Wed, 17 Jan 2001

Everybody flew out of NY at 9:30 pm. Everybody, that's Glen, Sandi Durell and Mike. The flight was ok; it took 6 1/2 hrs. and arrived at 4 a.m. On the flight, Glen and Mike played cards called "Phase 10", the flight attendants served dinner; We napped for a WHOLE HALF HOUR and then the flight attendants served breakfast! Well that's cuz we had to move our clocks ahead 5 hours so then it WAS breakfast time!

Thu, 18 Jan 2001

When we moved our clocks ahead 5 hrs. it became 9 a.m. They tol' us when we fly home it'll take 7 1/2 hrs. (Just what I always wanted--to be on a plane THAT long!).

Glen

Sandi

Mike

Oh RICKY! We're REALLY here in London! The sun is shining, but it's cold.

So we got off the plane at 9 a.m., hailed a TAXI and it took us to our hotel (May Fair Intercontinental) and on the way we saw a restaurant called TENNESSEE CHICKEN. Our room wasn't ready so we waited in the lobby sitting area, and had a spot of tea. Woops there was a nasty tear in my tea bag; had to get a needle and thread!

Finally our room was ready and we unpacked and then went back outside but on our way we thought about stopping at someone's door and knocking loudly and yelling "Hey Eddie. C'mon Eddie. Let us in. Eddie? Whoa Eddie! Let us in". Then we thought we'd make loud noises like walking away from the door. Then Glen made three or 4 loud steps standing in front of the door and thinking of yelling "Telegram for Mr. Grant!".

We never did that; we thought about it and sort of rehearsed it like that in front of someone's door. cuz we might film ourselves doing that! Then we thought "what a bunch of dopes we are. We could have practiced that in front of our OWN hotel room"!!!!

While waiting to see Lucie Arnaz arrive at the theatre before her performance in "Witches of Eastwick" tonight, we practically froze off our... well whatever it was, it was FROZEN! The Show did go on; and Lucie was in the show. She missed three shows earlier this week with flu. Glen bought her flowers and we waited to see her go into the stage door before the show and he gave them to her. Lucie said to us 'see you after the show'. So after the show we went to the stage door and they let us in and Lucie's dresser came to get us and took us to see Lucie. To get to Lucie's dressing room we had to walk on the stage. yeah, that was cool. We talked to Lucie for 30 minutes and asked her to lunch this week but she's busy; she sleeps in and she stays up late. Well, she tol' us that! But we can't stay up late tonight.

If Lucie had not been in the show we would have gotten tickets to see her another night when we knew she'd be in it. We might even still see it one more time; for half-price at the 1/2 price ticket booth. We'll check that tomorrow.

Glen asked Lucie about doing his cabaret tribute to Lucy and Desi soon, and showing slides during the show and needing Lucie's permission and she said she'll look over his list of songs and get back to him.

We fell asleep about 230 a.m.

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Fri, 19 Jan 2001

Glen was already awake at 8 a.m. and saying he already felt rested enough to get up. I said 'close your eyes and you'll fall back to sleep'. !! Anyway I think he tried to do that I dunno, cuz I definitely fell back asleep. Who wants to get up at 8 am?? not me! He might have gotten up at 9 a.m. cuz I heard him saying "Come on Eddie let us in. Eddie! let us in Eddie", no...I mean he said, "Come on Mike get up. It's time to get up". Finally I struggled to get up.

We had breakfast with Sandi Durell whose website Glen designed. We're all here to see Kristopher McDowell's show on Sunday. Glen designed his site also. So Sandi had breakfast with us, and nearby was Jamie De Roy and soon Kristopher came to eat and he had a friend with him named Carol.

Today we saw a few flurries but it was still cold, but not quite as cold as yesterday.

Then came the bus tour - Mike, Glen & Sandi. On the tour we had to listen to a taped voice telling us what to look at and where to look but that didn't work well, it was disappointing. I wouldn't recommend the bus tour. It didn't tell us enough stuff on the tape as to what all the buildings were and if it did, then you couldn't hardly see the buildings out the window anyway. But the things we saw were Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge. We saw a bit of Buckingham Palace. There were no guards out that we could see, and I don't think we drove by the area where the Queen's shades were drawn. We didn't see her yet. Remember it has 500 rooms. The Queen's probably lost!! We plan to walk to Buckingham Palace and investigate it thoroughly ourselves. Likely Philip will NOT be out rattling ash cans! But the bus was a little too cold for a bus; usually you expect better heat on the bus. Plus the city fumes from the buses and cars was ohhhhhhhhhhh it was just repulsive!

After the tour we saw the 5 p.m. show of a new musical called "Mamma Mia". Great show if ya like the music of Abba. After that we went out to dinner: Sandi, Glen, Mike, Kristopher and Carol. Some of us had pasta, Lamb Chops, some other stuff we can't remember the name of, and a baked cream with raspberry for dessert.

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Sat, 20 Jan 2001

We have had tea and crumpets. Crumpets are flaky pastries so back home we call them pastry! Actually Glen has tea, I have coffee. But our tea crumpets come along with breakfast anyway: eggs, bacon, toast. So we haven't noticed the 4 o'clock tea time yet.

WELL we went to Buckingham Palace! We never saw the changing of the Guards. We weren't sure if that would be interesting or not, a bunch of guards moving around! We saw a Palace guard standing outside the Palace... and ....well....we couldn't make him laugh either!

We couldn't even get to him! There's a big iron fence around the Palace. Then there's 2 palace guards in front of the palace - one on one side of the front of the house...err. i mean, palace, and another one on the other side of the front of the hous...err, palace! And they stand at that black box which is behind them like on I Love Lucy. HOW DID LUCY get in there TO TALK TO A palace guard!?? Did she jump over that black iron fence?? They wore grey coats.

All they did was stand there. THE SPHYNX!! (I think Lucy calls him that).

Well actually once they did just stand there, making stomping sounds. We thought it was just to help themselves warm up! Oh yeh then one of them did a few marching steps in front of the house...........err, palace. Just to warm up I guess?!

We shopped at the Buckingham Palace gift shop, down the road from the palace. Buckingham Palace that is! I bought a note pad there. Glen got his family some gifts there.

Then we walked to Westminster Abbey. Then to Big Ben (the large clock tower). Then we ate at Pizza Hut.

We took a subway to the PALLADIUM! No one there was performing the horse pony dance! Actually "King and I" was playing there. and for history, and another reason though Ricky Ricardo sang there on I Love Lucy, in REAL Life Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli sang there together in 1964.

There is no Lucy on tv here. We went in a old book store and asked if they had Lucy books but they didn't. They had 2 Judy Garland books, actually 3 but I bought one so that leaves them with 2 left!

At 7:15 pm we saw the stage production of "Singin in the Rain". wonderful! There was even rain falling onstage. Not once but twice - at the end of act.1 and then at the end of the show! The play was VERY good; talented singers and dancers and actors.

WE were tired! and sleepy! and fell right to sleep.

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Sun, 21 Jan 2001

It was rainy today; we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, bacon, eggs, toast, coffee, tea, crumpets! Orange juice, apple juice, slices of watermelon, orange, papaya,mango. I get so full!!

Then we took a Subway to 4 Cadogan Lane which is the last home Judy Garland lived in with her 5th husband. She actually died inside this home in 1969. Mike coincidentally bought a Judy book yesterday in an old bookstore that was written by her 5th husband about her life and her last few days. and in the book are pictures of the home we saw today! The book gave me the address 4 Cadogan lane, and there were pictures in the book of the home, so we knew when we got there it was the same place, and we took pics of it, and of us standing at the doorway of the home. You see this was easy to do cuz it's now a little Educational centre. I bet people got tired of fans coming to see Judy's home so they likely sold it to something that wouldn't be so bothersome: an Educational Centre. But we looked in the window. Just like Judy's husband's book says, you walk in and the living room is right there. I never thought I'd ever get to see THIS home of Judy's. It was really nice to be able to go there. We did picture her walking around there.Saying' she likely was here' or 'maybe she shopped here'. Mike's video camera battery didn't last the whole visit; it needs to be re-charged now: bad video battery! bad boy!

Then we rode a 2 decker bus and we sat on the top level to see the city of London around us! We picked up our 4 films we got developed. We ate at Burger King, then, Shopped in Tower Records. I bought 3 cassette tapes of radio shows that has Judy Garland in them. Actually one of the tapes has Judy and Tallulah is in it too!

Kristopher's show was at 8 pm so we saw that at a little theatre called The Jermyn Street Theatre. He sang some good songs and he was good. He has one more show: next Sunday. Tomorrow he's going to Paris for the day (for the day! ahghgh!! give me Paris in the springtime......first comes London, then Rome, and then....... ........Paris....!) We ate at Texas Embassy Cantina afterwards. I ordered "Guadalajara" (wonder why??). And what's in it is: three enchiladas (none were called Enchilada Ricardo either!). One was chicken, one was beef and one was cheese. Glen had a chicken sandwich. Yum!

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Mon, 22 Jan 2001

We got up too late for breakfast in the hotel restaurant so we just took the subway to the London Palladium again, this time to see it in daylight and we took pictures.

Then we went to Theatre Royal on Drury Lane to buy tickets to see Lucie in "Witches of Eastwick" again. The show was not listed at the half price booths. We got front row balcony seats for tonight's show. That's because we knew (from seeing it before) that's where Lucie flies up to. So she would be right in front of us. The theatre's 2:15 pm tour was already booked up but the box office guy tole us to come back just after 2 pm to see if there were any returns. So to kill time, we walked down the street and ate at a cafe/sandwich place and Mike had eggs and toast and Glen had a turkey sandwich. Yum!

We checked back at Theatre Royal to see if we could still be in on the 2:15 pm tour, but no room. The next tour was at 4:45 p.m. so we went away and talked about whether to take the tour at 4:45 p.m. or go to a tour of the Palladium at 5:20 p.m.

Next we went to Dress Circle Records to pick up Witches of Eastwick spare flyers they had. As we passed McDonald's after this we decided to go in for a sundae. A hot fudge sundae, two milkshakes, a chocolate malt, a Pineapple soda and a banana split! We had to. It was the only way we could keep our seats...No, just 1 sundae for each of us. And today was a mondae! We wrote up a little card to give to Lucie tonight letting her know we were coming back to see her again.

It was a bit rainy out today too. Next was the tour we decided on. We went on the 4:45 pm tour of the Theatre Royal, on Drury Lane where Lucie's show is.

There were 3 tour guides and sometimes only 1 or 2 of them would be with us, then you'd see the 3rd one in the next room dressed as a different character; then the 1st one or 2 people would leave, and we'd see them later on as different characters.

One side of the theatre is where the Queen or King sit, the other side of the theatre is where the Prince sits. That's because long ago the King and the Prince had a fight in the theatre, so from then on, the King and the Prince would never enter a theatre together (Oh! That's Silly!!!! ....isn't it??).

We saw where the Queen or King or Prince "wait" before a show comes on, it's also the little room they 'wait' in to greet their guests or the actors.

Just outside this little room is where their 'box seats' are for watching the show, and these box seats are created in such a way so they could SHOW off their wealthy clothing to everyone else; they're not really made for viewing the play; though you can see the play on stage pretty good.

When we were in the box seats we could see over the auditorium and every seat in there was visible to us so that we knew that if we were Royally dressed up, everyone below us would be able to see us! Vain, huh??

Then they took us through the theatre balcony and We could see on stage the stage crew working with the backdrops and background to 'Witches of Eastwick' to be sure they were working well for tonight's show.

Next we were taken into the backstage areas, (didn't see Lucie's dressing room although we were in it on Thurs, but where was it today?? Dunno), taken down little hallways, and secret walkways and underneath the stage to see the big motorized equipment and hydraulics used for moving set pieces onstage.

After seeing these thins', they led us out the stage door and along the sidewalk to the front of the theatre in the drizzly rain, and back into the front lobby of the theatre. And the tour was ended. It lasted about 50 minutes. There were only 3 of us on this tour. Glen, Mike and some other guy.

Next we ate at Pizza Hut, then back to the theatre to leave a card for Lucie at the stage door. We saw her show at 7:45 p.m. in our balcony seats. Glen noticed some empty seats in the 2nd row-orchestra down below (dead center), so at intermission we moved down there! (don't tell anyone we did that, okay?) On the floor in this row was a purse that looked just like Ethel's.... I mean.....a bunch of shiny red hearts that fall during the show. We only wanted to be in the balcony for the end of Act one when the witches fly. Lucie came right up to us (we knew ahead of time from seeing the show before, where she flies up to. But we mentioned that already!)

During intermission Mike bought Eva Roberts a show playbill which Lucie graciously autographed "To Eva from Lucie". Eva's a real good friend of ours back home in the U.S. of A. Glen had already bought Eva's surprise at the Buckingham Palace gift shop. That's right.... now Eva will have a Palace guard of her very own to try and make laugh. We will be mailing our surprises to her when we get home!

We gave Lucie and her 2 co-stars a standing ovation. No one else did, just Mike & Glen! (On Thursday there were a few people giving standing ovations).

(Later at the stage door we talked to Lucie and then to her 2 co-stars later. The 2 girls told us they rarely get standing ovations in England cuz the English don't usually do that , but they saw Me & Glen so they appreciated us standing. Lucie said she could sort of see two of us standing but wasn't quite sure who we were, but FIGURED it was likely "US" standing!)

We stood up as the 3 of them came together for their bow. We didn't realize that Lucie would step out away from them, alone for a bow, then the others each step out alone for their bows too. Otherwise we would have waited to stand up until Lucie stepped forward for her own bow. Oh well. The 3 were all good.

So anyway at the stage door, Lucie was the first of the leads to come out. We talked a little with her and I got her to sign my CD that I bought in England, that she sings one song on. The CD is "Bag of Popcorn and a Dream". She said she got our card that Glen had sent backstage to her.

When she left she said "have a safe trip home. See you on the other side". she means she'll see us back in USA someday soon - hope she comes to the Lucy convention! She wasn't sure if she could but she knew it was the 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy. Then she walked on down the sidewalk, to wherever she was going. She turned left at the corner and walked past the front of the theatre.

We waited for her 2 co-stars and got their autographs.

Next we walked to our Mayfair Hotel but ate at McDonald's on the way. Sandi Durell was in the bar of the hotel so we sat with her for about 15 minutes. Then to our room; We packed our suitcases.

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Tue, 23 Jan 2001

Glen and I had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Actually , in London, the food isn't much different than in USA. There's Italian, pasta, pizza, the usual stuff. like in USA. Even McDonald's and Burger King and Pizza hut. We've been to those 3 places cuz, you know food is always different when they fix it, prices are cheaper than at most other places, too. Then got our luggage and met with Sandi Durell in the lobby at 11:15 am. We 3 walked to the subway and took it to Heathrow Airport. It was a one hour subway ride.

At 12:45 pm we checked our bags in at the airport. The flight took off from London, England at 2 pm. Sandi's seat was in the row behind ours. We slept a lot on the flight. We were so sleepy.

Glen and I played a little bit of the card game 'Phase 10'; by the time we began playing it, we were almost back in New York City. We arrived in NY at 9:20 pm tonight, but had to put our clocks to NY time so it became 4:20 pm. Safe and sound!

We 3 went through Customs, then Sandi went and got her own way home. Glen and I took the shuttle bus to the subway and got to his place at 6:40 pm.

We checked email, and drove to a bank so I could get american money. At 10;30 pm we got baked zidi and ate it while we watched LUCY meets the QUEEN and it seems as if Lucy's talking to a Guard near the side of the big gate to Buckingham palace. We don't think WE saw a guard in London who was at the SIDE of the big gate like Lucy might have seen, so maybe for TV Lucy got to move the guard down where she could act with him.

At midnight on TV was the I Love Lucy episode, "Lucy's Schedule". I packed to go home tomorrow. :(

Glen went to bed at 1 am and I packed and did email till I went to bed at 2:15 am.

And so the story ends as the sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside the darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, "YOU LIED, YOU LIED!!!!!!!"