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Published: July 12th 2007
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Big Ben
(of course) Welcome!
Last time we were in London it was Winter. Wet and miserable. I was looking forward to the 'other' London. For the first 5 days of our visit we had wet and miserable weather!! In fact it was so bad that parts of the country flooded. A father was clearing a drain when his foot became trapped in it and he died of hyperthermia. Tragic. The newspapers were full of stories about the rain, and stories about the terrorist attempt at Glasgow airport and the arrest of the participants including those in Australia. But there were also stories about the start of Le Tour de France of course! Amy complained that our newspapers weren't nearly as interesting as those in London (although I think she was referring to the reports about the romantic attachments of Prince William, and the drunken antics or clothing of a variety of pop singers, etc).
So for the first 5 days we dodged in and out of tourist venues, trying to avoid the rain. We soon relented and bought some umbrellas, but one of them didn't even see out the day. We saw many other abandoned umbrellas over the days - they are
a dispensable item!! There were bouts of sunshine, however, in fact we seemed to have to switch between umbrellas and sunglasses all day.
We stayed at 'Ace Hotel' in Kensington, which is more of an upmarket back-packers than a hotel. We rented all 6 beds in a mixed dorm with ensuite. The girls enjoyed the occasional use of the Internet facilities, but we never had a chance to dine in their lovely outdoor courtyard! Before we left home I'd spent ages researching the public transport ticketing options. However, when it came time to choose I just went up to the station attendant, he told me to get a 7 day pass on the oyster card, and that was that! The oyster card was certainly very handy. It automatically calculates the cheapest travel option for you so it's a no-brainer! If anyone gets one, I would recommend NOT storing it next to your credit card, though!
We did all the usual tourist things. I could list them, but most of them are in the photos anyway. I'll just list the highlights. On the first day we walked along the south bank of the river past the London Eye. There were so
many interesting buskers performing. We had a lot of trouble extracting the girls from each one and moving on.
On our second day we went to the Tower of London. We had not expected to spend all day there, but we did. We stumbled across summer dramatisations of events that happened at the Tower. They were so well acted and superbly scripted; the kids loved them.
On the third day we went to Kensington Palace. It happened that it was about 10 years since Diana's death, and she would have turned 46 the week we were in London. There was a concert to celebrate, and when we went to Kensington we found flowers and messages at the gate, and inside the girls helped to gild flowers that would later be auctioned for charity.
It was perfect timing for Summer sales. We hit High Street, Kensington, and walked the full 2km length of Oxford Street. Allan bought himself a lovely casual suit, and we all found jeans and tops between 50 and 70% off!
You can't visit London without going to the West End. We booked in to two shows: Monty Python's Spamalot and Stomp. They were not the most cultural
South Bank Buskers
Human Statue had the girls fascinated choices, but the family enjoyed them heaps. The girls now have a repertoire of Python quotes like "I fart in your general direction". They'll come in very handy.
We caught the Opening Ceremony on Friday evening, the Time Trials in Hyde Park on Saturday, and the Grand Depart of the Tour de France on Sunday. London decided to turn on the sunshine for the weekend, and the Londoners were out in large numbers in Hyde Park. However they seemed to be enjoying the sunshine and large screens more than viewing the live action. We had no trouble finding great spots to view the events. The girls got a bit bored after a while, but Allan loved it!
For Zoe, one of the highlights would be the visit to Paddington Station. I'd been encouraging her to read Paddington Bear in preparation for the trip, and she loves the crazy humour in the book. You can see the pictures below.
We used a Lonely Planet guide for London, but I did not find it nearly as good as the DK guide for Paris. The contrast between Paris and London was stark. The average Londoners just don't dress with the same sense of
London Bus
displaying sign of smoking rules on the first day they were introduced. style as their cousins across the channel. London is a much more diverse, multicultural city. We missed the Parisian street sellers of fresh fruit, breads, and the cafes. In comparison to the French Metro, the London Underground is grimy and dilapidated. The station platforms (and streets) are often littered but it is so hard to find a bin! Amongst the excuses for late trains were: signal fault, person under train, security alert, upgrade to track, communications breakdown, derailment (due to role of plastic), and a reported fire at a station. The public were very nervous after the Glasgow terrorist attempt. The station platforms and trains are at all levels, so 'MIND THE GAP'!
Probably our worst experience was during our departure from Heathrow. The electronic check-in system is good in theory but a disaster in practice. There were still lengthy queues - so long they wound around so far it was impossible to tell which was yours! We arrived 2 hrs before our flight, but the system allocated us seats in 5 different rows! We were all over the plane! It took ages to sort out, and even then we were split between 3 rows. When we arrived in Singapore
Tower of London
Entertaining re-enactment we were stunned by the contrast between the airport and train stations in Singapore and London. Why can't the English spruce up their planes and trains systems?!
Despite all that, there is something very special about London, and we take many great memories with us.
I write this from Singapore on the last day of our holiday...
I'll add the last episode of our trip when we get home.
So to family and friends; See you all soon!
Esther.
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