London (Part 2)

The second half of my London trip consisted of a visit to Madame Tussauds, a big red bus tour, and last but certainly not least, Les Miserables.

Madame Tussauds was unreal...haha, literally. I was surprised at the number of wax figures and how real they looked. Being the sorawrity girl that I am, I nearly cried when I saw Audrey Hepburn. I think Ian was most excited about Cheryl Cole (to his dismay, Miranda Kerr doesn't have a wax figure).   The funniest thing happened and it actually annoyed Ian. We were taking pictures with one of the celebs and then started to walk across the room to look at others. Mid-stride, Ian realized he was about to step into a woman's picture, so he politely waited to the side. And waited. And waited. She just stood there with the camera to her face, like she was trying to get a good shot. After about four minutes, we realized it was just an actress pretending to be a wax figure...boy did we feel silly.

This is me trying to conceal my excitement. Ian was a bit embarrassed by my enthusiasm. 

What is more "London" than a red tour bus? The bus was ideal because you could hop on/off wherever/whenever you want. Despite the frigid temperatures, we sat on the top. W got many cool shots of St.Paul's cathedral. The best part about the bus was the recording you could listen to about various sports in London (and no, not because I had cute, furry headphones). It gave you snippets of information that you probably wouldn't find elsewhere.

For example, Cleopatra's Needle is not exactly a popular landmark in London. But, from the bus tour, we learned that:

1. It is an ancient Egyptian obelisk (monument) with identical ones in Paris and NYC. 

2. It is the oldest monument in London (perfect trivia question)

3. It has shrapnel damage from WWI

4. It contains a time capsule from 1878 that has cigars, a baby's bottle, a razor and 12 photos of the best looking English women of the day (ha!)

Headphones that doubled as warm ear muffs? Brilliant.

On to the highlight of the day: Les mis!

This was my very first musical, unless you count my appearance as a bird in my high school's Suessical the Musical (great times). Ian's family has been raving about the show, so I was partially excited to see it so I could be in the loop. 

We got all dressed up and had a sushi dinner in our hotel (with views of Big Ben/parliament!). Then, we made our way to Queen's Theatre. Queen's Theatre is special enough on it's own! It's a very intimate setting, holding only 1200 people. We were six rows from the stage (I know, he outdid himself!) The second I heard the first note from the orchestra box, I knew I was in for a treat! The story plus the unbelievable talent was remarkable. Ian's mom warned me that I would cry, and I did...It started out with just watery eyes, then my eyes started pouring, then I got the ugly cries. Ian tried to act like he didn't notice, but I think you would have to be deaf to not hear my sobs. 

The trip was everything I had hoped it would be! I am a very lucky (and spoiled) little girl!

XOXO-Kels

P.S.: Thursday I took back the digital camera that I had to purchase...got my money back! Oops!