September & October - London & Leeds

We decided to keep it a bit more local for the rest of September. Following on from Notting Hill Carnival there is also the Thames Festival which has stalls and shows and all sorts of things all the way down South Bank. Good chance for us to start at Tower Bridge and leisurely wander our way down South Bank taking in music and food and performances. This all culminates in a parade which runs from Blackfriars, up the riverbank and then across the river and down South Bank again. It had been a long day by the time the parade came around so we had a glimpse of what was going on and then slowly made our way home through the crowds.

We also tried to get one of our old Wellington pastimes up and running again, the pub quiz. We made a few trips to the Tufnell Park tavern but Monday nights weren't working for us so this unfortunately died a death, maybe to be resurrected again one day...although we did manage to make it to the Tufnell Park Tavern in October for non quiz fun too. It was Amy's birthday and considering it is only across the road from their flat it was a perfect venue for a birthday dinner with all the usual suspects.

There continued to be museums in London which we hadn't yet made it to so we decided to remedy that a little more with a visit to the Science Museum. Not sure if it was just us having a bad day but we just weren't that interested in the exhibits as hard as we tried to be. I guess science just isn't our thing.

Another birthday we made it to in October was down in south London. This time we were celebrating Forrest's 30th birthday. Was great to catch up with him, Fagan, Monique and all the rest of their crowd. The KFC pie as a substitute for a cake went down a treat too.

By October the sun is still out but it is definitely colder. Still good weather for walking though so we made our way eastward along Regents Canal past Victoria park and all the way to Docklands with a stop at the Roman Road along the way. The Roman Road is in Tower Hamlets and is an old trading route but other than the sign telling you you are at Roman Road you wouldn't think it was different to any other road in London. Canal walking is good though. That is definitely something we will miss when the time comes to leave London.

Although the weather was starting to get a bit colder as we got into October we still decided to make our way out to Leeds Castle (in Kent...nowhere near Leeds), which was supposed to be the most beautiful castle in England. After getting the train from Victoria and a small bus to get there we were certainly impressed with its classical turrets and with a lake surrounding it. A look around the inside was more like being in a stately home than a castle, but that is because it has been lived in till relatively recently and can still be rented out for weddings and other occasions. We also took a look around the grounds of the castle, complete with beautiful manicured gardens, an aviary with all manor of exotic birds (although the Kea were hiding) and a hedge maze. This one was a proper hedge maze. Much better than what we had experienced at Hampton Court and it actually took us quite a long time to get through it. Once you made it to the exit you went underground into a cave grotto. Scary for kids but fun for the adults too.

In October (somewhat later than initially planned) Tom and Gini arrived back in London before making their way slowly back to NZ. We managed to catch them one night during their hectic schedule for a dinner of beautiful fish followed by cocktails at Ziloufs. Bon Voyage our travelling friends.

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