Chicago The Musical....

Chris bought me a ticket to the musical Chicago which is playing in the West End. The show was fantastic and we had great seats in the dress circle. I loved all the songs, I couldn't help but sing along (in my head!). The stage was very simplistic with the orchestra in the centre of the stage and the show performed in and around them. Such a great night!

Amsterdam

Karen and I spent the weekend in Amsterdam, flighing out Friday evening from Heathrow. Only a 40 minute flight! We stayed in a hostel where all the action was, sharing with 6 smelly boys, a few of which snored so loudly I couldn't sleep the first night! Other than the broken shower and no electricity the hostel was fine. We did all the touristy things, Anne Frank's House, Van Gogh Museum, a canal boat ride, Dam Square and the Red Light District. We arrived home Sunday evening after a fun filled weekend with warm weather!

Madame Tussauds

Chris and I visited our celebrity friends at Madame Tussauds on Saturday. Can you believe we had to wait 2hours to see them! An hour of which was in the rain without an umbrella! Jerry Springer greeted us at the door, while Jamie Oliver waved me over to his kitchen. Cruise and Travolta were looking fine while Chris had his eye (or should I say his hands!) on Beyonce. Much to my delight we skipped the Pirates of the Caribbean show! Other celebs of interest were Prince Charles and the boys, The Beatles & Robbie. While Chris enjoyed the political figures (boy did he give Howard a serving), the sporting greats like Beckham, Warney & Lara and not to mention being blessed by the Pope. Other attractions included 'Serial Killers,' a taxi ride down memory lane and an animation movie on how to be a star. All in all most celebs looked really life like, except most had lost a kilo or two. A great day out except there were too many people!

Grease Is The Word!

I was lucky enough to win tickets to another live TV production - Grease Is The Word. This TV series is similar to Australian Idol. Contestants compete against each other with singing, dancing and acting in order to find the leading roles, Sandy and Danny for the West End production of Grease. Chris and I lapped up the free VIP hospitality tickets, with as much beer, champagne and chocolate that could be consumed. We enjoyed this for almost an hr before the show, while the poor audience were queuing up in the street. The show was very entertaining, some very talented girls - we were viewing the Sandy semi final. The final is on this Saturday night - I will have to tune in! The whole time Chris and I were up on our feet clapping and getting into the music, I think we were on TV too - how embarrassing. After a couple of hours Chris and I were ready to go back to the hospitality suite for another drink, guess who we were with?? Dannii Minogue!! She looked good - a little too plastic for my liking and very loud. I guess she was the one in the stretch Bentley we saw before the show. What a great night!!

Scotland - Bank Holiday Weekend

Chris and I hired a car for the weekend to take a road trip to Scotland (about 7.5hrs from Surrey). We left Friday night to start part of the driving and avoid me getting too car sick. We spent the night in a hotel in Birmingham and completed the drive to Glasgow the following morning. There isn't much to do in Glasgow, we looked around at the main shopping strips, visited George Square and Merchant City. After enquiring everywhere for accommodation we were unsuccessful as everywhere was booked out for the football, a concert and the bank holiday weekend. We started our drive to Edinburgh (about 40min from Glasgow) with the idea of finding accommodation on the outskirts. This was proving to be a challenge too. By 11pm we were left with the Caravan Park option as Chris had borrowed a tent from a work mate. Trying to erect it with just the headlights of the car and no instruction was a challenge. After an hour we were too tired and decided to just sleep in the car for the night. Probably lucky as there was torrential rain most of the night. We spent the whole day Sunday in Edinburgh, we did the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus. Spent a few hours at the Edinburgh Castle, looked in a few souvenir shops and experienced a Scottish pub and beer. Chris and I love Scotland, especially Edinburgh. It is beautiful. If only we could send home all this rain we are having and all this greenery!!!

Big Ben

Last Friday I had the opportunity to climb the clock tower (Big Ben). A small group of us were guided up the narrow stair case, all 343 steps, to be able to view the clock mechanisms (installed in 1859!) and the bells. This tour can only be done by residents through your local MP and it is free. I was lucky enough for my friend's housemate to tee it up. I wasn't sure I would make it up all the stairs but what a great experience to be at the top of Big Ben next to the bells when the clock struck 3pm - boy it was loud!!!

The West End...

Chris and I went to the West End last night (Saturday) to see one of my favourite musicals of all time, Cabaret! I have had a passion for this show since studying it at school. Since then I have had numerous Cabaret CD's, the video, then the DVD and I saw the show in Melbourne. I must say this production was amazing and much better than the Melb show with Tina Arena. The set was very simplistic but very effective. The music was amazing, the character Sally Bowles was played incredibly well and she had an amazing voice. Surprisingly, there was a lot of full nudity (mostly during the dances) and innuendos....much more than the film or Melb stage show! Chris and I had a fab night, an enjoyable chinese dinner beforehand and a walk to Piccadilly Circus to watch the buzzing night life.

PARKINSON - The TV Show!

Chris and I were lucky enough to get production tickets to the taping of Parkinson. We were in the second row, just to the left of Parkinson himself! The guests on the show were Patrick Stewart (Star Trek), Ian Hislop, Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka!!) and Joe Cocker did 2 songs (his famous 'Unchain my heart...'), they did two runs of the songs for taping purposes....it was awesome! Chris and I had a great time, I know Chris particularly enjoyed Parkinson as he has fond memories of watching the show with his dad as a wee boy.

To Bath we go...

Karen, Chris and I ventured to Bath on Saturday after hiring a car for the Bank Holiday weekend. We managed to negotiate the map to exit London onto the Motorway. After about 2 hours driving we arrived into bustling Bath, with it's French market, tea houses, tourist buses, beautiful architecture and an amazing history. We visited the Roman Baths, after enjoying another good pub lunch. The Baths are a must see! Chris even drank a glass of the 'Bath Water' which was warm.....good for the digestion!! Chris and I were feeling adventurous, so we subjected ourselves to a caricature for 5 minutes. It felt like the longest 5 minutes with the spectators around and the smiles on peoples faces.

We Won!

Chris and I will be 'production guests' at this weekends transmission of 'The Golden Shot' which is part of a Gameshow Marathon being held at The London Studios in Southbank. I won the tickets at work! We are very excited....I just hope I don't get called out of the audience!