Jotting down June

Well, life is crazily busy and we are having a wonderful time galavanting around the country with Delle (just looked up actual meaning of galavant: "to travel around with no purpose except enjoyment"), in between counting down our last few days of work and preparing to move out of our flat and head across to Europe this Friday! Delle is meant to be writing a blog entry about what we've all been up to since she arrived, but I've got a few bits and pieces to fill you in on from June, so here goes...

My uni exam was halfway through June, and since I had to go to London for it anyway and our London-going days are fast drawing to a close, I decided to make it worthwhile! After my exam, I had a quick look aorund the British Museum (free entry), saw the afternoon show of The Phantom of the Opera on West End (ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!), wandered from Piccadilly Circus to Trafalgar Square via the beautiful tree- and flag-lined road that leads to Buckingham Palace, and went to an Intrepid Travel event night on Peru, Bolivia and Brazil at their Angel Islington store! Here are some photos from my day...



The next day was Ben's exam, and he also spent a full day making the most of his time in London. He went to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum, and saw Avenue Q on West End (which he really enjoyed). Here are some photos from his day...



Then, to celebrate the end of our exams, we went to see Les Miserables (booked before we'd thought of going by ourselves on our respective exam day to a show that the other one wasn't so keen on seeing - hence how between us we saw three musicals in three days!!). Anyway, was great to finally see Les Mis and understand what all the fuss is about. :) It was extremely good - but, Phantom having been a long-loved favourite of mine and the musical I've most wanted to see live ever since arriving in England, I'm afraid not even Les Mis could hold a candle to it (and certainly not a crashing chandelier)!

Also, the evening we went to Les Mis, we FINALLY found the Australia Shop in Covent Garden - it was about the third time we'd looked for it! Here are some photos from our day - particularly the moments of indescribable joy when we were reunited with Twisties, Chicos, Bundaberg Ginger Beer, and the visual familiarity of many other well known brands whose products we exclaimed over but were forced to leave sitting on the shelves...



The following week, we went to London again to see Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare's comedies that was being performed in the Open Air Theatre at Regent's Park. There were eight of us and it was a very enjoyable night watching a rather tangled web of a story about a girl who disguises herself as her twin brother. It started raining halfway though and a canopy of umbrellas instantly popped up over the heads of the well-prepared audience, but the actors carried on as though they hadn't even noticed they were soaking!

Before heading to Regent's Park that evening, we stopped off at Covent Garden again to raid the Australia Shop. Whilst there, we enjoyed a show by an amazing busking magician from Texas and saw some strange goings on outside of Lush (promoting an in-shop bath products party - London, I tell you...!!!). See photos below!



At the end of June, we stayed a night in Worthing (a coastal town south of here) with Mike and Jo, their daughter Charley and Jo's dad Gordon, and the following day we went to a picnic with them. We met a lot of new people, ate delicious food, and played rounders (a cross between cricket and softball). On the way home, Mike, Jo and Charley took us to Arundel - a quaint village with a castle perched in the middle of it - where we strolled around the streets for an hour or so and ate some dessert. A lovely day!



Well, that was June, and that's the least amount of words I've yet condensed a month's adventures into!! Time to do some packing. :) Goodnight!