Drag queens, digestive biscuits and Prince Albert

"Anyone who is tired of London, is tired of life"- not sure who said that but I'd like to give them a high five. London never fails to utterly and completely woo me.

Arrived a bit bruised and battered after shoving my way through the RyanAir line to fly to Gatwick airport. RyanAir is incredibly cheap, which made it somewhat worthwhile that I had to take an hour bus to get out to this special RyanAir airport in Girona, Spain. I always complain about this airline but then remember that I once flew to Berlin for only 1 Euro so that shuts me up.
Got to London, whizzed through the tube lines, half of which were done for the Easter holidays, and arrived at the Caring Hotel where my mom was waiting!!! So exciting!!! We immediately set out to find Italian food for me since I've been literally salivating over ethnic food these past few days-I swore I would've screamed if I'd seen another jamon or patata placed in front of me.

Saturday we got up early to hit up Portobello Road market, which is one of my favourite things ever, possibly. It's this miles long stretch of vendors- food vendors, vintage clothing, random WWII knickknacks, cookbooks, and it goes on and on! We got lucky with only some brisk weather, rain here and there, and managed to score some really awesome rainbow Converse for me (happy birthday, thanks mom!) as well as going in the Books for Cooks bookstore which has this delightful cafe in the back where I got REAL drip coffee and we split a ginger pear tart. Bliss! We then hopped on the tube and went to Leceister Square to see if we could score any good half price theatre tickets for matinees. I think I did a pirouette when my mom grabbed us tickets to see.. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert-the Musical!!! Based on that 80's movie with Guy Pierce, it featured 3 drag queens in Australia traveling across the country in a neon pink bus, singing disco tunes. Fabulous!

Afterwards, we skipped off so I could see Big Ben and Parliament which is so gorgeous, and then wandered back to the theatre district to see if we could get lucky and snag tickets to see HAIR which my mom had seen in NYC and apparently it was the same cast! We ended up getting fabulous tickets which was so lucky since it had only opened 2 days earlier, and it was AMAZING. The 60's clothes, the message, the way the actors climb up into the balcony and make it more interactive, it just blew me away!! We celebrated our theatrical success night with a bottle of wine and avocado hummus in our hotel room and watched British telly.

Sunday was Easter sunday but it felt so different since we began the day at Spitalifield market, which is another outdoor market but this one has a lot of new designers and is in this really awesome part of London- loads of vintage shops, Indian restaurants, and a huge line for an American Apparel rummage sale. We got some sweet matchy matchy leather bracelets and then had a lovely Indian lunch before we headed off to see another theatrical performance( best weekend ever!!)

We met up with her British friend, Rosalind, to see this black box performance of Cole Porter's "Paris", which is one of his lost musicals. There's this awesome theatre group in London who only performs musicals that have never been seen before, or at least haven't been performed in decades. It was simply incredible. The actors only had a piano for accompaniment, and were so animated, I think they were some of the best actors I've probably ever seen in a live show. Rosalind and my mom had met at a Bed and Breakfast in Ireland a few years ago, and she was so ridiculously awesome! Never married, travels to Greece every year, and is currently working on her autobiography. We ate at a pub afterwards and spent a long time chatting over a bottle of wine and jacket potatoes (baked potatoes), and then headed home and went to bed.

Monday had me roused quite early from the stupid pigeons who live on the window ledge, but it was actually alright since we then had time to eat breakfast at the Craven Cafe, which is this tiny cafe near the Caring Hotel and I had amazing beans on toast (I'm so British). We walked through Kensington Gardens which is really tranquil, and I kept begging my mom to show me the Prince Albert statue since I'm a big fan( especially after seeing The Young Victoria and Prince Albert is played by the very attractive Rupert Friend). Well, it's this HUGE gilded memorial to Prince Albert which is so beautiful- it dedicates it to him because he always strived for the public good and to help his people, it's exquisite! We then went to the Victoria and Albert museum to check out the fashion exhibit- I love that museums in London are all free, it amazes me! The Science Museum in Boston is like 17 $ and its so not worth it. We got some toasties at a pub afterwards and then my mom headed off to Heathrow to cruise back to Chicago while I roamed the shops on Oxford St and got a chai tea, and then went to sit in Hyde Park and look at all the tourists and dogs frolicking about.

I felt ready to come back to Barcelona, even though I got home at 2 AM. It finally cemented in my head that I officially live here, after coming back home to my apartment! An absolutely lovely weekend with my fabulous mum, couldn't have asked for anything better!