Hull / ‘Kinky Boots’ November 2019

Earlier this November, me and my beautiful mum Debbie had a weekend break away to Hull to go see ‘Kinky Boots’, the musical, at Hull New Theatre. Please see below a description of our travels, with accompanying photography. Hope you enjoy 🙂 🙂

Friday 15th November

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the train station to travel to Hull, we soon realised that our train had been cancelled due to the flooding in South Yorkshire! 😦 Oh no, not a great start to our trip. My dad, who is a taxi driver, drove us instead. Nevertheless, when we finally arrived at our Ibis city centre Hotel, we were pleased to be in Hull and excited to go and explore the city.

We found a lovely quaint little fish and chip shop on Savile Street, and tucked into delicious grub and ice cream sundae, yum yum.

We took some nice photographs of Hull City Hall, the Maritime Museum, and Queen Victoria Statue in Queen Victoria Square, before visiting Ferens Art Gallery.

We very much (me especially) enjoyed viewing the various collections Ferens offers in different galleries, in particular we appreciated the ‘Renaissance’ and ‘Modern and Contemporary’ art.

On King Edward Street a gorgeous sparkly Christmas gingerbread house really put us in the festive spirit 🙂

Next, we walked to Queen’s Gardens. Unfortunately, it lacked impressive flower displays,  due to the time of year, however it was nice to see the water fountains. Nearby, fun fair attractions lit up the streets. Strolling leisurely around Princes Quay, we rested in a cafe, indulging in Rocky Road chocolate/marshmallows and frothy coffees, yummy. Later filling our bellies with toasties in Cafe Nero, we then set off on a slow walk towards Hull New Theatre, admiring the city in stunning twilight.

We unexpectedly came across rehearsals for a BBC Children in Need concert, so stayed a while and happily danced along to popular songs.

Kinky Boots is an incredible 2016 ‘Best New Musical’ Olivier winner, with songs by Tony and Grammy winning pop sensation Cyndi Lauper. It tells the story of Charlie Price, living in Northampton, who inherits his father’s drab and dull shoe shop. The business is struggling enormously with sales and orders until Charlie meets the glamorous drag queen Lola, and together they decide to re-brand and design sexy glittery knee-length stiletto heels! 🙂 It’s a very entertaining, funny, uplifting, yet moving story – belting out a powerful message; the importance to accept and love ourselves and others. As Kinky Boots has ended it’s dazzling 3 years in the West End, I was extremely keen to go see a performance on the UK/Ireland tour, and…  We absolutely loved it! Fabulous darling!

IMG_20191115_210227

We got chatting to a great couple, massive fans of Kinky Boots, who have seen multiple performances of the show. At our Hull New Theatre performance they had front row tickets, were the first, we noticed, to stand up cheering during the (well deserved) standing ovation and, as you can see above, made a huge effort to dress up for the occasion, haha! Amazing! 🙂 🙂

Saturday 16th November

We started off Saturday morning with a scrumptious English breakfast at our Ibis city centre hotel, as part of our bed and breakfast deal. The first place on our itinerary for the day was Hull Minster, situated in Old Town. There was a craft fair on inside which was very enjoyable to walk around, I bought mum a pretty blue and turquoise brooch for her coat, as a souvenir.

The next port of call was the harbour of Humber Dock Marina, where we took some selfies with the plentiful pleasure boats.

The pier making our way to nearby The Deep was breezy and blustery, so we walked more briskly as the rain poured.

The Deep aquarium was brilliant fun. We loved exploring all the exhibits, such as ‘Awakening Seas’ – learning the four billion years history of the ocean, ‘Lagoon of Light’ – gazing upon colourful cute tropical fish; gaping at the turtles, rays and sharks in ‘Endless Ocean’, becoming mesmerised by jellyfish in ‘Cool Seas’, and my personal favourite, we were delighted to peep at the gorgeous Gentoo penguins as they played and swam in ‘Kingdom of Ice’. Another highlight was venturing through the underwater viewing tunnel! Slightly scary but stunning. I bought mum a teddy turtle as a gift also, awwww 🙂

Afterwards, we ate pizza and indulged in vanilla milkshakes with whipped cream at an Italian restaurant, close by to the aquarium. The Minster looked beautiful lit up as we journeyed back towards our Ibis hotel.

Saturday evening, we got cosy in our hotel room watching Saturday night television and drinking complimentary tea/coffee. Wild, haha! Another tasty full English / continental breakfast the next Sunday morning, and we were on our travels back home. Luckily, the train was running on our return journey, yey!

Summary

As mum is becoming more and more poorly with her Alzheimer’s dementia, I really do cherish these moments and trips away together. We had such an incredible time; discovering all Hull has to offer, eating out, being bedazzled by Kinky Boots the musical, and being in awe of and appreciating all the amazing diverse underwater sea creatures at The Deep. I personally have visited Hull once or twice before, but it was nice to have the opportunity to see more of the 2017 ‘City of Culture’. I would definitely go again, for sure.

Thank you so much, as always, for taking the time to read / view! 🙂 🙂

Keep a lookout for my next blog post, pencil portraits of two Springador dogs! Woof, woof, hehe! 🙂 🙂

Much love, Lauren xx

 

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

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

 

Further information:

https://www.thedeep.co.uk [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.thedeep.co.uk/plan-your-visit/deep-tour [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://bwml.co.uk/hull-marina/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.hcandl.co.uk/museums-and-galleries/ferens [Accessed 24th November 2019]

https://www.hcandl.co.uk/museums-and-galleries/ferens/galleries-ferens-art-gallery [Accessed 24th November 2019]

http://www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/research/research-guides/history-hull-docks.aspx [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://hullminster.org/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://www.hulltheatres.co.uk/whats-on/year [Accessed 24th November 2019]

http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.co.uk/ [Accessed 25th November 2019]

http://www.kinkybootsthemusical.co.uk/uk-tour/synopsis.php [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Hull [Accessed 25th November 2019]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinky_Boots_(musical) [Accessed 25th November 2019]

 

Prague May 2019

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

 

Amsterdam December 2017

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