Hello Everyone! I have safely arrived on the Queen Elizabeth!! My flight took me direct to London Heathrow airport, where I caught a bus to my hotel. No sooner had I set my things down than I headed out to meet up with my friend Sophie, a singer from my last contract. I took the Underground, or Tube, on the Picadilly Line out to Picadilly Circus, where I met Sophie. It was so wonderful to see her again! We talked and talked as she took me on a walking tour around London. I saw Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral, and a few other things. We had a proper afternoon tea (how very English) at the Globe theatre, right on the Thames river. Afternoon tea is a British tradition that involves sitting down in a nice venue and always includes sandwiches, scones and sweets. Ours cost about 20 pounds apiece, but then we were at Shakespeare's own theatre….After that Sophie took me up to a rooftop garden cafe overlooking the Thames, where we had a drink and watched the sun go down. We were met by her boyfriend Matt, it was great to meet him face to face after hearing so much about him over the past year. The three of us then crossed the Thames again over to a little underground wine bar called Gordon's, with a really neat candlelight atmosphere. Finally around 10:45pm they put me on a train back to Heathrow, where I was too late to catch a bus and so had to hire my own taxi for the short distance back to my hotel. I was careful not to wake my roommate as I collapsed into bed, quite sleep deprived and jet lagged.
We were picked up early at 6:20am to be bused to the ship - me and nearly 100 other sign ons. I couldn't believe it - that is white a big crew turnover. We were on the ship by 10am, and I moved into my cabin by noon. My roommate is the bass player in my band, a girl called Christy. She seems really nice so far, though she was nearer the front of the line of sign-on's, and so got here first to claim the coveted bottom bunk. :-) 7 of the 8 in our band signed on with me, though a few are returning.
So far I've played the welcome aboard show (shortened to WABS around here), which is mostly Earth Wind and Fire stuff in a medley with the cast performing, last night was a singer called Jeff Hooper with a great voice, albeit low-key show, and tonight's production show of La Danza, featuring the dancers. I have so much to tell you all about this amazing ship, but it'll have to wait until next time because my bed is calling me. :-)
