Week 3: Shows and Shakes

Sunday-Saturday

06-12 October

On Tuesday I had class all day long, but afterward I decided to be spontaneous and go see Phantom of the Opera with some other girls. It was my first time seeing a show here, and my first time seeing Phantom of the Opera and I loved every minute of it. The Phantom was absolutely incredible. He scared me, made me feel sorry for him, and almost made me cry. He was the highlight of the show. We walked by the stage door and saw the girl who played Christine walk out. We didn't really know how to ask for a picture (and I didn't even really want a picture if I'm being honest) so we just went home. 

Wednesday was another day trip on the bus to Dover castle. We went through the underground tunnels used during WWII. They put a lot of work into making that an interactive exhibit and it really paid off. I loved it. We didn't have time to actual see the castle at Dover, but we did get to take pictures of the famous white cliffs (even though we had to take them from inside a bus). We made our way over to Canterbury to see the Canterbury Cathedral. I did not enjoy this. By this point all cathedrals look the same and the day trips get longer and longer. Plus, I didn't enjoy reading the Canterbury Tales in preparation for this trip, so all in all I was kind of a grump for the second part of the day.

Dover the castle.

Dover the city.

The girls of Dover.

The White Cliffs of Dover.

The outside of Canterbury. 

The one cool thing I learned at Canterbury was that some Hungarian artists did the stained glass. You can't see but they figures in the glass look like Disney characters. That's because Walt Disney hired Hungarian artists when he was first starting out. Pretty cool!

Weird wobbly house in Canterbury.

I got a lot some candy for the drive home from this little shop. They provided all the candy for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.

Thursday was another highlight day for me. We got to see Macbeth performed at the Globe Theatre. I went there on my own, and walked on a bridge over the Thames. I looked up and saw the London Eye, and was hit with the realization that I was in London about to see a Shakespeare play in Shakespeare's theater. My seat was on the second level of the theater, which turned out to be a pretty good seat. I know it's more authentic to stand as a groundling, but that looked pretty uncomfortable. The play was great. It was quite chilly because the theater doesn't have a roof. 

My view.

My adorable seat mates!

Friday we went to Hampton Court, the home of the Tudors. The absolute best part of the day was going into the "Secrets of the Bedchamber" exhibit. They had huge mattresses all over the floor and the lights dimmed down with a movie playing on the ceiling. The actually exhibit was weird, but those beds were the most comfortable things in the whole world. All of us laid on the beds for almost the whole time we were there. I also saw some of the gardens, but the beds were much better.

I want this in my house forever and ever.

After that we went to Kew Gardens. It was raining, so I was tempted to leave early, but I stuck it out and walked around a little bit more. I was glad I did because I saw some cool pumpkin displays. It's hard to see Autumn in the city so that was a nice treat.

On Saturday I discovered Shake Shack. Going there makes me feel like I'm in America. I would normally feel guilty about going to a chain restaurant, but they don't have one in Houston or Provo, so I figured it was fine that I went. It was really delicious and I've gone an embarrassingly high number of times since then.

This was the week where I really started to feel comfortable here. Navigating got super easy, my roommates and I bonded a lot, and we did some really amazing things in London, not just in a little towns a couple hours away.