We drop the car off and arrive at our hotel which is by Euston station. Really not much of a 5 min walk to Kings Cross station which is the best underground station to be near by.
That afternoon we walked around - checked on where everything was and went to a show (Les Mis) in the Westend. Had to check it all out on maps but this was Friday night and the place was bedlam! People everywhere!We sat down at a pub, bought a pint and just watched everyone go by, had a pub meal and another pint and looked around the west end. Only to discover we were in Soho on one street, walk a couple of streets and found China town over a few streets (quite cool with lanterns and pergolas etc) Some very dodgy meat hanging up in the windows, live crabs waiting to go on the grill alive ...... Anyway went to the show (Dave's choice) and very well done. The men singers were fantastic, very strong and powerful. The two main women roles however had quite weak voices which was a shame. The inn keeper wife and husband were just plain hilarious! better than the film. All in all a long day considering we had driven from Brighton, dropped the car off, got to London.
The next day we had decided to go into town to see Buckingham Palace, etc so walked down early to Kings Cross and on the way found a bar which was advertising cheap breakfasts, stroll in and on the big screen was ........ the all blacks! Dave ordered, sat down in front never to move again until the final whistle. Lots of cheering from our table ... had to apologize to the other customers who were Asian and very bemused by it all! Needless to say Dave was as happy as a sandboy and put him in a good mood for the day. And what a day!
Off at Green Park and wandered along a long way pass Hyde Park (do you know they ride horses along the paths there .. amongst the cyclists and runners and walkers?!). Very pretty with the Autumn colours coming through. More walking and low and behold was Harrods! Never been there before so decided to look (couldn't afford). OOOhh Laalaa!
What a place ... never realised it was so big. Went from the bottom (wine) up. (the New Zealand wine section only had wines from Malborough - no Hawkes Bay ones at all)Amazing areas of high fashion clothes and shoes - each brand has it's little shop off a main corridor (say on the shoe level - Jimmy Choo has it's own little room). Was fascinating.
I ended up in the Christmas Shop! Yes folks - Harrod's has a huge Christmas shop which is massive. I was in love ..... lots of people but honestly everything was so precious and fragile I couldn't get it back safely.
After Harrod's was back to Green Park and down through it to Buckingham Palace to see Queenie. There were lots of people going in the same direction and at the end huge crowds were lining the streets, up on the gates, down the Mall for what? we wondered? I of course got to the front to see as the road was blocked off, and then the palace gates open and soldiers in beehive head gear started marching and bands playing, and then another band etc. I was excited thinking it was something which Queen would be part of .. but no. Just the soldiers and bands!
On the way back through the park there was a lovely squirrel oblivious to all the crowds, just happily munching on an acorn.
After that was the British Museum. Now that is a huge building - takes up a whole block.This was Saturday so quite crowded, but not so bad. The first thing we saw was the Easter Island statue towering over us.
The museum put out a guide with the must sees if you only have an hour or so - so I put the guide book in Dave's hands and said .... take me there!
Naturally, after all this walking we were rather tired (been on the go since 8am) so walked back to our hotel (5 mins away from the museum) and crashed for a couple of hours.
Then it was up and off to Covent Garden this time for dinner and a show. We walked around the streets just looking, and honestly on every street and corner was a theatre. Our theatre was opposite the Opera House (very small). I saw Lion King, Carole King tribute, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Aladdin all from our corner. Needless to say there were lots of family groups taking their kids to the kiddie type shows which was nice. Once again we had a pub meal - places were packed and people were standing outside on the footpaths drinking their beer. All restaurants had lines outside waiting for a table to come clear. Very busy place.
Our show was Mamma Mia (again Dave's choice) but something I enjoy. It was really good too. This time the women characters had amazing voices, with good back up chorus. The men were ok but not as strong. Very funny in parts and everyone up dancing and singing at the end. A good night. A long day!
Sunday was up bright and early to get to the underground by 7.30am to get to Baker Street (think Sherlock Holmes) to be picked up by a bus to go on our Harry Potter Studio Tour! We got picked up by 8.25am got there by 9.15 (it is out in the country - these are the Warner Brother studios that made the films). Doors opened in at 9.30 and then you checked out the shop (huge!) and lined up to be let in. My god ... you started with a short film from the 3 main characters about the making of the films and in you go! They have most of the original props, sets, wigs, clothes, special effects props, all in different areas and made up like you would see on the movie. The whole place is made up of two big sound stages with outside area. You have TV's showing how they made these things beside them, and what it looked like in the movies in case you had forgotten. Luckily I had Mr Expert Dave who could tell me everything! Before we started we had a photo of us dressed up in cloaks and wands being wizards and I had a broomstick ride put on DVD! yay! very exciting!
I was blown away at how clever these construction and special effects people were. The designing of the sets and the detail in the props were amazing - yet you don't notice it all that much in the movies. I now know how they made the Quiddich game! Quite a few people but not pushing like Disneyland. They have groups of people go through every hour so it is quite controlled and everyone has time to look and read and watch the explanations etc. Nice to see these little kids having the time of their lives. I bought Dumbledor's wand to use as my magic pointer (it was the best looking wand).
All of that finished and we were back in our hotel about 3pm and crashed again!
No comments:
Post a Comment