1st Day – June 24th, 2008
Dear Diary,
I had to get up earlier has we had planned because of the traffic jam near the airport in Vienna / Schwechat. But before I left home, Harry and I watched an episode of Stargate and an episode of Terry Jones' Medieval Lives Documentary (which had been on Discovery History).
My mum had to work, so my dad and my brother, Harry, took me to the airport – we drank a coffee before I checked in. It was the first time in my life that I travelled on my own – and I went to London , for the reason of attending the lecture of Terry Jones and Michael Palin at the BFI Southbank (The Complete and Utter History)
I had watched two episodes already and also had them on DVD. A friend of mine whom I have met online kindly shared them with me. I had posted on all my blogs on Myspace, Multiply and so on, that people should buy themselves a ticket – because it would be a wonderful opportunity to meet Terry and Michael, and also to watch this great show.
I arrived at London around 2 p.m., wearing a t-shirt of the Gremlins movie with Gizmo on it - made the security people smile – when I showed my passport one last time, the man smiled and said that there would be a TV commercial at the moment and I should watch it.
Sadly, I haven't seen it yet!
First, I went to my favourite hotel in Belsize Park, the owner knows me already, because I have stayed there with a friend of mine last summer and with Harry, my older brother, in November, 2007.
I just threw everything out of my pink rucksack and took the tube back to the inner city – of course, I went to my favourite museum, the National Portrait Gallery, to see the portrait of William Pitt the Younger.
Later, I decided to go to Oxford Street to go shopping as I still had enough time before the shops were closing… I only went to HMV to buy the DVDs New Europe (documentary of Michael Palin, BBC), A Fish Called Wanda Special Edition (I only had the single disc which my brother had given to me as a Christmas present last year)
Then I asked if they had a DVD of "At last the 1948 Show" with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Mary Feldman… But I was told that all copies were sold out, but ten minutes away heading down the Oxford Street passing the tube station of Oxford Circus would be another HMV and they still had only one copy…
Well, I wasn't too sure if I should actually go this way, because I had never been there before and I was alone… but I tried to find it and I did, and I bought the last DVD!
I also found a copy of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist with George C. Scott – we had watched this particular production at school and somebody stole the tape from my teacher – the quality was miserable, so I decided to give my teacher the DVD.
Then I went to Clapham Common to go to Jeremy Brett's favourite café, which is now called The Pavement – The original name was Tea Time (Jeremy loved tea!)
I just had a coke and went to his house and then to the tree which was planted by his former colleagues from the Sherlock Holmes series.
It's really a beautiful area and I can understand why Jeremy loved it so much.
It was rather late when I returned to Belsize Park … and then I watched TV for a couple of hours until I went to bed.
2nd Day – June 25th, 2008
Dear Diary,
The British Museum was the first place where I went, I want to get some photographs of the fantastic building and I was also looking for souvenirs for my brother. I bought him a copy of the stone of Rosette
Then I went to Baker Street to see the Sherlock Holmes museum (as I traditionally do when I am in London ). Next, the Royal Academy of Art – only to find out that the Hammershoi exhibition would start in three days and that I would not be able to see it…
Disappointed as I was I went to a nearby shop and bought something for my mother and my grandmother.
Then I took the tube to Barbican and went to the Museum of London , where I saw an exhibition of the Great Fire of 1666. There was also a part of how the Romans had lived in Britain , I thought of Graham Chapman and John Cleese and there sketch in Life of Brian about Brian writing something in Latin on a wall hundred times or more…
"Romans go home"… and suddenly I saw it, the museum had taken this catchphrase and it was written with red paint on a wall… I couldn't stop laughing and secretly took a photograph of it.
In the shop I found a copy of Terry Jones' Medieval Lives, which I bought and also a funny book about the history of England and I also bought copies of coins of the Roman age, for my brother.
My long journey had made me tired and so I went back to the hotel to prepare myself for the lecture. It was easy for me to go there, because I just had to take the Northern Line down to Waterloo station – the problem was to find the National Film Theatre(BFI Southbank).
The signs to find the NFT suddenly disappeared, I hurried down the road and I was lucky to find another one… later I spoke to a young man who had had the same problem.
I went inside the building and was pretty much scared of how many people there were, because I had no idea what to do I sat down in front of the entrance door and waited, while I did so, I watched a trailer of a film with Oskar Werner (my favourite Austrian actor!!!). We were allowed in at 6:21 p.m. and I sat down in the front row – I looked around if anyone would come whom I might have spoken to online, but nobody did.
I was a bit sad about that, but very glad when the man who sat next to me (on the left side) gave me a sheet of the lecture which I hadn't seen outside. His wife and his son were very lovely people and we all enjoyed the lecture very much. The episodes were hilarious and so was the atmosphere of the audience. Terry and Michael were really wonderful and so was the host … they all looked so perfectly dressed, I was sitting there with a pink t-shirt of Ralph Lauren – felt a bit embarrassed.
Terry Jones & Michael Palin are such wonderful people, they looked fantastic, the most handsome men I have ever met in my life.
I had seen two episodes already but this time I saw so much new sketches and it was marvellous and I couldn't stop laughing… while the two people sitting on the right side didn't like it – the man couldn't stop yawning. While me and the kind man (who sat on the left side of me) was laughing louder than anybody else of the audience.
Something that I should mention as well is that one of the actors who had played in the series as well was there too, sitting in the audience and Michael and Terry sat down with us as well… Terry even once left the room, maybe an important phone call?
Then there was a Q&A session… the audience was allowed to ask questions and they were taped… some questions were okay, some were not really interesting.
I would have loved to ask Michael if it was hard to get in the dress of Elizabeth I, sadly we hadn't seen this part but I had seen many photographs of the sketch.
The time for the Question and Answer session was not very long, a couple of minutes only, but Terry and Michael were again very funny… and a very good mood!
I believe they have enjoyed it as much as we did… then the host said that we could buy a copy of a magazine in the bookshop with an interview of Michael in it… but he also said that we would have to be quick because the shop was closing down soon.
I was so sad, because the audience was already standing up and I thought that I would now never have the chance to see Terry and Michael ever again. Suddenly the host told the audience to sit down again and asked if there was a "Christina" somewhere…
I was a bit surprised and thought that some lucky girl had won a prize…
Gosh, I was so astonished when he suddenly said "Christina… a Christina 3000, with a blog"… I hesitated before I showed my showed my hand… he had actually read my blog entries on Myspace that I would come all the way from Austria only for the lecture and that I would come on my own and that my parents didn't pay the trip but that I had to pay it myself.
The entire audiences, Terry, Michael and the host applauded – and I shrank into my seat, then I told them that I was from Austria , Lower Austria , Wachau. The host kindly thanked me for having supported the BFI Southbank so much and then the lecture was over.
I went down the same door as Michael and Terry had done and spoke to the host… who was standing in front of a closed down room… as I went in there, I saw Terry and Michael speaking with friends. I asked if I could have an autograph and thought that I should wait outside, but then I was suddenly talking with Terry who then welcomed friends of his. Sitting on the sofa, I was suddenly welcomed by someone who works for Michael's agency and who had read my letters. He asked me what I had yet seen in London and I told him that I would move to Henley-on-Thames in September.
He was very kind! And, damn handsome!
Then I spoke to two of Terry's friend, a musician who had been in Austrian several times (said he liked Styria in Upper Austria – that's near where my father was actually born!)
I am not sure if she was his wife, but she was really a beautiful lady and we spoke of Monty Python, Terry's documentaries, his other projects, his time in Lisbon and about my future plans. He told me that his father was a Jew who had lived in Vienna until 1938, before fled to England … he even said that he still gets a pension from Austria – which I thought was lovely. I told him of my grandfather who had fought in Russia and had lost all his toes there – for nothing!!!
Then I told him of my work, that I had written about the Holocaust and the concentration camp of Mauthausen and that I worked on a project to get more rights for homosexuals who had been in this particular camp (many of them have never got something back for what they had been through, for the pain and despair!!!)
Suddenly Michael took the book I had taken with me so that they could sign it for me…
Actually it was a special book for the German fans of Monty Python and it contained the scripts of the two German episodes (this book is already sold out because it only had a small circulation) … And, it has never been translated into English, so therefore it was even hard to get…
Michael signed it and suddenly my pen wasn't working anymore… he was in no great hurry, took a pen of his jacket himself and continued writing his name, telling me that it would always be good to have one near by his side. I smiled and thanked him for his kindness, and then I told him that he had been in Austria for his documentary, 80 Days around the world… I told him that I was ashamed of how our train station in Innsbruck looked like those days – he blamed the Italians who had a strike this year. Then I mentioned that it was the year I was born, 1988…
I said goodbye to Terry's friends who were going too, Michael was talking and talking and so I touched Terry's shoulder and said "I have to go, thanks for everything and bye"
He smiled (gosh, he is cute!) and said "goodbye"… I turned round one last time and had a look at them… maybe I will never see them in my life again, but it was the greatest time of my life to have met them.
For all the years of unhappiness and pain, for everything I had to bear and endure, I was happy and glad and I felt welcomed… thanks to all of you!
As I went out of the building, I called the cab company which should take me home, but I was waiting and waiting, and it was getting colder and colder… suddenly a young man came to me and asked me if I was inside of that room with Terry and Michael and how it was. We spoke about our collection and suddenly realized that we had the same friend online, SpinyNorman… I decided to cancel the appointment with the cab company and went with him to the tube station, sadly he took the Bakerloo Line and I took the Northern back to Belsize Park …
Back in the hotel, I again received a horrible news from Austria (well, I knew that if I would be happy for a while, something bad would happen again!)
It was such a heavy storm in Austria that our house in Krems got damaged; my mother collapsed and was taken to hospital in Krems, where they told her that she should go to
St. Pölten which she did… There they had to wait six hours, because of the current strike of doctors in Austria , before they told her that she should rather go home then stay in the hospital … it was a huge shock for them to get such an advice.
My brother told me not to worry too much and that my father would surely pick me up from the airport the next day – but I was more worried about the condition of my mother, rather than how I would get back home.
3rd Day – June 26th, 2008
Dear Diary,
I couldn't sleep the entire night, because I thought of my mother and also I remembered everything of what had happened to me at the BFI Southbank.
10 a.m. - I took the tube and went to Hampstead to go to my favourite bookshop, I found an illustrated copy of Sherlock Holmes with illustration of the Strand Magazine for only 6 pounds… then I also found a copy of Peter Pan, unabridged again illustrated.
I also bought a book about Dr. Watson and a book of Michael Palin, Sahara .
Last but not least, I found the biography of William Pitt the Younger which I started reading while driving to the National Portrait Gallery to see his portrait one last time before heading back home. I also had a closer look on the portraits of my favourite authors and writers, first of all, Jane Austen (whose portrait stands very near to the room of William Pitt the Younger – not to forget the beautiful sculpture of him!)
Also, Elizabeth Barrett-Browning and Robert Browning, in the same room one can find the only portrait of all three Bronte sisters.
I also saw a portrait of Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Jonathan Miller (who had been so lovely in the Secret Policemen Ball) – I then listened to this particular sketch which I had copied onto my I-Pod (only as an audio file). I also listened to Terry's song "Forgive me"
Then I went back the hotel, got my suitcase and went to the Heathrow Airport , Terminal 2. While driving with the tube, I spoke to a young man from Germany whose father had just turned 80 and he decided to show him London … it was the first time that his father had been flying. Amazing!
While I was going to the check-in desk of the Austrian Airlines, a policeman told me to leave the building … a suitcase had been found which belonged to nobody and had to be destroyed. We sat in front of Terminal 2 for about an hour, until we were allowed in again. I was so scared and hoped that my flight wouldn't get cancelled.
Inside, again a bad news, all the British Airways flights were allowed to take off but all German and including the flights to Austria had a delay of two hours.
Some of the Germans were pretty angry and I felt a bit sad about this circumstance too, but I am used to it… flights to Austria are always delayed!
Inside the plane, I met a young student who was actually from Austria but studied in England , and the man sitting next to him was also an Austrian but was now working as a tutor in the University of Oxford . We exchanged our addresses…
1 a.m. in the morning - I couldn't believe it that my grandmother and my father were picking me up – it was the first time in her life that my grandmother, who had turned 73 a week before I went to see the lecture, was on an airport.
She had only travelled once in her life and said that she missed Austria far too much!
I got home after the clock had struck 2 a.m. and was happy to see my brother, my mother, my cat and my room.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
christinah3000's journal
touched
