Back from Blighty

As I mentioned in a previous blog , I have been going to London quite a bit. This last visit I came with my mother.

It has been a hard year for her after losing her husband  at the end of January. She had planned trips with him  and was so looking forward to getting away. I offered to  take her to London  for a trip. Something for her to look forward to  even during the rough times  dealing with  funerals, lawyers, money, house restoration etc. She hadn't been in London for 40 years and  she was very excited .

We left on June 3rd and came back on June 14.  It was a really good time. Still so many things we didn't get around to seeing. I may have to take her back some time.

She had really loved the picture from the hotel I stayed in last time and lucky for me they had a sale on for the time we would be visiting  so we were able to stay at the Royal Horseguards Hotel . 

If you have the chance , I strongly recommend staying there.It is a lovely building, has a great bathroom, comfy beds , the best views in London and the best access to transportation and tourist attractions . (you can walk to the river cruises,parliament ,buckingham palace, the london eye, trafalgar square, the portrait gallery , various theatres and is accress the street from the embankment tube stop) 

The view from the window at night

The place was a bit fancy. We had dinner at the restaurant and it did cost quite a bit but my mom  adored it. She felt so special and the staff was so friendly . Dinner took 3.5 hours - they wouldn't let us leave! Kept  bringing things to our table...

I had been worried about my mother's ability to get around since she has a few things going against her. A hip replacement, bad knees due to arthritis that need surgery, needs a cane, heart problems etc. but she managed to  go everywhere  . We just went slower and took lots of breaks.  She even did the bus tour on her own while I visited a friend.

We also went to see Much Ado About Nothing (more on the play later) . I had tickets for 2 nights. Mom was happy to go one night but said she wouldn't go to both. I had front row tickets . The first night we went mom  was laughing so much  and enjoyed the play so thoroughly that she told me after the play that she had decided to come to the second night as well . (Good thing I didn't give the ticket away) . She  also decided she has a crush on Adam James. HAHAHAHA. It was a pity I couldn't get his autograph for her.She even went to the stage door. 

We went on to do a river cruise all the way to Greenwich, shopped in Covent Garden , Had an afternoon at Harrods , toured the Tower of London (that was the hardest for my mother) ,had an an adventure searching for nail polish remover ,  visited the British Museum  and had afternoon tea at Claridges . 

We also went to Stratford upon Avon. There were some issues with the hotel but in the end we had a good time. We saw the Merchant of Venice . It had moments of genius but the ending just destroyed it. It was far too weird and depressing. Kind of a sad ending to it that didn't make much sense  with what came before. It was fun watching Sir Patrick Stewart though.

Went to the Dirty Duck for dinner and it was very nice . The  Yorkshire pudding got a bit burnt but still tasted ok. Not the easiest place to get service but I recommend the food. The cheese plate was delish.

We also went to Warwick Castle. I have never seen so many Peacocks in my life. Beautiful place. Weird hot dogs. Must be a British thing. Also, I learned from a 5 year old : "You can't go wrong with an ice cream". I will have to go back for a longer visit at the castle! The trebuchet was a monster!

All in all it was a good tip and left me wanting more . I will be blogging more about some of the individual experiences later . 

followers

wow. I have my first follower of my blog. Feels kinda weird.

Obsession

Anyone who knows me will probably aware  that I cannot just "like" something.
Once I  fall, I fall hard.  Some examples of this include : Disney world,  NKOTB(well back in the day), David Tennant and London.

Today we will discuss London.Ok, and David Tennant.

My love for London seemingly came out of nowhere. (well aside from growing up on British comedies and loving history as a school subject) I admit to being one of those people who starts loving whatever their friends  love . I don't do it to be cool or fit in . When I see someone enthusiastic about something I  try to support their interests , make myself knowledgable on them  and  usually end up sharing the interest. This is what happened with England . Well , London specifically.

Once upon I time I worked in a place which I will refer to as the Den of All Evil. My manager was Nemesis - a name I have referred to her as since a typo on a place card at a christmas party Christened her that. I also had a friend  at work who shared my dislike of our job and boss.

This coworker had a few things in common with me and  we got on well. She mentioned her love of England . It was her favourite thing. She talked about moving there. She loved getting british things sent to her. She used British terms all the time . It was adorable.

I was always looking up British things for her and for her birthday I bought her imported things from England. Somewhere along the way her enthusiasm was catching. She was a brave sou and actually took the plunge. She quite her job and went off to  live for a year in England. We mostly lost touch  after that aside from the odd facebook post  but I was always very impressed with her . It has been years now and she is doing well in England.

Now my love of the British might have just left off there. Simmering somewhere in the back of my mind, but then a few years later I started watch British tv shows. I saw an actor in one  show that I had only seen a few episodes of would be doing a theatre production of Hamlet. (to be clear the show was Doctor who and the actor was David Tennant  but I had only just learned his name by that point)

I like Shakespeare . I love theatre. I said to myself "OH! He would be good in that !" Followed by "There is no way I am flying to London to see a play." Then I saw that Patrick Stewart would be in it. I sid "Holy Shit" but still thought... but fly to London? Naaaaw. Besides , there were no tickets left.

I thought about it for a couple weeks  and then they announced that there would be tickets for a later set of performances going on sale. I realized that I was getting older. I've said I wanted to travel my whole life. I've never really done it. No real adventures. So I bought tickets . Actually I bought tickets for a couple of  nights just in case an actor was sick for one.

That was the jumping off point. There began my true  obsession with London. Later I would get invited  to see  the play  earlier  and so ended up going to London ( and Stratford upon Avon) 3 times that year . I saw a few different plays ( one play 9 times) . I made friends. I did stupid things. It was great. All on my own.

It was expensive  but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Since then I have tried to keep up with happenings in England and my new friends. I started using Twitter  to keep in touch  and have gone to London twice now in the last 7 months or so. ( saw a few more plays YAY) I have met even more people. Had fantastic experiences like a personal tour of the Royal Opera House  and  really I just can't get enough.

If I had a chance I would move there  even for just a little while. At my current job I am known as the England obsessed one.

I don't know why London does it for me but it really does. I still hope to see more places  but London will always have a special spot in my heart as being my first big adventure.

I need to start planning my next trip. Why do I have to have such expensive obsessions?