A Brief Overview of the Greatest Trip of my Life
- While on the plane, I can't sleep. Merp. Listen to music and watch movies.
- As we fly over London, "The City" by The 1975 plays. Perfection.
- WE SAW MARIAH and got her for a solid 4 days. I love that girl so much.
- Jetlag is real. Toilets are weird. England is expensive. There are sheep everywhere. The grass is so flipping green. Every inch of this country is beautiful.
- Stonehenge. It's so cool. And so mysterious. I loved it. But I for one believe rocks are made to be sat upon. No one seemed to agree with me.
- BATH (hometown of Charlie McDonnell haha fangirl mode on)
- The Francis Hotel in Bath is LEGIT. Best hotel of the whole trip. Stay there.
- Cathedral of Bath
- Sick on Day 2, way to go Sammy!
- Roman Baths. Healing waters man. And so many Roman ruins!!!
- Glastonbury Abbey aka the largest Abbey in Europe before it fell to ruin, thank you Henry and the Austen family. The walls still have some color. The building was massive. And we found out tons about the monks that lived there. Carvings are a motif in literally every building we entered. It also may or may not be the burial place of King Arthur
- Wells Cathedral. Probably my favorite building we entered the whole trip. SO absolutely stunning. Beautiful stained glass, giant chapel, hilarious carvings, unique scissor arches, awesome organ, wonderful choir room, THE COOLEST CLOCK I'VE EVER SEEN, and even a beautiful street where the members of the choir live.
- The Tor. Didn't actually get to climb to the Tor, just climbed the hill. But that view <3
- Peter Pan Panto. Hilarious. And so many references. I died!
- History tour of Bath. Such a great city.
- CARDIFF
- Cardiff Castle. Ruined building, with only maybe 3 rooms still intact. An impressive war time tunnel, spooky and fun! And a tower with 100 steps. Great climb, but not the best view thanks to the rainy weather.
- Jack & the Beanstalk Panto OMG. Best panto ever. The fairy was HILARIOUS. Great music choices. Set as legit. That giant amazed me. Great dancers. Precious children. And I WANT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE COSTUMES. Also, the villain? Fleshcreep? Ugh. New dream role haha
- Millenium Stadium. So big! So cool! It made me want to watch Rugby.
- Doctor Who Experience. LEGIT. We drove the Tardis and got caught by Daleks and walked through a cemetery filled with Walking Angels and UGH so cool. Matt Smith pretty much MADE the whole thing (recordings, not actual Matt Smith). Museum filled with old sets and props and costumes and suits. And a fantastic gift shop.
- STRATFORD
- Royal Shakespeare Company. Tour of the theatre as well as an acting work shop HOLY CRAP I want to work there. I wish. The costumes and stage and set and lighting instruments and sound system and fly system and wig/make-up professionals and I just cannot deal. I want it to badly.
- Tour of Stratford upon Avon. Saw basically all the major places in Shakespeare's life, including the church he's buried in. Everything is so old and so pretty! Saw Anne Hathaway's cottage. Everything in England is so small! All the doors and beds are my size! The last part of Anne Hathaway's cottage had a little bulletin board where couples would write the stories of how they fell in love. So many of them were of people who did theatre together :)
- Warwick Castle. The princess tower was only for kids ages 3-8. Heart. BROKEN. But they had a bunch of other awesome towers and tunnels and attractions and gift shops and bird shows. There were peacocks just walking around all over the grounds like it was nothing. It was more like they turned an old castle into a theme park. I wish there was a bit more history, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- If you ever get the chance to see Wendy & Peter Pan do it. It's not at all what I thought it would be. It's so dark and different and good. Whether or not you liked it, you cannot walk out of that auditorium without truly feeling something. It was pretty mind-boggling. I could rant about that show for the rest of my life, truly I could.
- OXFORD
- Oxford University College tour. Meh. Oxford. To big. Too fancy. Too cold! And a lot like Hogwarts.
- Lunch at the pub where C.S.Lewis &Tolkein went to every Tuesday!
- ENTER LONDON. Look for famous people everywhere like the fangirls we are haha
- First time on a double decker bus, touring London. We walk on the London Bridge We see the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Fleet Street (there was actually a barber shop there omg), Leister Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covenant Garden, Totem Court, Trafalgar Square, Kings Cross, just omg everything.
- Buckingham Palace. SO BIG AND PRETTY AND HORSES AND GUARDS AND AH! Cristina will be there some day ^_^ haha
- Saw One Man Two Governors. I don't know if I could ever sit through it again, but I definitely laughed until my whole body hurt and had a blast of a time.
- British museum. The history. So impressive. So many cultures that just leave you in absolute awe. And some of those exhibits. WTF England. "Hey that trip to Rome was fun!" "Yeah, but what should we take as a souvenir?" "Hmm, good question. I dunno, how about THIS TEMPLE?!"
- Royal Theatre on Drury Lane. Oldest theatre in West End. Over 500 ghosts. So. Pretty. So impressive. And they have a room for when the "King" visits. Except, there is no King, so now the Queen & the Princes use it. Also apparently Michael Jackson used it.
- National Gallery. You're gonna love the art.
- EFFING BACKSTAGE PASS INTO LES MISERABLES. I STOOD ON THAT STAGE. I could've cried. Seriously. Looking into that audience from the turntable was so overwhelming. I couldn't believe it. Also, we were accompanied by Anton (Enjolras) who I know form his youtube channel so while all the girls were smitten and in love I was like LOL dibs, as well as Rob (Marius) who is just the most precious baby. All thanks to our friend Cait who knows Scott Allen and got us the hook-up. Seriously, I can never thank her enough.
- Les Mis was Les Mis. But I loved it all. I so enjoyed watching everyone perform. All the songs are stuck in my head. I want a recording of specifically that performance (except I want the real Fantine cause we got the understudy and she wasn't that great). Also. Umm. Carrie was phenomonal.
- She gets her own bullet. Oh my Lord. I love her. I'm so happy for her. There she was. Carrie Hope Fletcher (don't act like you don't know, I talk about her on this blog all the time). Performing her soul out. She does this everyday. She lives her dream everyday. She lives MY DREAM everyday. I couldn't be more proud. And I was so scared that I wouldn't like her. That I'd finally see her perform and think "wow, she can't act". But she was easily one of the best performers on that stage. And that's not just me being biased, the people I asked in my class agreed with me. Ugh. I love her.
- I met her. I met Carrie Hope Fletcher. I ACTUALLY. MET HER. And I it wasn't much to her. I mean it was because she loves meeting her Hopefuls and knowing she's made a difference. But to me. It was EVERYTHING. Best part of the whole trip. I seriously could not have been happier or more excited. I almost cried afterwards. She's smaller than I thought she'd be! And she's just so sweet. I'm so lucky I love such a wonderful person.
- RIDING THE TUBE! AHHH! I'm such a tourist.
- Original site of The Globe theatre and a tour of the new one. Ah! So cool. And authentic!
- Tate Modern. All the art.
- Millenium Bridge! Important for reasons!
- St. Paul's. Entry was 16 pounds. Umm no not about that life. That's too many American dollars to enter a church. But I'm so bitter and regret that decision because I adore churches, really truly.
- Guild Hall. QUITE the impressive building. With sides for "Ayes" and "Noes". We also saw more art! And ruins of the Roman Amphitheater, cool cool cool!
- Fortune's Fool at the Old Vic Theatre. Meh. Russian Comedy.
- Now I'm home. I'm back home. I'm in the USA. It's not nearly as pretty here. But I'm in my own bed and I have my mommy to make me healthy again and I get to see my sister and my niece and eat homecooked meals and not worry about which way to look when crossing the road because PEOPLE DRIVE ON THE RIGHT SIDE and I'm home and it's wonderful.
