England #2

Thursday 11th September (con't)
I arrived in Blackpool and it is a very interesting city. The whole town is like a big theme park, the promenade is filled with games (like bingo and amusement sites), junk food (fish and chips, candy etc) and souvenir type shops. Everything is very old and run down too, it's definitely beyond its heyday. Blackpool is famous for its piers and they do remind you of in the movies but again, everything is old and falling apart.

Friday 12th September
Blackpool Tower is the main attraction here and has a lot attached to it. It was originally inspired by the Eiffel Tower and has an apparently amazing ballroom inside (that was closed for private functions so I couldn't go in). It's also attached to a Madam Tousauds, circus, aquarium type thing etc. I decided to simply go up to the tower viewing platform. It was a good view down over the city but unfortunately the weather is extremely misty so l couldn't see past the beach (which is literally across the street from the base of the tower).
The Illuminations are on at the moment which is very famous but literally just some street lights along the promenade. However as part of the festival over a few weeks they have the World Fireworks Competition with different countries putting on a display each Friday night. So I was treated to a fireworks display by Austria which pretty good!

Saturday 13th September
One of the main reasons I ended up coming to Blackpool was for the Pleasure Beach theme park. So today was my theme park day full of rollercoaster and other rides. It has the tallest & steepest rollercoaster in Europe as well as some of the oldest rides. You can definitely tell some of them are old, they are very jerky... they haven't figured out smooth rides yet! Not overly enjoyable but they have a LOT of rides and some are better. So overall an exhausting but very fun day.

Sunday 14th September
Today I took the long bus to London to finish up my time in the UK. I met up with Jus again to spend a couple of days with her.

Monday 15th September
Day with Jus and Dom today. We started with a picnic in Hyde Park, then rode around the city on the Barcley bikes, dinner at Wahacas followed by impromptu Monday night drinks.

Tuesday 16th September
We took it easy today and I did some travel planning (finalising my trip to Bulgaria in between my Baltics and Turkey tours).
I said farewell to Jus and moved to my hostel in Camden.

Wednesday 17th September
Back in the city, I took advantage and visited Leicester Square tob get theatre tickets, managed to get a decently priced ticket to Les Misérables for tomorrow night! Then I walked through to Trafalgar Square and down to 10 Downing St, through St James Park, Buckingham Palace and Green Park. Then I got back on the bikes and rode around Hyde Park, stopping for lunch and saw Kensington Palace.

Met Abbey for dinner! I think the main thing in like about London is the fact that I'm able to catch up with people! I think I've said it before but it's nice to just be able to catch up with friends! After dinner we meet up with Jonathan for dessert (tried to do cocktails at The Shard but it was closed for a private function... what is with that lately!?).

Thursday 18th September
Another catchup today, coffee with Bethany (from my Scotland tour), then I tried to do more travel planning (but hard with terrible internet and an evacuating drill at the hostel though).
I went to Les Misérables tonight! At the Queen's Theatre, which was surprisingly small but the show was absolutely fantastic! In particular the lighting was just perfect and allowed them to do amazing things with the space. I wasn't planning on seeing it but I'm glad I finally saw 'the longest running musical in the world'! And a great way to end my UK stint before heading back to Europe tomorrow.