Sunday, 24 February 2013

Happy Birthday to Me!

It’s official, the year of 25 is over. I cannot believe that I am now on the other side of my ‘mid-twenties'..a little scary I must admit..but before I launch into my birthday weekend I must first tell you about another celebration.  For the first time in I can’t remember how many years, I decided to celebrate Shrove/Pancake Tuesday.  Even though I do not participate in Lent, it very quickly become apparent that A LOT of people celebrate Shrove Tuesday in Scotland, so I thought why not get on board.  Still eating sugar like it’s going out of fashion (which by the way seriously has to stop in the coming weeks, yes I’m giving myself another week!) I made a chocolate pancake topped with some oreo biscuits and butterscotch sauce.  Possibly the easiest sauce to make with some butter, brown sugar and cream all melted together, heavenly. 
 
The end of the week couldn’t come quicker and before I knew it, I was at the airport and on my way to London.  This is my last planned trip before leaving the UK so there were a few things I wanted to tick of my list along with enjoying the hustle and bustle that the city has to offer.   After dropping my things at the hostel I made my way into the city with the first thing on the agenda being to get myself some tickets to a west end performance that night.  It was meant to be when I arrived and there were two tickets left to Stomp that night so I purchased them without any hesitation. With my night planned I headed to Covent Garden markets to grab some lunch and watch the word go by.  There were a number of street performers and the weather was lovely so I sat outside to have tasty pizza before going to meet my travel buddy who travelled to London later that day.  We took a stroll through St James Park and past Buckingham Palace enjoying the sunshine.  One other place I simply couldn’t leave London without seeing is the world famous Harrods department store.  A very pretty building but I can imagine that it would look so much better at night all lit up but the inside is amazing.  So much to see and if my bank balance allowed it so much to try as there was a massive food court with the most delicious looking chocolates, macaroons and fresh seafood to name a few.  Time to head back to Leicester Square for a pre-musical cider and a snack after my late lunch. The show started at 8pm and I really wasn’t too sure what to expect, I knew that the concept of the show was to create music with ordinary objects such as rubbish bins or shopping trolleys.  I was however expecting some type of storyline that tied the whole show together so I was a little disappointed when that didn’t happen, but wow it was a very talented bunch and there were some amazing parts of the show.   After an early start and exhausting day I was happy to head back to the hostel and do some socialising which turned into facebooking haha.

Birthday morning! Happy Chloe day haha.  With no real plans in the morning we decided to set off to check out Abbey Road and I am so glad we did. It was so funny watching people trying to cross the road with cars and buses having to wait getting annoyed and honking their horns. It was certainly a fun way to pass the time but there was no way I was going there without getting my photo taken.  Thank goodness there was a small break in the traffic and we pounced before anyone else got the chance.  We continued on into Camden with a small little pit stop at Lords cricket ground for a photo (there is no way I was spending much time at a cricket ground on my birthday!) and then found a lovely little cafe to have some lunch, I decided on a crab and avocado pate served with sourdough which was very enjoyable. Off to the markets to find me some birthday cake before heading to the most exciting part of my trip, the Harry Potter studios.  Lets just say the best part of my red velvet cupcake was the icing!
 
Harry Potter here I come, I was that excited anyone would have thought that it was the first time I had been let out of a house or something! I was warned that you need about 3 hours to work your way through the entire studios but wow, when they allow 3 hours that is going quickly and taking in about half of the stuff.  I could not believe how overwhelming everything was.  There was so much to see, so much to take in and so many things to read! There is so much I could write about but the things that I loved the most were the outdoor props such as the knight bus and number 4 private drive, the Grand Hall (I could not believe they actually built this entire room with the grand doors, it was MASSIVE) but most of all Diagon Alley.  It was easily my favourite part of the entire tour.  Such an amazing experience I totally loved it and was so glad I made the trip down to see it.
 
My final day in London, I had nothing else I really wanted to do, so I headed into town to wander around Westminster.   I somehow ended up on my way to St James’s park when I realised it was so close to 11am that I could see changing of the guards at horse guards parade which I hadn’t yet seen.  It was a little bit of a letdown haha but certainly passed some of my morning.  There was one other place I wanted to go back to and this was Hummus Bros.  I had been there once before and thought it was very good, but I was pretty sick at the time so I didn’t take any pictures or make any real reference to it so I thought why not head there again.  I decided on chicken with a side of tabouleh and to be honest it was a little too much hummus and if I didn’t have the tabouleh to break it up it was have been a struggle to eat.  It’s a great concept though and something unique that you don’t see every day.  My last little wander around and I managed to run right into the biggest toy store in London, Hamelys! I was def up for checking that out and when I entered the 5 story building I discovered a level dedicated to Lego.  It was so amazing with Lego figurines everywhere including life size telephone booths and the royal family!
 
Back in Edinburgh now and things are starting to wind down here with about 5 weeks to go before I head to the USA and Canada.  I have a lot to organise so I really should get on that, but hopefully in the coming weeks I have a few plans to share with you and some exciting things coming up.  Until then, take care xx

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