London, England with Viv
The weekend of September 22-24th I fly to London to spend some quality time with Viv!
I meet Viv at the airport made our way to her new home in the east of London, Forest Gate. When you walk into her place you would swear you were back in Kingston. I found it quite funny, in the picture below you can see Viv standing in here living room amongst all her teaching stuff.
My first night there Viv and I got an early sleep so that we could get a good start in the morning to see some sites and such. The picture below was taken at the train stop near Viv's house. The train ride into central London is about 20 mins, which wasn't bad at all!
Our first stop was the Piccadilly Square! A must for a trip to London. It was bustling with people and brought me right back to the first time I went to London with my Dad when I was in highschool. In the picture with me is Laura, Viv's housemate. She is also from Canada but teaches at a different school then Viv. She was really nice and I think her and Viv are going to really enjoy their time in London together.
After Piccadilly Square the three of us made our way towards Covent Gardens by foot and stopped at the shops on our way. Laura was looking for a pair of school shoes and managed to find just the perfect pair, but in London there is quite a choice! We also stopped in at H&M and Viv bought a great coat for fall. Although Viv and I have discussed and decided that she has an addiction to both coats and bags :) We decided that being in London wasn't going to make the situation better!!
And the main event of the day.....
By now I am sure many of you think I am obsessed... and you are correct! But I now have followers!! Check out their bags! Viv even bought more then did! But then again I have been to three LUSH stores since I have been in Germany :) In the store after a product demo I even heard Viv say "Where have you been all my life!" It's official Viv is now a Lushie!! :) Welcome to the club Viv, I am sure Laura will be the next to join.
After a great day of shopping, we decided to go to one of those discount theatre ticket booths to see if there were any cheap tickets for one of the many shows currently showing in London (Dirty Dancing, Guys and Dolls with Patrick Swayzy, Mary Poppins, The Producers, Avenue Q, Stomp, Wicked and many more) We ended up getting main floor tickets for the show The Producers. So the three of us got all dolled up and headed out on for a Night out at the theatre, London Style. It has official become a tradition that every time I am in London I see a play. The first time I saw Chicago, then then next time I went with my Mom and Dad to see the Lion King and now I saw The Producers! I have even bought the tickets from the same place every time at Leicester Square!
After a great night in the city of London, Viv and I decided to have a relaxing walk along the tames river and get a nice breakfast on Sunday. We ate breakfast/lunch at one of the oldest pubs in London. Supposable Shakespeare once rented a room there! Our walked ended up being a little longer then expected and the restaurant didn't end up opening until noon so we had a great carvery lunch with Yorkshire pudding!
After a great hardy meal Viv and I took to the streets again to see more of the city. As we made out way to Trafalgar Square we passed by a little piece of home, the Canadian Embassy. I still think it has one of the best location of any embassy in London, its right beside Trafalgar square and if you get the right angle on your camera you can get the Canadian flag in your picture as well as a lion from Trafalgar square :)
This is me sitting at the same lion I sat near on my first trip to London and the same lion my near when he was in London during the war. Things really come full circle!!
Here is another little piece of Canada!! The menu resembled something very close to Shoeless Joe's.
Sunday in total was quite eventful. During our walk along the tames Viv and I encountered hundreds of people running in Gorilla suits. Turns out it is an annual event for charity where people dress in gorilla suits and collect money.
Also, when Viv and I walked through Leicester Square the movie "Hoodwinked" was being premiered and the theatre was all blocked off with reporters waiting for the stars to arrive :) I thought it was pretty cool although Viv and I didn't wait for the stars to appear since there was so much to still see on London!!
The right at the end of the day after we had a drink in Covent Gardens, we realized that a whole section of the market had been evacuated and wrapped with police tape... When we asked the officer what had happened he very bluntly said it was an electrical failure... Although he could barely look us in the eye when he said it... It seems weird that you would evacuate people out of a public square for an electrical failure..
Well, all in all my weekend in London was just fabulous! Couldn't ask for a better weekend with one of my closest friends! Viv thanks for a great time! Enjoy yourself, I know you are going to be a Londoner in no time!!
I meet Viv at the airport made our way to her new home in the east of London, Forest Gate. When you walk into her place you would swear you were back in Kingston. I found it quite funny, in the picture below you can see Viv standing in here living room amongst all her teaching stuff.
My first night there Viv and I got an early sleep so that we could get a good start in the morning to see some sites and such. The picture below was taken at the train stop near Viv's house. The train ride into central London is about 20 mins, which wasn't bad at all!
Our first stop was the Piccadilly Square! A must for a trip to London. It was bustling with people and brought me right back to the first time I went to London with my Dad when I was in highschool. In the picture with me is Laura, Viv's housemate. She is also from Canada but teaches at a different school then Viv. She was really nice and I think her and Viv are going to really enjoy their time in London together.
After Piccadilly Square the three of us made our way towards Covent Gardens by foot and stopped at the shops on our way. Laura was looking for a pair of school shoes and managed to find just the perfect pair, but in London there is quite a choice! We also stopped in at H&M and Viv bought a great coat for fall. Although Viv and I have discussed and decided that she has an addiction to both coats and bags :) We decided that being in London wasn't going to make the situation better!!
And the main event of the day.....
By now I am sure many of you think I am obsessed... and you are correct! But I now have followers!! Check out their bags! Viv even bought more then did! But then again I have been to three LUSH stores since I have been in Germany :) In the store after a product demo I even heard Viv say "Where have you been all my life!" It's official Viv is now a Lushie!! :) Welcome to the club Viv, I am sure Laura will be the next to join.
After a great day of shopping, we decided to go to one of those discount theatre ticket booths to see if there were any cheap tickets for one of the many shows currently showing in London (Dirty Dancing, Guys and Dolls with Patrick Swayzy, Mary Poppins, The Producers, Avenue Q, Stomp, Wicked and many more) We ended up getting main floor tickets for the show The Producers. So the three of us got all dolled up and headed out on for a Night out at the theatre, London Style. It has official become a tradition that every time I am in London I see a play. The first time I saw Chicago, then then next time I went with my Mom and Dad to see the Lion King and now I saw The Producers! I have even bought the tickets from the same place every time at Leicester Square!
After a great night in the city of London, Viv and I decided to have a relaxing walk along the tames river and get a nice breakfast on Sunday. We ate breakfast/lunch at one of the oldest pubs in London. Supposable Shakespeare once rented a room there! Our walked ended up being a little longer then expected and the restaurant didn't end up opening until noon so we had a great carvery lunch with Yorkshire pudding!
After a great hardy meal Viv and I took to the streets again to see more of the city. As we made out way to Trafalgar Square we passed by a little piece of home, the Canadian Embassy. I still think it has one of the best location of any embassy in London, its right beside Trafalgar square and if you get the right angle on your camera you can get the Canadian flag in your picture as well as a lion from Trafalgar square :)
This is me sitting at the same lion I sat near on my first trip to London and the same lion my near when he was in London during the war. Things really come full circle!!
Here is another little piece of Canada!! The menu resembled something very close to Shoeless Joe's.
Sunday in total was quite eventful. During our walk along the tames Viv and I encountered hundreds of people running in Gorilla suits. Turns out it is an annual event for charity where people dress in gorilla suits and collect money.Also, when Viv and I walked through Leicester Square the movie "Hoodwinked" was being premiered and the theatre was all blocked off with reporters waiting for the stars to arrive :) I thought it was pretty cool although Viv and I didn't wait for the stars to appear since there was so much to still see on London!!
The right at the end of the day after we had a drink in Covent Gardens, we realized that a whole section of the market had been evacuated and wrapped with police tape... When we asked the officer what had happened he very bluntly said it was an electrical failure... Although he could barely look us in the eye when he said it... It seems weird that you would evacuate people out of a public square for an electrical failure..
Well, all in all my weekend in London was just fabulous! Couldn't ask for a better weekend with one of my closest friends! Viv thanks for a great time! Enjoy yourself, I know you are going to be a Londoner in no time!!
posted by Katie Paterson at
3:35 PM
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