Beatles fans united to take the journey to see the famous Abbey Road.We made several attempts running out into the street between traffic to reenact the famous album cover. We had some good laughs as we were dodging cars and being honked at by the local Londoners. Nicole B. almost got hit by a bus. A couple of other girls fled as an ambulance sped in their direction. At least we gave those drivers a few good laughs as they drove by. I guess you could say our day started out on the right foot.
Brett walking at Abbey Road
After lots of pictures and walks across Abbey Road, we went to explorethe city before our musicals later that day or night. Five of us girlsdid some more sightseeing around St. Paul's Cathedral where Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana were married. We wondered around and found where Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre was located before it famously burned down. After crossing the Tower Bridge, we also took a short boat tour on the River Thames which ended at Westminster Abbey and provided us with some great photo taking opportunities.
This is when it gets very interesting. Nicole B. and I were then on our lonesome to explore the Piccadilly Circus area before The Phantom of the Opera at Her Magesty´s Theatre. There were more people than we had ever seen before in London. The streets were packed. We then discovered that there was a movie premiere taking place. Low and behold, it was The Hangover III.
After further debate, we decided to see what all the hype was about and that's when we found Dera who was all alone like a one-man wolf pack. We were holding our cameras over our heads trying to get semi-identifiable pictures of the movie stars when Dera decided she was going in between the gates setup for the premiere. Nicole and I decided to follow. To our luck, one of the actors, Bradley Cooper, just happened to make his way towards us. Tongue-tied and awestruck, Nicole B. blurted out, "We came all the way from Iowa!" He didn't understand her and he replied, "What?" She then simply said, "Iowa." He went to take a picture with her and I, and we couldn't believe how lucky we were. We were going to have a picture with BRADLEY COOPER.
Seconds after he took the picture, we checked, and to our dismay the picture did not turn out. We were crushed, and we then remembered Dera was farther up. We found her and told her what happened as Bradley Cooper was getting closer to us again. We yelled to him that we were again the girls from Iowa and that the last picture didn't turn out.At that time, he was giving people his autograph. He walked past us only to turn back and fulfill our request. He successfully took our picture with him and told us "There, now you've got one." We were ecstatic and could not wait to tell the others about what they missed. I guess you could say it was our lucky day.
 |
| Dera, Nicole B., Callie, and some random girl trying to hug Bradley in the middle |
There was no better way to end our London excursion than with a handful of musicals. Some went to Rock of Ages the previous night. A pair went to The Lion King, more went to Wicked, a few went to Les Miserables and a bunch, myself included, went to The Phantom of the Opera. (Oh and I was told to mention that a little birdie told me Eric shed some tears during Les Miserables.)
All in all, we had a blast with our different cultural experiences today. And like the Hangover III movie tagline states: this is the end.
Goodbye London and hello Wales!
Callie Bottorff
