- This event has passed.
Celebration Europe 2007 – Day 2
13 July 2007 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Lost in London! Friday, July 13, 2007 – Canning Town – Opening ceremony
Our alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning… After the breakfast buffet we went back to our cozy room and started changing.
After Tim had put on his costume, Alex still needed a little help to become the Dark Lord of the Sith.
As soon as we stepped onto the street in front of the hotel, we noticed people looking at us. It's not every day that Darth Vader walks through the streets of London accompanied by a Jedi^^
Even on the Tube platform some people started taking pictures, but without talking to us directly. On the train itself, people talked to us and took photos throughout our 45-minute ride. You could divide them into two groups: those who asked openly („Can we take a picture of you?“) and those who, more out of embarrassment, did it behind our backs^^
But things got even better: as we walked through Westminster Tube station to change trains, a station announcer imitated Vader's breathing. When shortly afterwards we got off at the wrong stop and the door had already closed, the other passengers opened the door again just for us! (Someone to Alex: „Come with me!“)
Then the conductor said something about „Skywalker and Vader in the back of the train“, which unfortunately we couldn't quite understand, since the people around us were busy talking at us, or rather at Tim, since Alex could hardly hear anything under his helmet.
Arriving at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre and after waiting in a looong line, we were finally at CELEBRATION EUROPE!
Right in the first room, a huge Death Star on the ceiling awaited us, followed by Jabba the Hutt on his throne with a Slave Leia.
So for a while we made our way through various booths, action figures, Lego, posters, T-shirts…etc.. everything a fan could wish for!
Unfortunately we still had the money problem… but thanks to Alex‘ mother, we were able to pick up money at a „Western Union“ bank.
There was just one problem… where's the nearest Western Union bank…..
So we called the bank's hotline and were told that the nearest branch was on Barking Road in Canning Town.
After countless more photos, we reached the DLR station and rode two stops back to Canning Town. Thanks to our tremendous sense of direction, we found the bank within an hour… With fresh money and countless conversations/photos with passersby (group of girls to Alex „You’re scary!“) we made it back to the ExCeL.
We spent the rest of the time taking photos with the Vader Project and visiting the Clone Wars panel, part of which we missed, though…
The opening ceremony was supposed to start at 19:30, so we went to the entrance and happened to watch Lightning Bear (scout/stormtrooper in Episodes IV-VI) having a smoke. After a while we wondered why nothing was happening…. until we noticed that said opening was taking place about 100 meters behind us, we were just too blind to see it^^
Still, we got seats in the front rows and could see Steve Sansweet, Mark Hamill and Ian McDiarmid up close.
„Happy Friday 13th!“
Afterwards we watched about a third of the open-air screening of Episode IV before setting off on the long, photo-filled way back to our hotel.
When we got to our hotel, the first thing we wanted was something to eat, so at 22:02 local time we went to the bar to get some food, but we were told that food was only served until 22:00 and we were two minutes late.
