Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

On Friday, Jess, Mika, and I went to go see Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. We have literally been talking about seeing this musical since we got here due to our numerous meanderings passing by the Palace theatre outfitted with a giant stilleto and shimmer. We finally bit the bullet and bought £20 tickets randomly for Friday.

So, we arrived at around 7pm for the show at 7:30 and were directed to our seats. Now, when we bought the tickets, I understood they might not be the best since they were only £20, but we were in for a shock when we got there. We had to walk up over 5 flights of stairs for the balcony seats, and once we were there, it looked like it was such a sharp incline forward it felt like you were going to take a tumble. Anywho, the curtain rose and its just history from then. I don't think I have laughed nearly as much as I did during the entire time. There was some times when I felt like I was going to start crying from laughing. I will dare say I did have reservations going into it, drag queens, really? I mean, I saw Priscilla in my IDH4200: Australia class with Dr. Erben two years ago, so I knew what I was getting myself into, but it was so much better than I thought. Needless to say, the three of us were singing along with everyone else, continuing on down to the tube back to Colindale.

The Divas

Tick, Bernadette, and Felicia

Felicia, Bernadette, and Tick

Fish and Chips + Walk along the Thames

So, it has yet again been another incredibly busy week here in London. For one, Jess and I had our mock United Nations Security Council paper and Security Council presentation day last week. The paper took and extremely long time and the mock UN possibly took even longer to complete, but we finally have finished it! So for the past couple of days we have had a bit of breather to relax and do some more London-y things. On Friday, Jess, Mika, and I went down to Charing Cross to go clubbing, but Jess didn't have her I.D. and wound up not being allowed in. It turns out we had more fun roaming around Southern London than we would have had in the club. We strolled across the bridge towards Southie, and meandered along the riverwalk, actually wound up walking along the river at one point. We continued on further towards St. Paul's and towards the City of London, crossing the Millennium Bridge breakdancing was probably even more priceless. All in all it was a good night in the end.

On Wednesday, Jess, Mika, Cat, Nick, and I headed down into town down by London Bridge underground stop and had a good 'ole pub night. We acquired an amazing table overlooking the Thames and actually got there to see a magnificent sunset. After a bit, the temperature began to drop significantly, so we made our way inside to grab some dinner. For the first, and decidedly the last time, I ordered Fish and Chips. I think I am just going to stick to chicken, but alas, I can now say I have had an official English dinner.

In other news, I have officially booked Amsterdam and Dublin in the upcoming weeks and we are finally in the last 90 days of the trip. It's hard to imagine its already the halfway mark, and I imagine it is just going to continue to sail by, especially with the papers and the upcoming travels.

St. Paddy's Day + Queen of Hoxton

On Saturday, Mika, Jess, and I went down towards Embankment and headed towards a new/retro indie hipster bar called the Queen of Hoxton. Supposedly, according to TimeOutLondon, the bar was supposed to be amazing, but it was more or less alright. We wound up leaving around 1am and hit up another Kebab/Fried Chicken Restaurant in search of the N5 bus back to Colindale. Ultimately, we wound up walking around and running into the two craziest crazies we have met in London since January. Both were King's College students, Brit and Frenchie, and were desperately searching for directions on how to get to their bus station. Now, with my iPhone in hand, we gave them directions which were along the same way we were going so we talked for the time, only to hear some of the most wacked out stories I have ever heard. Anywho, we got to our stop, avoiding the dreaded N91 bus to Cockfosters, and got back to Colindale around 3:30am.

On Sunday, London celebrated St. Paddy's Day in Trafalgar Square with some good 'ole Irish music. We got down to Leicester Square around 2pm and there must have been at least a good 100,000 people already there, with more on the way. There were thousands, upon thousands more people there than on Chinese New Years. They didn't have much traditional Irish fare food, but the Guinness was flowing, so it felt somewhat authentic. After about 4-5hrs. there, we headed back to the dorms.

London Eye

Last night was one of the best nights I have had in a long time. The London Eye had just opened this week and as part of their 10th birthday celebrations, the first week they were offering £10 tickets, which is almost 50% off, and it was also Noora's last night in London, we decided it would be something fun for the five of us (Jess, Me, Cat, Noora, and Mika). We had an original flight time at 6pm and wound up just meeting Noora and Mika at the London Eye, which is off of Embankment in Southie. We somehow wound up getting a perfect time in the continuous boarding scheme and ultimately had an entire private capsule for the 5 of us. The Eye revolves once every half hour and the views are just out of this world. The panoramas of Parliament and Westminster Abbey and everything up and down the Thames was just magical. The weather was not cooperating with us and we had planned for the sunset to coincide, but it was still something very cool to see and do. After a good thirty minutes of laughing and taking about 500 photos between the three of us, we headed down Waterloo in Southie to check out some possible restaurant options. After being lured into a Turkish restaurant with a cheap dinner, it turned out it is only valid for a short period of time. After a little prodding, the manager gave us a round of Baklava for the table, which was incredible. After some more shenanigans across the the Thames, we reboarded the Tube and headed back to Colindale.

Cat, Jess, Noora, and Mika at Waterloo Station

The London Eye

Go Bulls!

Mika and Noora

Big Ben and Parliament

After Skool Klub

Last night, we all headed down to Charing Cross station and decided on going to this club at King's College down by the Thames River. We ultimately ended up getting down there earlier than the club opened (11pm, really?) so we headed towards a local pub around the area. After a quick pint at the pub, we headed towards King's College and got into the club for only £3, which is considerably cheap for a Saturday night. After a quick ride up the elevator, Noora, Mika, Jess, and I wound up getting a booth overlooking the Thames at night, which is gorgeous, especially seeing the London Eye light up and all the other buildings along the river. Around midnight, the club started to get more crowded and started to play the good stuff. Around 2:30, we all decided to call it a night and for once got on the right bus (N5) back to Edgeware. We got back to Colindale station around 3:30 only to get hit with -5ºC artic wind that is outer London.

Avenue Q

Tonight, Jess and I went down Leicester Square and got tickets to Avenue Q from tkts. Motivated by the fact tickets were only £22 and having been told that the show was extremely raunchy and funny, we bought tickets and headed down to the theater. The show was shown at the Gielgud Theatre off of Shaftesbury street and started at 8pm. The show was hilarious from beginning to end and is just so completely strung-out there but it was a riotous good time. I think by far our favorite song was the "Internet is for porn!" sung by Monster himself. I think we were both on the edge of tears by the end of it. Haha.

Canterbury + Dover

On Friday, we left London to head out to Canterbury in southern England. After a rather sleepless Thursday night, we left at the brink of dawn on the tube to head to Victoria Station to get on the National Express bus to Canterbury. After about an hour and a half on the bus, we arrived in Canterbury only to find the wind wiping, but the sun was shining. After stopping by this bed and breakfast a bit on the outskirts of town, we headed back into town to explore. We went around the town, visiting the local shops, had lunch a Thai pub called the Hobgoblin, saw the beautiful cathedral but didn’t go in because of its 15quid entrance fee.

It was the epitome of the quaint little English town that you think of when you think of England. It was by far, no where near as big London or even Tampa for instance, leaving the streets after dark rather empty. Jess and I dined at an Italian Restaurant, which was very good and headed back to the room. We wound up soaking up the fluffy and comfortable beds the inn had and called it a night.

On Saturday, the four of us headed out of the inn late and headed back into town. We wound up getting some very good fried chicken and chips in a newspaper wrapping for dirt cheap – ultimately being the most tasty food we have had so far. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping and perusing the shops some more before the bus left at around 8:30pm that night. After arriving back to Victoria station at around 10pm, we got back on the packed tube filled with the drunks and finally made it back to Colindale about an hour later.

Being Religious

Oi! It's a moat!

Driving through a castle

The doors are really small.

Dance of Joy for a comfy bed!