Hall Pass

My opinion of the Hilton London Metropole Hotel continues to decline. Last night I missed seeing a friend who is also in London because the voicemail he left me didn't trigger the red light on the phone in my room and I didn't know the message was there.

Today I asked the Concierge what time the British Museum opens and he handed me a tourist magazine and said, "All the information you need is in there." Well, have you ever?

And after much time on the phone with the hotel's internet service provider, they told me my laptop is "too outdated" to use the internet access in my room. (I've just used this very same laptop at four different hotels on this trip.)

However, my laptop CAN be used for internet access in the hotel's Business Center -- which they happily told me is only 16 pence a minute. That works out to about $20 a hour!

Sounds like a hotel version of Highway Robbery to me. So I'm posting against the clock. (Sure wish I could remember the name of my High School Typing Teacher. I'd like to thank her today! I do remember I got an "A.")

Last night I went to see Cole Porter's "High Society" at the Shaftsbury Theater. The theater itself is a little worn down on the inside and so, I'm afraid, is this musical.

There were a couple of memorable songs like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Paris in the Summer" and "Misbehaving." But the book was really boring and the choreography was just ho-hum.

There were some stand-outs in the cast and I'd like to write about them but in London show programs cost 3 pounds -- so I don't remember their names.

Except for one -- sort of. Jerry Hall is the "big" star in the show. You can see her name at the top of the sign above. Well, it turns out she was only in the show for about its first month and then since November, due to "illness," hasn't been appearing. I guess she was a little sick of the reviews.

Today I'm off to the British Musuem (I figured out for myself when it opens) and then I'm seeing a couple of shows.

I don't expect to blog again until I'm back in the states. Tomorrow I'm flying home via Chicago.