 Meeting Andrew |
 Last night was a feverish blur. Our room was so hot and the window was so minute that we lay prostrate in nonsleeping misery the entire night. It was like a sub-Saharan malaria clinic. I have vague recollections of getting up, splashing water on my face twenty or thirty times, and running my wrists under the cold water for several minutes because once I learned in gym class that it cools you off because your veins are close to the skin there. I have no idea if it actually works. Another time I wet a towel and alternately draped it over my forehead and neck but then the cool water would rapidly warm itself and I would fling it aside in soggy muggy misery. Finally in desperation I ripped off my shirt and my sister reported today that at one point she woke up and my boob was right in her face. Hello, Boob! At one point I remember seeing my sister contorting her body in order to be able to stick her head and torso out the window and deliriously waving her arms as if calling the fresh air towards her desperate nostrils. She awesomely ended up getting us moved from that tiny cavern of despair to a HUGE ground floor room with high ceilings and a chandelier and gloriously enormous windows and a twin bed and a double bed -- for the same rate as the student room -- £45! It's a miracle! Thank you, Georgian House Hotel! This morning we went back to Leicester Square and bought tickets for Camelot at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park because we could not imagine anything more divine than seeing Camelot outside on a fair summer evening in London motherfucking England.  We then headed to the British Museum to see the Elgin Marbles, because I remember I wrote a paper on Keats's poem that my professor really loved even though I had no idea what I was talking about AT ALL, and I've got to tell you, they left me largely saying, "Eh."  It was way too fucking hot in that museum to spend much time there due to our still sweltering body temperatures so we decided to go to lunch at the nearby Wagamama upon Melissa's glowing recommendation. I turned off my flash and took blurry pictures of our food like an idiot. It was just as yummy as she said it would be and we merrily slurped on our noodles. 
Then we headed to the British Library which was blissfully air conditioned. I was pretty taken with the Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare's First Folio and the sheet music and pretty much all of it. I couldn't help but wish that Memere had made it there because she would have loved it.  Eventually it was time for the best part of the day which was meeting Andrew! We met at the entrance of the National Gallery and I was so excited to meet him after corresponding with him for so many years. We got along like a house on fire like I knew we would. He was truly the most adorable boy in the entire United Kingdom if not the entire universe and I wanted to pack him in my suitcase and bring him home with me. We ate pasta and drank beer at Caffé Uno since it was in the general vicinity of the theatre and then he walked me through the rain all the way to the lovely Open Air Theatre in the lovely Regents Park where he was able to briefly meet my sister to my delight. I forced my camera upon a complete stranger so we could capture the moment on film and then we embraced and said our farewells. I was so charmed by his sweetness and smarts and wit and kindness and getting to meet him gave me a definite case of the London warm and fuzzies and was an absolute highlight of my trip so far.  Sadly the play was cancelled even though it was BARELY RAINING by that point so we walked up Whitehall after seeing big Ben lit up all to hell and headed back to our big fat suite. And tomorrow is our last day in London and I cannot even believe it.  About this time in ...
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