Lions, Tigers and Toads

So I totally forgot to mention that the other week, I went to the London Zoo with Jen and Nicole! I was super excited because I love going to zoos and I've wanted to go since I've been here but just hadn't gotten around to it. So we went. It was kind of expensive, but then I found out that all of the ticket money goes towards the animals, so that made my wallet feel a bit better. So we went to the Reptile House first and saw the coolest thing! We saw a sign that told us that in the first Harry Potter movie, the scene where he speaks to the snake in Parseltongue unknowingly, was shot right there! It was such a cool surprise because I had totally forgotten that that scene was shot there. Wonderful way to start the day.

Then we meandered around a bit and went to try to see my babies, aka the tigers but they weren't out. We figured we'd come back later to see them. We saw some kind of boring lions, who were just lazing about. We saw some really cute penguins though! They would just walk right up to the glass, and it was neat to see a penguin up close like that!

We also saw the weirdest birds ever! They were Eastern White Pelicans and they were ginormous and kinda terrifying! It felt as if any moment they could jump over the fence and eat you/attack you.

Then we saw some neat camels! Their heads were huge!! This kind can be found in Mongolia, apparently.

We went to see some really cute giraffes, and we actually got to see one of them standing up which was cool! It was such a graceful maneuver, surprisingly.

Then we went to see some nocturnal animals and saw this whole glass case full of bats! It was realllly creepy. We ran away squealing. Then we saw an adorable lemur, some cute otters (who we unfortunately saw getting fed dead mice :/ ) and some beautiful butterflies on the loose.

Then last but DEFINITELY not least, we went back to to the tiger enclosure and luckily they were out! They were taking little cat naps (haha, cat naps, you get it? Tigers are cats...) Anyways, but it was actually kind of awesome to see them off their guard. One of the kitties was just rolling around and starting to knead and stretch just like my house cats would. It was soo cool!

Then we went to the gift shop, and of course I had to get some tiger stuffed animals. I got two little tiger cubs, one white and one orange. Appropriately, they are named Harry and Ron :D

Then on Tuesday night, I went to the West End once again to see Matilda: The Musical. Wow, I definitely had high expectations of this, because I adore the movie. I knew it would be good, and I was definitely not mistaken. The cast was INCREDIBLE! The kids were beyond talented and they were just amazing. The music was so catchy. Do yourself a favor and go listen to 'When I Grow Up.' Also, the choreography was probably some of the best I've ever seen! They did all kinds of interesting things with their set, for instance Matilda climbed up her bedroom wall, they used swings for 'When I Grow Up,' and at one point, everyone, including Miss Trunchbill, was jumping on a trampoline and doing flips in the air. My only criticism is that it might have been too good. It was so high energy and dramatic and incredible all the time, that it started to be too much. I would have liked it a bit better if there had been points where they scaled it back a bit, so that the really over-the-top parts would have stood out even more. Also, there was even one part where the whole audience of  'toads' was in the Chokey. It was genius. Also, interesting side note, apparently Regina George (aka Rachel McAdams) was at the show! I guess she was standing outside after and we walked right past her :/ Oh well.

http://www.matildathemusical.com/