To be, or not to be...

I’m not really a person who gets obsessed with celebrities. With that being said—I spoke to Jude Law today!!! He was more handsome in person than I thought he would be and he was pretty much amazing in the performance that I saw! Let me start at the beginning—

We woke up at 5:30 this morning to go and wait outside the box office of the Wyndham Theatre in Leicester Square for tickets to Hamlet. We finally got there at a little before 7:00 this morning and the nine of us that were there took our place in line behind two other men that had gotten there earlier. We entertained ourselves until 10:00 when the doors opened by playing cards and talking—the time passed pretty quickly too! We got in the doors, got our tickets (they were a little pricey at £32, but I knew it would be worth it), and left the theatre refreshed and a little bit giddy for the show tonight!

We got on the tube and went to Buckingham Palace for the Trooping of the Colours—a celebration of the Queen’s official birthday. It was basically a parade of the Royal Family from the Palace and down the road a little way, and then back to the Palace. The whole area around the Palace was decorated with flags and there were people lining the street and the fences. We bought flags from a street vendor, and we were told that it would be exciting and that we should wave them at the Queen. There were lots of dressed guards on horseback and a band that played to let everyone know that the Queen was going to appear. She rode by and I expected there to be more cheering or something, but the guy in front of me was just like, “Oh yes, I do believe that is the Queen. Yes, there she goes.” (Imagine it in a British accent…it’s funnier.) I just expected the whole thing to be a little more festive, but I guess there was a code of conduct that forbade shouting, and any sort of excitement all together. I got a really good picture of her though, but I didn’t get one of Prince Harry or Prince William.

Once we managed to fight through the crowd and get out of there, Alex, Sara, Sara and I headed to Camden Town. It was such a different place. Immediately out of the tube station we could hear all kinds of different music and there were so many people in and around the streets. There were stores all over the place with all kinds of different things in them. A store that sold handmade soap was right between one that sold leather dominatrix clothing and one that sold bongs and other smoking paraphernalia. It was pretty wild. Every where we turned there was another street lined with shops, another set of tents set up, another maze of vendors! There was just SO MUCH stuff! One street that was just across a bridge and over the canal that ran through the town was full of little wooden buildings painted with all different colors, and each little building was selling food from different countries. We got ourselves some very good, but very cheap, Chinese food and sat next to the water to eat it. After walking around for another hour or two Sara and I left to get ready for the show tonight.

I came back to the flat and took a quick nap before I got ready. We got all dolled up, at a frozen pizza, and met up with everyone else to go back to Leicester Square. I was so excited for the show—and it did not disappoint! We went to our seats and they were so great! I didn’t expect our last minute purchase to be so close to the stage, and the theatre itself is absolutely gorgeous. I would have taken a picture but it wasn’t allowed for some reason. We were such giddy little girls! The curtain lifted and there he was—Jude Law crouched while a spotlight shown on him. Then the play started. The set was amazing—the way that it changed and moved was so wonderful. All the actors were fantastic, not just Jude. A lot of them had been in other movies, one was a pirate in Pirates of The Caribbean! The performance was spectacular, and afterward we went to the stage door hoping to get a glimpse of Jude. There was such crowd out there! This drunk girl named Rosanna came running up from a nearby pub and started yelling stupid things. She was yelling for Jude to sign her boobs and singing ridiculous made-up songs. It was pretty tacky. Actor after actor came out and finally he came out. I didn’t expect him to stay long, but he was so great. He came out and signed programs and took pictures with people. He signed mine and we got a picture with him—he was so great about all of it! I told him that I really enjoyed the performance and that he was very generous for coming out like this every night. He looked honestly touched and thanked me for what I said. I’m sure he was on autopilot but it was just nice of him. We giggled all the way back to the flat!

Solid Saturday!
Whitney