This title quote is of course the wondrous insight of Albus Dumbledore & this time last week my fellow Ravenclaw, Devyn, & I visited the Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden. ALL ABOARD THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS (otherwise known as the London Euston to Birmingham New Street)!!!
We had a truly magical day wandering through the studios, fangirling over that sweater that Matthew Lewis wore (you know which one..) & enjoying some butterbeer!
Here is my video from the day!
There was so much to see & do! We 'flew' around London on broomsticks, walked through Diagon Alley & paid a visit to Buckbeak, before heading out through the gift shop... Oh, the gift shop. They have everything & anything you could possibly want! I indulged & bought myself a Ravenclaw scarf, a remembrall, a chocolate frog & a buckbeak of my own. I would definitely advise everyone who even mildly like Harry Potter to go for the tour, it's a bit pricey, but absolutely worth it! Some of the activities are extra, but if you have some friends with you it works out cheaper & is so much more fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently listening to 5SOS's new single, Don't Stop! The lyric video was released today, Enjoy! ♫ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoops! Wrong literary figure, wrong era, wrong country...
Let's rewind 301 years to a small village called Stratford-Upon-Avon, half way across the globe from Walt Whitman, a child was born known by the name of William Shakespeare.
I'm going to assume you've heard of him.
On the 23rd of April this year it was Shakespeare's 450th birthday & a I attended a huge festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon on the 26th (which apart from being my Mum's birthday - Happy Birthday Mum, is the date of Shakespeare's baptism in the Holy Trinity Church).
As part of UEL's international program I was on a coach tour to the Cotswolds, an old patch of English countryside about two and half hours out of London. We stopped off for breakfast & chicken teddies (chicken nuggets in the shape of teddy bears, can you get any more English?) at a little place called 'Bourton-on-the-Water'... All of the names are weird, don't ask, I don't know the answer.
The majority of the houses in the Cotswolds are made from Cotswold Stone, which is a type of creamy golden limestone. The area is also known for the construction & craftsmanship of dry stone walls made out of this limestone. All of the paths are directed by these dry stone walls which reminded me a lot of my uncle's place in Stanthorpe. Each time he mows he uses the stones he finds to create small dry stone walls in the hope that one day his own miniature railway will run through the entire block of land. Every time we've visited Dad always adds to the walls. The Cotswolds in general is a very beautiful place & each village is skirted by a patchwork of yellow canola crops.
Our next stop was Anne Hathaway's house, (no not the incredible actress who proved her vocal prowess in Les Miserables - Shakespeare's wife!?) which is just outside Stratford-Upon-Avon. The cottage has since been expanded & converted into a museum surrounded by beautiful gardens, but the original structure is still there. You can walk through the house & see the 'possible' second best bed, mentioned in Shakespeare's will.
Stratford-Upon-Avon itself was impressive & the four main streets had been cut off for pedestrians only in light of the festivities. There were Shakespearean characters roaming the streets, one group of American boys had travelled all the way here for a camp & were volunteering their time to quote entire monologues of their desired characters.
As a tour group we visited the Holy Trinity Church, which is surrounded by an old church cemetery & covered in green. It has the most impressive church organ I have ever seen & visiting Shakespeare's grave on the 450th anniversary of his baptism was quite special. Truth be told, I never thoroughly appreciated his plays in the beginning, but I always felt they were better taught & understood from a theatre point of view. Every play I studied in Drama, I adored. Maybe introducing Shakespeare to a class full of teenagers who can't read Old English with a story about two kids who fall in love in three days & in the process kill six people (including their stupid selves??) isn't the best idea.
Alicia & I (being nerds, & more creepily twins, in almost every aspect...) found a 'Time Warp' shop full of Star Wars & Doctor Who memorabilia - life size Dalek included! Then we stumbled across a Beatrix Potter shop. If you grew up without the stories of Beatrix Potter, I pity you! I was completely enthralled by this shop & walked out with three new soft toys for my bed after joking with the shopkeeper that yes, they were indeed for me & there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I bought myself a Peter Rabbit in his pretty blue coat, & a Little Nutbrown Hare & matching Big Nutbrown Hare which are from a story called "Guess How Much I Love You".
Sorry to drag this out, but it was a really wonderful experience, & also the last of my organised school tours. So I will leave you with the video footage from the day which is accompanied by a rather interesting Shakespearean TedxTalk. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently listening to Aaron Tveit's incredible live sessions including his cover of She's Always a Woman by Billy Joel ♪Aaron Tveit also starred in the aforementioned Les Mis, as Enjolras. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome back! I apologise for being so slack with my updates, but I've passed the halfway point of my time here & I will definitely be writing more regularly now!! For the Easter Holidays ('Spring Break' according to all of my American friends) Hannah, Maeve, Sydney & I ventured to Italy to enjoy the warm Tuscan sunshine.
Sydney & I have both been to Italy before & it was wonderful to be back! I forgot how great gelato is & how bad the streets of Florence could smell. We arrived in Pisa on Sunday the 6th of April & caught a bus to Florence where we spent a wonderful three nights in a beautiful apartment we found via Airbnb.
We loved every minute in Florence (except for the ones spent hungover after a night out with Limoncello...)! Every day we explored the city on foot, almost got run over crossing the street, & of course ate plenty of pasta, pizza & gelati! The four of us got through a few bottles of wine at lunch each day, & then a couple more at dinner & thoroughly enjoyed all of the markets we could find! I bought some gifts for friends & family back home... & found some for myself too.
Does Dwayne Wade get dwunk at the Duomo??
Next we headed to Rome on the train & loved seeing some of the Tuscan countryside on the way. In Rome we stayed at an even more beautiful Airbnb apartment, complete with an entirely glass loft! After all of the stairs in Florence to the top of the Duomo & back, we took on the steps of the St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City for more stunning views.
551 Stairs... ONE WAY!!
Needless to say we spent the short amount of time we had in Rome visiting all of the most tourist-y places possible & making Lizzie McGuire references at least 5 times a day. It was great to hear (& speak a bit of) the language again & I was surprised at how much of the cities I remembered. I found the hotel, Pensione Pendini, in Florence that I stayed at 6 years ago on a school trip! Even on the last day in Rome I spotted the tiny little gelateria that Mr Parry insisted was the best in Italy. We all enjoyed that thoroughly!
By the end of the adventure Sydney & I both got a little sunburnt on our faces, something I doubt would happen back here in London! Here is the Italy vlog ~ Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently listening to John Legend's 2013 album Love in the Future ♬ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before the Easter holidays, the gang & I went on a few missions to some of London's famous green spaces. I can't say I've missed 'the outback' but I have missed seeing expanses of green grass & trees. AND animals! Hannah, my American roommate had 2 friends visiting from home, so we thought we should get out & do some more sightseeing.
Firstly, we ventured to Kensington Gardens to watch the sunset. It is so pretty & green and such a nice breath of fresh air from the city. I captured some great footage of us hanging around & having a laugh.
And here is us walking into the sunset like a scene from a badass action movie.
The next place we knew we had to check out was Primrose Hill. It confirmed our expectations (& also how unfit we have become). We packed a picnic & got some great shots of the London skyline. It was another beautiful day, with plenty of fellow picnic-ers & their puppies.
Today is Easter Sunday though, & I am relaxing with some chocolate after setting up a bowl of mixed goodies for the whole flat. :) HAPPY EASTER to everyone who celebrates it! Enjoy the day however you wish. Tonight Hannah, Sydney & I are going out to dinner together, but until then I just plan to chill out. Also Happy 4/20 to all of you Londoners braving the weather in Hyde Park this arvo. x
P.S. Thanks to Sydney for taking me to my very first manicure! Haha, so many new experiences.
While I've been living here in London, I've had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people & I've been lucky enough to go to some incredible concerts! As many of you will know, music is a big part of my life, & I love going to live gigs. In the last three weeks I've been to a few, so this is going to be a strictly music update. Also concerts are SO cheap here compared to Australia! I have no idea why, & this seriously annoys me. Yes, I know "life's not fair", but there is no logical reason that I can think of to why Australia would sell tickets at more than 100% the price in comparison to here!? Whenever I have been to concerts back home, they were in Brisbane, & although it's our capital city, it costs a bunch just to get there & back, not even factoring in the ticket prices... I haven't paid more than $50 Australian, for a concert here!! So basically, being a teenager in London would have been wonderful.
On the third of March, after returning from Paris that morning, I went to see 5 Seconds of Summer (x) headlining their own tour at the Shepard's Bush O2. I couldn't have asked for a better way to cap off my weekend. 5SOS are Aussie boys, I've seen them live twice back home, but only ever as openers, so to see them here, on their own tour meant a lot to me. It blew my mind to see all of the fans waiting out in the streets & in the rain for over twelve hours to see our boys! IN LONDON! I've lined up for standing tickets/mosh pits for concerts for twelve hours before, but it was insane to think that all of the people were here to see these four Aussie guys. I met girls from Spain, Italy and Switzerland who had flown to London just for the concert, & I could not be more proud of 5SOS. They have come so far in the last three years, & this year is going to be huge for them.
Opening for them was a guy called Mike Dignam (x), he's a British singer-songwriter, & I had never heard of him before the gig, but I certainly wont be forgetting about him now! He has an incredible voice & after the show he was handing out his EP for free/a donation, so I gave him £5 & had a chat.
Here is the vlog from the 5SOS concert with clips from them & Mike!
5 Seconds of Summer's first /official/ EP was just released & I am so excited for the album!!
Last weekend my good friend Essi visited me, & we had another wonderful weekend! Essi is from Finland, but is currently studying in Croatia. She got us both tickets to an All Time Low (x) concert on Saturday! We have both loved ATL since we were about thirteen & it was an incredible night! The mosh pit was hectic, over thirty girls got pulled out of the pit by security because they couldn't handle it, one girl got her nose broken & the boys spent the whole night starting up circle pits.
A lovely Irish band, Only Rivals (x), opened for ATL. I couldn't understand a word they said, but their music was awesome & they were very pretty! Also opening for ATL was Tonight Alive!! Another Aussie band! (x) All of the bands finished the show by playing on stage all together & passing around bottles of Jagermeister & JD... Jack had to be carried off stage...
Alex from ATL also played an acoustic set including Therapy & Remembering Sunday, which are two of my all time favourites.
Therapy.
Remembering Sunday.
In a crazy twist of luck, on the Friday night before ATL, Jamie Campbell Bower, a British actor & musician that Essi & I both adore was playing a pop-up free gig outside the Tate Modern with his band The Darling Buds!! We both first became a fan of Jamie when he was in the Tim Burton musical film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, alongside Johnny Depp. He has also been in the Harry Potter series, the Twilight Saga & most recently the Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. (x)
So it's been a long & lovely month full of wonderful music! Our next challenge is exploring more of London (there's always more) & then over to Italy for Easter break!! We have everything planned, except for returning flights!?... During the second week, I'm hoping to bus it around the UK. xo
