Harry Potter & The Cursed Child

 Warning, this post does NOT contain any spoilers what so ever, I'm all over that #keepthesecrets business as I have a snazzy badge which tells me to do so. (Plus I wouldn't want to upset J.K Rowling, she's a feisty bird!)

*Skip to paragraph four to avoid the ramblings* Throwback to the end of October, where I was in the height of unemployment and priority booking for the eighth Harry Potter story opened, meaning I had nothing better to do then fight other avid Potter fans for tickets. It's safe to say my laptop got a bit of a shouting at, but we got through it and I ended up with four tickets to the West End performance #BossedIt 

When booking I didn't really take into account dates, and ended up travelling home for the third weekend in a row, but who doesn't love a good road trip in Dudley when you forget about the fact that you can't feel your bottom anymore, and the battle between opening the window for fresh air or keeping it shut to stop getting blown away because you're avoiding turning on the air con to save fuel. 

Fast-forward to Sunday just gone and we were on the train heading to the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue via the box office to pick up our tickets. Before joining in the queue we decided to take a short stroll, bad decision. Ever wondered what happens when a Chinese restaurant catches fire and your in close proximity to it? It spreads pretty damn quickly and visibility is minus one-hundred. But what better way to take your mind off the fact that your lungs are filled with smoke and you're sitting in the Balcony of a very hot theatre, then by Part One starting. 

The creators behind the show did an amazing job at bringing the magic of the wizarding world to life, along with the composers and choreographers- it continually amazes me how a certain tune or dance (not that it was dancey) can reflect the scene so perfectly. The first half whizzed by, with an ice-cream interval of course, and before you know it part one is over leaving it on the biggest cliffhanger- for those of you who watch Pretty Little Liars, it felt like one of the series finales. 

A two hour break before watching part two meant time to feed the grumbling tummy. We opted for Maxwells in Covent Garden after hearing my parents rave about it, and I opted for a classic BBQ chicken, chips and apple coleslaw. It's probably most famous for it's Instagram-worthy freakshakes, but if I had one of them I would have definitely been in a food coma for the second performance and so not in the right state of mind to concentrate. 

Part Two commenced and although it was like 100 degrees inside and I could feel the sweat dripping down my face (slight exaggeration) I enjoyed every moment of it. The actors were amazing at keeping the energy alive, and the atmosphere in the theatre was incredible- you were literally surrounded by crazy Harry Potter fans who cheered when the most annoying character was defeated and laughed at every pun. 

If you can still get tickets I would 1000% recommend purchasing them as you won't be disappointed! I also realise that this is a bit of a long post, however we're currently having a Harry Potter marathon and it's taken me far too long to write this for me to go back and change it all. (Yes, we probably should have done this before seeing the play, but we like to be unconventional) 

P.S. If you can spot yourself a wizard amongst the muggles in one of these pictures then you're a true Potter fan. 

Bank Holiday Fun

Hands up if you're loving the fact that it's already Wednesday, bank holidays, I dig you. Unlike most who spent Monday morning savouring that extra lie in, I was up at 6:30 and on a train by 8:20. Crazy, I know. But rewind back to March, train tickets from York to London in May were £8 and you were well overdue a catch-up with your uni chicks, it's like a perfect maths equation.

Admittedly, the majority of our day was spent sat down gossiping about life but what girl doesn't love a good girly catch up accompanied by a Starbucks cinnamon swirl. Don't you worry though, we squeezed plenty of touristy activities in from an amble round one of my favourite parts, Covent Garden, to strolling down the Embankment, to being cultured in The Tate, which I'd never been to before. Not only did I manage to do one new thing, but for food we headed to GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) which I had also never been to- shocking for a burger lover like me. I kept it classical with a good ol' beef burger, but went adventurous with a tropical twist of an added pineapple, cos I'm a fancy pants like that. It was lip-smackingly good and if you're ever not sure what drink to refresh your palette with, I would highly recommend the strawberry and elderflower fizz.

One thing I wouldn't recommend though is reading P.S. I Love You on your train journey surrounded by many other train users. I did finish the whole thing in the space of two 120 minute train rides, however it did leave me wanting to cry with every page. Either that or I was just heartbroken that I had to say goodbye to my chums for another few months. Until my next adventure in the big smoke.

Saturday in the City

I'm currently sitting on the sofa, catching up on Gogglebox, surrounded by snotty tissues and have been in my pajamas since 4 o'clock. TMI? Maybe, but it's a sign that I had a fabulous day in London yesterday. My day started by leaving the house at 7:20 in the morning, I know, no-one should be out of the house at that time on a Saturday morning unless you're going on holiday. I then hopped onto a train and spent the following two hours snoozing, browsing the web and completing Sudoku's, yes I am a nerd, no I don't care. 

On arrival I headed over to Platform 9 and 3/4 to meet up with two of my uni girlfriends, Ellie and Gaby, who I hadn't seen since the end of may, far too long if you ask me! Our first destination was Leicester Square to scout out some cheap West End tickets and we did just that. £27 later and we had seats to the matinee performance of Wicked, bargain right! (They may have been right at the back in the corner, but that didn't hinder the enjoyment and it meant we got to use those cute red binoculars). The £27 also got us a free drink and a cake in the company's cafe on Shaftesbury Avenue which was a lovely added extra, and a nice way to catch up. If you're wondering I opted for a hot chocolate (of course) and a raspberry and white chocolate muffin. 

After we'd warmed up and filled our tummies, we went for a wander and became tourists, ambling round M&M world, roaming round Covent Garden and sitting and watching the street performers. Two o'clock soon came around, so we grabbed some lunch at EAT and made our way over to Victoria. If any of you haven't seen Wicked then I couldn't recommend that you see it more! The performer's voices are incredible and the story couldn't be more gripping. (And when you can get seats for £27 why wouldn't you want to!)

Once the show had finished, our three man band was down to two as Gaby had a train to catch, so me and Ellie headed over to Embankment to find somewhere to go for dinner, it was a good food day. We sat down for cocktails at Las Iguanas, then ventured over to Wahaca for some grub, an unusual but yummy restaurant. We did the usual and ordered too much, so decided to go for a romantic walk along the Thames, admiring the pretty sights and lights. Big Ben chimed 8, and it was time to go our separate ways, but fear not we shall be reunited in just over a months time for Graduation and I cannot wait. I had a lovely day and can't wait to do it again in the future!

Adventures in London: Part 2

As promised I'm back with the second installment to my London adventure which was exactly a week ago today! This time last week I was lounging on a bean bag, after an awkward 'we got here first' encounter with another couple (soz) listening to an African steel drum band and watching the world go by. That was at the end of the night though, if we rewind three hours earlier we had just arrived at the zoo to be greeted by safari wardens on stilts and our zoo map (who doesn't love a good zoo map).

We wandered aimlessly to begin with through the aquarium and reptile house (ten points if you can spot the rattle snake) to find ourselves among the Galapagos, aka giant turtles, who as you'd expect weren't really moving very far. After that we then went down under to the outback, and watch baby kangaroos hop around and listen to emus make some very weird noises.

Unfortunately the gorilla kingdom was closed as it was past their 5 month old's bedtime, and the lions are getting a new home so they are on holiday at Whipsnade zoo at the moment, but this gave us more time to see everything else, with our next animal encounter being the tigers. Their such beautiful creatures, and there was no better occasion for me to whack out my tiger ears (sass was in full swing). After walking around their enclosure for what felt like forever but was in fact just the long we round, we took a walk over to Africa (if only it was that easy) to catch feeding time with the giraffes. Their long necks, legs, tongues, bodies in general fascinate me and they put on a show for the audience by chasing each other around. Africa also led us to the zebras, okapis (which nearly overtook Jay's favourite animal), meerkats, monkeys, pygmy hippos (then we saw these and his favourite was reaffirmed).

Now I know what you were thinking, when did you have time to eat? Well we finished off our tour to then hit up the food stalls set up. There was far too much to chose from, but of course I went for a classic burger with bacon, cheese and pineapple and some rosemary chips from BIT bourbon steamed burgers. I was too busy scuffing my face to get a picture (ladylike I know) but you could always check out their Instagram if you want to see the beauty I devoured! After this we then unwound on the green, lying on that bean bag I mentioned earlier.

All in all, it was a lovely day/evening/night and would recommend to anyone if they like zoo's and food. Now, it seems to be past my bedtime as I'm off to France tomorrow, at 3am, so I should probably get some of that beauty sleep considering I have to be up in four hours and 22 minutes. I will be back soon with some hopefully exciting blog posts from my life across the pond. Au Revoir!

Adventures in London: Part 1

Where has this weekend gone? Since having a job, I've felt like I really understand those who say they're 'living for the weekend'. Luckily for me, this weekend was a long weekend as I had my first day off work in a long time on Friday and we were going to London, not to buy a heat magazine though, but to celebrate our three year anniversary. Our main activity of the day was visiting ZSL London Zoo's Sunset Safari, but that is all to come in part two later on this week as for now you can delve into our pre-zoo adventures. I started off spending the morning lazing around in my pjs, doing a spot of last-minute online holiday shopping for next week (I'm off to the land of moules et frites, BNs and Disneyland). As the clock struck twelve it meant Jay finished work and our day of activities could begin; after I'd finished getting ready as I did the typical 'oh-no-I've-laid-in-bed-for-too-long-and-don't-have-enough-time-to-get-ready'.

Our train journey was a short and sweet taking us into Kings Cross, where we decided our first stop would be Green Park, as you can't go to London on a beautiful sunny day and not visit one of their parks! We took a nice stroll down the middle of the park past those picnicking, sunbathing and chilling on deck chairs, taking us back to our younger years of eighteen-year-old selves where we spent an afternoon people-watching on those contraptions. Our nice walk then turned into a treasure hunt to find the nearest cash point (who doesn't take cash out when they're going into London, duhhhhh) and our adventure continued onto our second destination.

This time we hopped on the Bakerloo line and took ourselves up to Warwick Avenue, yes I had to stop myself from belting out Duffy, where we stumbled (a planned stumble) onto Little Venice. A quaint little part of London that houses canal boats like the ones on Rosie and Jim. It was so peaceful you didn't feel like you were in the heart of the country, surrounded by ducks, geese and moorhens.

We stopped for a tea break on The Waterside Cafe, a canal boat tea room, that offered anything from coffee and cake, to fruit, to omelettes and jacket potatoes. We went for three slices of watermelon each, lovely and refreshing after long walks in the sun. Once we had devoured our food we decided to catch a ride on the water bus, taking us on a fifty minute guided tour up the river to Camden Lock for only £8.30pp, bargin! Obviously, arriving into Camden at six o'clock on a Friday night meant the atmosphere was in full swing, with a whole array of sights, sounds (and smells) to take in. Unfortunately, it was a whistle stop your through Camden as we had a zoo to get to, but it's definitely on the to-do-list for a Friday night with friends! That's all for now about my London adventures, I'll be back with part 2 later in the week!