Adventures with Amy in London

up bright and early this morning and caught the bus to the airport..

seems belfast airport really doesn't have a lot to offer in the whole shopping after security, so i was glad to have my ipod to listen to and such,

the plane was delayed due to a flock of seagulls on the runway that seemed to not want to move.. they really do have giant like seagulls over this way, and obviously they're not afraid of planes!
was a rather bump ride, due to the gale force winds around the uk at the moment...

arrived and like a pro navigated myself through heathrow like i owned the place and headed to meet Amy at victoria station...

Amy definitely found a great deal with our hotel, 2 nights in a four star hotel with tickets to a musical of our choice for 100 quid each... not bad considering the musical tickets were 60 pounds each. the hotel was just down from waterloo, just a short walk from the london eye and the parliment buildings which was awesome..

checked in and then set off to explore london on foot... making our way up to covent garden and through to Leister square where we had an early dinner at Planet Hollywood, directly under Buzz!

before heading back to covent garden to see The Lord of the rings musical..

i was a bit sceptical i'll admitt as to how it would work on stage, and 3 great novels crammed into 3 hours of show, and a musical at that... but it was awesome...

firstly the set was amazing, i managed to snatch a few photo's before the show started (and before being asked to put it away!)

as people were coming in and taking their seats, hobits were walking about in the audience, trying to cath fire flies in the tree branches (see the set picture) generally making a nuisance of themselves.

i'm a fan of shows that are interactive...

our seats where fantastic, best money could buy at 60 quid a pot (central and you could see everything)

I loved the hobits, their greeting with a kick of each others feet, there generally merriment... the staging and set design was exceptional, changing so many times to appear to be such different environments, you really felt like you were trudging up mt doom... the orcs were great, they sprung about the stage..

they came into the audience at one stage scaring the life out of many of us... though there was one guy in front of us that jumped up just after they'd left and scared the lady in front.. ahhhh an accountant! :O)

they did miss out huge chuncks of the books, and i have to say that legolas had brown hair... and aragon had blond hair... just didn't sit well in my mind, it just wasn't orlando! and the elves did keep doing some bizarre hand movements all the time...

but over all it was a great portrayal of the books, and i'd happily go see it again some time.

wandered back to our hotel along the thames, a completey different view with everything all lit up at night, gorgeous...

though the howling winds where something less desirable, almost blowing us into the thames, and making photography incredibly difficult... though i could put that down to holding a maccas creme egg mc flurry in the other hand, and trying to hold my hand still to take a non blurry picture!

Up bright an early, had our included breakie in the hotel restraunt... they had everything you could wish for except toast... weird...

headed along the thames again past the london eye, and up to the globe theatre...

i'm going to head back in summer and try catch a play in there, and relive shakespeare in love... it's such a gorgeous theatre...

headed to Brough markets , known for their fresh foods, and fruit etc, it was bustling with a range of people, from tourists sporting cameras and weird clothing, to those out to by some fresh produce from their local markets... the smells were incredible... will definitely have to head back there...

headed across the thames, and on to fleet street..

after watching Sweeny Todd the demon barber of fleet street, not all that long ago, of course i had to wander along... and what do we find... a barbers! (well it's a hairdressers but it counts right) however no pie shops to be seen...

headed up behind covent garden where we went searching for sirius's house (Harry potter fans will know what i'm talking about) we didn't have the exact street, but found the park they all landed in... and have narrowed it down to two of the houses

wandered through the covent garden markets which were teaming with people out for a look, stopped in the international sweet shop, for some treats, before wandering down towards leister square to see what was on offer for tonights entertainment..

ended up picking up some cheap tickets to see Phantom of the Opera, which we'd both seen years ago, at the Royal Opera Theatre, before catching the tube up to kings cross, to take our token pictures at platform 9 3/4... very cool!

have to say it was rather amusing talking amy on her first ever ride on the London underground system... we all were jammed in like sardines at one point... a perfect first experience.. i felt like the guide at some points, rather than her...

wandered back down through russell square, it's bizarre how much i remember from spending almost a week there when i first arrived in london which feels like ages ago...
managed to get ourselves back to leister square, where we headed to one of the many Angus steak houses for dinner... it was nice, but i wouldn't say worth what we paid...

from there it was down to the theatre to see Phantom, i love all the songs, some of them bring out such powerful emotional responses in me, it's crazy, and i guess they always will.
wasn't the same with the Phantom not being Anthony Warlow though! :O)

headed back to the hotel after awhile afterwards, along past westminster and big ben...

another breakfast at the hotel and on the way out realise that all along they had toast... you just had to ask... shame about that...

before setting off our aim was to get to oxford street, but with no clear idea of how to reach it, we just walked and walked...

ended up wandering along regent street and ended up right where we wanted to be..

had a delicious chi latte in Eat, which has to be one of the best ones i've tasted mmmm drooling at the thought now...

before eventually heading our separate ways, Amy back to the land of preston, and me back off to the airport to catch my flight back to Belfast..

But not without a token picture of good old paddington bear at paddington station before i left!