Wicked weekend

What a lovely weekend I have had.

Kate got tickets for the show of 'Wicked' in London for Nic and myself as our Xmas presents.  We went up to stay with Kate on Thursday, and then on the Friday got the train into London where we had a very pleasant lunch, followed by pottering round the shops and Covent Garden. 

I got a pair of boots reduced from £170 to £50 which are lovely!  Nic got a dress for the ball also reduced by £150 so we were very pleased with ourselves.

As we had some time to kill we went and looked at the Tudor portraits in the National Portrait gallery as Kate has a really strong interest in the Tudor period, and seeing the pictures in real life is much more moving than reproductions   in a book.  We also decided that we should go back for a longer visit sometime because the gallery is really very interesting.  It must be 40 years since I was in the Portrait gallery and it has changed a bit since then!

We met up with more of the family for dinner, finding Kieran and Alice at Embankment tube station which was an amazing coincidence as they had come up from Southampton.  The tube had delays so we started to walk but we weren't going to get to the restaurant in time that way so we caught a taxi (very impressed by Kate's ability at taxi hailing).

Dinner was in a Tapas bar and the food was very good, though it was absurdly noisy with the music much too loud so you could only talk to the people either side of you, so that was a bit disappointing as I didn't get to talk to everyone.

Then we went to see 'Wicked' which is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz.  It very cleverly combines the story we know with the story of the Witch and why she isn't actually wicked.  Glinda the good witch was brilliant - she was really funny and her timing was impecccable.  Both witches were good singers and sang really well.  The staging was great and the effects were good too.  The actual music is very mediocre which is a shame, with only a couple of vaguely memorable songs but it didn't spoil the show.  We also had excellent seats in the stalls, and fortunately didn't really need the loo in the interval because the queue was the longest I have ever seen in a a theatre!

Nic then headed off to spend the rest of the weekend with a friend and Kate and I went back to her house, getting in a bit after midnight. 

A really excellent day.

This morning was very lazy, and I headed home about lunch time, stopping at M&S to buy a couple of skirts and a pair of jeans to go with my new boots!!!

I love family get togethers as we always have such a good time!!