Theatre... with an "re"

One of the best things about living in London is going to see shows! With all the "cool old stuff" here, some people don't know that there are dozens of plays, musicals, etc. running here constantly. So before the baby and dissertations are due, we are trying to see lots of shows.
A favorite venue is Shakespeare's Globe, so we caught Romeo and Juliet a couple weeks ago and The Comedy of Errors last week. This week is As You Like It. We usually get the cheap standing tickets, but this season I need a seat!

There are lovely old indoor theatres here. This is a picture of the Palace Theatre where we saw Spamalot last summer. Ethan Hawke is in London doing a couple of plays, so we snagged tickets.

Ethan Hawke, looking dramatic

The final chapter to our tale of playgoing is a sad one. MONTHS ago (before we even knew we were expecting a baby) we got tickets to see Jude Law in Hamlet. To prove the play is full of tragic irony...

Baby's due date: July 14.
Tickets for Hamlet: July 22.

To go or not to go?
Probably best to start looking for a deserving couple to bestow them on.

New Videos and a Visit from Aaron

Thanks to school deadlines, a broken video camera, and 6 weeks without Internet, the Month-in-a-Minute effort hasn't seen much progress in 2009. However, I finally got the camera working again and there are now 6 - count them, 6 - new videos added to the M-i-a-M page. In keeping with tradition, they're all longer than 1 minute. Also, none of them were actually filmed during the Month that they're named after. Oh well - the goal was to get 12 videos done, one for each month of our year here, so - close enough. If any of these seem a bit random, it's because we lost various bits and pieces of video. Hope you like them!

Here's a short list:
January - Christmas in Germany, plus a bit in London
February - Paris: the Pompidou art center, climbing the Eiffel Tower
March - Cambridge: Ben is really out of it in this one
April - Camden Cruise: A little boat ride through Camden
May - Amsterdam: How many times can you count my use of the word 'typical'?
June - Globe Theatre: our backstage tour at night


And, much more recently, Aaron came to visit us last week! We had a great time seeing the sites, attending lots of shows, and eating lots of Wagamama. Aaron also experienced the "full English breakfast" and lived to tell about it. Thanks for coming to see us, Aaron!

I say, does anyone have a coin?

Before the show, which was fabulous - Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart were hilarious.

A picnic at the lovely Greenwich.

Aaron on both sides of the Prime Meridian.

Eating takeaway Wagamama at Piccadilly Circus. Yum...

Standing in a Soho doorway...

From Soho down to Brighton, Aaron must have played 'em all.

Taking a ride on a groovy 70s Tube train.

We finished off the week by seeing Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. Sweet!

U Guessed It...

Well, it wasn't an easy decision, as W&M was very much the academic favorite, but due to financial reality (pesky thing, isn't it?) and the likelihood of having to stay in the Virginia area for many years for work, the U emerged as the best overall choice.

We'll be glad to be around family and friends again. And Ben wants his basement back.

We'll be arriving in August. See you then!

Decisions, decisions

Life is full of them, isn't it? Well, after much thought, meditation, and a little bit of the magic 8-ball, we have finally decided which law school Ben will be attending this fall.

Which do you think it will be? Make your prediction/recommendation by picking one school from the poll on the left. For a few of you that we've already told by phone - no cheating!

Here's a brief description of the 5 choices:

Indiana-Bloomington: In a lovely suburb, good reputation
Tulane: In fabulous New Orleans, an excellent international law program
Suffolk: In Boston, well-known in the east coast
U of U: In good old Salt Lake, much cheaper but still a great school
William & Mary: In colonial Virginia, highly regarded academically

So, which will it be? I'll let you know in 48 hours (or maybe a bit longer, if our Internet access keeps giving us trouble!)

Coming Soon to a Blog near you!

We've almost got our Internet connection problem fixed, so hopefully, look for some new posts soon. (This one is coming to you from the lovely Chiswick public library).