Around the World in Four Weekends

Yup, that’s right. This weekend was London, next weekend is Switzerland, the next, Paris, and finally back to the U.S.! I can’t believe how quickly time flew by…and I know these next three weekends are going to be just as crazy.

I have been researching and writing all day, so to take a study break, I will tell you about my Saturday 🙂

Yesterday morning I woke up, showered, and headed to this place:
(Well, not Parliament, but, you know what I mean.)

My intention was to hit up some Christmas markets and get all of my souvenir/Christmas shopping done. That didn’t happen, but I did see some cool places!
On my list:
– Traditional Christmas Market, Southbank Centre
– Whole Foods (ok, that wasn’t for gifts…that was for me 😉 )
– Piccadilly Circus
– Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

First up, the Christmas Market:

Those living statue things freak me out.

Next up was Whole Foods. I wanted to buy out the entire store. I’m being completely serious. They even had a whole bunch of vegan cupcakes (no nuts, either!), but they were expensive. I really love the idea of Whole Foods, though…I wish my hometown had it.
Snack: (E, N)
However, I did find this, which looked and smelled A-mazing:

Yeah…I like American bagels better. Way better. This was super dry and had a total of 1.5 raisins in it. I ate about half of it before I lost hope. Oh well.

Then I was off to Piccadilly Circus, just because I hadn’t yet looked around in the shops there. I found this really great souvenir shop that I will probably be going back to, but I did not want to fully commit to anything. I always end up buying everything last minute because I feel like I will find something better….and I don’t, usually. 😛

Finally, I went to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.
It was very fun and festive. For some reason, most of the Christmas festivals around here are German-themed, so most of the stalls were selling sausages, beer, Gluhwein (mulled wine), and gingerbreads.
In addition to all of the food stalls, there was an ice rink, roller coasters/other rides, and carnival games.

After walking around in Hyde Park, I was going to head back. Instead, I made a last minute decision to go to Leicester Square and see if there were any cheap tickets available to last night’s show that I wanted to see. There were (15 pounds for an “obstructed view” that was really not bad!), so after coming back to my landlady’s house for dinner and to drop off my stuff, I went to see:

“Backbeat is the story of how The Beatles ‘became’ The Beatles – when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe embarked on their journey from the famous docks of Liverpool to search for success in the seedy red light district of Hamburg.
Backbeat features all-time rock ‘n’ roll classics including Love Me Do, PS I Love You, Twist & Shout, Rock ‘N’ Roll Music, Long Tall Sally, Please Mr Postman, and Money – live on stage as performed by ‘The Beatles'” – from the brochure

It was in the Duke of York Theatre near Leicester Square. The theatre was quite old and small-ish, but very pretty.

Oh. My. Gosh. It was so incredible. Yes, I am a Beatles freak. Yes, that possibly might have swayed my opinion of the show. But if anybody reading this is in London, I would highly suggest it. As in, why are you still reading this and not heading out to the show right now? (Just kidding, thank you for reading this 🙂 ) The acting was incredible – there were times when I had to remind myself I was watching a live play and not footage of the actual band – and the music was just great. They even had a “dance party” at the end for the audience, which was really fun and hilarious! Definitely one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was a great way to end my second-to-last Saturday in London.
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Today, as I mentioned, has been a day of research and writing. I’m writing a paper on Queen Victoria’s monarchy for my British Life and Culture class. It’s really slow work, but as I sit here, I’m wondering how it was so easy to write 700+ words for this post, and so difficult to write the amount I need for that paper? 😉

Breakfasts as of late have been the same thing over and over again, which is why I will not bore you with that.

Lunch and Dinner were:
A ham sub from Subway with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, and cucumber. With the addition of Baked Lays and an apple for lunch, and carrot sticks and some Snack a Jacks for dinner.