London: Or, How Sketchy People Finally Kept Their Promises

I've been unfair. You see, because Josh was my last hope to go see "Les Miserables" last week after Bailey backed out, I complained about his sketchiness (which was completely justified if you look at how many times he's ditched me and other people for breakfast and other events). However, really the reason we didn't go was Bailey. Because he wanted to go to Cambridge but also wanted to go to the musical. And then he tried to get us to change to "The Lion King."

But I wasn't falling for that. If no one would go see "Wicked," we were going to "Les Mis." And somehow, I managed to convince Josh and Bailey this was a good idea.

Not really sure how I got them to go along with this.

After class, we headed down to the bus station and began our trip to London. Unfortunately for us, our time table once the bus reached our stop had shrunk because an accident on a main motor way had impeded our arrival.

Under the direction of Josh's iPhone maps (which would continuously reappear), we made our way through St. James's Park to the area in which the Queen's Theatre resided, where "Les Mis" is shown Monday through Saturday. For more information about the musical, visit its website.

The Queen's Theatre (Image from Wikipedia)

In order to grab dinner and make the show, we didn't have time to explore all of our dining options — and let's face it, it was a Friday night in London. So there was one clear choice in my mind: The Rainforest Cafe.

Where dreams are made.

Why would you not eat in a place like this? (Image from http://www.food-restaurants.co.uk/the-rainforest-cafe/, which has a great review that proves my point.)

The thing is, Josh and Bailey didn't see my point. Bailey whined the service would be slow. Josh said he felt sorry for the guy working there who had to give a tour. Josh also said that they all thought I was twelve from my level of excitement.

So I decided to prove him wrong. I ordered a daiquiri.

After our meal (in which I randomly would disappear to go exploring), we headed to the theatre and found our seats. And, for the record, they were really good.

And the first act was amazing ... except for the fact that there was some guy behind us who insisted upon singing "I Dreamed a Dream" along with the actress. Really? You're a grown man.

The second act was even better (in my opinion, perhaps because it features many of my favorite songs, including "On My Own"). And maybe Josh's film pretension has been rubbing off on me, but I observed a couple of ways the musical used the light to highlight the story.

Which, he actually had insight into after the musical ended. 

Once the musical ended, we headed back to the bus stop to go back to Oxford (because it's cheaper to go back than stay the night in a hostel). We had to walk through the park at night, which was slightly frightening but mostly cool. We ended up stopping to look at Buckingham Palace at night and, typically, Josh grabbed some pictures. And while I jumped off really high things, Bailey tried to keep me from killing myself.

Eventually, we made it onto the bus and back to Oxford. At this point, it was early in the morning and really cold. It's a good thing I had Bailey with me as we walked back to the flat, otherwise I would have given up and gone to sleep on the street.

Everyone at the flat was still awake, so I told them of my adventures at Rainforest Cafe before falling asleep in order to be ready to return to London for part two of our adventure.