Matilda, Mormon and St. Paul's...oh my!

What can I say, this past weekend was pretty great. I got to hang out with my friend Erin before she goes back to Canada for the summer for work and my luck even rubbed off on her.

On Friday I met Erin in London so that we could go and see "Matilda the Musical", and for £25 for our tickets we got some pretty decent seats. To bad that we had two tall people in front of us, had to lean a couple of times but other than that we had a really good view of the stage.

The musical was AMAZING! It was based off of the book rather than the 90's movie, which I'm quite happy about because, of course, the book is always better. I have to say the children that play Matilda and the other student characters have a lot of courage! I would not have been able to do that at age 8 or 9. It was crazy how talented they were!


The soundtrack is very catchy as well, I have a jumble of it stuck in my head at the moment. If it ever comes to Toronto, or if it is still in New York it should be on everyones to do list! Here's a clip of it from the Tony's last year:

On Saturday I showed Erin around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. We went to M&M World, and of course bought M&M's, and walked around Leicester Square for a bit. They had a "Divergent" Fan Event in the Square where you could take a test to see which Fraction you belonged in and then could do activities afterwards. It was really packed so I didn't do any of the events.

When we first go to the Square we went over to The Prince of Wales Theatre to enter in for "The Book of Mormon" lottery draw. Well the time came for the tickets to be called AND Erin won two of them!! Needless to say it was so much funnier the second time around, and yes I am bragging a bit here but winning cheap tickets is something to brag about :)

Zeus and I

Finally on Sunday we went to the British Museum in the morning. It was quite packed so we couldn't enjoy the museum like we would have liked to but at least the museums here are free so that I can go back and see the things I didn't get to. 

The weather was beautiful this weekend so after the museum we went down to St. Paul's for a walk along the Thames. It was a nice walk and I got to show Erin more on London along the way.

We went into Primark later in the afternoon and I have to say that is one of my new favourite stores. Very decent clothes for a responsible price, cannot beat that!

Erin had to go back to Swansea after that so we made our way back to the tube station to go our separate ways. It was a great weekend overall! 

The next couple of weekend are pretty basic for me, nothing really big planned anyways. As of April 2nd, 2014 it will be 5 months until I am back in Canada! I cannot believe it came up that fast! The next thing I know I'll be packing up my room and getting ready to go home. It's crazy how long I have been here, it doesn't feel like this long at all!

British Museum

Abbey Road & Notting Hill

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly"

Well, I finally did it! I crossed the cross walk at Abbey Road. It may not seem as high and mighty of an accomplishment but due to the fact that it took about two months to finally do this Lina and I were both quite happy.

Wondering why it took so long? Well Abbey Road is located outside of Central London - meaning that you need to take a tube ride or a very long and expensive bus ride to get to Abbey Road. Every weekend that Lina and I wanted to go the tube line was always being worked on and via bus it would take about 3hrs to get there. So that's why it took so long.

Part of the brick wall at Abbey Road Studios

Now when you get to Abbey Road the first thing you're going to see is tourists, lots and LOTS of tourists! This crosswalk doesn't have stoplights so it's basically people standing on the sidewalk until the coast is clear or literally stopping cars just to take a picture. There was a guy there organizing pictures as well, that's how Lina and I got ours done - wish it was more of the crosswalk but you get what you get when the road is super busy haha

Right beside Abbey Road it Abbey Road Studios and I gotta say that the fence posts and brick walls around the parking lot to that building is covered in signatures and Beatles lyrics. I added in my own and signed my name and the date. We noticed after that we could read some writing that had been painted over so I'm not sure how long my message will be there but I hope people get to see it. I wrote part of the lyrics from the top in case you were wondering.

After Abbey Road we made our way to Notting Hill, which I gotta say is probably the most beautifulness town I have seen since being here that is located in the city, The Cotswolds don't count here. All of the houses are painted different colours with different coloured doors as well, it's so neat. Was hoping for more of the trees to be blooming but not this time I guess, I'll have to go back in the Spring/Summer.

This weekend was the last weekend that I got to hangout with Lina, she;s going back home on April 4th and next weekend is when Erin is coming to visit, so we crossed off almost all of Lina's to do list and then went our separate ways. She's hoping to visit again before I go home, hopefully in July so I'll get to see her then :) 

A street in Notting Hill

Hope all is well with everyone back home. 162 days until I'm back in Canada, cannot believe it! Time is going by to fast!!

Up To Great Heights!

"What did I tell ya? There's the whole world at your feet. And who gets to see it but the birds, the stars, and the chimney sweeps."


What a day! Yesterday my friend Lina and I got to go to the very top of The Shard (the tallest building in London) to enjoy the view and take some lovely photos of London as well. It was a beautiful day overall! The weather these past couple of weeks has been amazing, sorry for rubbing it in again Canada, sun and warm breezes - it's amazing.

Before going to The Shard though we took a walk down South Bank and looked in the different shops along the River Thames.

Cherry Blossom trees are over populated in this area. I forgot how much I loved them when they bloomed. As London usually is the streets and sidewalks were packed! 

When I first got here, and would reference my tour book more than once a day, it said that tourists usually come more between March and November...this is a lie! Tourists come ALL THE TIME! I have not had a trip into London where it involved me taking my time and not pushing past people who stop in the middle of the way to look at a map. London will never be like this...it's London.

Now finally we got to go to The Shard, and as I mentioned before it is the tallest building in London. We booked our time for right around the sunset so that we could get day and night photos of London. I have to say seeing the sunset over London and then seeing all the nightlife come to life is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, I only wish my camera took better photos to capture it all.


To be honest I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that it is MARCH already and that it's almost gone. I have defiantly been keeping myself busy enough to not notice all the time that's been going by and I still have lots more planned. Next weekend Lina and I are finally going to Abbey Road and then spending the rest of the day in Notting Hill. The weekend after that my friend Erin is coming down for the weekend and we're going to see Matilda and do little tours of London as well.

I've also added another play to my list before I go home, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! (That's not until June though) and I will be going to see Panic! At The Disco in May :)

A fun couple of weeks ahead for me! TTFN

Hello March, come so soon?

          AH! Cannot believe it is March already! Where is the time going!?!?!

          Was talking to my Mom about it the other day and since I have already booked my flight home it is now less than 6months until I am back in Canada and on the 17^th of March I will have been in England for 7months!

          I remember being in school last year and the time going by so slowly, so I guess that saying is true. Time files when you’re having fun!

Neat lights on Canterbury St. in London

          The weather here has been beautiful this past week, highs of 12 everyday, no rain and just a touch of wind. I actually wore my spring jacket into town and wasn’t cold after leaving the theatre last night, which is a first since September. Anyways let me fill you in on my week.

          On March 6^th all around England (maybe other places as well but I’ve recently just heard about this) was “World Book Day” where the school kids and teachers dress up as their favourite character from any book genre.
          Isabella dressed up as Hermonie from the Harry Potter Series, Georgina dressed up as Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Francesca dressed up as Matilda. They all looked so cute! Fran didn’t want her picture taken so just Izy and Georgie are in the picture with me.

          Yesterday, the 8^th, Lina and I went to see “The Lion King”. It was so amazing! The way that they portrayed the animals was so neat. They had a little girl as a baby elephant and they way they made her costume around her was like a wooden silhouette elephant, it was so pretty.

          The giraffe was my second favourite, they had a person on stilts for the legs and used their hands and stilts for the front legs with an attachment for the head. It was beautiful how each thing was made, and really gun hoe to the movie so Lina and I were singing along to all the songs. 

          The play was really well done and the acting done by young Simba and Nala was amazing! They looked like they were just about 10 years old but the confidence they had and their acting was just amazingly well done.

          "The Lion King" is number 7 on my list of "Plays/Musicals I've seen since being here". Honestly it's one of my favourite things to spend my money on. I love going to the theatre and being apart of the story and reacting with an audience, it's a great feeling.

          At the end of the month I will be adding number 8 to the list, Matilda! And because the girls saw it with their StageCoach group back in November I hear the soundtrack all the time so I'll know all of the songs even before I see it!

          Hope all is well back home and that the snow starts to melt away soon! I'm really glad I missed this winter, even though I've had my fair share of rainy and crummy days nothing beats snow.

The end of yet another half term...

Well half term ended on Feb 23rd but I didn't want to do two blog posts within a couple of days of each other. So know that you are done reading about Paris read about how I spent the rest of the half term.

So after getting back late Monday night I slept in Tuesday, which was much deserved :)

The rest of the week was spent watching the Olympics and lounging around the house. Felt so nice to just relax and not have as many responsibilities (love my job, not saying that I don't, but everyone deserves a break every once and a while.)

On Saturday (22nd) I went into London for the majority of the day to go to The Royal Albert Hall to see the orchestra preform "Pixar Live in Concert". That week I started in Disney and ended with something else Disney :)



They preformed medleys from Toy Story 1-3, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, Brave, Up, Finding Nemo, Cars 1&2, and The Incredibles. The way they had it set up was that while the orchestra was playing a medley from the Pixar movie scenes from the film would play on the big screen behind them. For "Up" they played the first 5 minutes of the movie, the montage of when Ellie & Carl are together, and it was so beautiful. The announcer told us to have our hankies at the ready and he wasn't lying! The whole thing was just amazing to be a part of. If it comes to any of the major towns/cities around you I suggest you go. All Pixar fans will love it!

On Sunday (23rd) I met up with a fellow Canadian, Jenna, and her friend Louise, from Wales, to watch the Gold Medal Hockey game at a Sports Bar. We had our own little section to watch the game, along with fellow Canadians and supporters of Canada. Have to say this is defiantly the way to watch a big sports game! The environment in our section was just pure Gold (see what I did there? Cause you know Canada won gold, obviously)! This was my first time going to a Sports Pub/Bar to watch any type of game and I would do it again. So much fun celebrating with people who cheered with you and had the same reactions as you, it was kind of funny too.

Overall I had a great break and now it's back to work! Next week I'm going to "The Lion King" and at the end of the month I'll be seeing "Matilda" so look forward to posts about those. In the Spring I'm planning on taking day trips outside of London to see more of the countryside.

And as of today, March 2nd I have 6 more months in England! It's crazy! On March 17th I will be here 7 months...I just cannot believe it!