~March 25th~
I had another very very late morning so there wasn't much of day left to try to find things to do. But I did go out to find myself dinner and found an Asian food place, got something for take away, and settled back at the flat to watch Layer Cake.
It was getting close to the end of the film when I heard keys in the front door.
Orlando had finally come back.
I had texted him warning him that I had to stay another day because of Alex's situation but his phone was dead all weekend.
I assured him that after I picked her up from Paddington station I'd be out of his hair and that Alex and I would be checking into a hostel, but he insisted that we save the money and stay with him.
Needless to say, it was absolutely AWESOME of him!
That night we went out to the local pub, the Queen Bodicea, to have some pints and dinner and catch up.
Apparently he had been gone all weekend at home cuz he was offered some work for a few days that he simply couldn't turn down.
Along with being an actor and musician, Orlando does some modeling on the side. And that weekend he helped out and modeled at a shoot for Jack Wills...which is basically the Abercrombie & Fitch of England.
I also found out that he had auditioned for the role of Cedric Diggory for the 4th Harry Potter movie...and he was among the top four candidates for the role! It all came down to him, two other guys, and Robert Pattinson (who is now starring in the film adaptation of the first installment of the Twilight series, which my friends and I are borderline obsessed with-- *swoon*).
~March 26th~
The next day I checked online to see the progress of Alex's flight and it said that it was delayed 2 hours. So, I got a little extra sleep time in.
I went to Paddington station to pick her up from the express train from Heathrow. I couldn't find her anywhere so I concluded that her train hadn't come in yet.
As I stood there waiting for the trains, I heard a voice behind me go, "Gell?"
I was so so so happy to see Alex! But then she told me she'd been waiting there for 2 hours and then I felt bad...but then confused because the Air India website blatantly said that her flight was delayed. She told me that that's what they told her too so she totally understood why I was late.
We then headed back to the flat where she met Orlando, and he and I made her drink tea cuz that's what you do in England.
Orlando had to take off to help paint the school.
Alex and I cancelled our hostel reservation and,Alice, a friend from Birmingham Uni was in town and wanted to meet up for lunch.
That night, Isabel invited Orlando, Alex, and me to hers for tea and cakes. By the time we got back from lunch, however, Alex was exhausted and we thought it best she stayed at Orlando's to sleep off her jet lag.
Isabel's building is straight out of West Side Story- it's a brick complex with a nice green courtyard and there are balconies and laundry draped on the clotheslines-- you couldn't not break into song.
We were at Isabel's for a good 6 hours, but the time just flew by. I can't accurately recount what we chatted about. I found out a lot about Isabel though-- she's a great storyteller. I can't wait to see one of her shows.
In Isabel's kitchen with Joe and Isabel
I really quite liked this mug:
Isabel and Joe joined us on our walk back cuz Joe's flat was in the same direction.
We stopped at Sam's favorite kebab place for some "dinner".
When we got back to the flat, Alex had just woken up.
Before going to bed we watched Waiting for Guffman.
~March 27th~
We had another late start in the morning (and I definitely got a hard time about it from Orlando) and the three of us went out for brunch at a local place called The Breakfast Club.
I was daring and had waffles topped with bananas and bacon. Not bad.
Alex and I then made our way to the V&A museum where we checked out the History of Fashion exhibit among many others.
I finally got a picture of me in a phone booth!
That evening my friend, Reece, who lives just outside London, wanted to take us out so we met him and his friend, Matt, in Covent Garden and had a good Italian meal.
Afterwards we walked to Leicester Square where Alex and I actually crossed paths with an acquaintance of ours from Santa Barbara in the drama department! CRAZY!!
We then said bye, and headed home...but not before taking a picture of Alex in front of the location of London Ink, which is a branch off of the Tattoo parlor reality shows like Miami Ink and L.A. Ink.
~March 28th~
It was day of wandering, starting at Leicester Square to get day student tickets for History Boys, and then lunch at Wagamama's (an Asian noodle place), a walk through the markets, tea and croissants at Patisserie Valerie, and then a walk to Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, and we then walked across Tower Bridge.
We eventually made it to the Wyndham Theatre for the show, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. It the last run of the show with it's last cast.
We had one understudy but he still did a very good job. Alex and I fell helplessly in love with the boy who played Scripps and we accidentally (honestly) ended up kind of stalking him afterwards. See what happened was we were just standing outside the theatre trying to figure out what to do next and he came out and we were all "Oh my god look look look he's right there" and ended up kind of staring. We then debated whether or not we should approach him before he slipped back into the theatre. We then waited outside hoping he'd reappear and when he did we still just stood there, befuddled and ultimately decided we should just take off back to Angel. But when we turned for the station, he did the same with an older man who we assumed was his father so then it really looked like we were following him.
We then passed him and as I was descending the steps to the underground Alex stopped me and said, "Some sluts Ugg boots just asked for a picture with him!"
We then decided to go back to just cooly say hello and congratulate him. He seems like a sweetheart. Hello, Future Husband #(I dunno what...twenty something?)!
When we were back in Angel, Orlando had gone back home, so we had the place to ourselves.
Exterior of L'Auberge Boheme
Before retiring completely we decided to get a drink at The Queen, which I had been dying to show her.
~March 29th~
After a quick run through Sainsbury's to buy some last minutes gifts, I went with Alex to Paddington Station and said goodbye.
I was pretty depressed for the rest of the day. Eventually I bucked up and called my OSF seminar friend, Dan, who was still in London. We had dinner at his and watched this crazy show called I'd Do Anything where a bunch of crazy actors compete for the roles of Oliver on Nancy for a new production of Oliver! on the West End.
Orlando came back that night with his girlfriend, Emily, who is an absolute sweetheart and the three of us watched Empire Records.
~March 30th~
I decided it was the day to go back to Birmingham to get started on work.
So after lunch with Orlando, I did just that.
It was an amazing week- made it really hard to go back to Brum. :(
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