Now, I’m going to change it up a little. Since the description of our first day may have been a little wordy, I’m going to list the highlights (and some amusing moments) from each day:
Day 2: Monday May 25th – Take 40 minute tube ride into Earl’s Court area of London.
Every time Stonehenge is mentioned, Arielle and I would sing the first line of the Spinal Tap song with the same name.
Very nice area, breakfast was a coffee and pastry, go catch the tour bus to STONEHENGE (“where the demons dwell, where the banshees live and they do live well…”)
Ride was relaxing, was able to drift off several times to catch up on lost sleep.
Saw lots of old thatched roof houses on the way, lots of nice scenery.
Stopped at Avebury Henge, very impressive, tour guide Pat Shelley very informative.
Spent about 2 hours here where I took over 150 pictures at this site alone.
Off to “The Henge” as we called it, although Stonehenge is not really a henge… but Avebury is!
Arrive at visitor center just outside Stonehenge (“where the demons dwell…”)
Take bus ride and walk to the site… breathtaking! The sun started coming out and we were privileged to be able to actually go inside (most are not). It’s amazing how the precise placing of massive stones originated over 4500 years ago!
After about 1 ½ hours at the site, take the bus ride back to London (a 2 ½ hour trip).
After a rest stop, I almost missed the bus, but Alicia came and got me. We made a mad dash and were safely on our way home (in my defense, the bus driver who I was having a long conversation with said I had enough time to purchase a bottle of water).
Back to the hotel where we chatted for a while; then Alicia, Brian, and Arielle updated their photos and statuses on Facebook (this was usually for an hour before bed).
Day 3: Tuesday May 26th – Buckingham Palace “Changing of the Guard” – couldn’t see much.
Go to Piccadilly Circus, take lots of pictures.
Find excellent vegan restaurant for lunch (courtesy of Pastor Matt).
Check out Carnaby Street (London’s fashion capitol), take band picture at backstage entrance to The London Palladium, Arielle finds Tiffany’s of London.
Tube from central London back to hotel, quickly get ready for tonight’s show at Karamel.
Tube from hotel (Sudbury Hill) in northwest London to eastern edges of London via the Piccadilly Line (our main line). Now after 2 days of hearing a programmed but very pleasant female voice (with British accent, of course) informing us what rail line we were on and what the final destination of the line was, we were coming within 2 stops of it – but we had to get off prior to that last stop. The message: ”This is a Piccadilly Line service to Cockfosters”. That was usually followed by a male voice “Please mind the gap between the platform and the closing doors”. Yes, we will all miss those messages!
15 minute walk from train to Karamel. Very nice neighborhood off of the beaten trail.
Arrive at gig, opening band is doing sound check, meet with friendly staff, have dinner.
We performed our set and most of the friends and fans of the first band stuck around to support us. From song #1, I had problems hitting the correct notes. The bright lights shone directly on the spots that indicated which fret number I was on. The spots would disappear and I was not used to this rented guitar. A very concerned Brian asked me after that first song “Are you OK?”, thinking I may be having a stroke or something. Eventually, I worked out a way around the problem and the set went fine. The reaction from the crowd was excellent! Another successful show on our British tour!
As we were talking to members of the audience, someone informed us that the trains only run until midnight (it was now 11:20PM). We quickly said our thank yous and ran out of the club with our instruments and other equipment in tow. We made the 2nd to last train within 3 minutes of arriving at the station. Luckily, we only had one tube line for this excursion (yes, The Piccadilly Line). The next 2 gigs would be a different story.
Thank you Don for this write up. You guys were just so great- I am looking forward to part 3 of your write up! xxx