel, my phone rang. It was Mom. I figured it was important because she knew how expensive the phone calls were at $1.00 a minute! She had only been home a few days—after having returned to the hospital after only one day home after surgery and rehab due to a urinary tract infection. She was calling to tell me…she had sold the house! September 18th, a few days before Juli’s 9th birthday! So, it looks indeed true that Mom will be moving in with us! If only a reality tv crew had been filming our lives this year, we’d be bigger than whatever that couple’s names are with all the kids on TLC. Anyway, she called to ask my advice as the price was a little bit less than what she had asked and I told her to go for it. She signed the contract that afternoon.
Seth and I ended up going to this really great Dim Sum place not far from our hotel. I had the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Shredded beef. All the beef and dairy in Great Britain is from Great Britain and the difference between what we’ve got here in the states—including the stuff I get at the farmer’s market—doesn’t compare to what the Brits take for granted every day. Really great stuff. After dinner, I got in a trip to the grocery store. Tesco. Seth had been making fun of me all week for buying groceries here and there and stuffing them in the suitcase. For me, going to a grocery store in a new place tells you so much about the local culture. And so, I ended up getting my favorite British biscuits and drinks (that have only sugar, not corn syrup) and carrying them back to the hotel.
And so by Sunday, I was exhausted! Juli really just wanted to stay in the hotel all day and watch “telly.” But I convinced her to go to Charing Cross Road, which is chockfull of book stores. I had told Juli I would buy her another book by the author of “006 and a Bit,” the book I had read her at the library in Liverpool. We found several, but I told her only one and so she picked her favorite. I figured the rest would be great birthday gifts! I bought a few other books for myself, Seth, and Mom. Juli then told me she wanted to see “Harry Potter,” which I had told her a week ago might be fun to see in England, but by the time we got to the theater where I knew it was playing, it had already started and the next one wouldn’t be finished until after Seth’s show had started. We headed back to the hotel.
I left Juli there to watch telly for a bit, now that she’s proven she’s responsible for me to do that sort of thing, and I explored a bit more of the city—just walking around and looking for gifts for Mom’s friends who were so great in taking care of her while we were away. Juli and I met Seth at the theater around 6, got a quick bite to eat, and then walked around Covent Garden, looking for last-minute gifts, before heading to the theater. We got a quick backstage tour—Drowsy Chaperone and Spring Awakening were the last shows to play there—before we took our seats—front row, center, of the mezzanine. Very cool!
The kids were so inspiring. Their public high school was one of 500 schools in the UK to enter this competition to have a chance to take “Grease” to London’s West End for one night. As they all sang the opening number, I started crying. It was so heartwarming to see these kids, and all of their friends and family cheering them on in the audience, live their dream. Most of them will not do any other acting outside of high school. This wasn’t American Idol. This was just a bunch of high school kids who had a dream, had a supportive drama teacher, and they went for it. To watch them, knowing that years from now, this night will remain one of their highlights of their lives, as well as for their parents, was very moving to me. And, of course, they loved Seth. I didn’t really want to go upstairs to the dressing rooms before the show to meet everyone—the place was super hot!—but Seth wanted me to because he wanted the kids to see him as part of a gay couple. He thought that was important for them to see us, and Juli, all together. He was right, of course, and so I wiped my brow, and went up the stairs. The kids were so enthusiastic and sweet.
Afterwards, at the post-show party, John Reid, the manager I mentioned in the last blog, asked me to sing at his birthday party in New York next month, the one Seth is putting together. I reminded him I wasn’t a Broadway star like the others that would be singing and he said it didn’t matter, that I was part of the family now. He said how touched he was to see me and Seth and Juli together as a family. He said it was very meaningful to him and that he would be honored if I sang at his party. I said yes and that it was an honor to be asked.
And that was our trip in a nutshell. We left the hotel at 8:30 am the next morning and got back to our apartment at 5pm (10pm London time). A truly amazing experience for all of us.
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