Over the Easter weekend, me and my boyfriend Aaron travelled to Leeds for a lovely little city break away, and to support my sister do a 10k Leeds Running Festival parkrun for Alzheimer’s Society 😊
Arriving in Leeds early Saturday afternoon, we hopped in a taxi to our hotel, the High Bank Hotel, situated on the outskirts of Leeds, in a multicultural community area. We payed for a cheap double room, with a shared bathroom/toilet. In all honesty, it wasn’t too bad, we hardly saw any other guests. However, in hindsight, by the time we’d payed for multiple taxis, the price would have worked out similar had we just booked a city central hotel, with more amenities on the doorstep, and closer to everything
We had a table booked for 5pm at a Chinese restaurant, G-Woo. The food was delicious 😋 I had salt and pepper mushrooms 🍄 for an appetiser and aubergines 🍆 and peppers 🌶 in a black bean sauce. Aaron chose veggie ‘chicken’ (substitute) curry 🍛 and chips 🍟 This was the first Chinese we have eaten together as a couple. The staff were super friendly too. Avoiding more taxis, they advised us which bus 🚌 stop from there to go to get to the city centre cheaply
Arriving in Leeds centre, it was only a short walk to The Light, Leeds. There we filled half an hours time in Funstation, partaking in arcade games, paying for tokens to win tickets 🎟 to choose prizes. We ended up with a white mouse 🐁 chocolate 🍫 and a keyring
Junkyard Golf ⛳️ club Leeds was epic! We had 18 holes of the ‘craziest golf’. 9 holes of ‘Bozo’ and 9 holes ‘Gary’. ‘Bozo’ is a “circus fear-ground” themed crazy golf course with dystopian creepy clowns 🤡 and ‘Gary’ a “garage scrapyard” 90s themed course, with a trippy ultra violet rave room. They were both proper mint. We tippled blue and pink Hooches before ‘Bozo’, and then before ‘Gary’ 😝 And, obviously, despite Aaron fluking a few lucky holes, I reigned victorious, beating him twice 🤪
After Junkyard Golf ⛳️ we had a few alcopops in the very unique Carousel bar, which was shaped circular like a real Carousel, 🎠 horse statues scattered around the circumference of the room. We then hit Turtle Bay 🐢 for 2 for 1 cocktails 🍸 It was the first time I have ever been to a Turtle Bay, with their iconic Caribbean class and soft soothing reggae vibes. I had a vodka passion martini which was beaut, but the rum based strawberry daiquiri was too much for me 🤣
After a cheeky McPlant (I’m a veggie), we ventured towards the Call Lane nightclub and bar vicinity. One venue on Briggate wanted £10 entry, even the indie Stone Roses bar was a fiver each. We avoided these, and cheesy danced in the gay bar ‘The New Penny’ instead. The drinks were absolutely extortionate in ‘Revolution’ on Call Lane, but we found a fantastic little live music gem, showcasing a spectacular Ska band
On Sunday morning (feeling very rough), we got an uber to Roundhay park to watch my sister Beth do a 10k Leeds Running Festival parkrun for Alzheimer’s Society, in loving memory of our beautiful mum, who sadly passed away last year after a long 10 year battle with early onset Alzheimer’s 😢
It was our Beth, her friend Lucy (an avid runner), and Lucy’s friend Amy who participated in the running festival. Beth’s best friend Georgina and another close friend Lorian came to spectate with me and Aaron. Me and Aaron were proper hanging from the night before, we purchased a strong cappuccino and a chocolate 🍫 cookie 🍪 each
The view was very scenic, Roundhay park is massive with beautiful surroundings, a lake and mansion house
They arrived for the race just in the nick of time. Our Beth naively didn’t undertake any kind of training prior to the event, and rocked up without any proper running trainers. Some of it she walked rather than ran. When Lucy (a bit of a fitness fanatic) finished her 10k, she rejoined Beth on the track to spur her on and offer moral support…
But, she did it! 😁 I couldn’t have been happier for her, I felt really emotional actually when she crossed the finish line, and I know mum would be so incredibly proud! 💗 She did amazing, woop woop!
We took some singular and group photos of her with her well deserved 10k Leeds Running Festival medal, then headed to the Roundhay Fox for a refreshing dark fruit cider. The weather was gorgeous so it was lovely soaking in the sunshine 🌞 rays.. we wandered through an idyllic little walkway to reach Lucy’s car 🚗 and she drove us home to Doncaster
Once back in Donny, me and Aaron ended our Easter getaway and celebrated Easter Sunday with veggie carverys, Camembert melt in the middle roasts, at Toby Carvery 😋😋
Thank you as always for taking the time to read/view 🥰🥰 My next blog post will be progression photos of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themed diamond 💎 art 🎨 I have almost finished..
On 10th January 2025, me and my new boyfriend Aaron travelled to London on a much needed few days city break. While there we went to see an amazing West End show ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’, we visited one of my favourite places, Camden Town, had fantastic fun at the Paradox Museum, and we also journeyed to the highly anticipated Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter, on the outskirts of London. It was an incredible weekend away, mine and Aaron’s first together.
In this blog post, I shall be writing a theatre review of ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’, accompanied by a description/ travel blog of our outings! I hope you enjoy!
We left Doncaster late Friday morning, commuting to London on a NLER train, and arrived early afternoon. As we approached King’s Cross station I was feeling quite nervous, which is understandable I suppose.
On arrival into London, we went for a cheeky nandos round the corner from King’s Cross. It was an absolute nightmare carrying our large holdall luggage bags on the underground. They were so heavy and bulky, hurting our shoulders. Me and Aaron have come to the understanding that for our next getaway we are definitely going to purchase some wheeled suitcases, ha 😄
We eventually made it to our hotel, the Holiday Inn, in Kensington High Street. Although the room was quite small, it was sufficient. The hotel was clean, the staff friendly and it was situated in a great location, very central. No complaints whatsoever, and at a rather reasonable price we reserved on Booking.com. We unpacked and chilled a few hours, before embarking to Phoenix Theatre.
I love the underground. I managed to navigate us around quite smoothly, except for a few tiny hiccups. We got off a stop too early for the theatre, so we jumped into a black cab just to make sure we weren’t rushing about.
Stranger Things (SPOILERS ALERT):
‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ was absolutely incredible! 😲 A prequel to the highly rated and much adored Netflix sci-fi phenomenon.
Developed from the imaginations of the Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, the Stranger Things stage play is the origin story of Henry Creel, later to be known as the villain Vecna, the overarching antagonist of the Upside Down dominion (Season 4)
Three time Tony award winning director Stephen Daldry collaborated with Sonia Friedman, a well established theatre producer – and writer, Jack Thorne, multi award winning – plus the shows long time writer, Kate Trefry, together they devised a brilliant plot for the play, a direction which excited them all, which was, as aforementioned, the origin story of Henry Creel.
The television series is rich in mythology and character. The little ordinary town of Hawkins, Indiana, where extraordinary mind-blowing events emerge. Top secret experiments, gateways to another dimension (the Upside Down) telepathic and telekinetic superpowers, sinister entities – demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and of course Vecna, who transpires to be an evolution of Henry Creel, the Hawkins Laboratory original test subject.
Stranger Things has roots very much from the Gothic genre. Of course, many of us have always been fascinated and interested in ‘monsters’, we may have supernatural favourites, werewolves, vampires, etc. We are just so intent on terrifying ourselves! Why is the horror genre as prevalent as as ever today? Films, TV shows.. Because we have a thirst so insatiable for these hellish creatures, our imaginations are haunted 😱😱
The scientific spin on Stranger Things is it’s parallel universe, the Upside Down – a world recognisable to our own, yet so completely twisted, deformed and horrific.
The Duffer Brothers succeed in forging attributes that are widely identifiable in the Gothic tradition, to new audiences, in new, fresh exciting ways, season by season.
Coming back to The First Shadow, set in 1959, the stage production highlights the ‘legacy of trauma in post-war America’, with Henry Creel’s father Victor evidently suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Tragically, an alcoholic, prone to bizarre outbursts and obviously entirely shell-shocked.
The actor I was most impressed with in the show was Louis Healy who played Henry Creel himself. He portrays a boy very much disturbed, who practises killing small innocent animals and rodents. So desperate to be ‘normal’ by his peers, yet he is more so depicted socially awkward, and some would say a ‘weirdo’, ‘creep’ or ‘freak’. Healy was sensational in his delivery
It was intriguing to see Dr Brenner (Joshua James) influencing the young Creel, inducting him into his scientific experiments. A scared teenager with ‘special abilities’.
An aspect of the performance I really enjoyed was the actors making full use of the space, Creel in distress running down the audience aisles, men in white laboratory suits surrounding us. It made it more atmospheric. Of course, the set and props were absolutely outstanding, as with all West End productions.
I kept glancing at Aaron to see his reaction during the performance and he was beaming with joy, very much impressed as he has never seen a professional production
As a souvenir I bought the programme, a flask and a fridge magnet. Overall, a fantastic experience
After the performance we went and had a lovely Italian and a couple of Strongbow dark fruit ciders in a nearby Irish bar
Me and Aaron decided not to have breakfast included with our hotel as we are both vegetarians, so it seemed a little pointless. £17 a head when you don’t eat an English fry up is a bit of a waste of money! Instead, we found a lovely little ‘Muffin Man’ cafe where we had pancakes with Nutella spread and bananas 🍌 They were delicious. I wore a bib, ha 🤣 A joke present Aaron got me for Christmas 🎄 because I’m such a messy eater!
Paradox Museum:
Our first port of call of the day on Saturday was the ‘Paradox Museum’, a fully interactive optical illusion Museum situated in Knightsbridge, central London, opposite from the famous Harrod’s department store. It was absolutely brilliant!
There was a ‘Paradox Sofa’ which gave the impression the top half of your body had been swallowed up by the sofa. The ‘Camouflage Room’ where you literally blend into the wallpaper wearing an orange/black checked cloak, the ‘Reversed Room’ defying gravity, upside down in the underground (you use your smartphone to rotate the image, lol), the ‘Paradox Tunnel’ affecting your gravitational direction perception, walking straight but the room spinning, the ‘Infinity Well’ (again posing to then rotate on your smartphone). There was allsorts! My favourite was Aaron’s head on a platter and me hovering over him deviously with enormous cutlery! There were rooms with ‘Charlie and the Chocolates Factory’ esque distortions where the room felt like it was shrinking, or something like from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ where one person looked tiny and the other a huge giant!
It was hilarious because we got stuck in the wall of mirrors, and there’s me trying to navigate through going ‘Oh, it’s only a wall’, ‘Oh no, it’s just a wall’, ‘Aaron, I can’t get out’ 🤣🤣 I purchased a little colouful cube as a souvenir..Such a fab experience
Camden Town:
In the afternoon, we went to one of my favourite places ever, Camden Town. We strolled leisurely around the alternative market, taking photos of all the cool shops, tattoo studios, hippie havens, etc. Aaron bought a customised Harry Styles poster for his sister.
We crossed the beautiful Iron Footbridge over the Regent’s canal. There was a ‘poem busker’ asking for small donations for an original poem, written on their typewriter. The street market was great. I had a Greek halloumi gyro (as I say, I’m vegetarian). We went to a few eccentric shops, including one selling circus equipment, and best of all, CyberDog!
CyberDog sells festival clubwear and rave outfits. It’s immense! Selling futuristic fashion, neon glow in the dark clothing, reflective jackets, body paints, alternative accessories. I bought a punk style spiked collar, ha 🤣 There are live DJ’s playing electronic music, and podium dancers, it’s mint! Absolutely love it 🥰
Late afternoon, we ventured back to the underground station. Luckily, I asked a member of staff directions as we nearly got on the wrong tube! But, as it were, we got to the Visitors Centre in Baker Street well within time to embark on our last London adventure..
Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter:
I was so very excited to go to the Warner Bros Tour as I am a huge fan of Harry Potter, having read all the books and watched the films countless times.
We were really lucky to witness ‘Hogwart’s in the Snow’, Christmas 🎄 time in the wizarding world, with various snow features. The huge Christmas tree, even before we entered the main tour was ace… Upon arrival, we had veggie burgers before embarking on the tour.
We were given an ‘activity passport’, in which we were to collect 7 stamps as strolling through the different areas: 1. Gryffindor’s Crest 2. Quidditch 3. Divination 4. Hogwart’s Express 5. Gringott’s Bank 6. Diagon Alley and 7. Hogwart’s Crest
The Great Hall was magnificent and breathtaking, with all it’s suspended candles. We saw the Gryffindor boys dormitory, the enchanted pensieve from Dumbledore’s office, we saw peculiar bottles and jars in the potions section, Hagrid’s hut, the Weasley home, the Divination classroom, artifacts from the Ministry of Magic. We entered the forbidden forest, crept through Gringotts wizarding bank, walked the cobbles of my favourite, Diagon Alley
The Creature Effect Department did amazingly well creating the Basilisk, Buckbeak, Fawkes, etc..
We learnt all about the crucial visual effects throughout all the films – enhancements and created environments, computer generated characters the camera cannot capture – the Chamber of Secrets, Gringotts vault door, the Griffin stairwell to Dumbledore’s office
My favourite of all the Harry Potter films is ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ in which three wizarding schools participate in the tri-wizard tournament, so I was overjoyed to see the Yule Ball costumes
I adored seeing the Hogwart’s Express, and taking photographs as though wheeling through Platform 9 and 3/4. I especially liked the exterior sets. The Burrow, and vehicles such as sitting in Hagrid’s bike, and the Ford Anglia (from Chamber of Secrets).
It was brill in Professor Sprout’s herbology greenhouse, pulling up mandrakes, posing at the back of the Knight Bus, wandering through number 4 Privet Drive, discovering the famous cupboard under the stairs. The house displayed two iconic scenes, the mountain of envelopes fluttering in the living room (Philosopher’s Stone) and the scene from Prizoner of Azkaban where Aunt Marge swells up like a balloon!
It was delightful to learn about the makeup and prosthetics. It was very impressive, prosthetic pieces made from foam or silicone, such as for Gringotts goblins. A life size version of Dobby was created. Such models by the Creative designers were known as masquettes, which were then scanned to apply computer generated movements, facial expressions, etc
We were told how the Prop department has accumulated thousands of items, in five giant warehouses, items including: The Time Turner, the Philosopher’s stone, the Golden Snitch, the Deluminator, the Golden Egg etc and of course wands, brooms, and horcruxes. The art, prop, costume and graphic designers all collaborated to develop the wizarding sport of Quidditch. Skull-like death eater masks were constructed from casts of the actors faces. Defence against the dark arts furniture constructed too, such as the Boggart Wardrobe..The treasure in Lestrange’s vault, three months a machine ran just to produce the Hufflepuff cup replication…
It was absolutely outstanding viewing the dragon fire-breathing simulation!
I adored Diagon Alley the most, with Ollivander’s wand shop, Flourish and Blotts, the Leaky Cauldron, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and so on. It was truly magical, as was the astonishing and intricately detailed Hogwart’s Castle Model. Every turret, tower and courtyard enhanced digitally, used in all the films
The only thing I was completely disappointed in was the Butterbeer.. it was absolutely disgusting!
I purchased an ‘Official Guide’, a Hedwig Owl teddy which is adorable and a Gryffindor Mascot Wand which was on offer. In hindsight, it might have been worth waiting for the next gift shop at the end of the tour, which had a much larger selection of different wands
We just about made it back to the coach in time. The entire experience was 7 hours long. We embarked from Baker Street at 4pm, and was back there around 11pm. The studio is situated on the outskirts of London you see, Watford area. An unbelievable experience I will never forget, truly magical! 😁😁 A quiet underground journey back to Kensington High Street
The following morning, rather than having to cart our heavy luggage on the underground, we took an uber to King’s Cross station. We had time to enjoy another lovely Italian near King’s Cross before travelling back to Doncaster
I had such a wonderful time. This last year has been so tough losing mum to early onset alzheimers disease 😢 It was lovely to get away for a few days, just what I needed, a fantastic little getaway 😊
Sources:
Stranger Things: The First Shadow official programme
Warner Bros Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter official guide
Websites:
paradoxmuseumlondon.com [Accessed 26th January 2025]
Not this weekend but the weekend before, we had a wonderful time celebrating my Uncle Jim’s birthday. Please continue reading for a description of mine, my Auntie Gina, her son Rich and Uncle Jim’s travels to; Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa in Retford, a day out in Nottingham and another trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster. Hope you enjoy!
We went for a posh meal on the Friday evening at Ye Olde Bell Hotel & Spa, Retford. As you can see, we dressed up nice for the occasion! The food was delicious, I opted for the lamb which was very succulent. Our original choice for dining out was Spencer’s On The Square, Retford, the venue for Uncle Jim and Auntie Gina’s wedding a few years ago – however due to covid confusions, we changed to the place they have celebrated their subsequent anniversaries. Ye Olde Bell certainly didn’t disappoint on a taste point of view, even if we did have to wait a little longer than expected for our meal to arrive – annoying!
Of all the UK cities I’ve visited over the years, I have never been to Nottingham, so I was super excited to go on the Saturday! We started off at the Victoria Shopping centre. I was quite smitten with a quirky fancy / alternative dress emporium lol. We moseyed leisurely around the shops, enjoying a latte and cake break half way. Unfortunately Auntie Gina couldn’t find a particular hair accessory salon, to her dismay and Uncle Jim’s best efforts! The weather was slightly changeable in Nottingham city centre; one moment overcast with clouds and the next we knew, rays and beams of sunshine! Nottingham City Hall in Old Market Square proudly displayed a Union Jack flag, which would then be in excited anticipation of the England football teams’ upcoming Euro 2020 games. We decided it would be fun to take some typical tourist photos with street performers and in Seaside themed comical booths, hehe. Furthermore, Uncle Jim was delighted to get a photograph with his lovely wife in front of the Brian Clough OBE statue! We finished off our great day with some more retail therapy, something Auntie Gina relished 🙂
Sunday – yes, another venture to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, haha! We were so disappointed when we arrived because the new Point Lobos enclosure for Californian Sea Lions was closed due to essential maintenance. We were however able to see the new mother polar bear Flocke and her three triplets at Project Polar 2, which was fantastic! I managed to get some pretty decent photographs of the tigers and meerkats which I was chuffed about, although it was a shame Uncle Jim was unable to catch a glimpse of his beloved, timid red pandas lol – likewise the giraffes unfortunately were not visible in their indoor huts. So though it was a sad we were unable to see some of the wildlife, it was still a brilliant day seeing all the other amazing animals. I think we walked for about four and a half hours in total around the park, I was knackered afterwards, haha – it definitely didn’t help I was suffering from a urinary tract infection and on antibiotics at the time. I was slightly relieved when we entered the gift shop at the new Yorkshire Hive at the end of the day. I bought my beautiful mum a red panda and a zebra teddy 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to read / view my latest travel blog post!
I just wanted to mention, it is a misfortune that we didn’t win the Euros last night, especially so cruelly on penalties – but I think the England lads did terrific in the tournament, and brought joy to so many people this Summer, in such awful, dark and unprecedented times. Well done, thank you, and bring on the World Cup!
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.
We afterwards rested our legs and quenched our thirst in the beer garden of a very quaint and dainty little pub establishment.
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!
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 🙂
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…
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;
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…
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