Lion King comes to Manchester!!

23rd Feb 2012

Today I went along to the preview and press release of 'Lion King The Musical' which will be coming to Manchester in December 2012.

It was held at The Comedy Store, on Deansgate locks, and I was greeted by drinks and canapés on arrival, is 11am to early for wine?...never!

I spoke to Paul, one of the organisers who informed me the show is expected to sell out quick, so I gave him my details to reserve my tickets.

We were asked to enter the auditorium and I sat at the front of the rather small stage. After a few moments of silence, lights went down and a tribal dressed woman, the character 'Rafiki' came on stage performing 'The Circle of Life' it was so moving, it gave me goose pimples, she had the most amazing power to her voice, and I was so close to her, it was enchanting.

After a wonderful and powerful start the shows producer  Thomas Schumacher, came to the stage, and spoke about the history of the Lion King and its success so far, he was very passionate about the show, and had great humour in his presentation.

There was a great presentation on the making of the show, and the fantastic costume and stage design that makes it so amazing to watch, I am aware of the music, however there has been many more african based songs added which too were performed on stage by the characters 'Simba' and 'Nala', including my favourite song 'Can you feel the love tonight' this was beautifully performed.

I managed to take a few photos as below.

'Oh i just can't wait......to see it'

Vintage social networking!

Lovely Liverpool on a budget

16th January 2012

Today I decided to have a last minute, low cost day out and visit Liverpool, it was the first time in 10 years, and it has certainly changed, in a beautiful way.

Last night I found a deal on 'Living Social' for afternoon tea for two at 'The Liner' hotel in the city centre for £6 total so I decided to book it, and my flat mate, Sarah would drive us to Liverpool, as we had spent up this weekend we would just visit the sites that are free when we got there....a last minute decision, but there always the best days out!!

So this morning we set of at 11am, a lovely sunny yet crisp day, and got to the hotel at 12pm, we even managed to park for FREE at the hotel also, and the receptionist gave us some directions and tips of where to go.

First stop was the 'Walker Art Gallery' FREE to get in, the highlight was the Lily Savage exhibition, she/him had a great wardrobe!

Next we walked through the city centre, and headed to the Albert dock, I remembered it as a child visiting with my folks (my dad is a scouser) we started with a trip to the 'Maritime Museum' the exhibitions were on UK Customs, Ships/Cruise liners of the past, Gay sailors and Slavery, an interesting mix, it was certainly interesting and educating, oh and also FREE, after talking to the museum guide, he recommended we visit the 'Pier house' and 'Tate Modern' next as all on the same route and FREE entry!

I loved the pier house, a 1940s home all in tact, with ration books, old crockery and 40's decor, I felt right at home!! I even found a piece of crockery my mum used to collect from my late great grandma!

The 'Tate modern' had a paid exhibition of 'Alice in wonderland' so unfortunately had to decline that, however there were some great art exhibitions on, one being my favourite artist 'Andy Warhol' some interesting sculptures too, no pictures here Im afraid!!

Next we wandered around the Albert dock, passing a sweet shop I remembered from childhood,(I had to be restrained from going in!) and went on to see where the Big wheel, Echo Arena, and the Beatles Museum are all located.

So then a seafront walk(with a few pictures stop) over to the new, and modernly designed 'Museum of Liverpool' There where some unusual looking creatures outside, which I later found out are 'superlambanana' there all over the city, Im gonna research this more later!

This museum was really great, so much going on and all FREE! I really enjoyed learning the history of the 'Scouse' accent, and about some of Liverpool's local delicacies..'Scouse' a stew in a can!! There was some great displays of tv, and music to come from Liverpool....my favourites being 'Brookside'(how I miss that soap!) and 'The Beatles' of course!! not sure if they should own up to Atomic Kitten though! I had a look at the history of the Ford garage, and there was great display of Liverpool fashion...finally some rollers and fake tan, its really what I came to see!

We managed to catch The Beatles exhibition which was a cool 360' film, above the actual stage that John Lennon and Paul McCartney first performed together on!!! I took a few sneaky pictures of this!

 All the cultural and educational shenanigans worked me up an appetite, so we headed back to 'The Liner' hotel for the afternoon tea, we had pre-booked for 4pm.
I wasn't expecting much for the money as £6 usually just gets a tea n cake in Manchester, however I was more than surprised when we were brought over, tea, scones, sandwiches and a cake of our choice, all very nicely presented and exceedingly good (kipling quote there!!)

We then decided to hit the shops, and check out Liverpool One, I must admit, the shops are well laid out  and are a lot bigger than Manchester so I will definitely be returning here for some Retail therapy, and they know how to cater for short girls like me....the heels are massive on every pair of shoes I found, that and some high volumised hair, I could potentially add several inches!!

And to end our trip we went down Matthew Street to find the famous venue 'The Cavern' it had such a great atmosphere in here, as soon as we walked in a Paul McCartney impersonator was performing, although it could of been the real one it wouldn't surprise me that man has still got it!!

I thoroughly enjoyed my day out on a budget...Liverpool is a beautiful city, with so much character, and a lot to be proud of, Im already planning to return next month, this time for an evening experience!!!


oh I decided not to mention football, sorry!!