Sunday, March 21, 2010

Salisbury

Actually, i think i should went to Windsor Castle instead of Salisbury. The reason i choose this place because this excursion time was shorter. So we thought we can had more time in London.We only visited this Salisbury Cathedral. What so special? This huge Cathedral was built on 4 feet ground work. It also the largest cathedral close in Britain, It had the original copy of Magna Carta, it was more than 750 years old,etc...
Interior of the Cathedral is almost similar with others.
At first, i don't know what was this water for, perhaps it just a decoration? Or something represent the holy water? (as seen on Van Helsing)
While i was walking around it, a father approached me. He was a kind old man with friendly smile (i think all father looked like this). He told me, go and look into the water, you will see the reflection! Looked it from 4 corners. Oh my god, it was really brilliant! I do what as he told me. The water was so still and it reflected whatever surrounding it.You wont be able to differentiate which is real, which is reflection. It just like our life, were our life is just a dream? or is it a reality? We never know.
Here was so quite, the grass was so green and it looked peaceful. Of course it looked peaceful, it was a place for those who "rest in peace"
Britain's tallest spire.
I found this outside a bishop school. After i google about William Golding, it shows that he was once teaching in this school.He won nobel prize for literature and best known for his novel :Lord of the Flies. (hmm... not lord of the ring ya)
Salisbury's street view.
Pasar pagi. Had been walked a while inside but nothing special. The only different was here all mat salleh.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Bath

We had 2 full days in London. 1 days for the city and another one for an excursion. Cause Allysa said she must go to see Stonehenge, so we just join this Bath+Salisbury+Stonehenge excursion. I booked it from www.viator.com, the trip cost us about USD73++.
The departure point was at Victoria Coach Station, just 2 mins walks from our hostel. We board to this nice and clean coach. Our tour guide was a typical british gentleman. I love his ascend. :) Just like Harry Potter movie.
The bus was equip with GPS. The excursion fees of USD 73 is not included entrance fees. We need to pay additional GBP20 for the entrance fees. Anyway you can choose not to paid if you are not interest to go inside . But for us,since we already had a long way here, we paid it. And it worth it.
Bath (strange name ya)- One of the UNESCO World Heritage side. One of the most beautiful city in the world. Below was the famous ring road inside this city. Some of the famous actor own a house here. Its not cheap, it can simply cost you 2million pound per house!
Entrance to Roman Bath. This place been discover due to the hot spring which can heal various disease. Roman people build a temple and its become some famous vacation area for soldiers and royalty during that time.
Each statue around the pool represent a great man, such as Caesar.
Some ruins discovered...Just imagine how nice the original temple was.
Each of us were given an audioguide.What make me happy was they had chinese languague. :) Its a good tool to explain in details on what you had seen in the museum. However you wouldn't had enough time to explore it one by one. It may took you whole day time!
Walked like a romans on ancient stone pavements. Enjoy the magnifying architecture.
Feel the people who had been here for more than 2000 years!......gelinya when i saw this 3D effect.
There was a park in the city. We planed to visit it but later we found out it charges entrance fees. hmm...forgot about it.
We had about half an hour to explore the city on our own. i only slowly discover its beauty now. Whole city was build by the same kind of stone. They had same color tones and texture.
With the flower blooming every way, it make Bath looked class and peaceful. You wont shout or yell here. Even when we spook, we soften our voices.
Wow, a telephone booth! Is this the secret visitor entrance to ministy of magic?
As usual, you can found cathedral every way in Europe.
Another entrance to Roman Bath.
A beautifully crave fountain.
I like the kid! Took the photo from bus when he running towards his mum.
Bath was build on a hill, the most stunning view was when we leave the city and departure to Salisbury. When our coach turn into some mountain road, you can saw whole bath at you left hand side.Wow, it just look like heaven. Unfortunately i was unable to take the picture, it is because i am sitting on the right side of the coach! So tips for you, sit at the left side if you join this excursion. Now i know, why Bath had been elected as UNESCO World Heritage side. Its really be a reason!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Phantom of The Opera

My friend told me : you must go to see theater when you are in London. My colleagues told me : you must go to see theater when you are in London. I just -.-"
Well, the ticket is expensive and i can't imagine i sit there for few hours listening to those opera type of singing. Even the Cantonese opera i cant understand what are they singing, some more this is Angmo opera??? So my response was like , err....see how la.
But they kept on pursuing me to go, so i just die die la, bought the cheapest ticket for Phantom of the Opera (well i only know this show). It cost me GBP30 to get a"hilltop" seat. Mean the most far and highest seat in the theater.
We spend sometime in finding this theater "Her Majestic Theater" which very closed to Trafalgar Square. Only now i knew that 1 theater house show the same theater everyday. Phantom was one of the evergreen theater in the history, had shown for more than 20 years! And always fully booked!
Opposite this theater house, there was another one. In fact most theater house were located at this area.
Before we went in, i just felt so nervous. Cannot imagine i will go to this kind of show with the most expensive ticket i had ever purchased in my life time.
I collected the ticket from box office.
When i went in to the theater, Oh my god, our seats were so far from the stage! Shit! What if later i can't see the performance? Both of us just sat there with thousand questions in our mind. We had been walking for whole day long, never slept well on the night before and now the seat were so far and high! I told allysa, if the show not nice, sure we will fall asleep and wasted all our money.
Dang Dang dang...the show started on time. We are not allow to take photo during the performance. After 2 minutes of the show start, i was totally immersed into the story. I forgot all my tiredness, sleepiness, i can't even felt our seat was far. My Goodness, the performance was completely out of my expectation! How can a stage performance been shown like a movie by changing each scene so smoothly? The special effect can beat those computer animated effect!
For example the phantom appear in the mirror, the phantom bring Christine to his lair by sailing a boat at the river...can you imagine it look like a real river on stage?

And the song they sang, although i might not understand all, but their vocal were excellent, the melody, the lyric....everything was so perfect! Among all song, i love "the music of the night" the most! So romantic...I really admired Andrew who can composed the melody and lyric such as "Open up your mind, let your fantasy unwind...Healing is believing, music is deceiving, hard as lightning soft as candle light..."

For the first time, beside from mandarin, i realized English also had its beauty.
Not to forget the original actress as well, Sarah Brightman who had amazing voice. She is the one who sang "You and Me" in Olympic. Guess she must been at least 50 years old but yet look like 30+.
You can hired binocular if you wish to see clearer. However i don't think i need it although i am sitting at "hilltop" seat. :)
I enjoy the show very much but meanwhile felt so regret that we left half way without knowing it was just a break time. :( As a conclusion, i didn't finished the show! CAN YOU IMAGINE I DIDN'T FINISH THE SHOW?!WTF?!!!

Feel heart so pain after back from London...My friend say: never mind la, only with this regret will make you to go back to London once more time. My answer was always like : definitely i will be back. And when i back, i will buy a good seat although it was more expensive. It really worth it! Quote from my friend : 为艺术牺牲。 How can i like a katak under tempurung? This Phantom had been shown in Singapore before, i didn't even knew it. Also the Puteri Gunung Ledang musical, i miss it as well.

On 12/3/2010, i managed to go KLCC MPO to watch my first orchestra performance. The vocalist - Stephen Rahman sang all famous theater songs. Ie. Les Miserable, West Side Story, Cat, Lion King, Evita...And of course, Phantom of the Opera - The Music of the Night! Wow...i clap non stop. The audience encore and encore.

I love Theater, I love Phantom, I love Andrew Webber, I love Orchestra! And it make me starting to love London. :)