Category: Photography

Prague May 2019

Leave a comment

This May, me and my gorgeous boyfriend Howard visited the beautiful capital city of Prague, Czech Republic for 4 nights, bed and breakfast, at the luxurious 4* Jury’s Inn Hotel, in Florenc. Please see below details of our travels, with accompanying photography.

Monday 27th May 2019

We arrived late at our hotel on the Sunday evening. Monday morning we visited the picturesque, utterly stunning and historic Old Town Square. We posed for photographs outside the famous landmarks such as Prague’s astronomical clock (Old Town Hall Tower, southern side), and the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Týn, enjoying the lovely Prague sunshine.

We had a brief look inside the fabulous, ornate, Baroque monumental St Nicholas’ Church in Old Town square. Superb.

Shortly afterwards, and very much to my delight, we visited Central Gallery to see Andy Warhol, Alfons Mucha and Salvador Dali exhibitions. Being an art enthusiast, I was certainly in my element. I was less familiar with Mucha’s Art Nouveau work, but I greatly admire Dali’s dreamlike surrealism and Warhol’s pop art is aesthetically pleasing and colourful also.

Early afternoon we went to the Museum of Torture, to learn how instruments of torture we used against unfortunate victims, displayed eerily in a downstairs cellar.

We had such a giggle next at Prague’s Sex Machines Museum, hehe. As to be expected, on display were various sex toy gadgets, erotic objects and sex machines. Kinky 😉

We finished off our first day of sightseeing by visiting vibrant Wenceslas Square, situated in Prague’s New Town. We posed for selfies, capturing the astonishing neoclassical grand Czech National Museum.

On the Monday evening we hit a couple of trendy cocktail bars. The only trouble was we found it not very lively as the weather was pouring it down with rain, oops lol.

Tuesday 28th May 2019

The rain continued chucking it down the following day (good job we packed our rain macs!) This didn’t stop us sightseeing however. We hopped on a tram, conveniently right outside our hotel, to the stunning Prague Castle complex.

St Vitus Cathedral was absolutely breathtaking, both myself and Howard were so immensely impressed by its’ magnificent Gothic architecture, and spectacular stain-glassed windows. A definite must see for anyone visiting Prague. We really loved it.

We also took some nice photographs inside the Old Royal Palace and St George’s Basilica.

The last place we visited at Prague Castle complex was the quaint and charming colourful little street named the Golden Lane; the name deriving from the goldsmiths that once lived there. Once occupied by real residents, the tiny houses have been transformed into craft, toy, sweet, souvenir and gift shops, etc, as well as displaying exhibitions demonstrating past life on the lane. Very pretty and picturesque, lovely.

After spending time at the Prague Castle complex, we headed to Kampa Island, in the Malá Strana district, first to the hippie hangout of Lennon’s Wall – a wall of graffiti dedicated to the late, great John Lennon, coloured with Beatles’ lyrics, and decorated with messages of hope, peace and love. I am a hippie at heart, so this was very much to my liking.

Outside Museum Kampa in Kampa Park were some interesting art installations, most notably Czech sculptor David Černý’s bizarre bronze babies (left)! Heading back to Charles Bridge, Devil’s Channel (middle) appeared serene and tranquil.

We had a lovely leisurely stroll along the exquisite Charles Bridge on the way back to Old Town Square, capturing nice (despite the awful weather!) photographs, also with views again of idyllic Devil’s Channel.  Bridge buskers created even more so a calm, soothing atmosphere.

Back in Old Town Square, we finished off a day of sightseeing by filling our bellies with delicious grub at Prague’s Hard Rock Cafe, hehe! As with other Hard Rock Cafe’s I have eaten in, I adore the rock memorabilia, such as eccentric musicians’ stage costumes and glittery electric guitars on display here. Very impressive as always.

Tuesday evening we began our night out on the lash by being thoroughly entertained at U Pavouka – a historical fantasy show medieval tavern, serving endless jugs of wine and beer, and showcasing exciting and thrilling acts; belly dancers, fire jugglers and swordsmen, performing alongside professional bagpipe and drum musicians. Epic. Howard very much appreciated the belly dancers, what a surprise, haha!

What a messy night Tuesday night turned out to be! After the medieval tavern show, we went on to Coyotes for cocktails. Barmaids were up on the bar dancing (in tribute of Coyote Ugly, the film), and slugging shots down the neck of stag do party-goers. Great atmosphere. I then had a couple of gin and tonics in Dubliner’s, an Irish bar. Needless to say, I was incredibly intoxicated by the end of the night after all my wine, beer, cocktails and gin. So much so, that I projectile vomited whilst staggering and stumbling my way back to our hotel. Nice! Howard was sensible and looked after me, thank god, lol.

Wednesday 29th May 2019

On Wednesday evening we took an absolutely marvellous romantic boat ride along the stunning Vltava river. We stuffed our faces at the on-board all you can eat buffet, serving a multitude of cuisines, cheese platters, meat plates, cakes and desserts etc; whilst listening to great musicians playing live acoustic guitar songs. The top deck had a seating area and bar also, with incredible views.

prague boat 17prague boat 18prague boat 20prage boat 19prague boat 21

As the evening drew to a close, and the sun began to set, we captured some lovely photographs of Vltava river’s rippling water and shimmering light reflections…

… Such a perfect way to end mine and Howard’s first romantic city break to Prague, Czech Republic 😀 😀

Thank you so much for reading / viewing.

Much love, Lauren xx

Further Reading:

http://goap.cz/ [Accessed 6th June 2019]

http://museumtortury.cz/ [Accessed 6th June 2019]

http://www.sexmachinesmuseum.com/en_page.html [Accessed 6th June 2019]

https://www.hrad.cz/en/prague-castle-for-visitors [Accessed 6th June 2019]

https://www.hardrockcafe.com/location/prague/ [Accessed 6th June 2019]

http://upavouka.com/ [Accessed 6th June 2019]

https://www.prague.eu/en [Accessed 6th June 2019]

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2019 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

Manchester April 2019

Leave a comment

This Easter, me and my lovely mum Debbie travelled to Manchester for a long weekend theatre city break, to see ‘Ghost – The Musical’ at the Palace theatre. Whilst in Manchester, we visited many great places, including; the Coronation Street Tour, Hard Rock Cafe, Arndale shopping centre, Manchester Cathedral, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, Chinatown, Piccadilly Gardens, Treetop Adventure Golf, and an Easter Funfair at Manchester Central Convention Complex. Please continue reading / viewing to see a detailed description of our travels, with accompanying photography. Hope you enjoy.

Friday 19th April

 

We arrived in Manchester late afternoon on the Friday. Our hotel was the Britannia Sachas Hotel, located on Tib Street, very central and close by to Piccadilly Gardens.

 

A tradition of ours, whenever we go to a new UK city (if there is one there of course) we always enjoy taking a few photos in urban Chinatown.

 

SPOILERS ALERT: On the Friday evening, we went to see ‘Ghost – The Musical’ at the Palace Theatre! I can remember, ‘Ghost’ was one of the films my mum actually bought me as a Christmas present as a teenager, we have watched it together on DVD on numerous occasions over many years. It’s a great story, very much brought to life on stage. Because the 1990 film ‘Ghost’ starring the late Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, is not actually a musical as such, the stage production delights us with new musical numbers such as; ‘Here Right Now’, ‘Three Little Words’ ‘Are You a Believer’ and so on (lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin / music and lyrics by Glen Ballard and Dave Stewart).  The actress, Rebekah Lowings, who plays Molly was simply superb. She had an absolutely fantastic voice, especially singing her version of ‘With You’, quite frankly it took our breath away. Moreover, the Subway Ghost’s (Lovonne Richards’) Act Two spoken word deliverance of ‘Focus’ was a very clever interpretation of the original filmic scene.  Of course however, the most memorable song of Ghost is and always will be the Righteous Brothers’ classic 1965 ‘Unchained Melody’. It was really beautiful moment actually in the stage production, because the famous sensual pottery scene from the film was reincarnated with Sam (Niall Sheehy) this time serenading Molly with his acoustic guitar. As with all the musicals me and my mum have been fortunate enough to see together, Ghost certainly did not disappoint. The entire audience were up on their feet at the end demonstrating a well deserved standing ovation. Incredible.

Saturday 20th April

 

On the Saturday morning, we had a stroll around the expansive Arndale shopping centre. Outside Exchange Square was a coca-cola truck, as part of the official Premier League Trophy Tour; we took full advantage of the freebie soft drinks on such a bright and sunny day.

 

We then visited the very near by Manchester Cathedral situated on Victoria Street, and photographed its gorgeous Perpendicular Gothic style architecture.

57589817_668380933618685_7919046694476447744_n

We afterwards rested our legs and quenched our thirst in the beer garden of a very quaint and dainty little pub establishment.

57434212_668384680284977_3647310369774370816_n

Then, we made our way to the close by Printworks entertainment centre, for fun at Treetops Adventure golf, and food at the Hard Rock cafe.

 

We had great fun playing crazy golf, mum was comical bless her, she kept hitting the ball the wrong way! We laughed together.

 

I absolutely adore Hard Rock Cafes (we visited one in Amsterdam 2017 as well). It is brilliant seeing all the rock memorabilia adorning the walls. We enjoyed some fruit mocktails and delicious scran 😛

 

Saturday evening we popped onto Manchester metrolink to MediaCityUK, to go to a Coronation Street walking tour. Mum loved this experience so much, she is a massive Coronation Street fan and has watched the soap for decades. It was fantastic capturing selfie photographs of us on the cobbles; outside the Kabin, Preston’s Petals, Roy’s Rolls etc and of course, in front of the iconic Rovers Return Inn.

Sunday 21st April

 

On the Easter Sunday morning, we first made our way to Manchester Art Gallery where we were intrigued to see its’ vast collection of Pre-Raphaelite Fine Art paintings, among other aesthetic pleasures. Halima Cassell’s ceramic works we liked also in particular.

 

Late afternoon on Easter Sunday, me and mum leisurely walked to Manchester Museum. We were both immensely impressed by the gigantic ‘Stan’ the Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) in their downstairs fossils gallery, as well as glossy taxidermy animals on the upper floors. An extremely fascinating visit.

 

Afterwards, we took the bus to Manchester Central Convention Complex for its exciting Easter funfair! Fun and food, all under one roof; the hotdogs were super yummy. We rode on the merry-go-round carousel a few times, and I won mum a little cute unicorn teddy on hook-a-duck. Good times.

 

We finished off our lovely theatre city break to Manchester capturing some sunny selfies in Piccadilly Gardens once more 🙂

Overall, an amazing trip, making wonderful memories in Manchester with mum 🙂 ‘Ghost – The Musical’ was dead good; Manchester’s well mint, we were mad fer it! Nar mither really! Top banana! 

That’s all folks, nar make us a brew? 😛

 

Further reading:

https://www.visitmanchester.com/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

http://www.theprintworks.com/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

https://coronationstreettour.co.uk/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

http://manchesterartgallery.org/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

https://www.easterfunfair.co.uk/ [Accessed 4th May 2019]

 

Thank you for viewing / reading!

Watch out for a new UnicornPostbox ”Psychedelic Elephant” art (pencil drawing / oil pastels) blog post coming soon!

Much love, Lauren xx

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2019 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

Birmingham November 2018

Leave a comment

This November, Friday 9th until Monday 12th, to be precise, me and my lovely mum visited the beautiful populous city of Birmingham. On our city break we went to the Alexandra theatre to see Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage (it was incredible), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Bullring shopping and the city centre, Cadbury World, National Sea Life centre, as well as dining at many swanky restaurants, particularly at Brindleyplace leisure, opposite from our posh 4* Jury’s Inn hotel on Broad Street… Please continue reading for more detailed descriptions of our travels, with accompanying photography 🙂

46089470_579228792533900_4257261309956980736_n

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage

On the Friday evening, me and mum saw Dirty Dancing at the Alexandra theatre. We were seated in the stalls, row K, right in the middle, with the best possible view of the performance. The show was absolutely fantastic. The dialogue was very similar, it included all the memorable quotes from the film;

“I carried a watermelon. I carried a watermelon?!”

“I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel [dramatic pause!] when I’m with you” and the classic…

“Nobody puts baby in the corner!”

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092890/quotes 

We were very pleased about this 🙂

Kira Malou, who played Baby, really perfected the character’s mannerisms, and Michael O’Reilly, playing Johnny, projected a sexy husky voice almost double to the gorgeous late Patrick Swayze. And boy, did O’Reilly have sex appeal! There was more than a few wolf-whistles echoing around the theatre throughout the show, particularly during the scenes in which Johnny was topless, funny that! 😛 The entire performance was quite naughty and raunchy, to be expected, hehe… And the dancing and music of course was simply sensational! They did the lift too, yey! At the end of the show, there was a well deserved standing ovation, everyone got up singing and dancing; the atmosphere was electric! Brilliant, we both proper loved it. Mum purchased a t-shirt, me a Dirty Dancing hoodie official merchandise, as well as two programmes. An experience to remember most definitely 🙂

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Whilst in Birmingham, we had a walk around the Museum and Art Gallery, free to enter (always a bonus, lol). The museum has, notably, a vast collection of Pre-Raphaelites works, but also showcases Baroque art, Ancient Egyptian artefacts – there is a Greek and Roman gallery, a gallery solely dedicated to the fascinating history of the city, The Birmingham School of Art gallery and so on and so forth. The gallery which most intrigued me however was the Spiritual Life faith gallery. I was very interested to learn about the different faiths practised in such a multicultural, diverse and rich city, as my prior knowledge of such religions was rather limited. It sparked an interest for sure, and I have since researched some faiths further, particularly Hinduism, which I never knew actually resonates greatly with me and my personal philosophy of life. The museum and art gallery also showcased a great exhibition ‘Women Power Protest’. Commemorating the 100 year anniversary of women’s right to vote in the UK, the exhibition showed contemporary and modern artworks from local artists, Birmingham’s collection, and the Arts Council Collection, with explored themes including; activism, dignity and hope; illustrating the inequalities and injustices women have experienced, exploring how women’s bodies are depicted, and drawing attention to how, slowly, women’s experiences are becoming more visible in the world of art and artistic expression. Inspired by feminist activists and artists, the exhibition aims to;

“raise awareness, provoke debate and ask just how much has changed for women?” http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag 

A very positive step in the right direction, in my opinion 🙂

Bullring shopping and the city centre

Whilst in Birmingham, me and mum obviously went into the heart of city centre, where the ginormous Bullring shopping centre is. The glistening decorations hanging inside the Bullring were simply stunning. It was really lovely because outside the Bullring, near St Martin’s Church, there was a Christmas themed Snow House globe which served alcoholic beverages, and what we opted for, delicious frothy hot chocolates, yum yum 🙂 – as well as a few small Christmas food stalls, selling German sausages, and Belgium waffles, yum yum again, hehe 🙂 Really puts you in the festive spirit! 😀 We also had a nice stroll around the Chinese Quarter, not far from the Bullring!

Cadbury World

On the Sunday morning, me and mum travelled from Birmingham New Street train station to Bournville, to visit the highly anticipated Cadbury World (me and mum both love chocolate!) We learnt of the origins of the cocoa beans, and how cocoa trees were central to Aztec culture, were told of how entrepreneur Quaker John Cadbury first began his chocolate business all those years ago in Victorian Bull Street, enjoyed a cinema experience with special effect – a visual presentation showing how Cadbury chocolate is made in the factory, we had a play with liquid chocolate, writing our names “ ❤ Debbie and Lauren ❤ ” on the demonstration table,  we stepped onto the magical ‘beanmobile’ and enjoyed a gentle chocolate wonderland Cadabra ride, with many familiar enchanting chocolate characters (mum absolutely loved this!), watched chocolatiers demonstrate their impressive chocolate making techniques, sampled some warm Dairy Milk liquid chocolate with a choice of scrumptious toppings, and had great fun having our photo taken with the Green Screen experience, as well as posing for pictures with the Cadbury characters! Ace!

National Sea Life centre

On our last morning in Birmingham, me and mum ventured to the National Sea Life centre, situated on the Water’s Edge of Brindleyplace complex, within very easy walking distance from Jury’s Inn. We were very excited to see all the magnificent sea creatures, me and mum are both massive animal lovers! It certainly did not disappoint. We sauntered leisurely around the sea life centre, mesmerised by all the delightful creatures; octopuses, seahorses, sea turtles, sharks and stingrays (arghhh, haha!), jellyfish and so on. Our personal favourites however were the playful pretty penguins! They’re so cute and adorable with their little waddle, lovely animals!  Great visit!

Brindleyplace leisure

During our time in Birmingham, me and mum dined out at quite a few deluxe restaurants, cafés and bars, especially at Brindleyplace leisure complex; including Café Rouge, Zizzi’s and The Slug and Lettuce, as well as eating at Ed’s Easy Diner, on the waterfront overlooking the tranquil canal. We are both big foodies, and regularly go out for meals when back home in Yorkshire, so obviously it was not going to be any different on our little Birmingham city break! Very delicious and yummy food Birmingham has to offer!

Conclusion   

Overall, me and mum had an absolutely amazing time visiting Birmingham! I would actually say, it was my favourite city break / holiday away with mum, and we have gone on quite a fair few trips together, including; Liverpool, London and Newcastle in the UK and Amsterdam and Paphos abroad. It was so good because it was not at all what we were expecting. Before we went away, a few people told us Birmingham was not a nice place to visit at all, that is was a bit rundown, slightly squalid and unpleasant. I almost cancelled our trip. We found it to be the total opposite – a very aesthetically pleasing, vibrant and exciting cosmopolitan city. Every Brummie we met was so so friendly too… In a nutshell…

Saw babby in Dirty Dancing!

Brum was bostin!  

Tara-a-bit!   😀

Bibliography

https://dirtydancingontour.com/ [Accessed 21st November 2018]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092890/quotes [Accessed 21st November 2018]

http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag [Accessed 21st November 2018]

https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/en [Accessed 21st November 2018]

https://www.visitsealife.com/birmingham/ [Accessed 21st November 2018]

https://www.brindleyplace.com/leisure/ [Accessed 21st November 2018]

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2018 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

London May 2018

Leave a comment

At the end of May this year, me and my mum Debbie visited London for three days, to go and see ‘Bat Out of Hell; The Musical’ at the Dominion Theatre. We booked our trip with Superbreak, and we were very satisfied customers. First class train travel to the capital city, with complimentary food and drink; never travelling first class before we really appreciated this luxury!

Our hotel was great as well, the 3* Royal National Hotel, London, conveniently only a few minute walk away from Russell Square tube station. It was massive size wise. Obviously our room wasn’t incredible being only a 3* hotel, but it did the job very nicely indeed; friendly helpful staff, clean, tidy, lovely places to eat – we were happy.

Monday 21st May

Our first stop on the underground was Piccadilly Circus, where we enjoyed a gorgeous banana and caramel milkshake each at ‘Five Guys’ restaurant, we also got some fab photos with the ace street performers surrounding the statue known as the statue of Eros (mum’s favourite thing to do, pics with street performers, hehe)

We walked to Leicester Square next, and Trafalgar Square shortly afterwards and took the opportunity to capture some nice touristy photos; of the famous William Shakespeare statue in Leicester Square, The National Gallery in Trafalgar, Nelson’s column, the four lions, etc

We finished off the day with a nice stroll around the Apple Market in Covent Garden, relaxing for a while, enjoying refreshing pineapple & apple and apple juice smoothies

Tuesday 22nd May

Tuesday we hopped on the tube and headed to my favourite place in London, Camden Town! (My suggestion, not mum’s, lol) We walked leisurely around the market, checking out all the cool alternative style clothing, and quirky bits and bobs. We drank a few dark fruit ciders in a beer garden overlooking the beautiful canal, soaking up the gorgeous sunshine

Later that day, we continued to enjoy the sunshine and people watched in Russell Square garden, only a few minute walk away from our hotel, the Royal National. The water feature in the middle of the park is particularly pretty I thought

Somewhere I was really excited to visit was The British Museum. Unfortunately we arrived later on in the day, when it was close to closing, so we did not experience all exhibitions and galleries on offer – such as regrettably not seeing any Ancient Greece and Rome exhibitions – however we still saw some amazing Asia, Ancient Egypt and Africa artefacts and art, and learnt a little about the history and the traditions of these cultures

Tuesday evening we journeyed on the underground to Tottenham Court Road tube station, to go see ‘Bat Out of Hell; The Musical’ at the Dominion Theatre! I have seen a fair few West End shows, including ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘Lion King’ twice, ‘Othello’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Blood Brothers’ three times, as well as ‘’Mary Poppins’ in Manchester, ‘Mamma Mia!’ in Newcastle, and very recently ‘Wicked!’ in Liverpool, and so on… Bat Out of Hell is one of the best, up there in the top three, absolutely amazing! I have grown up listening to Meatloaf’s music, my mum has always loved him. It was such a magical moment glancing at her during the performance, seeing her beaming with happiness, miming along to all the songs. We had excellent seats in the stalls, only seven rows back, with such a spectacular view of all the action. The musical showcases the epic rock n’ roll love story between Strat and Raven, set in the post-apocalyptic city, Obsidian. It very loosely depicts the romance of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Wendy; Strat and his rebellious friends ‘The Lost’ cannot grow up you see. The tyrannical leader of Obsidian, his daughter Raven is Strat’s love interest! – so an interesting narrative soon unfolds. The entire production was just astonishing, I could not fault it. There was a motorcycle revving up (with no place to go) on stage, bats (out of hell) flying out into the audience, fireworks (they took the words right out of my mouth), the whole sh’bam! There was a well deserved standing ovation at the end, everybody up singing and dancing, the atmosphere was paradise (by the dashboard light). We even bought two (out of three) t-shirts, hehe. I want to see it again, I need to see it again! – For crying out loud, we absolutely loved it! 😀

33429705_457706791352768_4133111839997296640_n33424549_457706244686156_6511254151123435520_n33380551_457705938019520_1476845713278107648_n33367562_457706081352839_922692157821681664_n

Wednesday 23rd May

On our last day in London, we decided to to travel on the underground to Westminster, to go see the wonderful sights there such as the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. We captured some nice photos of Westminster Bridge and the palace taken from across the River Thames, as well as photographing the London Eye, from Westminster Bridge.

After spending a couple of hours sightseeing here, we were knackered, so we paid to be cycled to Buckingham Palace in a fab little pedicab!   

We laid back and relaxed for a while on the grass area adjacent to the palace before taking some pretty photos of the palace itself and the Victoria Memorial monument; we finished off our day with a pleasant stroll through gorgeous Green Park.

… And that was our rock n’ roll and brew trip to London! Some amazing memories to look back on with mum and cherish always 😀

We would do anything to see ‘Bat Out of Hell; The Musical’ once more in the future, maybe rock and roll dreams will come true!

Thank you for reading / viewing!

Much love, Lauren x    

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2018 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

Liverpool March 2018

2 Comments

This year at the end of March, me and my mum Debbie visited Liverpool to celebrate my 27th birthday. We booked up, at a very reasonable price, with National Holidays (have you declared your national holiday yet? Lol) for an overnight trip to Liverpool, with the massive highlight of seeing the matinee performance of ‘Wicked!’ at the Liverpool Empire theatre.  

Saturday 31st March 2018

We arrived by coach into Liverpool city centre in the early afternoon of Saturday 31st. We had an hour or so to kill before the matinee performance of Wicked!, so we walked leisurely around the nearby shopping centre, city centre streets, and grabbed a lovely caffè latte. Mum really enjoyed the street performers!

29695296_435595340230580_44535252687980753_n
29595571_435595563563891_1207363440641486004_n
29684020_435595690230545_617343779130574869_n

Making our way to the Empire theatre, we were both super excited.  Being a big fan of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ film, I have always fancied going and longed to see the stage musical ‘Wicked!’; for years I have said “Mum, we must go see that one!” It has always been top of my list… and it certainly did not disappoint! ‘Wicked!’ was just as magical, marvellous and mesmerising as I had hoped… SPOILER ALERT: I think the whole concept of the musical, based on Gregory Maguire’s revision of the tale, transforming the ‘evil’ Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum’s original ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, to Elphaba, the heroine of the story, is great and obviously a very successful idea too… The only little gripe I have will National Holidays, is that I specifically asked not to be seated high up in the theatre, as mum is really afraid of heights. They take personal requests into consideration, but cannot promise them – we were seated high up in the Grand Circle, with a restricted bleeding view! Never mind, we still had a wonderful time 😀 We purchased some small merchandise afterwards, to put in mum’s memory box (she unfortunately has neurological difficulties). We have some lovely little keepsakes to remember the experience always 🙂

29684094_435596300230484_3774555618362787829_n
29572546_435596096897171_3865892275384345430_n
26055591_435596126897168_3911111533283067916_n

Later on that evening after the performance, we were taken to our chosen hotel on the outskirts of Liverpool. After checking in, we spent the evening eating nice grub in the restaurant, and at a steady pace, drinking ‘Wicked Lady’ (how apt) rose wine in the hotel bar.

29683262_435604870229627_8242211285251015520_n
19642326_435604976896283_2173386091966009009_n

Sunday 1st April 2018

On the Sunday, our final day, we took full advantage of exploring all Liverpool has to offer. We visited the famous Cavern Club on Matthew Street, home to the Beatles. There was a great musician on stage performing classic Beatles songs. We got a couple of fruit ciders from the bar, admired the terrific music memorabilia adorning the walls, and listened to some top-notch music in a really relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. My dad was very jealous when I told him where we’d been, he’s a massive Beatles fan!

DSCF0740
DSCF0739
29597247_435612466895534_2758771795981377882_n
8402_435605733562874_7138625945913051171_n
29694903_435612513562196_1089638600237855081_n
DSCF0737

 

Next we got a quick taxi ride to Cains brewery village, to go have a cheeky gin and tonic in the new Peaky Blinders bar. We were so looking forward to it, as me and my mum are both huge Peaky Blinders fans. There was a vast collection of Peaky Blinders canvases on the wall (as photographed), but I hoped it to be quite a glam and luxurious and sophisticated establishment, like some of the high class swanky bars shown in the series. However, it very much resembled the Garrison.. a bit drab and dingy! So we were a tad disappointed, haha.

DSCF0741
DSCF0742
22308874_435612813562166_1769343194857170720_n
29694729_435612840228830_3476669603157410700_n
DSCF0744
DSCF0743
21432796_435612616895519_4125515185960151904_n

 

Afterwards, we grabbed delicious street food at Baltic market, a mozzarella pizza for mum, and a burger for me with so many layers I dread to think how many calories I consumed! (I am trying to lose weight, and failing miserably!) There was also a guy playing guitar and some cute craft stalls, so that was really nice.

29790188_435613083562139_2819987363929843840_n
DSCF0747
DSCF0748

 

We journeyed immediately afterwards in another taxi,, to finish off the day nicely with a little stroll around Albert Dock. As you can see, I took the opportunity to capture some pretty photos:

DSCF0734
DSCF0731
DSCF0733
DSCF0729
DSCF0730
DSCF0727
DSCF0732
DSCF0735
DSCF0736

And that was our celebratory trip to Liverpool! Slightly imperfect in places, but overall a fantastic city break 😀 Bitta scran, and a bitta bevvy, bitta…theatre, (lol)… proper boss! 😀

We are becoming right little getabouts because we have only recently come home from London! We went to see ‘Bat out of Hell; the musical’! So please look out for a London blog post, coming very soon!

Travelling, sightseeing, exploring new places… it’s great isn’t it? Whoever said “There’s  no place like home” surely had no clue whatsoever what they were talking about… lol 😛

 

Thank you so much for reading. Hope you’re having a ‘wicked’ weekend. Much love, Lauren x 

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2018 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

Amsterdam December 2017

2 Comments

Today I returned from a 4 night magical trip to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We travelled overnight on Monday 18th December aboard P&O ferries (from Hull), enjoyed a two night stay at the 4* luxurious Novotel Hotel, before returning home on the ferry.

When we first arrived into the center of Amsterdam, I must admit I was a bit bewildered by it all. Centraal Station and its surroundings overwhelmed me; it appeared vast and chaotic. I felt like a little bittle fish in a very big pond. However, once I got my head around transportation, which tram to get here, which tram to go where etc, and gathered my bearings, I felt so much more at ease and could begin to enjoy all the beauty Amsterdam has to offer…

Tuesday 19th December  

Me and my mum went to Dam Square first of all. We took some pretty photos of the palace, the beautifully lit Christmas tree, and we were entertained by the amazing street performers. Afterwards, we walked to the infamous Red Light District. We went inside an Erotic Museum, as I thought it would be a good laugh, but mum wasn’t overly impressed, she was acting a bit of a prude bless her so we soon left, haha. In the evening we drifted along the canal on a special Amsterdam Light Festival canal cruise, capturing some lovely photographs of the fluorescent illuminated art. It was truly breathtaking.

Wednesday 20th December   

Wednesday we visited the Stedelijk Museum, and Van Gogh Museum at the Museum Quarter. Our intention was to also go to the Anne Frank Museum, but disappointingly no tickets could be purchased in the city; people book them online weeks in advance, and Thomas Cook travel agents didn’t make us aware of this when we booked the holiday, which was quite unfortunate for us. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time at the other aforementioned museums. Stedelijk is contemporary and modern art, very much my cup of tea…and Van Gogh, it wasn’t even top of our list but wow, incredible! It was amazing getting up close to many of Van Gogh’s famous works and masterpieces. I feel inspired to practise painting with oils in my art studio!  Painting has never been my strong suit, but admiring Van Gogh’s paintings has really spurred me on to give it a good go. There was also a quaint Christmas market at Museum Quarter, and the pond across from the Rijksmuseum was transformed into a gorgeous ice skating rink for Winter! A wonderful winter-y atmosphere. Later that evening, we ate grub and drank cocktails at the fantastic Hard Rock cafe, playing great rock music and adorning rock memorabilia on all the walls, definitely my sort of place.

Thursday 21st December        

On our last day in Amsterdam before we embarked on our voyage back across the North Sea, we went to the ‘coolest’ bar in Amsterdam, Amsterdam Ice Bar! Here, we were given a token for a cocktail each in the welcome bar, a Heineken in the Ice Bar itself, and a delicious frothy hot chocolate on the way out. We were given a thermal coat and gloves in the Ice Bar, everything is made out of ice; the ceilings, walls, sculptures, even the drink glasses, so yes as expected it was bloody freezing in there, haha. Afterwards, we grabbed a cheeseburger from the many stalls and purchased a few souvenirs in the popular area of Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square).  

A couple of insights and musings on my trip…

  1. I have never seen so many bicycles! Reminded me of the Queen song ‘Bicycle Race’.. “I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle” haha. The dutch must be very fit and healthy, and it’s super great for the environment. All countries should adopt this environmentally friendly approach to transport, in my honest opinion.
  2. We smelt the strong aroma of marijuana from the many coffee shops throughout the city, but ours was definitely a cultural trip, as opposed to a drug trip lol
  3. All the dutch people we spoke to were so polite and friendly, especially the staff in our hotel, they couldn’t have made us feel more welcome 🙂

This city break deal was an early Christmas present from myself to my mum, as she really did deserve a nice little getaway for a few days. Life has been pretty stressful for her lately, so I’m just so pleased and over the moon that we have both had such a fabulous time in the Netherlands. I would definitely go again, it was truly spectacular. I will cherish the memories of our holiday together for a very long time.

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Paphos Photos – July 2017

2 Comments

This July, me and my mum went to visit my uncle and his partner for 12 nights, in their beautiful villa just outside Paphos in Cyprus. The weather was super scorching, and I still came back a darker shade of pale (goddammit, why won’t I tan?!). I thought I’d share a few lil photographs from our trip, showcasing all the wonderful places we were lucky enough to visit…hope you enjoy…

Here we are watching the sunset go down at a lively bar in Coral Bay, overlooking a magnificent shipwreck in the ocean…

 

We went to go see the popular beautiful intricate Roman mosaics, just by the harbour in Paphos. My favourite is the bottom picture as it depicts Apollo and Daphne from ancient Greek mythology; legend goes Daphne transforms into a laurel tree to escape Apollo’s advances, and I have a tattoo on my right forearm depicting Daphne’s transformation as the name Lauren (my name) derives from laurel (clever, ey, hehe)…

 

Here’s us just ‘enjoying life’ by the harbour…

 

One day, we went to visit the ancient theatre and archaeological remains at the acropolis of Kourion (Curium)..on the drive back to Paphos, we stopped by the side of the road to get a couple of great photographs with Aphrodite’s rock in the background…

 

Another day, we went to a lovely little donkey sanctuary (n’awww) where we fed the donkeys, at a very reasonable price it must be said, and then we had yummy ice cream overlooking a breathtaking view of the coastline…

 

My absolute favourite place of the holiday however, was the stunning paradise that is Adonis Baths waterfalls in Paphos. I got in and had a little swim, by god the water is freezing! But, wow, absolutely gorgeous place. It literally took my breath away (honestly it did, the water was that cold!)…

 

And to finish off a few typical holiday pics… being lazy by the pool in the villa, and having a few cheeky glasses of wine / dancing the night away at the local clubhouse… 😀

 

Thank you very much for reading / viewing… hope you like my holiday photos of Paphos…

Cya later, alligator! 😀

 

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

Newcastle, Gateshead, Tynemouth: A Collection of Photographs (and musings) 2017

Leave a comment

For my 26th birthday this year in March 2017, I was lucky enough to visit the gorgeous city of Newcastle for the weekend…

On my actual birthday, I went to see ‘Mamma Mia: The Musical” with my mum, at the Theatre Royal. It was absolutely amazing. At the end of the performance everybody in the audience got up dancing, and singing to Abba songs. Such a great atmosphere…

Saturday was our main day for sightseeing. The touristy attractions we visited included the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Life Science Centre museum, both were fantastic. The Baltic exhibited three artists’ works, Mare Nostrum – raising awareness of refugee and migrant journeys across the Mediterranean Sea – Holly Hendry’s ‘Wrot’ exhibition, and my personal favourite, Rodney Graham’s humorous and witty ‘That’s Not Me’ collection of photographic images.  The Life Science Centre showcased a Maker Faire the weekend we visited Newcastle, featuring a whole array of geeky, techy and robotey stuff, as well as talks and performances, really cool stuff. Me and my mum also mooched around the city centre of Newcastle, the main shopping areas, and popular Grey Street. Our hotel was very close to Quayside, so we had the opportunity to take some nice photos of Tyne and Millennium Bridge too…

At night we went out for a few cheeky cocktails, hehe. I have never felt more like a sardine than in Newcastle’s Flares, it was honestly so hectic! It must have taken us at least 5 minutes to squeeze from one side of the room to the other! After a while we decided it would be much more comfy and relaxing to head back to the hotel bar, for a couple of refreshing and fruity bottles of rose 🙂 …

Sunday we caught the bus at Gateshead Interchange to go and see Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the North’, it’s HUGE! and HUMONGOUS! 😛 A very impressive piece of art. We then hopped on the metro to the beautiful and quaint little town of Tynemouth. At this point in the day, the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining, so made for some lovely photographs. We dined and drank cider at a posh fancy restaurant before making our way back to Gateshead…

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Newcastle, and I would certainly go again in the future. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering going. Every single Geordie I spoke to was ‘canny’ friendly, easy to talk to and welcoming.. and if you needed help with anything the response was always ‘nee bother pet’…

‘Propa belta’ of a time! 😀

References

http://www.balticmill.com/ Accessed: 03/04/2017

https://www.life.org.uk/ Accessed: 03/04/2017

 

Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

 

© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com

 

A Selection of my Photographs: 2016

Leave a comment

Here is a small collection of a few of the photographs I took in 2016… I thought I’d just upload a few, as an example of some of my work pre-2017, before I upload any future photography… Hope you enjoy…

1. These photos were taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, towards the end of last year. I was actually on a date (the guy with the bug), he turned out to be an absolute tool so is no longer in my life (lol), but I couldn’t resist sharing the photo, the creepy-crawly looks super cool… all the animals there are awesome to be honest, definitely worth a visit if you’ve never been 😀 …

 

2. These next photographs were taken in and around Sheffield city centre, sometime in  September if I remember correctly… I had an appointment in Sheffield, so took the opportunity to take my camera along and make a proper day of it mooching about here and there; the Winter and Peace Gardens, Millennium Gallery and so on  😀 …

 

3. These last photographs were taken earlier on in the year, in Hull city centre, on a first date with the aforementioned tool (haha)… as you can see I visited The Deep, as well as having a lazy stroll around the city itself, admiring some of the gorgeous scenery and architecture Hull has to offer…

 

… and that’s it for the time being folks :D… Please do keep a look out for photographs I post and share here on a later date…

…ciao for now! 😀

(Please visit my Facebook page ‘UnicornPostbox’ to ‘like’ and ‘follow’)

 

© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com