So, I got back from London Thursday evening (having had spectacular delays on the train. It takes 1 1/2 hrs usually, and we caught the 1.30 train and got back at 6. Yeah, I know. sigh) Anyway, since then I've been catching up on other things, so haven't had a chance to do much blogging, so for that I apologise. Also, blogger has the tendency to unorder my photos whenever I upload them, so they're all out of order! I'll put captions underneath each one, so that you can follow what's going on. Also, just so you all know in advance, I'm the most terrible photographer, so don't expect art, sorry!
This is the street where we stayed, you could see the Covent Garden Plaza out of the front windows of the flat. However, I wouldn't recommend you actually use these flats (there were 3, all the same that they owned), because we had so many problems with them! They've ended up giving us a large (ish) amount in compensation, just so you know how bad it was! Anyway, onto the photos in no order at all:
This is my brother, dad and myself on the first night (we all photograph terribly together don't we) before we went to see Avenue Q. More on that later :)
This is James and I on our first afternoon in the Covent Garden Plaza. I could just sit there all day, it's really lovely, just have a cup of coffee and people watch all day!
We went for a bit of a wander around the shops etc nearby, and here's a mugshot my mum took of me...I look so grumpy in all these photos, I promise I'm not!!
James & I outside the new Apple store, he was so excited by it, he's a total Apple fanatic!
This is night 2. My Dad and I went to the Proms (yay!) I was thrilled by this. We saw the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra play Mahler's 3rd Symphony, probably one of myfavourites of his! I'd never been inside the RAH either, so this was a double honour for me, as it's a dream to play there one day! 
This is day 2 in the V&A, this is one of the chandeliers inside the restaurant. The V&A (Victoria and Albert) is my favourite museum in London, for definite. I can spend all day just wandering around all the exhibitions, I have spent weeks in there probably with all the time I spend there. And I always donate on my way in. It's free, but I always feel as though you should pay some money whenever you go in, because the stuff in there, albeit priceless, deserves to be looked after as well as possible and that costs money, unfortunately.
A cool sculpture of an elephant outside, made entirely of wood. This is the back, I didn't get the front, because as you can see it's full of people and wouldn't have looked very nice haha.
I love these flowers, they were everywhere outside in the V&A garden/courtyard bit, I've forgotten what they're called but I love the colours and how big their flowers are 
Possibly one of my favourite sculptures at the V&A. We didn't manage to stay for long because we had to get back to eat dinner in time for our Prom (squee!) but this one really caught my eye. I can't say I know anything about art/sculpture, I just know what catches my interest, I think this is beautiful.
The courtyard outside the V&A, you can see the wooden elephant in the far left corner. I think the building is beautiful, you don't think that when you see it from the outside on Exhibition Rd!
Mug shot while sitting down with a coffee.
The amazing glass chandelier in the entrance hall. The last time I went with the whole of my family was the year this was installed, there was such a fuss about it, now it's just treated as part of the furniture. However, I am always in awe everytime I walk underneath it.
Another chandelier, this time from the Wyndham Theatre on our first night for Avenue Q.
You weren't supposed to take photos of the stage or even in the theatre, but I did it sneakily, I didn't feel as though it was going to do anyone any harm!
If you haven't seen Avenue Q, and you get the chance, take it! It's the 2nd time I've seen it (I last saw it when it first came out about 4 years ago), and it was even funnier this time round. Our tickets weren't that expensive either, even though we were very high up, we still had a good view. The muppets are so cute, and the actors are very talented in the way they act through the muppets, but also act themselves. And it's very un-PC, which makes it even funnier!
We also walked past quite a few of Boris' Bike stands. Quite a good idea I think, hopefully it will be a success like the Velib in Paris, and actually stay this time!
So I had to buy a new one. Instead, my parents let me use one of their old Windsor chairs from the loft. It's really pretty, and I'm sure it'll creep into a few pictures soon :)
Hope you're all having a good weekend, sorry for the picture heavy post, but I hope you all enjoyed a little glimpse into my mini break!
Currently listening to: 99 Luftballons by Nena.
The statue is Neptune and Triton by Bernini :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/sculpture/stories/Bernini_Neptune_Triton/index.html
Maria xxx
This was a fun post! About the pictures being out of order: I hated the way blogger messed about my pictures, so I started using flickr instead. It's SO much more convenient! Honestly!
ReplyDeleteThat shot of you having coffee made me giggle. My mum always takes pictures of me when I have my mouth open! Maybe it's because I talk too much, haha.
I like the idea of the bike stands (except I can't ride a bike) but I don't like the way they have 'Barclays' splashed all over them. Maybe it's just because i don't like the idea of public services (after all, this is meant to be a tfl initative, right?) being privatised, but I suppose that's been happening to the UK for the past couple of decades. Privatisation is supposed to make things more efficient, but sadly things don't always turn out that way, and it also looks like the cycle scheme is a big Barclays advert. Ah well, will stop ranting now :)
♥ Leia
I lvoe all your photos - the V&A is my favourite museum in London too, it's such a beautiful space, I could wander round it for hours. They have some of the best exhibitions on too.
ReplyDeleteMaria: Thanks so much! I knew it was featured Neptune, I wrote it down then lost the piece of paper that I wrote its name down on. So I went down the lazy & ignorant route instead and just said it was pretty haha! :)
ReplyDeleteLeia: I'll look into the Flickr thing, thanks for the tip! :)
There are so many mug shots of me floating around. That one is particularly unflattering, but I thought it deserved a showing, even as an 'outtake'.
And I understand your reservations about the Barclays/bikes thing, but I think because they were such a big sponsor they wanted their names on it, so it is, like you said, a big Barclays advert. I don't think TFL would've done it without all that money though, so as long as the scheme works, Barclays have done some good for the London community, I guess. Maybe it will encourage more banks to be more philanthropic....HA!
Harriet: Thanks, I'm glad you like my photos! Like I said, photography is not my strong point at all! The V&A is amazing, in fact we're going back on Wednesday to have a proper look because we missed out on the Grace Kelly exhibition, so we're coming up again!
I think you look smashing in your outfit and I love your sunglasses!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you weren't in your chair when that happened but wouldn't you really rather have the Windsor???
Wonderful tour thank you.
The flowers are hydrangeas.
Of course I'd rather had the Windsor chair, but it doesn't match my room, and this makes me sad. The rest of my room is pine-wood coloured, and this is quite dark wood. But it's so comfy and lovely, I forgive it for not matching.
ReplyDeleteI found out about 5 seconds before I read your comment that the flowers are hydrangeas, I remembered seeing them somewhere else and checked, and lo and behold there they were. But thank you! I've learnt lots from people's comments from this post! :)