I should have slept longer, but as I am not a resting vacationer type vacationer, I took another shower and started wending my way towards Trafalgar Square and the Trafalgar Theater, which is where my tickets to the UK edition of Oh, Mary! were at 3:30 PM (YAY, for late matinees).
Euston and St. Pancras/King’s Cross make up the major hub for a lot of the internal and international transit in London. When I came over in 2024, I came in from Heathrow, went to Euston, and then got on a regional rail line to Manchester for the first part of my trip.
This is to say that I didn’t really explore outside of Euston, and between the transit oriented business and a couple of universities nearby, it is a very youthful and diverse area, and as you walk south past the British Museum (which I would have gone to if I had more time and energy), you start getting into the Chinatown/SoHo/West End area which is like an Old Tyme version of New York, with Piccadilly Circus acting like a pseudo-Time Square (it’s not even close). There is a lot of flagship style retail mixed in with theater houses, and it’s just a got a great vibe to it. Of course, it is also tourist central, which can be fun, but for people like me who travel with purpose, it is hard not to get the local sidewalk rage for gawking tourists in your way. Once you get down to Trafalgar Square, which is really more a circle, the sidewalks and crossings become a maddening mix that makes it difficult to get where you want to go. This is another place where someone asked me for directions. Maybe I give off British vibes? Maybe I am going to make sure I get to the dentist when I get home.
I enjoyed wandering around and doing a little shopping, though my exhausted attention span was not in good shape. I survived a 100 minute play without falling asleep, but since this was the seventh time I have seen the play (ironically, I saw it the first time on May 9, 2024; exactly two years ago), I was almost giggling before the jokes hit, and since this is a very American plan put on by a very British cast to a very British audience, it was very interested to see the jokes that landed and the ones that did not. Catherine Tate was an amazing Mary Todd, and while it is arguable that I didn’t need to see it again (and again in June with Maya Rudolph), I am glad I got the opportunity.
After the play, I walked back through SoHo, and I contemplated going to some bars and having a cocktail, but even after having a fairly good bagel sandwich and some green tea, my energy cratered.
I was back in the hotel by 5:30 PM, and I repacked and sorted out the next morning’s departure for Brussels.
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