This weekend Lewis and I embarked on our first trip of the year....
Back in January I saw a really good deal for train tickets and a show in London, so I decided to book it for us to go for Lewis' birthday (18th March). Before I knew it I was bugging my theatre loving friend to advise me on which show we should see, which seats were good and whether I was getting a good deal on the hotel. Back then, it seemed like an age away but it came round so quickly and we went last weekend! It was a complete surprise for Lewis, he came home from work after a half day and was welcomed by a back pack and me hiding in a cupboard!
We stayed in the Travelodge at Marylebone, our room faced the station, I would definitely recommend the hotel. We paid £80 for the night which would be quite steep anywhere other than London. I thought it was pretty decent for where we were, so close to the train station and the underground.
Failing to keep up on the surprises I told Lewis once we had got to the hotel that we didn't have much time to chill. We needed to get ready to go out. We traveled on the underground to Charing Cross, which came out at Trafalgar Square. Its a lot smaller than I had imagined but I think that was the case for London in general. I thought everything was going to be overpowering and intimidating but it was great!
We ate at Garfunkels on The Strand. This was based on a recommendation from my theatre nut friend, she had assured me that the prices where none too different compared to your average TGI Fridays etc. One thing that had worried me when I was organising the trip had been the price food and drink in London. I was right to trust her, we both had fish and chips which was lovely and the waiters were all Italian and couldn't do enough for you. Afterwards we took a short walk a little further down The Strand and found the Lyceum Theatre, to see The Lion King, without much difficulty.
The seats we had, as you can see from the picture were brilliant. Especially when you consider that I had saved £20 on each ticket by buying through Amazon Local. There was no photography allowed during the performance so sorry for the lack of photos.
As someone who has never seen a West End show before, I thought it had everything. It captured a story from my childhood and brought it to life on the stage so brilliantly. If you have seen it before you will know that the actors are quite literally the animals, with the help on very clever costuming and props. The songs written by Elton John enhanced the atmosphere of each scene spectacularly and I left wanting to watch it again.
On the walk back to the underground we were able to see The National Gallery and the fountains all lit up in Trafalgar. Of course we couldn't resist the photo opportunity. There's me there with my Lion King merchandise, a T-Shirt, Mug and Programme. My mom always told me that you have to get a programme at these kinds of things for sentimental reasons and I just can't help myself.
We got the underground back and for some crazy reason decided to take the stairs rather than the escalator! You think its a great idea before you look up and realise that you can't actually see where the stairs end! That's Lewis at the top speeding up, leaving me trailing behind!
The next morning we were up and out quite early. The plan was to go on the London Eye before we had to get to Leicester Square for a Harry Potter walking tour. We got some great pictures while walking across The Golden Jubilee Bridge. We were actually quite blessed by the weather that morning but it went overcast in the afternoon, I was just glad it wasn't raining!
There was a huge queue for the London Eye, even at ten in the morning. We decided to just take a long walk along the river and back across the river and walk to Leicester Square. This meant we could walk past Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and The Houses of Parliament as well.
Lewis was in awe of this guard with his MP5, so of course he needed to take a picture. If I'm honest it was the first time I had seen an armed guard as well!
We did eventually find Leicester Square, we thought we were lost at one point but thankfully Lewis had Google Maps on his phone (which was needed countless times over the two days) and we soon found where we were supposed to go. We saw that there is an M and M World and had to take a look, it is without a doubt the most colourful place I have been in (other than Disney World of course!). M and M's were on everything, from mugs to luggage tags!
The Harry Potter Walking Tour
The following photos are from our Harry Potter walking tour. If you are a Harry Potter fan you would love this tour! You find out little snippets of extra information giving you insights into how they filmed the films and the reasons why certain buildings and streets in London were chosen. The guides were really knowledgeable about J.K herself and also pointed out interesting things to see along the way.
Cecil Court, the inspiration for Diagon Alley.
The Millennium Bridge, blown up by the Death Eaters at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Over 1 million pounds was spent taking pictures of this bridge from different angles and recreating it using CGI in order to blow it up. It was the most expensive scene across all of the films.
St Paul's Cathedral, they used the staircase which sits within the dome section of the building for the spiral staircase which leads up to Divination in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The old Ministry of Defence building, also the location of the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince/ Deathly Hallows Part 1. This street is home to a red telephone box which is referred to as the visitors entrance to the Ministry of Magic by Mr Weasley. It is also the street where Harry, Ron and Hermione stun three Ministry workers in order to take there place using Polyjuice Potion.
One of the most interesting things we were told is that in real life there is a whole city of hidden rooms and corridors beneath the Ministry of Defense building. This makes it the perfect location for the Ministry of Magic it just adds to the magicalness of it all!
We walked through the infamous Borough Market, known for being the largest and oldest food markets in London. Unfortunately, we weren't able to sample any food because we would have lost our group, but the smells as you walked through were amazing!
We crossed the Thames once more and were able to see London Bridge and the HMS Belfast relatively up close as well!
Leadenhall Market, the original Leaky Cauldron location from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Imagine all the windows and the walls painted black and you'll see it!
Kings Cross Station, Platform 9 3/4. This was by far my favourite part of the tour. If you are ever in the vicinity of Kings Cross and you have some spare time, you need to go and get your photo taken entering Platform 9 3/4! They have someone there taking pictures and you can choose which house you would like to be in. You can buy the photos or just have someone take one for you on your phone, which is what we did.
They also have a Harry Potter gift shop, it's jam packed with merchandise and you can play with the wands and get yourself some Chocolate Frogs or a scarf of your own even.
We only spent a day and a half in London and although it doesn't seem like much time, we were able to fit a lot in! We could have stayed an extra night and made it into a weekend, then we would have been able to have a little more chill time. We will definitely be going back, it was a lovely break, and navigating the city was much much easier than I thought it would be, there is so much to see and do.
If you are interested in going on the Walking Tour, this is the company we went with. They do loads of other tours as well!
Amazon Local always have deals on the latest West End shows, click here to have a look at what they have on at the moment.