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Published: October 23rd 2008
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After a moderately enjoyable flight (enjoyable due to the few people on board meaning we could stretch out; less enjoyable due to the English couple next to us who got rather intoxicated and had an argument or two, at one stage him trying to drag her out of her chair... i thought that perhaps we might be landing a few hours earlier to boot off a passenger or two!) we arrived at Heathrow at 7pm. And then our first encounter with the 'tube'... Very organised and well signed, the trip accross town (involving a couple of interchanges) was relatively painfree, even with the backpacks..! Ann and Anna (some good friends of mine from uni) met us at the station, a short walk from their unit, our home for the next little while... After a much needed shower (this seems to be a recurring theme among our blogs..haha) and a catch up chat, we unpacked our winter woolies and curled up into bed for our first night in the UK.
Sight-seeing London style
Up bright and early on Saturday, and blessed with a lovely sunny day, we set out for a walking tour of the sights. A short 15
minute walk from home, past the St Katharine Docks, our first stop of the day was at the London Bridge and the Tower of London.
From here, it was into the tube and into town. Rising up to street level, there was the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, then Westminster Abbey.
A short walk away, we encountered some friendly quirrels (much to Ann's delight) and ended up at Buckingham Palace - Queenie wasn't in unfortunately, and neither were her guards... so sad! So off with our next mission - to find some royal guards to pester! No luck at St James's Palace, but we did manage to spot a guard or two at the royal stables...! (see photos) Hard to believe that this is only where they keep the horses... pretty fancy indeed!
From here it was time to do some serious ticking off on the Monopoly board checklist - Pall Mall, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, The Strand, Fleet Street... More to do but well on my way!
We had a hot chocolate for afternoon tea deep within the St Martin-in-the-Fields, in the 'crypt' - complete with headstone pavers... Quite eerie but
nice at the same time..
Back home to rest our poor weary feet, Dav and I cooked up some nachos for everyone, which he washed down with Strongbow cider... which came in a 2L plastic container, very very similar to softdrink... except for the alcohol content..!
Sunday was a little less adventurous due to a serious lack of energy, with a night out at a local pizza and pasta place for dinner being the big outing of the day. This was so so yummy - i'm going to go out on a limb and say it was the best pizza i've had. Big call i know but it was simply fantastic - and it was 'italian' style ie only a few ingredients. And, better still, it was half priced thanks to crafty Ann and her voucher ways - nice to know i'm not the only pharmacist who hasn't lost her tight-arse uni ways with money!
From here we moved on to a local pub 'Captain Kidd', which was so exactly what i imagined an English pub to be - all wooden and cosy, people chatting around tables, not being drowned out by doosh-doosh music. And i downed
a half-pint of cider, just to complete the picture! So nice to finally have found a cheap and nasty pub drink i like!
Monday was time to knuckle down and start the job search... Luckily our little home also came with internet access (thanks Anna) so many hours were spent searching and registering and making appointments and ringing, etc.
Tuesday, being our anniversary (8 years..!) we decided to leave the job hunting stress behind us and spend the day doing touristy things. So, with our lunch packed, we set off for the British Museum. Wowzers! Big place! We probably only saw one-tenth of what there is to see in the 4 hours we were there. From Egyptian mummies (actual mummies - crazy) to the Rosetta Stone to 3,000 year old plates and bowls to more modern exhibits.
I was completely fascinated with an exhibit that showed the lives of 2 people through the tablets that they had taken. For the woman, starting with the birth certificate, to birth control pills to malarial prophylaxis when travelling overseas to the minipill after the birth of each child to arthritis tablets to being diagnosed with breast cancer and taking chemo,
etc. This was also shown with photos and little markers to indicate what was going on at that time in her lift. Was super facinating to me, to have her life on show like that.
From there we went to Leicester Square to try to bag a musical bargain but, as all the shows were at 8pm, and we were already buggered at 2pm, we decided to try that another day...
From there we got a little lost, which again worked in our favour as we were able to check out a huge monument on the banks of the Thames which was an Egyptian pillar, with sphinxes (spelling?) on either side. Also incredibly, one of the sphinxes had some battle scars from a bomb that was dropped nearby in WWI..! Incredible to think what those sphinxes have seen in their time.. (i know they aren't 'real' and therefore wouldnt have actually 'seen' anything but you know what i mean!)
From here it was into a fancy burger place for our special anniversary dinner! I know - we're very fancy aren't we! Hard to please! And then back home, and into bed - these days are taking it
out of us!
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