The Greatest Day Ever

In February, we purchased tickets for a performance of Hamilton: An American Musical. At the time neither of us really knew anything about the play beyond having a basic knowledge of Hamilton's part in American history.  We'd not listened to the music and we didn't have any idea what to expect but it's a hard-to-get ticket and we'd heard really good reviews so we went for it! And nine months later the day finally arrived. Jared took the day off work and we boarded the train to King's Cross. 

Most of the time we drive to London and park at an Underground station on the outskirts of the city where we take the Tube into central London. This time we chose to drive to a nearby train station and caught the train from there to King's Cross. It was so nice to just sit and talk instead of dealing with traffic and parking. Even better, when we take the train it only takes a little more than an hour to get there. From King's Cross, it was just four stops on the Victoria line to the station just across the street from the theater. 

We had a little over an hour to kill between the time we arrived and our show time, so we headed to a nearby Nando's for lunch. Nothing like some peri peri chicken at our favorite British chain restaurant to start off our time in London. We both felt pretty proud of ourselves for remembering that there even was a Nando's nearby - its kind of cool that we're starting to know our way around the center of London. Afterward, we wandered around the surrounding area and admired the beautiful Westminster Cathedral before heading back across the street to join the line to pick up our tickets for the show. 

Every other show we've gone to in London we've had our tickets ahead of time and have just been able to show up a half hour before curtain and find our seats. For Hamilton, we were told to arrive an hour before the show to pick up our tickets. And once we picked them up, there was no reentry to the theater. So we got in the line that was wrapping around the block and consigned ourselves to a long wait. It was actually a very fast moving line so we were in the theater within fifteen minutes and had plenty of time to sit in our seats - which were in the top balcony and five rows from the back of the theater. But the view from up there was surprisingly great and totally unobstructed. The theater itself was beautiful and had obviously been recently renovated, which we both really appreciated. Clean comfortable seats plus bathrooms with more than two stalls are not always the norm in London theaters. 

Okay, the show was as amazing as we'd heard. Honestly, the idea that anyone would want to attend a play about a lesser-known Founding Father is kind of crazy. But when you make that play a mashup of musical theater and hip-hop history is somehow much more interesting. The first act was all about introducing the main characters and telling the story of how Hamilton became an important figure in the Revolutionary War (or as they call it here, the American War for Independence). The second act was about what came next in the life of Alexander Hamilton. The play was funny, smart, and even touching and has become a new favorite for us. We'd definitely see it again if tickets weren't so hard to come by.

Thursday evenings I have an online gathering for the classes I'm taking through Pathway. The play ended about thirty minutes before the meeting was supposed to start. I wasn't sure I'd have good cell phone service on the train journey so instead of going to the train station and heading home on the next train we went to my third favorite place on earth - Five Guys Burgers and Fries! Every time we go to London I want to eat here. We love living in England, but sometimes you NEED a good burger. Jared was nice enough to hang around with me for a couple of hours while I attended my virtual meeting. We kept ourselves fueled with peanuts and lots of refills from the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. Cherry Vanilla Coke Zero is so good!

Once my meeting was over we headed back to King's Cross so we could catch the next train home. Unfortunately, we arrived at the station just a few minutes after a train had left and had almost a whole hour to wait before the next train home. Fortunately, there wasn't a line to take a cheesy, touristy photo at Platform 9 3/4 so we both took a turn pushing a trolley through a wall. Pictures like this one prove that I'm not cool....

We had such a fun date in London; Jared is my favorite person to go and have an adventure with. I mean, look at that smile! Doesn't he look like a fun guy to spend eternity with?