Kaleigh Makes Friends with Mickey Mouse: DRY DOCK London

You Sound Like You're From London!

We went to the Gare Du Nord station in Paris to get the Eurostar train to London.

I went to print our tickets while Frankie stayed downstairs with the bags when they announced that there was a bomb threat and they made us evacuate immediately. I was frantically looking around for Frankie since we had separated.

Luckily, we found each other outside!

It was a false alarm and the wait was under an hour. It was terrifying at first, and we almost missed our train because of it, but somehow we made it just in the nick of time!

This Eurostar is a high-speed train and a very popular way to travel to and from London and Paris. I thought the trip was very enjoyable!

Below is the Eurostar train once we arrived in London!

Frankie, always taking care of the bags!

Such a hero! :)

Here is the St. Pancras station

Here is an Oyster Card, its the prepaid card to use when riding the public transportation in London called the Tube.

Once we got to London, Frankie and I separated to stay with different people. I met up with Ali, her sister Erin and Jake, Ali's boyfriend and my good friend from the ship.

We stayed in this adorable "flat". That is the English word for a small apartment.

Above is Jake and Ali

Below is Erin :)

Here is Ali with a famous English telephone booth!

Camden Town is a poplar part of town for younger crowds. There are tons of pubs and live music in this area and it attracts lots of artists.

The market section of Camden has many small stores and stands. I really enjoyed the shopping here.

Cyberdog was a unique store full of eclectic clothes that would make great dance costumes.

I bought a light purple jacket for fall at this store in the photo above.

I also found a gorgeous pair of black suede ankle boots with gold buttons that I love! They were from this store in the picture below.

The second night I was in London, I met up with some of my friends from the ship who were also vacationing there, for a night on the town.

Below is my very close friend, and dance partner on the ship, Pete.

If he was straight, I would make him my boyfriend!

In the photo below is Me, Paige and Pete. Paige was an assistant to a magician performer we had on the ship for most of the summer. She is very sweet, like my very own China doll! She lives in London and showed us a good time!

The next day we ventured to Buckingham Palace!

Here are one of the traditional English guards. They really don't move much at all!

Here I am in front of the Royal Palace!

In my new purple jacket for fall!

Here is a full view of the Palace

The gardens there were beautiful!

The detail on this fence surrounding the Palace was incredible!

A selfie in front of the Palace, of course!

We spent some time walking through parts of the Royal Parks, just outside the Palace.

The landscape was astonishingly green! It must be from all the rain London sees!

There are tons of pigeons around! Jake didn't mind hanging out with them!

This particular park is called St. James Park

Much like my sight seeing day in Paris, I saw most of the tourist attractions there a short period of time, thanks to Jake!

The next stop was the UK Parliament Building

also known as,

Big Ben!

Here is Jake in a photo with Big Ben!

The London Eye, seen below, is a gigantic ferris wheel and another famous attraction in London. It is just across the River Thames from the Parliament building.

Rainy days are quite normal in this town, so Ali and I got cozy under her umbrella in front of Big Ben.

We ventured to the other side of the bridge and walked past the London Eye. The line was a bit long and it was expensive to go for a ride in it, so we decided not to go.

Here is Erin and I getting cozy under her umbrella.

Here are some more photos of our walk along the water.

I had to get a picture with the London telephone booth, of course!

I love this picture of Ali with her umbrella.

We stopped at one of the museums along the water. It was a museum of modern art called,

Tate Modern.

I was really in my element there. Since all four of us of artists, I think we all enjoyed this museum. We spent a good amount of time inside. It was so unique, especially the art inside and outside. The photo below was an exhibit of an artist's work just outside of Tate. It was part of the London Design Festival. The project was called "Endless Stairs" done by dRMM Architects.

Here I am in front of the Tower Bridge!

We continued on to Oxford Street where there is a ton of shopping and it was also Fashion Week!

Here is the notorious big red bus of London!

We also walked past the Royal Ballet School.

Covent Garden Square

is a happening market place on the West End of London.

It is a great place to shop and eat! It has some really neat specialty stores.

It is also a great place to sit and have a coffee and listen to live musicians and singers.

Just outside the indoor market area, there are retail stores surrounding for many streets.

All of Covent Garden is a great place for shopping!

While walking around here I stumbled upon a famous dance studio, Pineapple Studios!

The following day I decided to take a ballet and a jazz class there. It was so much fun! It reminded me of being in New York City because it had a similar fast-paced, upbeat vibe! I thoroughly enjoyed it!

As it turned to night, we made our way to the West End, the area known for its famous theaters for live performance.

Above is the theater where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Musical plays.

Below you can see the sign for Rock of Ages, the Musical!

The next day after taking those dance class at Pineapple studios I met up with Frankie again at a nearby bar. He had stayed with a technician from our first contract, Ashley, who is on the left in the photo below.