The Monopoly Board

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At last we have arrived in the mother country and have quickly discovered that walking around the steets of London is like having the monopoly board brought to life. Here they all are-Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Picadilly...Everything seems so familiar and yet so strange at the same moment! Its also seemingly a game of chance......at least as far as the weather is concerned. On our first real trip to town, the space of four hours bought beautiful warm sunshine, cloud, winds, rain, snow and sleet...all in one outing!!! One minute we were walking around St James Park and Buckingham Palace and remarking on what a beautiful day it was, the next we were ducking for cover from the snow outside Westminster Abbey!

London itself is amazing. It has a real vibe, an energy, that is so enticing. We have been staying with our lovely friends Angela and David who live in Hampstead Heath. This is a gorgeous little part of London, filled with fancy shops containing yummy things to look at (abit expensive to buy though on the good old Aussie dollar!), and some wonderful cafes and restaurants. One of the most famous of these is the Hampstead Creperie-truly the best crepes I've ever eaten and well worthy of our repeated visits! Ange and David have been educating us all about English folk, must do's (and don'ts!) and helping us to decipher some of the unusual vocabularly espouted by those in our new country of residence. Ange and David have lived in London for over 4 years now and their passion for this city has been contagious-we love it here!

Being in such a big city has also been quite educational. We have learnt already that it is an unspoken law that one does not laugh, speak or make eye contact with anyone on the peak hour tube (one business man spent his entire tube ride staring at me suspiciously, as if I was about to pick his pocket or worse, reach out and touch him, simply because I laughed when Adam got stuck in the door of a corresponding carriage!) We have also become much better versed in the healing properties of herbs and natural therapies thanks to Ange who is currently studying to become a natropath and has been practicing all her knowledge and skills to keep us happy and healthy (it really works by the way-we're feeling great!)

We have also caught up with our lovely friends Lara and Sean which was so wonderful. They live a few tube stops from our current home away from home and visiting them at their beautiful house was an occasion definitely calling for some champers to be popped!!! We dined altogether at an amazing restaurant called Ravels in Hampstead-Ange and David definitely know all the right places to go as the food was amazing! We've checked out the beer locally too-amazing strawberry fruit beer which has been an instant hit with me-and of course Adam has enjoyed some real budweisers!

All-in-all London is a definite hit with us. It truly is the city of endless possibility-anything you can think of to do is on offer here. We will definitely be travelling here often to enjoy all its splendour!

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Photos

Houses of Parliament
(and freaky see-through people walking through the shot!)