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Published: October 3rd 2006
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Pretty flowers, St James
The gardens here are not to be believed. They're changed regularly and they are always tidy. It just seems so English. The palace-like building is behind is in fact St James's Palace, in front of which is the Horse Guards Parade, where Ju was soon to see her first Guard - they changed, with shouting and marching and everything! Disclaimer: This entry was started the first week we arrived, so some of the opinions expressed (being over four months old now!) are a little outdated...JennyandJu, September 2006 Well, here we are then. London!
Apologies for the severe bloglag. We've been extremely slack since getting here - probably because... we've got here. It's so strange, after having travelled across the whole of the United States, always having Europe in our minds as our final destination, to actually be HERE. London, the centre of all things (well, that's very much what Londoners think!)
We arrived at lunchtime on the 13th May after a short hop from Germany. Having been scared with tales of the English passion for queues, (practically a national pastime, we'd been told) we were moderately surprised to find that not only was there no queue at customs, but we were not required to show any papers other than our passports and boarding passes - expecting a grilling by the righteous British keeping Antipodeans at bay, we had our proofs of funds, lodging and touristship, and we fully prepared to stand on our heads and deny any intention to overstay. Thankfully, all that was required of us
Peter Pan, meet Ju and Jenny!
Well, he's a bit girlier than I would have thought a battle-hardened, flying bane of pirates might be, but still... the famous statue of the famous character, in Kensington Gardens. (We're in LONDON!) was a TB test - and upon reporting the nurses' station, we found an indignant nurse who refused even to do that - "Why they keep sending you Aussies and New Zealanders here, I don't know!" she exclaimed, relieving us of our health forms and boarding passes, stamping them, chucking them in a tray and sending us on our way with full complement of blood and arms unpunctured.
No-one even wanted to look in our bags, so we wandered straight across the concourse and followed the signs to the Underground. Mind the Gap! The express train to Paddington was £14, so we decided to sacrifce the extra half an hour and jump on the tube instead. Not long after, we emerged into sunshine at Bayswater Station, just one block from our temporary home. A short walk and we were unpacking into the cupboards and drawers around our beds in our freshly painted little basement share room - four beds, one basin, some hooks, four cupboards, a chest of drawers and a nightstand. Furniture! Home!
That afternoon we got our bearings by going for a walk through Hyde Park in the late afternoon (pale) sunshine - down past Kensington
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
We walked across Westminster Bridge to look back, but even then couldn't get a view without a barge or scaffolding in the way. However - wow! Big Ben! (Did we mention we're in London?!) Palace, along to Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial, and back up to Bayswater Road past the Long Water and the Peter Pan Statue! We've really arrived, and everything struck us with its Englishness. They're both beautiful, but Hyde Park and Central Park are so obviously from different countries. We finished up our walk with a trip to Tescos, where some pasta and vegetables declared their intention to become our dinner, and having eaten them, we got ready to go out.
One of our many local pubs became the first place to be blessed by our presence, as Jenny and Ju celebrated their arrival with Sam, who kindly travelled halfway across town to have some cider with us. He's now been here half a year or more and was therefore pumped for advice, which he dispensed as sagely as he knew how.
The next day, loathe to discard the habits of the trip so far, we emerged in our pajamas for the hostel's Sunday pancake breakfast - with two minutes to spare. Scraping ourselves out of the lounge some time later we set off for internet, the purchase of UK sim cards, and a Supreme Cheeseburger Combo at
Albert in all his gilded glory
Rather shiny for the general tone of London (grey) we thought. Burger King - at £1.99 that's quite cheap eats, until you figure that in back-home-money we'd spent about six bucks each. Things trick you here.
Next we braved the tube for some more exploring. After a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing (London is currently in the midst of a tube upgrade, which means most lines are partly closed on weekends) we arrived in Camden. Mark and Marcella had invited us to tea at their place, and we had a stroll around the Camden Markets first. Just a quick taster was enough to show us we need to come back once earning - our mental lists of things to buy (or at least examine more closely) ran into the hundreds of pounds.
We had a lovely tea followed by a lovely dinner at Chez Chaston, and must thank the M&Ms and Pete & Emma, and their flatmate Laura for having us. More friends to be repaid when we come into our own here. It's so nice to be taken in, made welcome, and given advice, as this city is a little overwhelming!
Ju struggled a bit that first week: "It's not that I don't like London... it's
Another one for the sign collection!
Cattle troughs? We've subsequently seen a surprising number of these plaques around town. just that sometimes it tries its best not to let me. It just doesn't seem a very likeable place when there is grit blowing in your eyes, you're inhaling smoke from thousands of cigarettes (
everyone here smokes) your nose is already stinging from the poisonous traffic fumes, while you're walking along a street packed with people whose sole desire in life seems to be elbowing you in as many soft places of your anatomy as they can reach while they push past you at 10,000 mph, stomping on your toes for good measure - the mothers are the worst - they actually use their pushchairs as
weapons."
But there is an amazing amount to see and do here - the parks are lovely, as different from each other as they are different from parks anywhere else in the world. The sense of history is also amazing. Walking around town, the buildings and streets are so obviously from different time periods colonised for today's purposes. So - jury still out on the place... as Ju says, "I think when it stops elbowing me in the ribs it might be quite fun!"
The next few days were spent getting to
The Long Water, Hyde Park
The bridge just visible separates the Long Water and the Serpentine. All sorts of bird life is living in this area, hence the green tinge and the scum around the edges - but it's very olde english and pictureskew. know the city. We walked down Oxford Street, saw Oxford Circus, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square (Nelson is all covered up right now.) Continuing on we went past Whitechapel to Downing Street, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Hyde Park, St James's Park, Pall Mall. Listen to how the rattle of my tongue! All the landmarks, places in the popular consciousness that Ju had never seen in the flesh before, and Jenny impressed her muchly by knowing what things were, and even knowing vaguely which direction things were in!
We sorted out bank accounts and bank cards, got settled, bought London A to Z mapbooks - well worth it, even for Londoners, this place is so huge and sprawling - no skyline to speak of, just miles and miles of urban jungle. To alleviate the damage of the English Pound on our bank accounts, we also accepted the offer of a temporary chambermaid's job at the hostel, Jenny taking the first week and Juliet signing on for the week after.
So, goodbye New World, welcome to the Olde Worlde - and the great British Adventure begins!
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