A Wicked Good Time in London
This past weekend was extra long and we took a house trip to London. Get comfy because we did a lot!
Friday morning, a coach bus was at Dalkeith House to bring us to Waverly Station in Edinburgh and we pulled out a little before 6:30am. We took a 4.5 hour train ride to London and arrived at our hostel, The Generator, at 12:30pm. After dropping off our luggage, Gabby, Courtney, Kathy, and I (roommates for the weekend) set off for Leicester Square in hopes to buy discount theatre tickets. We got tickets to that night's Legally Blonde: The Musical. We then headed over to Trafalgar Square and viewed artwork from some of the the greats (Van Gogh, Monet, etc) at the National Gallery. That night we got dressed up and headed to the Savoy Theatre for Legally Blonde. It was a fun show with catchy songs that kept us laughing.
Saturday was one of those days where nearly everything went wrong. We got up early to go shopping in Covent Garden, only to find out - after we had arrived - that the stores didn't open until 10am. As a WIS group we were supposed to take a free walking tour of London, but some of us got kicked out because we were too large. We then decided to take a city bus ride and see the major sites of London, but that too turned sour when a highly opinionated (and vocal) man walked on the bus with a chair duck taped to his legs. And of course, what would London be without some rain?
However, can things really be that bad when you're in London?!
...and took a cruise down the Thames River, seeing many points of interest including the London Eye, the Tower of London, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and Tower Bridge (pictured).
That night, as part of the house trip, we all saw Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Wicked is a musical about what happened in Oz before Dorothy flew in. This was my second time seeing it, but it's probably my favorite musical so I wasn't complaining.
Sunday started with a church service at Westminster Abbey. Pictures are not allowed inside, so you'll just have to take my word that it was magnificent. Such detail (and gold) in the architecture! We then took a bus to St. Paul's Cathedral and crossed the Millennium Bridge (that gets destroyed in the sixth Harry Potter film) to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It is not the original, but it was created to be as close a match as possible. That afternoon we walked through Hyde Park, Kennsington Gardens, and into Notting Hill. We even found the little bookshop that is featured in the movie "Notting Hill" with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. After resting our feet back at the hostel, we took a flight on the London Eye at night.
Friday morning, a coach bus was at Dalkeith House to bring us to Waverly Station in Edinburgh and we pulled out a little before 6:30am. We took a 4.5 hour train ride to London and arrived at our hostel, The Generator, at 12:30pm. After dropping off our luggage, Gabby, Courtney, Kathy, and I (roommates for the weekend) set off for Leicester Square in hopes to buy discount theatre tickets. We got tickets to that night's Legally Blonde: The Musical. We then headed over to Trafalgar Square and viewed artwork from some of the the greats (Van Gogh, Monet, etc) at the National Gallery. That night we got dressed up and headed to the Savoy Theatre for Legally Blonde. It was a fun show with catchy songs that kept us laughing.
Saturday was one of those days where nearly everything went wrong. We got up early to go shopping in Covent Garden, only to find out - after we had arrived - that the stores didn't open until 10am. As a WIS group we were supposed to take a free walking tour of London, but some of us got kicked out because we were too large. We then decided to take a city bus ride and see the major sites of London, but that too turned sour when a highly opinionated (and vocal) man walked on the bus with a chair duck taped to his legs. And of course, what would London be without some rain?
However, can things really be that bad when you're in London?!
We saw Buckingham Palace...
That night, as part of the house trip, we all saw Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Wicked is a musical about what happened in Oz before Dorothy flew in. This was my second time seeing it, but it's probably my favorite musical so I wasn't complaining.
Sunday started with a church service at Westminster Abbey. Pictures are not allowed inside, so you'll just have to take my word that it was magnificent. Such detail (and gold) in the architecture! We then took a bus to St. Paul's Cathedral and crossed the Millennium Bridge (that gets destroyed in the sixth Harry Potter film) to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It is not the original, but it was created to be as close a match as possible. That afternoon we walked through Hyde Park, Kennsington Gardens, and into Notting Hill. We even found the little bookshop that is featured in the movie "Notting Hill" with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. After resting our feet back at the hostel, we took a flight on the London Eye at night.
On Monday we visited the British Museum and saw the medals for the 2012 London Summer Olympics! We also saw artifacts from ancient Greece and Rome, as well as Egyptian mummies, the Rosetta Stone, and lots more! Our train left from King's Cross Station in London at 3pm and before we met with the rest of our WIS group we found Platform 9 3/4 (another Harry Potter 'landmark'). We got back to Edinburgh at 7:45pm, tired and sore, but what a great weekend we had!
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