London Calling

I just came back from another weekend in London, the second in less than three months. This most recent trip did have a special reason for my visit, but as always, the biggest highlight is hanging out with Chris and Jamey and getting an insight into their version of London. In both cases Lori was not able to join me, though the first time she was actually in London the same time as me but on a different itinerary. With that in mind, I present you with a few of the highlights of my last two trips.

London is well known for its grand museums: the British Museum, the Tate, the National Gallery, Natural History, Science. I haven't seen any of those. I did however check out the Museum of Broken Relationships which "offers a chance to overcome an emotional collapse through creation: by contributing to the Museum's collection". Basically the collection contains of people's memories of the pain of heartbreak like a garden gnome hurled through a car windshield to a Champagne cork used for celebrating the dumping of a cheating spouse. All items appeared with an accompanying story. I also hung out for hours at Forbidden Planet, the greatest museum on earth for comic book geeks and toy collectors. It's a place where the visitors borderline on fine art themselves.

London is also know for afternoon tea, a light snack between 2-5 pm. You can't go to London and not do an afternoon tea. So off we went to The Cellar Door, an underground cabaret club with afternoon burlesque shows which formally existed as a Victorian public toilet. Not sure about the English Breakfast but the absinthe kick-started a crazy evening.

London is also known for its festivals. You name it and there's a festival for it. Coincidentally enough, there happened to be a festival celebrating one of my favorite things in the world: Top Gun. Oh yeah! Me, Chris and about 4000 Brits hooked up on a harbour disguised as 80's Los Angeles for a viewing of one of the most quotable films ever made. The majority of the guests came dressed in their flight gear or as their favorite character to drink beer, play beach volleyball and watch a high quality print of Top Gun on a chilly London night.

My pick for best costume: Goose and Carole

And finally London is known for live performances, theatre and music, which was my primary reason for making the trip. My good friend (we've never met) Amanda Palmer was doing two shows. One show was a  typical bar venue show with plenty of fans and just as many "friends" joining Amanda on stage. The second was held at the British Library (for those who think I lack culture) and was an intimate performance with just Amanda, her ukulele and 200 guests. Amanda is married to Londoner, author, poet, and comic geek icon Neil Gaiman and he happened to join her on stage acting as a teleprompter, assisting Amanda towards various stages of undress, and strangest of all: singing 3 songs with her.

The following video is straight from the second performance and includes two of my favourite moments: 1) the repeated use of profanity in the British Library, 2) Amanda forgetting the words to her song and "super fan" in the second row reminding her of the lyric.