Movin' & Shakin'

As the month of November slowly comes to a close, the anticipation of returning home grows more every day!  I can almost feel the warmth of the sunshine and the tangible love of my family and friends :)  I can finally say I'll be home NEXT WEEK!  With this in mind, I've been conscious of making the most of my remaining time here.

One of my favorite activities in the city of London has been attending the theatre.  In particular, I LOVE the musicals!  I've been fortunate to see Love Never Dies (the sequel to the Phantom of the Opera) and Mamma Mia so far, and this week I look forward to seeing Wicked!  I was skeptical of Love Never Dies, as the Phantom of the Opera is a masterpiece and sequels hardly ever live up to the fame.  The plot was interesting and the music was quite catchy, but the ending... I'm still heartbroken.  I'm angry, actually.  I'll refrain from sharing since I'm sure this production will make it to the states soon!  You know it must be good if the viewer is still agitated after two full weeks of seeing the production.

 

Mamma Mia was super fun!  It's just so ridiculous!  The actors and actresses must be exhausted after every performance - I've never seen so much enthusiasm or so many smiles in two hours of my life.  The end was definitely the most fun part of the production.  The curtain call led into a concert of songs that had the audience (mostly women) dancing, clapping, and singing along.  I doubt there was a single audience member who didn't enjoy the evening!

And finally, I'm beyond excited to see Wicked tomorrow evening.  Although I've already seen the show once in Jacksonville, I highly doubt it will compare to the quality of the theatre here in London.  It will be my last show in London, and I can't think of a better show to end with :)

Now, onto the more touristy updates!  This past weekend marked my first adventure OUT of the city of London.  I booked a charter bus tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.  Windsor Castle came highly recommended by my lovely sorority sister, Stonehenge is.. Stonehenge, and Bath came highly recommended by my fabulous colleagues who visisted London over the summer.  The bus ride was slightly disorienting, but the sights were great!

Our first stop was Windsor Castle.  Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, not to mention the favorite weekend getaway of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.  Queen Elizabeth was not in residence, but Prince Harry and some of his friends were!  If the ladies in my tour group had any pull with the Royal Family, I would've been married off by the time we left.  We were not able to view the parts of the castle occupied by the Royal Family, but we did get to see the State Apartments (where visitors reside), Queen Mary's Dollhouse (a literal dollhouse of the castle - amazing!), St. George's Chapel (the onsite chapel where many monarchs are buried), and a legitimate Changing of the Guards.

This flag indicates that the Queen is not in residence :(

The area of the castle we were not permitted to visit.  Those cars belong to Prince Harry and his friends, who were visiting for the weekend to shoot rabbits and pheasant on the Royal Property.

Decisions, decisions!

The changing of the guards.  Did you know the entire process lasts about 30 minutes?

From Windsor Castle we traveled on to Stonehenge.  As I said earlier, Stonehenge is... Stonehenge.  There's honestly nothing exciting about it!  I don't see the hype.  But I walked around and took my pictures so I can say, "Been there, done that!"  It was FREEZING in the countryside!

This is especially for my dad ;)

And finally, after Stonehenge, we traveled to the city of Bath to see an historic Roman Bath.  Now THAT was a neat place!  Up until now, the Roman Baths were nothing but an emphatic lecture by Mr. Camber during freshman year of high school.  It's really neat when education and reality meet, leaving you with the realization that, "Holy cow, this is REAL!"  Obviously it's real, otherwise we wouldn't learn about it, but I think you know what I mean ;)

The city itself was much more pristine than London, and the Great Bath was awesome!  It's built around the only hot spring in the United Kingdom, and when the cold winter air met the warm water beneath, a mystical steam rose from the water, adding to the ambiance!  It was hard to resist the urge to dive in!

Needless to say, I was quite exhausted when I returned for the evening.  I called it an early night and slept well into Sunday morning!  My dreams were quite odd,  however, so I felt disjointed when I awoke.  I attended mass at St. Augustine's and returned to my flat for a Skype call with Marla.  It was great catching up with her - almost an hour flew by without my knowledge!  It was another dreary day, and in my odd mood I wanted nothing more than to curl up with the movie Pride & Prejudice.  So I did just that until it was time for Hillsong, which I attended for the first time last week.  Here are some snapshots of the theatre and the worship team.

Sunday evening was quiet as well, rounding out a perfectly pleasant weekend in Great Britain.  If all goes according to plan, it will have been my last weekend in London.  I hope to spend next weekend with family friends in York, and I'll return HOME shortly after :)

Before signing off for the day, I just have to share how much I love my sister's efforts to include me in my family's activities back home!  She created a "Flat Auntie" (similar to "Flat Stanley") that shares an adventure of her own - The Great Adventure of Daniel and Flat Auntie!  If you haven't caught up on their adventures yet, check out The Salty Mango!  I love you and miss you!