Chinese New Year Phantom of the Opera & Convent Garden 5th Feb 2011

This is the Royal Opera House on the other side
of the street from Her Majesty's Theatre.

Her Majesty's Theatre. Home of Phantom since 1986. 
Sold out every performance since then.



The opening scene of Phantom



Looking up from our seats.

The weekend I have been waiting for, for so long. I'm going to Phantom of the Opera in London.  I am so excitied beacuse we bought these tickets in NZ and it is my most favourite show.  We found the theatre very easily and it is in an amazing area of London.  Within a few blocks there are so many theatres, opera houses, china town and the westend.  Her Majesty's Theatre is a small building first opened on 28th April 1897 and was the first theatre ever to have a flat stage.  Previous theatres had a sloped floor.  Also it has two levels of sub-stage machinery to move props and scene changes.  So, if you see the theatre workings in the Phantom, they are very similar to the workings in HMT.  It is a small theatre not even as big as our beautiful Hastings Opera House but designed in a similar style.  The show itself was absolutely amazing.  I was mesmerised from the start to finish.  We had seats about 8 rows from the stage and to get to see the costumes up fairly close was amazing.  They were stunning and the acoustics were incredible.  It was breathtaking when the chandelier comes swinging down to crash on the stage and it swung very close to us.  What an experience!!! Highly recommend to everybody to go to a live show.  Must say though, the shows I have been to in NZ are of equal standard so I can be happy now that I have seen shows in London and they compare to ours in NZ.  Next one to see is the sequel "Love Never Dies".  Also, Michael Crawford is in Wizard of Oz here so need to see that, and there's The Lion King, The Jersey Boys, Billy Elliott and.... and... and... (you get the idea??)

Ripley's Believe it or Not.  This is Jack Sprat

Ripleys

The Royal Opera House.

The famous lights of The West End.

Chinatown

Changing of the Guard - Buckingham Palace 30th Jan 2011

The changing of the guard ceremony is every second day in the winter months and everytime we went into that part of London it was the wrong day.(Figures!!)  Finally we struck it right.  Mind you, so did everybody else.  It's really amazing too how all the tall people manage to make it to the front.  Anyway, we did our best and managed to see snipits between people.  The ceremony is very good too because they come in and split and one group goes one way and the other group goes the other way so you do have two vantage points.  In winter the guards wear grey coats and they all look so young.  It is lovely to watch the march and then listen to the brass band.  Then a 2nd band comes along and they are all playing fyfes which is like a little penny whistle.  Very nice sound.  They are led by a mounted police and it was so funny as the horse did what horses do and the crowd murmered as to what the band would do.  A great cheer came up when he barely altered his step and just missed the pile.  One of the poor band members obviously didn't see it clearly under his big fluffly hat (bearskin cap.  If you want to learn about the different regiments go to http://www.changing-the-guard.com/. They are actually the most elite regiments in the army and they have interesting careers.  When they have finished in active soldiering some of them can become the beefeaters at the Tower of London.  After the ceremony we headed off to see the carriage house but need to go back at the end of March when it will be open to the public.  In there we will see the ceremonial carriages that are used for parades and of course the upcoming Royal wedding on my birthday (29th April)

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That's my hand getting a movie while Rod takes a photo.

London Bridge - Southbank 29th January



One of the many openings
from a narrow alleyway

  The south side of the river Thames is called the Southbank and this is filled with lovely shops and restaurants.  There is a wide pathway and although there was a freezing cold wind, we enjoyed strolling down and finding little alleys and byways that opened up to wonderful areas.  The streets are roughly cobbled and it is difficult to walk along but when you think of the age of the streets and the stories that they hold, it is truly amazing.  This fountain was an amazing contraption and there was no information on it other than it was one of many sculptures sponsored by the City of London.  The city of London is actually quite a small area because the City of Westminster is nearby.  Apparently here if you have a cathedral in your area you can be officially a city.  Well, you can imagine how many cathedrals there are here.  So each area is a small city in it's own right and all together makes up London.  London bridge is a very ordinary grey bridge that doesn't look at all special.  Of course the oricinal London bridge is actually in Arizona (don't ask me why but apparently the Americans wanted it.)  In it's place is a smaller more sturdy bridge that services the area more efficiently.  Surrounding tyhe bridge on the Southbank are the tourist spots where you can be terrified by the dungeons tour and the stories of the past that are not so nice.  Apparently it is where the gallows and the guillotine were kept and when a prisoner was killed his/her head was put on a spike at the gates of London bridge to warn all others to behave as they entered London. 

 

 



The view from London Bridge.



Poor man was a bit nervous but his friends were really enjoying themselves.
Heather, shall we save this activity for if you decide to come over?

London is on the left and the Southbank is on the right.