First
of all, I would like to apologise for not being as regular as I want to be. You see, my keyboard stopped working
entirely, which made it difficult to post on Facebook, let alone a blog, plus being in Rome made this a little difficult as well. So, sorry about that!
Moving on, it has been a while since I've had to type on my tablet rather than a PC, though this
isn't due to a broken keyboard (which has now been replaced). Nope, instead, I am sitting on a bus heading
to Stansted airport after an amazing weekend in London, and I do not use the
word amazing lightly (though I know I often do).
After
flying down on Friday night, and having avoided multiple attempts to make me
miss the bus, I met up with Michael and Cara and headed to their flat (whilst
munching on some of the best chips that I've had in a while). After a couple of beers, and some catching
up, it was time for a not-so-early night.
After
getting up, eating a delicious breakfast (Thank you both!) and getting ready, we all headed into
Camden Market for a quick wander round, where we saw a group of violinists
playing and dancing the can-can, and were I bought Alison some nice chocolates
(aaaaawwwwww...I'm only gruff on the outside). Sadly I only saw a quick
glimpse of the can-can but we did stay for more of the show which was really
good.
Having had our fill of violins, it was
time for our fill of sushi at a nearby restaurant called 'Wasabi'. Wasabi was great little place, a typical
Japanese style fast-food venue with fresh sushi, Onigiri and warm dishes as
well. As I always do when I eating
sushi, I decided that I don't eat enough sushi and vowed to do so more often.
After
lunch, Michael and I headed to the main reason for me being in London: Final
Symphony II. Now, Final Symphony II (if you don't know) is a video game concert that is performed by the London Symphonic
Orchestra and was influenced by music from Final Fantasy 5, 8, 9 and 13.
Now
then, you may have clocked onto the fact we were just heading there after lunch
and you might be thinking to yourself that it was a little bit early. Well, as it turned out, Michael had entered
an essay competition and won it, which meant that could actually attend the
rehearsal for the show!! This was a fantastic opportunity for us both, and we were highly excited.
After arriving
at the Barbican, and having rather easily entering what should have been a secure
artist's entrance, we were found by a member of the band and escorted
backstage. Here we waited for a while
before actually getting into the hall to watch the Orchestra perform the first
two songs of the evenings show (fantastic, by the way) with Nobou Uematsu, the composer, just in front of us!! Now, if you don't know who Nobuo is, that's
fair enough but he is one of, if not the, best known video game composers
ever. He has worked on over a 100
different projects, ranging from video games (including most of the Final
Fantasies) to anime to CDs! His music
has also been played in over 500 different concerts as well (he is now a record
holder due to this as well). And there
he was, just sitting quietly watching his music be played.
Oh, and did I mention that Michael and I got
to meet him, and got our photographs with him?
This was just a fantastic moment for the both of us! Here are some pictures from it.
After
this once-in-a-lifetime moment, Michael and I headed for a pint to discuss the
aforementioned meeting, and grabbed a sandwich after wandering around the City
of London for a bit including past the London Stock Exchange and the St
Bartholomew Hospital, where Sherlock leapt to his 'death' (which has a lot of
Sherlock related comments written in the dusty windows). And oddly, despite it being such an important
centre, there is very little open on a Saturday, forcing us to have a sandwich
from the Co-op.
Now, the reason we were actually waiting around the area was for Derek, who was joining us for the
show. After waiting for a while, we had
actually just decided to head back to the Barbican when he arrived, so we were able
to meet him and get to the pre-concert talk just in time. The pre-concert talk was an enlightening
experience that interviewed Nobuo Uematsu, the arranger for the show and the
person who had planned the show, allowing some insight into the whole event. Plus I can now say that I've seen Nobuo
Uematsu whistle the Chocobo theme tune as well!
Finally,
and after another beer with Derek and Michael, it was time for the show itself
and it was absolutely fantastic!
Although we had seen the first half, it was a great experience to see it
again in a packed hall, and the second half was a complete mystery, which was
as good as, if not better than the first half.
The show even contained various injections of humour into it, which
worked well and it became clear very quickly that a lot of love had went into
the symphony, with no-one leaving disappointed.
Plus a load of rather mediocre world records were handed out at the
end...including 'First Conductor to play a video game concert outside of
Japan'. Not sure that will be added to your CV...
This
fantastic day/night then ended after we headed back to Michaels flat for some
lovely cake baked by Cara (thank you Cara!) and some homemade Bacon infused
Bourbon, infused by Michael (thank you Michael)! Lovely end to a lovely day,
Sunday
quickly came around again and it was time for a little bit of sightseeing after
breakfast! First of all, Cara, Michael
and I headed off to the Emirates Air Line, which is a short cable car that goes
right across the Thames, giving a great view of the river and beyond.
With our feet back on land again, we then headed further into Greenwich to the Old Royal Navy College for three reasons. The first was the market there that had some delicious food stalls (we shared some onion bhajis and mixed samosas - lovely). The second was that we could walk up to the Observatory where the Meridian was located, which we did and got a great view of London. It was here we also got a great show of people deciding to try and take a shortcut down the hill (by not taking the path) before realising that it was fenced off 3/4s of the way down, then trying to work out how to get round the fence (so few people thought to climb over it). The third reason, and perhaps the most important reason, was because this was the area which Thor destroyed in 'Thor 2: the Dark World'. This was particularly fitting for the theme of the weekend.
Then
it was time to say goodbye to Michael and Cara, and part-ways on the
underground. Thank you both for putting
me up and coming round London with me, again!
And that leads me to now...so I guess it's time for Pick of the Week!
Pick
of the Week
Final Symphony - How could it not be?? Not
only did the show blow me away, but the music is fantastic as well. If you like video games or classical music,
check it out online and you will see how good it really is. If you're just looking for something a
little different, I would recommend just listening to it. It will really brighten up whatever task
you're doing!
Music
of the Week
I
think you've guessed that I will be posting a Final Symphony song today, so
here it is. It is 14 minutes long, so enjoy!
See
you all next week!
