Laura, a friend that I met on the ship who works in the spa who is from Liverpool, came over to Canada to do some visiting on my side of the world for a week. While she was here we hit a few places so she could get a feel for what Canada is like. She stayed here in my hometown most of the time, where she got to see my musical - twice! (Lucky her ;) ) We also took a road trip to Toronto where I took her up the famous CN Tower as well as to Real Sports bar where we got to watch the Sens beat the Canadiens (woooo!) Then the next day we hit up the Eaton Centre so she could get her shop on and then back on the road off to Niagara Falls. NF ended up being a bit of a bust because it was POURING but I suppose we were going to get wet anyway. Either way she said she had a good time which was good but then back to CP we went. We did a bit of Ottawa tourism in the Byward Market and we did Parliament and that kind of stuff. The final night she was here we got to go to one of my best friends weddings which was so much fun and I'm glad she got to join me in that. She got along so well with my other friends there too!
The day after the wedding it was time to pack for England - another week long adventure together on the other side of the pond. As soon as we landed there, Sam, another one of my friends that I met on the ship, met as at Heathrow and took us straight to his flat where we got to stay while in London. We dropped off our stuff, got changed and off we went on a fun filled day around London. First stop, Trafalgar Square.
Next stop, Big Ben and Parliament.
After that, walked through St. James Park to get to Buckingham Palace!
And of course the Mall
After Buckingham Palace, Sam left us as our tour guide and we were off on our own and we made our way to Madame Tussaud's where we got to meet some pretty some people. Like One Direction. ;)
And of course my husband, Prince Harry <3
After Madame Tussaud's we got on the tube to go down to Oxford Circus to see if we can get tickets for a show for that night. We originally planned on seeing 'A Chorus Line' that night but the tickets were cheaper for the following night and we ended up with great seats for the show 'Viva Forever' which features all Spice Girls music! It was such a high energy, fun show and I loved every second of it. I'm glad we saw it when we did because it closes in a few weeks :( After buying our tickets, we walked up and down Oxford Street just to see what kinds of shops were there for when we wanted to go back to shop on Wednesday. We ended up walking down to Picadilly Circus from Oxford Circus to go see the show - probably could've taken the tube but hey, we walked all day, what's another mile or 2 more -_- Needless to say by the end of the first day we were 'knackered' but it was all well worth it.
On to day 2 :) There wasn't much on our itinerary for Day 2 because we knew that what we really wanted to do was north of London in Watford - and that was the Harry Potter Studios Tour <3 That was such an incredible experience. Seeing every little detail of what was in the movie. All the sets, all the props, all the hair and make-up, the CG and even flying our own broom sticks and having a wand duel! (I won the wand duel just so you know - it was because I had a Weasley wand)
In the great hall
4 Privet Drive - no one was home :(
the entirety of Hogwarts
All of the wands from Olivanders!
After Harry Potter, we went back to the flat so we could get changed and ready for the next show we were going to: 'A Chorus Line'. After having watched the movie of this show I don't know how many times since I was probably about 5 or 6, seeing it on stage was amazing and even better than I expected. Plus our seats were upgraded - always a plus! After a busy 2nd day, it was time for a bed.
The next morning, we got up quite early to start our adventures for the day. First stop: Abbey Road! You can't go to England and not visit Abbey Road.
After Abbey Road, we worked our way over to the London Eye so we could see all of London from high above. The view was incredible and you could pretty much see EVERYTHING.
After the London Eye, we thought we could walk to the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge, but after 2 full days of walking, and a little bit of jet lag we were a little tired so we got on a the tube and went to London Bridge, where we took pictures with the Tower Bridge in the background :p
After the London Bridge we walked over to the Globe Theatre. We didn't go in it, but it was cool to go and see Shakespeare's theatre. It wasn't as big as I thought it was but I suppose it was still a good size!
After the Globe Theatre we decided it was finally time for some shopping so we headed over to Oxford Circus and did all sorts of shopping on Oxford Street, especially at Primark. I wish we had a Primark here! Loved everything in the store - probably could've come home with 1 of everything!! This was our last night in London, so we went to a Wetherspoons that was around the corner from the flat and dined there. Another girl that worked on the ship with us ended up meeting us there which was a nice surprise! And that night, was well, one to remember ;) Oh dear Laura. The next day we had to venture up to Watford again so Laura could finalize some things for her next contract and then had to race back to London to catch our coach bus to go up to Liverpool that night. We ended up in Liverpool just before midnight I guess and then the next day we started some touristy stuff again. Of course, if you're in Liverpool, you have to go to the Beatles Museum.
We also did the Liverpool wheel outside the museum so we could look over the Mersey :)
and Laura took me past her fave football teams stadium, Everton.
We went out that night to their local pub called The Crofters and then went downtown Liverpool for a night out with some of her friends. We went to a place called PopWorld which was by far one of my favourite clubs I've ever been to and then to another bar that was 'up and to the right' ... -_- lol it wasn't. The next day we slept in a bit and then took a trip over to Manchester to check out the Trafford Centre which was enormous! As well as checking out the Manchester United stadium.
We thought we'd take a stroll down Penny Lane too ;)
And make our way to Sgt. Peppers :)
It was time for our last night and last meal together so we decided to get fancy.
We went to a restaurant called Circo that was on the Albert Docks. It's a circus themed restaurant so we got dinner and a show with some acrobats in there.
Most of my British family is from Cheltenham so I thought this sign was appropriate!
By the Liverpool Wheel at Night
On our way to London to catch my flight back to Canada, Laura and her Mum were nice enough to detour to Windsor so I could visit the in-laws at Windsor Castle.
Hope you made it through all that and entries will be a bit more frequent now that I'm starting ship life again!
Jodi xo
Loved reading this :)
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