Chapter 1 London

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PARK, LUNCH and ROCK AND ROLL

Highlight of today was catching up for lunch with Leah (cousin) her work is near Regent Park so we took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours there in the morning. Lunch was at a very nice Itallian Restaurant near Leah’s work. Dominion Theatre where We Will Rock You is playing was just down the road so we picked up a couple of tickets to tonight’s performance.

REGENT PARK
Hyde Park was a great place to visit with its wide open spaces, lakes and walkways, Regent Park was simply stunning. Large formal gardens and beautifully manicured lawns are a spectacular feature. The Park also boasts and outdoor theatre, large duck puck pond/lake with paddle boats and a huge area of sports fields and some more natural areas. It was a beautiful day, blue skys and 25 degrees so it was a perfect day to wander quietly through this magnificent Park.

LUNCH WITH LEAH
We lost track of time so it was a bit of a mad dash through the park to Warren St tube for the short ride to Goodge Street where we had pre-arranged to meet Leah. In the end we made it a few minutes early, while we were waiting just in front of us there was a street stall selling fruit and produce, the guy manning the stand was happily dealing with customers with cigarette hanging from his mouth!
It was great to catch up with Leah, talk about the trip, family, what we’re both up to in general. We’ve done and will be doing some pretty exciting things to our trip – but for us when we look back we’re sure catching up with Leah for a couple of hours will be one of the highlights.

WE WILL ROCK YOU – NOW THAT’S A MUSICAL!
Just down the road from where we met Leah was the Dominion Theatre, because we were in the area we decided to pick up tickets to We Will Rock You – the musical based on the music of Queen. It was sensational. Hit after Queen hit was belted out to an audience that hung on every world. A couple of the key roles were played by actors off the interchange bench – to be fair to they played absolute blinders! Loosely the story is held in a future where the planet is under the control of a massive corporation Globalsoft – which has banned live music, instruments and songs and instead feeds computerised identikit pop to the masses. The musical is about the outcast Bohemians journey to rediscover real music. Plot not too deep and meaningful but the execution was superb. The whole crowd was into it from the kick off and final rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody brought the house down – A brilliant night out!
To our surprise people don’t really get dresses up to go to the theatre. It was jeans/shorts and t-shirts.

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Photos

Regent Park
Regent Park stunning gardens and a great place for some quiet time

Lunch with Leah
Having lunch and a good catch up with Leah.

We Will Rock You
Sensational must see show! Belting out all the top Queen hits, it was a great West End experience