Christmas Part Three

 After the shrine, we made our way to the theatre.

The theatre is in a shopping mall, most of the stores are brand/designer stores, besides the theatre, there's a movie theatre and a hotel. It's not very big, but somehow we always get lost when we go there.

The orange and grey building with the spikes on is the part of the mall where the theatre is.

Part of the mall.

The left-hand side is where the shops are, opposite, across the water feature is the hotel.

We had a walk around, looked in a few shops, decided that as much as we loved the clothes, shoes and bags, we really didn't like the price! One short jacket for Hannah was 8,000yen (about £38), we didn't bother to see how the matching skirt cost!

One store that I like to look in is a vintage store. I was looking around and realised that most of the items were fashionable when I was growing up. To think that fashion from my teens is now vintage made me feel old.

We made our way to the theatre, found our seats and got comfortable. Our seats were rather far back, but the view was alright!

Our view of the stage.

I felt the first part, the auction, wasn't that good, so I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy it so much, but as the chandelier was lifted up and the first strains of the famous introduction started, the feeling of anticipation returned.

Just as we were settling into the first act, one of the staff members stopped by my seat. I was sitting on the aisle seat! The gentleman, who had the seat next to Hannah, had just arrived. I stood up to let him pass, and Hannah moved aside, but he turned away and stood behind us. We were in the last row. This happened two or three times until he finally sat down. I have no idea what he was playing at; if he had just sat down the first time, it wouldn't have disturbed us so much! As we were leaving during the interval, the staff member pulled us aside and really apologised to us. The gentleman, who had caused all the problems, simply ignored us. We accepted the apology, but also told the girl that it was no problem.

The show itself was incredible. Each actor brings something different to the roles they play. The actress who played Christine had a sense of innocence about her, a naivety that helped me to empathise with her. The Phantom seemed more cruel, more obsessed with Christine. As always, the last scene had me in tears, where the Phantom sings to Christine, "Christine, I love you".

Of course, there was a standing ovation at the end, calling the cast onto the stage many times, with the actor playing the Phantom taking the last bow!

With the poster outside the theatre

The cast for this production

We were both a bit peckish at this point, but not hungry enough to want a full meal. We found an Italian restaurant where we shared a pizza.

The pizza tasted nice, but the topping kept sliding off!

Nice pizza.

The topping and base are separated!

It was already rather late. So we made our way back to the train station to go home. It was about 5:30, it was so packed!

I wanted to see the Christmas lights and the market. We went, but only stayed for a few minutes; it was just so packed! I managed to get a little video, but I couldn't see a way to get to the front of the stage to see the performers!

Just trying to get my ticket for the train and getting to the platform was an effort. I was jostled, pushed, and hit with suitcases so many times, I thought I would have bruises all over!

We managed to get the rapid train back. It was about 6 minutes late, the driver apologised, saying that the express train in front of this one had a safety check that took longer than expected! 

I had to stand most of the way. At first, I wasn't happy about that; my feet hurt, my knee was throbbing, and I thought I would pass out from the pain in my back! But when I looked at the people around me, I noticed how tired everyone looked, not just tired from that day, but tired from work; most people on the train were workers or high school kids going home. I was tired from a great day out with Hannah, a day I chose to go to the city. These people were tired from work, maybe doing this commute 5 or 6 days a week. I tried to adjust my attitude and be grateful that this train ride is once or twice a year, not almost every day. Even though I ached, I could endure it better with this mental shift!

Mikey picked us up and drove us home! 

Boxing Day, December 26th, I slept most of the day. I was so tired.

Also, it tried very hard to snow yesterday. You can't really see it in the photos, but a good few flurries were coming down!

That was our Christmas. More quiet, more peaceful, but a lot of fun and a lot of love!