Newspapers / Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / May 8, 2004, edition 1 / Page 34
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34 Q-Living Q-NOTES • MAY 8.2004 GLBT . ▼ . Charlotte Business Guild Meeting Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 Program: Rooftop Party with Singer Christy Snow Holiday Inn, College and 7th St. Social 5:30 pm - Dinner & Program 6:30 pm To Reserve: Cost $20 Call 704-565-5075 by 12:00 pm Monday, May 17, 2004 charlottebusinessguild.com Travel: London Pride makes for Soho feels like gay home away from home by David Stout Q-Notes staff LGBT travelers looking to splurge on a memorable summer getaway should con sider a leap across the Atlantic for London Pride. 1 flew over with a small group of gay and lesbian journalists to cover last year’s event and had a bang-up time. There’s loads to see and do, the people watching is The Rubens at the Palace is a hotel fit for a queen. choice and the accepting social climate will make any Friend of Dorothy feel happily over the rainbow. The transatlantic flight takes approxi mately eight hours — although you lose even more time since the U.K. is already five hours ahead of the U.S. eastern seaboard! If you can swing it, travel first class. The-added expense is worth it on a flight of this length. Our group flew with Delta Airlines, an official sponsor of London Pride, Atlanta Pride and New York Pride. The mini bottles of water and hot washcloths (both to count er the dry cabin air) never stopped coming and neither did the food (which included a choice of lobster, steak or pasta for the main entree). These and other amenities made the trip surprisingly bearable. During our stay we were booked into The Rubens at the Palace Hotel. No one gave the name much thought — until we arrived and found Buckingham Palace sprawled across the street. As if our prox imity to the Queen wasn’t enough, the rooms were fit for one as well. After a full day of sightseeing and a night on the town it was wonderful to return to a turned-down canopy bed with a chocolate on the pillow. The best way to get an instant overview of London, a sprawling city of seven mil lion, is on the London Eye. Built on the banks of the Thames River to mark the Millennium, this ferris wheel on steroids is one of the city’s biggest attractions and the U.K.’s fourth- tallest structure. Tourists wait hours to board one of 32 plexiglas pods on the 26-stdry behemoth, but their patience is rewarded with an incredible view. Fun fact: The London Eye moves so slowly that each revolution takes 30 minutes. Nearly all of our sightseeing time was spent in Soho — London’s answer to Chelsea or Castro. Gays and lesbians were all around, com fortably holding hands, shopping and enjoying the area’s numerous entertainment venues. Prior to the trip 1 didn’t have an image of Londoners as being particularly attractive — not that I’d really ever given the matter any thought — so 1 was struck by the number of male and female hotties who were constantly about. Trendy haircuts and immaculately distressed cloth ing were de rigueur in Soho. The West End is the theater district. One evening we caught a performance of “Mama Mia," the ABBA musical. The British have a great affection for camp — which gladdens my gay heart — and the show is nothing if not that. Needless to say, “Mama Mia” packs ’em in at the Prince Edward Theatre every performance. As would be expected from one of the continued on next page >
Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 8, 2004, edition 1
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