maddi's gap year: Easter break part II: London and Amsterdam

Dublin to London - 3rd April

On the way to the airport, the GPS got us lost and we seriously thought we would miss our flight (resulting in dad speeding and running a red light and everyone freaking out), but everything was fine, we made it with time to spare, and then our flight was delayed anyway.

We arrived in London after lunch time, so we checked into our hotel at Hammersmith and I showed mum and dad some of the sights on London - Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Shaftsbury Avenue and Leicester Square. We had dinner at Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant... His tagliatelle bolognese was delicious. After dinner, I took mum and dad to M&M world in Leicester Square... Four floors of M&Ms, toys, merchandise, etc. You can even get your own personal messages printed on them.

London - 4th April (mum's birthday!)

Happy Birthday, Mum! Today we did the hop-on hop-off bus tour, which was a really good way to see London. It was really interesting, and although I'd been to London plenty of times, I hadn't learnt much about it, so that was really cool. We stopped at the Tower of London, because we were told that it was one of the best tourist attractions to do. We learnt a lot about the bloody history of England (lots and lots if people were beheaded... It's hard to believe that people would watch it for fun as well) and saw the Crown Jewels. One of the diamonds in there was the size of a baby's fist.

Dad and I at the Tower of London

Then or was time for Wicked! We went back to our hotel to shower and change before going to a restaurant for our pre-show dinner before walking to the Apollo Theatre to watch Wicked. I love the theatre and musicals, so I naturally enjoyed it (plus it was amazing itself), although dad dozed off a few times. It's not really his thing.

Mum and I in London

About to see Wicked!!!

England to France to Belgium to The Netherlands - 5th April

We commenced our Cosmos tour today, catching the Eurostar from London to Brussels, where we got on our coach with 36 others to Amsterdam.

We arrived at our hotel, where Mitch met us in the lobby!!!! It was so good to see him after 3 months (even if he has stolen my room.............). We all then got ready for our 'Amsterdam by Night' tour, where we had dinner and walked around the city of Amsterdam, seeing the Red Light District, "Coffee Shops", magic mushroom shops and whatever else. It was interesting to say the least.