London 07.29.09

I barely got back from The Phantom of the Opera Musical. I probably shouldn’t have went seeing how I have been to two musicals already but I got some pretty cheap tickets. It was amazing, their voices were unbelievable!! Sometimes I catch myself looking at the set design more than the actors. The way they display things and engineer the stage is incredible to me. Two times the Phantom just up and disappeared on us when on stage. The special effects made it feel like a magic show at times! It was at the Her Majesty Theater and was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. In order to save money I chose to purchase the obstructive view, so I was set behind a pillar but it was just fine! Earlier today we traveled by train to Stamford to visit the Burghley House. So this house was definitely my favorite one I have seen so far. The style was so much different, even though it was set in much different of a time period. A lot of movies have been filmed here and the Duke still lives in one of the wings with his family. The house decorated very nicely and had so much detail for the eye to see. Considering that it was not over the top like the other ones I have seen. One of my most favorite things about it were the beds. They had velvet and silk fabric draped all of them. The bed tended to get really high. They would have a mattress full of straw, another one of feathers, another one of cotton, and so forth. I can’t even imagine how comfortable that would have been. I guess the memory foam is the modern day version of it, it will have to do. The wood inlay and parquetry was great and all over the place. To see how the furniture and fashion design work together. The sofas are so deep but we learned it was to make room for the large dresses the women wear. Their gardens were beautiful but didn’t even compete with the gardens at Blenheim! Our tour guide was a lot of fun, you could definitely tell she loves the house. We stopped off at the café for scones and tea, which were spectacular! Right now I am watching Pride and Prejudice, looking at all of the house I have toured through this past week. It is a lot of fun to look back on.