My Journey to a Healthy New Beginning

I arrived into London on March 5th at 11am local time which would have been 6am my time- unfortunately I hadn’t been able to sleep on the plane but met an amazing lady who ran a research centre in the Rain forest. She gave me some great advice on places to see and visit and was such an interesting woman. When I arrived it was so easy to get around on the underground tube which I took immediately to the hostel where I was staying. I was unable to get any sleep and looking outside at the sunny 15 degree weather I didn’t want to pass up a great opportunity to explore. I jumped on the tube and headed to Leicester Square to check out the 1/2 price tickets for the theatre. I decided that I would go and see Billy Elliot that evening and soooo happy that I chose to see that one performance!

Billy Elliot the musical was AMAZING! I laughed and cried and was astonded with the young talent that was right in front of me. I grew up with a love musicals but this performance touched me a way that nothing had ever before! If you ever have the chance to see this Musical- please go and SEE IT!

During the intermission I headed for the washrooms and was really uneasy with how the floor was shaking. I mentioned it the woman behind me and she grabbed my arm as it was me that was swaying… I was mortified and realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since about 8PM EST the day before and it has been about 20 hours since I had eaten anything, about 40 hours since I had slept and add the jet lag.. the only thing they had at the concession stand was chocolate so I ate some and headed back for the performance. It’s funny looking back at it but I was pretty mortified at the time.. LOL

Well, I finally got back to the hostel and literally passed out- when I woke the next morning at 7AM local time I was excited to see that it was another gorgeous and sunny day ahead of me. I jumped on the tube and got off at Green Park to visit Buckingham Palace. Green Park hit me in a way that took me by complete surprize. Everything was GREEN, the birds were chirping, the cherry blossoms were starting to bud, the daffodils were in full bloom and covered the grass everywhere and not to forget the sun was beating down in all it’s brillance! I walked through the park in awe watching the people and taking in everything around me and then at the end of the park were the brillant gates which opened onto Buckingham Palace.. it was such an amazing sight and the sun made it all that more brillant. I wandered around the Palace and found out that entrance to the Palace was only available in the summer but I decided to check out the Queen’s Royal Collection.

Checking out the Royal Collection was such a great decision- I walked around for literally 3 hours in wonder. I have always loved Rembrandt but I didn’t really know how much or why until I saw 2 of them in person. They are truly amazing! The way Rembrandt embraces the light- it’s as if there is a spotlight shining on the painting to draw you into the story being told. It’s really incredible! The 2 that I was able to see were “Christ and St. Mary Magdalene at the Tomb” which he painted in 1638 and “Portrait of the Artist’s Mother” painted in 1629. A must see! Everything was incredible but my 2 other favourites that left a lasting impression was “Christ Healing the Paralytic” painted in 1619 by Van Dyck.  Lastly the painting “The Massacre of the Innocents” painted in 1565 by Pieter Breugel ripped at my heart strings.  It’s a depiction of Harrod’s rule to murder all male children under the age of 2 in an attempt to destroy the Christ child. The Emperor felt the original was too brutal so they commisoned the painting to be re-worked. So everywhere in the painting where you would have seen a child being taken away to be murdered they replaced it with an animal- they were able to show a infrared lights view of what had originally been and it really blew me away and made me fall in love with this painting- the history, the artist, the, the controvery, the re-worked painting… If you want to see more please follow this link and click on the SPECIAL FEATURE link to learn about this extraordinary painting. (http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/b2r/object.asp?row=3&exhibs=FLEMB2R2&item=4)

I was meeting up with my cousin Kaila at 6PM after she finished work so I ran back to the hostel to grab my bags and head out to meet up with her. I hadn’t seen Kaila in about 10 year which was strange since we spent so much time together as children. She looked amazing and on the way to her place to took me to see St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames River at dusk. It was such a fun time and maginificent views. We headed by tube (an adventure in itself) to her flat in East Putney and got a chance to catch up a bit before meeting her wonderful boyfriend Paul. We headed out for dinner and drinks and caught up and planned she planne to show me around London the next day.

It was so much fun to wander around London with my cousin because I was able to just relax and go wherever she took me! We walked for about 6 hours that day visiting most of London by foot… it was gorgeous- everything is so amazing that it’s hard to pick up what I loved most. Picadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Jubille Market, Boardwalk along the River Thames taking in the street performers, The London Eye,  Westminister,  Houses of Parliment, Big Ben, through St. James Park, up to Green Park and sooo much more! Again it was a sunny warm day and we had such a blast! We were spoiled to get back to the flat to a homecooked delicous meal by Paul!  It was a tiring day but so lovely! It was great to be able to get to know my cousin as an adult and I hope to see her again in May when she comes to Canada for a visit. I was heading to Scotland the next day by plane so it was up at 7am to get to the airport for my flight and I was going to come back and see Kaila on the 21st of March for a bit of shopping and more catching up before I headed back to Canada on the 23rd. 

My vacation was off to an amazing start and I had no idea how many more amazing things were in store for me! Well, I can’t wait to share Scotland with you as it was literally life changing for me! Not to mention that the day I left London heading for Scotland was the 2nd anniversary of being cancer free.

If you love art, here is the website for the Royal Collection. It’s truly amazing! http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/