A mini break filled with adventure!

Her Majesty's Theatre

Maple Leaf Canadian Pub

 Well I promised you another post and here it is! This post will be all about the beginning of my first week off of work and all the stuff I planned to keep me entertained. I must of packed to much stuff into the week though and worn myself out already because I now have a cold. But with some medicine and sleep am feeling much better now.

          Monday started off with weather warnings of the hurricane that hit England on the weekend. They were calling for lots of rain and wind and to expect delays with the trains and traffic because of the severe weather. I am glad to say that all we got in my area was rain and a little bit of wind! Me being silly however still didn't bring an umbrella and proper windy weather clothing with me on Monday so I got rained on and was cold most of the day (most likely how I got sick so yes it is my own fault.) However I made the best of my day, I went to collect my ticket for "Phantom of the Opera" (which I saw that night) and then headed to The National Gallery. I didn't spend to much time in there however because I don't know that much about Art and the Artist in there and really just wanted to see the Van Gogh pieces (so this means I do need to go back once I am more educated on the other Artists in the building.)

         After that I walked to Covent Garden to check out there daily flea market, they already have the place dressed up for Christmas! And I thought I was gun hoe on Christmas but never this early, it's not even Halloween yet! For lunch I went somewhere that was the closes to Canada I'll get in awhile, The Maple Leaf (an all Canadian pub). It felt nice to have a little bit of home far away from home. After a long day of rain and wind it was time to see Phantom and it was amazing! My seat was pretty decent, even with the restricted view it said it had (there was a pillar slightly to my right but it did not effect the view of the stage.) The cast was amazing and the guys who played Raoul and The Phantom were quite attractive as well so even better.

Map of the Tower of London

          On Tuesday I went back into London to go to the Tower of London. For my birthday my sister got me a membership for the palaces and courts of England. It includes the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, and Kew Palace. I get free admission to each place, free admission to most of the events going on at each place and a discount on the cafes and shops and so much more! I've always been a fan of History, yes even with my memory, so it was really interesting to be apart of it all and learn about the History that happened only forty minutes away from where I live. I toured around the whole tower and learned all about the Kings that ruled there, how the coin mint of England was moved to the tower, who was executed at the tower and about the two Princes that *disappeared* from the tower. Since it's school holidays at the moment the place was packed with families and tourists, which meant lots of queues! Have I mentioned how I hate queues? More specifically queues made because people are walking so slowly! Thats how it was for a bit while I did the walk around the upper ledge of the Tower, waited five minutes to get into one of the towers to realize it was being people were walking so slowly or stopping in the middle of the way and other people not moving around them.

         The only thing I did not see while I was there was the crown jewels. There was an hour and a half queue line by time I arrived in the morning and it wasn't gaining any time what so ever by time I left, but good thing I have the membership, I can visit however many times as I want within the year of my membership. Another thing to add onto the to-do list.  Today I took things easy, getting over my cold still but the rest of the week is filled with many more places to go! I hope to do another posting on Sunday about the rest of my week off :)

Here is a link to the Tower of London for more information: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/

Ravens are an omen of good luck at the Tower
and each King that ruled made sure that Ravens
were always present at the Tower.

Funny kids t-shirt I found in one of the shops.