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May 16th, 2004, 12:29 AM
#51
Inactive Member
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May 16th, 2004, 12:34 AM
#52
Inactive Member
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May 16th, 2004, 12:40 AM
#53
Inactive Member
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May 16th, 2004, 12:44 AM
#54
Inactive Member
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May 16th, 2004, 12:48 AM
#55
Inactive Member
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June 17th, 2004, 06:48 AM
#56
Inactive Member
Day 24
Today we had booked a tour of London so we had to get up early. We went to Westminster Abbey, it was quite interesting, lots of tombs of Queen?s poets, writers, scientists. There was some quite interesting architecture inside too. We went to see the ?Changing of the Guard? at Buckingham Palace, managed to catch the changing of the ?Horse Guards? on the way. The Changing of the guard is quite a cool and involved process. I got to see some squirrels for the first time in my life; they are really quite funny. We went to the pub for lunch, hmmmm it was sort of edible. I had chicken chasseur with totally tasteless veges i.e. bland roast potatoes in jackets, dried out peas and boiled frozen carrots. Tarin had vege lasagne which was served with exactly the same tasteless veges as mine?very weird, starting to realise London is possibly the home of the most boring food on the planet.
We went for a cruise along the Thames, which was very pleasant and our commentator was quite a comedian. We saw the Tower Bridge and went to the Tower of London. I took some pictures of the ravens, they were cool not to mention well looked after even tho? they have their wings clipped so they can?t fly away. This is because it is known that when the ravens leave the Tower, London and the Monarchy will fall, so they always make sure there are ravens there just to be sure. Starting to feel a bit knackered. I saw the Crown Jewels, a bit ho-hum really but maybe I was just tired as normally you mention the word jewels to me and I?m all ears. We learnt how the Beefeaters and their families actually live in the Tower with their own doctor etc. Managed to soldier on through the tiredness and go to the main tower for the displays of mostly armour and some swords and guns. We had to stop at KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) to replenish our energy. Stink you can?t buy potato and gravy here like I can at home, here you can only buy gravy. But you can buy baked beans (Why! I ask?) Oooh and they had these balloons with the Colonel on them that said ?You can?t escape the Chicken? [img]biggrin.gif[/img] ROTFL. Went back to the house for a well-deserved sleep.
Day 25
Tarin?s going out of London to stay with a friend for a couple of days and check out living and job opportunities outside of London. So I dragged my suitcase (now full of wine of course, from Grove Park to Swiss Cottage what a mission, because I?m staying at my brother-in-law?s (my sister?s husband?s bro) for a couple of days. Hmm Swiss Cottage seems a more upmarket part of town. I went for a wander down Oxford St when I?d recovered from suitcase hauling. Darren and his girlfriend Matleena we?re really nice and even cooked me dinner after they came home from work. They?re going away for the weekend so I?ll have the flat to myself.
Day 26
Today is museum day as Tarin isn?t really into art museums. I went and had breakfast with Nina, then I went to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, the gallery was interesting bit I didn?t really like any of the paintings much. I went to Burger King for lunch as it was the cheapest, most palatable food available. I've discovered that the people who serve you food here couldn't really care less. I wandered around a few shops to look at digital cameras. There is this chain in London called Gulltronics it was kinda weird but interesting, much worse than any shops in Asia I?ve been to. They chat you up big time, drop the price offer to beat anyone else?s price, basically they don?t want to let you leave without buying it. I did get one after wandering around a few places, not bad 180 pounds minus tax made it about $408 NZ. I went to the British Museum. The building itself is amazing inside, as is the reading room. Wow! Reminded me of the library in Beauty and the Beast. I saw most of the collection but the most impressive was their Egyptian and Syrian collection. It includes the Rosetta Stone which allowed us to 1st decipher hieroglyphs.
At night I went to the musical Mamma Mia! Was a bit nervous as it?s full of Abba songs and I was wondering how you could possibly have a good story fitting in all the Abba songs and was worried it might be a bit of a bio of the band. I sat in the Grand Circle (30 pounds) not much leg-room but a good view, particularly with binoculars. I needn?t have worried it was a fantastic show with the music and story integrating perfectly. It was a real ?chick? story. All the female characters were really strong performers; the male singers were sometimes a bit weak. One of the mother?s friends was a real show stealer. Basic story, set on a Greek Island, the main young girl is getting married and has stolen her mum?s old journal to read to try find out who her father is so she can invite him to the wedding. She discovers her Dad could be one of three men and she invites all three to the wedding unbeknownst to her mother. Hilarity ensues.
Day 27
Today I went on a tour to Bath, Lacock and Stonehenge. Our tour guide was quite good, she told us about Henry the 8th and his six wives and gory details about execution and stuff. I sat next to a guy who was a friend of the guide, he was an actor and quite a chatty guy, he lived in London so was telling me what to go and see. He also couldn?t help but get me to count to 6 and laugh at my accent. For Goodness Sake! People! It does not sound like ?sex? when I say ?six?. You pervs! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
We stopped at Bath first and did a little sightseeing. We went to the Roman Baths, the history was quite interesting but overall the whole Bath experience was not that interesting. I tried some of the mineral water, supposedly very healthy and healing but it tasted a bit gross, quite sulphurous and metallic. We saw Bath Abbey and had a little walk around the village (it was so?villagey).
We drove on to Lacock, on the way there we saw a couple of chalk horses carved into the distant hills including the Westbury horse. Lacock is where they shot some of Harry Potter and some of Pride and Prejudice. Apart from the cars there are now powerlines or anything so it looks like a quaint old village, which it is. We had lunch at the George Inn, they are very keen to tell you about their old spit with a wheel that used to be turned by a dog trotting in the wheel because they?d light a fire behind it. (?? English people get excited about some strange things). I had salmon and Hollandaise sauce (even I couldn?t kill a salmon like that-so overcooked) and I had bread and butter pudding for desert.
We went to Stonehenge about 6.30 pm when it was closed to the public. Now this is why I chose this particular tour, you see when people come to Stone henge they usually have to stand about 50-100 meters away behind a boundary line and take photos. This tour company are one of the very, very few companies with permission to take you inside the circle of standing stones. We got to go right in the middle of them and touch them and everything it was very cool. The London guy was quite excited about it as he had never been allowed to get near them before as its quite a new change in the rules. We took photos of the sun setting on one side then of the moon rising on the other side. Then there was the naked dancing and blood sacrifice....
....heh heh just kidding...
...about the naked dancing at least [img]wink.gif[/img] Then we drove back in the dark, Mars was really low and obvious to see in the sky so ooooooh all celestial and cool evening.
Day 28
Today I went to Camden markets. The first thing I smelt when I got out of the tube station was the delicious smells of a fry-up. So I had a big steak sandwich with onions, tomato and mozzarella. Hurray! Someone in this town knows what real food is. Camden Market was neat, although there are proper market areas the whole main street gets in on the act. I was in a very good mood after my steak sandwich so it was time to shop I bought 2 ?Spot the Maniac? T-shirts, 2 hard house CD?s and I finally found some labradorite earring to match my necklace at home. I had to walk a bit further to get the tube home as they close the Camden town exit on Sunday morning, too busy I guess. Then I couldn?t get off at the Swiss Cottage station as it was closed due to a fire alert. Later we heard there was a full-scale counter terrorist drill which closed a main tube station but it was Bank St. It was on the news, it was pretty big, biohazard suits and everything. I found out, that is why there are no rubbish bins at all inside tube stations because the IRA used to put bombs in them. Also there are no toilets inside tube stations. There are all these little rules and announcements. You have to stand on the right of the escalator so that people can get past, there are many signs and announcements to that affect as well as that classic sign and continual announcement to ?MIND THE GAP?
I had to move accommodation again in the afternoon to Roger?s in West Kensington where I was meeting up with Tarin again. I was so excited, this would be the last time I would have to lug my very heavy suitcase up and down the stairs (mostly up) of the older tube stations. Unfortunately I was so excited that I accidentally got off at South Kensington and so had to haul it up and down stairs an extra time. Roger was an Australian friend of Tarin?s boss so it was really nice of him to let us stay. He was so sweet he had set himself up to sleep on the couch so that Tarin and I could have the bed. Considering he ended up not coming home ?til very late and then with a dislocated finger
he had injured at cricket that afternoon and been sitting in the emergency room for a few hours this really impressed us. P.S. Mark?s and Spencer?s Mallowpuffs are very tasty, better than the ones we get at home. The bad news is I?m getting sick again.
Day 29
Today we went to the Natural History Museum. It was AWESOME! It was beautifully laid out, easy to follow and really interesting, they pretty much have stuffed animals of every kind it?s like Noah?s Ark. They had whale and dinosaur skeletons, even a triceratops not too mention a few things I?d never heard of and trust me I?m an animal knowledge geek, I love weird and wonderful ones especially. They even had a Pangolin, a scaled anteater type creature that always fascinated me in books when I was young. They also had an Okapi, which was my favourite in the animal books. They had an Equus quagga which I had never heard of or seen despite being horse ?mad?, it was a ? zebra, ? horse type of creature which lived a while ago in herds (i.e. it was an actual species not a sterile freak breeding cross between a horse and zebra that occurs today on rare occasions). We spent 4 hours in there and hardly noticed the time at all as everything was so interesting. Did you know that Narwhal can occasionally have 2 horns?
Then we went to Harrods, it was amazing, there was an entirely huge food, chocolate and patisserie floor that we walked around just drooling and trying to resist all the pricey temptations. Tarin shouted me a Mocha and Raspberry Cheesecake and she had a Lemon Meringue and it was beautiful and as a bonus we got to feel a bit posh, doing afternoon tea at Harrods. After that we wandered through Harrods checking out clothes, from the affordable to the bank breaking. It was huge we spent 3 hours there and still didn?t see everything. Today was one of the best days I?ve had in London.
It was a team effort for dinner, Roger got the ingredients, Tarin cooked the pasta and I did the dishes. We had peaches and ice cream for desert. Haagen Daas strawberry cheesecake ice cream is so yum.
Day 30
Last day in London what shall I do? I was going to do Tate Modern, The Globe and the London eye but to be honest I had stopped really liking London about 5 days ago and couldn?t be bothered. So I ended up spending the day with Tarin shopping and wandering along Oxford St and I think I had a lot more fun than I would have if I had stuck to the original plan. I bought pants and a T-shirt and managed to find exactly the same Levi?s jeans as Tarin which I?d been admiring since she bought them in Amsterdam. Yay! We went to Fortnum and Mason?s, not as good as Harrods but still had yummy stuff. Roger has agreed to drive me to the airbus stop in the morning. My cough has been quite bad at night and I haven?t had much sleep and probably won?t tonight either. I feel sorry for Tarin being kept awake by me coughing my lungs up.
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