Kingston upon Thames

April 15: Kingston upon Thames
Here we are at our nephew’s beautiful little flat in Kingston upon Thames, about 20 miles up river from London. We flew here with 13 year old Nyah yesterday, a simple no nonsense Easy Jet flight from Amsterdam. We arranged to rent a car for the week, so picked it up at Gatwick. The travel around the airport to find the rental office, and the wait at the Europcar booth took longer than the flight from Amsterdam. They do not make it easy.
We eventually found ourselves in a nice enough little Vauxhall Corsa. It’s a bit of a beater by rental car standards, but that means there are already scratches on every panel which is handy because we don’t have to worry about any scratches that we may contribute.
Arrived at Erik’s apartment early afternoon. The bonus is that Erik’s Dad, Pats brother, Mark, is here for the week as well. We lounges and visited, then a walk 15 minutes into Kingston old town for a gawk and a shop.

April 16:
Into London for the day. Nyah has never been here before, despite being a citizen of the world (born in Kenya, lived in Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Jordan and now Amsterdam). It was a bit chilly and windy, but we wandered around Westminster, then across to the south bank to go to London Dungeon. This is a tourist trap thing we never would have done unless with a 13 year old, but was still a lot of fun. It is very much like the Disney “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride to begin with, all dark and riding in a small boat in a moat. Then you get out and walk from moody room to moody room, where you encounter live actors augmented by special effects and lighting describing some of the more wretched incidents (real and fable) of London history, such as the Black Plague, the great fire, Jack the Ripper, Henry VIII’s torture chambers and head chopping. The best little skit was a Sweeney Todd shtick, hosted by the baker woman who made the infamous pies... lots of great punters. It was expensive, but we were glad to have the 13 yr old excuse to do it.
From there we crossed the footbridge back over to to the Charing Cross area, then a long stroll through The Mall, Green Park, to Buckingham Palace.
As a side note, then usual train into London from Kingston was undergoing repair work so an alternate bus was operating... longer trip, almost an hour altogether, but a different view of the outskirts.

April 17:
Into London again, this time to Camden Market which we thought Nyah might enjoy, and she did, as much as a teenage girl can express it. It was a lot of walking this day.
Later in the afternoon we made a quick stop in the British Museum, as Nyah has a school project on history of clocks. That was interesting, as I probably would not have gone to that exhibition otherwise. Whodathunk that actual mechanical clocks and watches go as far back “in time” as then16th century. There was one pocket watch that had belonged to Oliver Cromwell, and a few royal clock, as well as descriptions of the development of clocks.
We caught the tube from there down to Oxford Street where we braved the mobs down Regent Street, to Carnaby Street, a nice stop at Byron’s Burgers for dinner, and the to the Apollo Theatre for a production of “Wicked”.
The show was a typical London extravaganza, the whole theatre was decorated in emerald green, even the seating upholstery. We were up in the “Gods”, but with these shows the dramatic sets and sound system make such seats OK. The show itself was OK, but not as much as expected. It is a story based around Elfreda, the wicked witch of the west, why she became who she was, from her illegitimate parenthood through her social isolation (she was green after all) and exploitation by the Wizard and his his henchwoman. The relationship with Glinda, the good witch of the east, was a big part of the story.  Glinda was very much the “Princess” and knew it. To her credit, she was willing to befriend Elfie, until competition for the love of young prince caused complications, etc etc etc.
Lots of gist for some pretty good songs and effects, with a few nods and chuckles of reference to the characters of Wizard of Oz. There is a cameo by the tin man, and in the contrivances of the happy ending, the young prince is disguised as the scarecrow. The voices of the leads, the acrobatics and the  gigantic set devices were of course top notch! So why did I not feel totally satisfied? I think it was because it was all so predictable and flawless. The storyline was a funny mix between campy and schmaltz which was too much of a stretch for me. We had considered going to The Lion King, which I regret. It would have been just as predictable, but I think the music would have been more memorable, and the Julie Taymor direction would have been spectacular... but twice as expensive.