London with Liz

It was great to have a few days to show Liz around London! We got back pretty late on Saturday night and had to blow up the air mattress I had gotten for Liz to use. We struggled a bit with that (and when I say we I mean she did, I was skyping for a bit with my parents during that). We finally got it blown up and went to bed so we could explore Hyde Park the next morning. Liz loves birds and we needed a chill day after running around the mainland for so long. She was pretty geeked by all the species that reside in the park, pointing and naming them as they swam by. The weather could have been warmer but was beautiful for a stroll in the park.

Hyde Park

My cousin, Elysa, was visiting London with a friend and I got to meet up with her for afternoon tea at Harrods! The tea was lovely; everyone approved of the clotted cream with scones, of course, and enjoyed their tea selections. It was great to see some family and catch up with Elysa, even if just for a few hours.

After tea we went to the London Dungeon. Eighteen actors walk you through what is supposed to be old age London or sometimes the sewer. Yuck! They impersonated the grimy or criminal figures as they walked us through 1,000 years of London history. It was interesting to learn about the people and it was done in an awesome extremely up close and personal way.

The next day we let ourselves sleep in a bit again before heading out to see the London must see sights. We made our way to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and even found the Twinings store which I hadn’t been to yet but wanted to go. Basically the typical London sites. We even walked down Portobello road, although it was rather empty being late afternoon on a week day. 

Found the Twinings store!

Liz at Trufulgar Square

That night we made our way back to the Big Ben area to ride the London Eye! An activity I hadn’t done yet. We timed it well so we ended up seeing some of the sunset on our way up and lit up buildings started to sparkle throughout the city as we made our way down. We got a great view from the top, although I would also recommend getting a view of the city including the London Eye (which you can’t do if you’re riding it…)

Big Ben and Parliament

On Liz’s last day in London she went out by herself to visit the Natural History Museum. I decided I would skip it because I needed more sleep to get ready for another week of travel and Liz felt comfortable finding her way on her own so that’s what we did. She loved the museum and said it was probably good I didn’t go because she ended up getting in on a tour, which took longer than expected but she was very excited to have the experience.

Our last hurrah was going to see The Lion King. The theatre was huge, the sets were amazing, and the costumes were some of the most intricate I’ve ever seen. From the face paint to the clothing, to the structures built to represent bigger animals, I couldn’t believe how the actors manipulated their bodies and costumes to embody the animals. The stage effects were pretty amazing as well. A couple parts stick out in my mind, one being the scene with the stampede. The way it looked like the heard was running towards the audience was pretty cool. The second part was the song He Lives in You. Rafiki really stole the show for me and that song in particular was rather moving. There were some awesome light effects used during it.

The next morning Liz left for the states and I left for Prague. I know I’ve been behind on the blog but I finally have some down time so I will be able to catch up.

Have a wonderfully marvellous evening, cheers! ~Laura