Weeks 14-17ish? - Toast & Ponds

After some technical difficulties we are back up and running again. Blasted hard drive crashed. Fingers crossed we can get back some stuff that we had on there....As you can see we aren't exactly sure how long we have been here either so posts might get a bit less frequent from now on anyway.

We decided it was time we finally made the trip to the world renowned department store, Harrods. To be honest we didn't know what all the fuss what about. Sure there was some expensive things you could buy there but it didn't seem to be much flasher than loads of other department stores in London (none that we can afford to shop at of course...).

During the week we were able to celebrate Jess getting herself her second contract. Great news as it will keep the pounds coming in so that we can stay here. We celebrated with a trip to Battersea Park along with some tasty picnic food and champagne...the real deal isn't quite as expensive here...It was this week that the heatwave kicked in too so it was great weather to be out and about picnicing.

As the weekend came along we headed down to Clapham Common with Robin, Mary and Ralph who was visiting on holiday for Toast New Zealand. It was a big festival with loads of New Zealand wine and beer and entertainment. The weather was scorching! We were treated to a display of polo, which we never quite got our heads around....We also got entertained by James Someone (from Wellington I think) with the day coming to a close with everyone rocking out to Dave Dobbyn. The place was full of New Zealanders so the atmosphere was great. We saw loads of people we knew. There can't have been too many New Zealanders in London who weren't there and it was a great day to be there too.

The next week was a good opportunity to enjoy the outdoor weather although those tubes sure get scorching in the heat. The following weekend we joined Tom and Gini at another park, Hampstead Heath. This was a bit less manicured than some of the other parks, having been allowed to grow how it wants to, which made a nice change. Cider in the sun was the best way to spend our time. We then went for a swim the Hampstead ponds. They actually have ponds you can swim in which are basically duck ponds. The water wasn't too clear. Marcus didn't much enjoy it but Jess had more of a go of it all. I think we will stick to proper swimming pools, the sea and maybe rivers and lakes.

Unfortunately the weather didn't stay as hot so we stayed home over the week, but come the weekend it was looking good again so we went down to Battersea Park for Bastille day celebrations. We had high hopes for french wine, pastries and other curiosities. Unfortunately the celebration was only small, but the attendance was big. Lines to buy food and drink were really long so after spending over an hour lining up we weren't particularly excited about Bastille day anymore.

We decided to make the most of the week again and enjoyed ourselves with a picnic in Hyde Park which we still haven't even scratched the surface of and a trip to the National Gallery to get cultured. There was plenty of art to take in and our previous lessons were to take it in manageable chunks.

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Weeks 12-13 Hampton Court & West End Live

Well we are certainly getting settled in now. We started off this fortnight with our first across the board tube strike looming. 48 hours of no tubes. No impact on Jess as she could still walk to work, but it was a good opportunity for Marcus to try some different ways of getting to work. A bit of planning and a bus ride later had him wondering what all the fuss was about but as people arrived at work over an hour later than normal it was clear what a huge role the tube plays in London.

Friday we were lucky enough to have a birthday in the house. Darryl was turning the big 30 so we caught up with Darryl and Beverly, Jen and Liam, Ian and Amy, Tree and Katie for dinner at a prize winning Indian restaurant in Soho. Was great to catch up with everyone but unfortunately the food, although tasty, didn't leave us feeling like we had eaten too much, like a good Indian should. And the service was appalling. It took ages to come out and the waiters didn't stick around long enough to take your orders. We even saw the owners kick someone out when they commented that nobody had any food. Unimpressed. However we didn't let that ruin the night and we all head out to Dutch bar. Jess got to try her first Fruli (fruit beer) and the verdict is she would have it again. The bar was cool but we ended up standing in Anne Frank corner, which was right next to the DJ booth, which did make us wonder what atmosphere they were trying to create....

Sunday we were off to do some solid sightseeing again. This time we head off half an hour on the train and we were at Hampton Court, home of Henry VIII and many other royals too. Hampton Court isn't a lived in palace but it was certainly interesting. It was surprisingly not that busy so we had a bit of space to just walk around and look at things at our own pace. There were times where it seemed like we were the only people in that part ot the palace, which isn't that surprising as the place was HUGE with so much to see. Highlights were definitely the Tudor kitchen, but alas the pies weren't real. The Young Henry VIII exhibition was really good too. We definitely need to start watching a few more episodes of The Tudors. After a tasty lunch with Marcus's first mushy peas (don't need to do that again...) we spent some time walking around the gardens at Hampton Court. You can definitely see why they are such a popular attraction in their own right, but it was so hot that we certainly appreciated some time in the shade. We were looking forward to the Hedge Maze. It ws nice enough but certainly not the big sprawling hedges we would have liked. All in all an excellent day overall though.

The next day Darryl and Beverly took us out for dinner to say thanks for letting them stay at our place. They had been doing a bit of exploring and discovered it was only about 10 minutes walk to Battersea Powerstation and there was a pub across the road from there. Burgers were tasty and much to Jess' delight they also had boardgames. With a bit of rain coming down outside we weren't in any hurry to go home. So a few rounds of Pop up Pirates and Jenga and it was another night well spent.

Saturday we went into town because there was a free concert going on in Leceister Square. It was West End Live which was basically a whole lot of performers doing songs and dances from shows on at the West End to encourage you to go along to the shows that are on at the moment. The place was packed but they had set up big screens so that even if you couldn't see the stage you could still see what was going on. We finally made it into the centre where we could see what was going on up close. There was all sorts...Jersey Boys, Thriller, Avenue Q....even Barney! Unfortunately Marcus was a bit coldy so we couldn't stay all day, but it has certainly given us some ideas of shows we want to see later.

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London Weeks 10-11 - Parks & Dossing

That's right! Two weeks worth of blog this time around. Things have been slowing down a bit so we probably won't be blogging as frequently from now on.

This fortnight was park fortnight. It started out with heading off to Hammersmith to welcome Amy back from her trip home to NZ and also to welcome Daryl and Beverly to the UK. Was great just chilling out in the sun in the park next to the river Thames. Little did we know this would be the first of many more things to come.

Saturday and we journeyed off to Regents Park just north of Marcus' work. The weather was fantastic and the park was really great too. Parks over here aren't just big pieces of grass like at home. They are manicured with paths and gardens and fountains and cafes and really lovely to visit. Fish and chips in the park was just magic and then a big walk around the park to walk off our fatty tummies. Regents park is really beautiful and we will definitely go back there for more of an explore this summer.

That night we had Robin and Mary around to our flat for dinner. Was great to have a nice easygoing evening with some tasty dinner a la Jess and also to introduce Robin to cider. We think we have a new convert.

The next day we were off for another day in the park. This time Clapham Common with Tim and Emma and later joined by Pauline. The day was even hotter so we did a lot of sitting round talking. The boys tried a bit of hackey and frisbee but the heat made us retreat to the ground again pretty quickly. Later in the afternoon Tim had the great idea of heading off to the nearby pub, the Windmill, for jugs of Pimms. The conditions were perfect. Hot weather, good friends and an appetite for drink. We polished a few jugs away before finally heading home for pizza and sleep.

During the week we stayed busy too. The highlight was definitely Jess managing to secure a months worth of work in HR. Even better she was only 10 minutes walk from home so no transport hassles in the morning. Hopefully this is the start of more things to come.

We also got our first dossers. Darryl and Beverly newly arrived from New Zealand (via South America and Ian and Amy's place). Was nice to have some new people round and not be the new kids in town anymore. Good excuse to have a party, so Tree, Katie, Amy and Liam came around for some drinks and shared salad dinner. Fun times for a school night.

The next night Marcus caught up with Bevan after work. Was really great to see him having not caught up for such a long time. Funny how you don't see people till you both end up on the other side of the world. Time went by fast though. Will be really good to catch up again sometime soon.

Saturday night we were off again. This time to visit Amy and Ian's place in Hammersmith for a tasty BBQ. They are doing the traditional London experience. Living in a big house with loads of other flatmates and lots of people dossing all the time. They could have a party there every day if they wanted. As always it was good to meet some more people. Mostly Australians this time but we won't hold that against them.

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London Week 9 - Stones and Baths

This week we decided to take in another show. This time it was a well worn classic, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. You could certainly tell that Joseph was a lot more simple than Wicked. Where Wicked had lots of solo numbers and special effects, Joseph was all about the big group singing and dancing numbers. It was a bit more basic around the effects and things but we still had an enjoyable night.

On the weekend we were off again to visit another place. This time we decided not to do it ourselves, but instead jump on one of the many bus tours to Stonehenge and Bath. The bus tour certainly has its advantages. We had a tour guide who was a well of information and always keen to share it with us throughout the bus trip. We learnt about breweries, painters, architects, the army...you name it he knew it. Unfortunately he had plenty of time to tell us because we spent so much time on the bus, either travelling in the slow moving bank holiday traffic or waiting for the other patrons to get back on the bus (late.) So it took us four hours from leaving London to get to Stonehenge when it should have only been half that time. However, once we finally got there Stonehenge was very cool. We had an audiotour again that took us around the stones and explained all about them. We had heard that there weren't that many of the stones left, but we were sufficiently impressed. There were enough there that we could easily picture what it used to be like.

Then it was on the bus again and off to Bath. Unfortunately it was after 2pm before we even arrive there and with us leaving at 5:30 it was going to be a quick look around. Bath is a beautiful city. Lovely old Victorian Buildings, situated on the river Avon and lots of green parks. Part of the bus trip was a tour around the Roman Baths. It is a combination of ancient roman baths which were rediscovered and converted to Victorian Baths in the 1800s. No taking a dip though. The water was toxic. Another audio tour gave us the insights into what it was like bathing in roman or Victorian times. It was certainly very interesting and you can understand why people flocked to Bath. After that we decided to indulge ourselves with another English tradition Cream Tea (although we didn't do the super expensive one). It was in a little cafe built on a Bridge. One of only a few like it in Europe. After that it was piling back on the bus and off to London. Bath certainly looks like somewhere where we will go back and spend some more time rather than the rush we had this time round.

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London Week 8 - Punch and Party

We started the week out doing something very english. It was the birthday (not sure which) of Mr Punch so we went down to the Covent Garden Church for the celebrations. There were puppet shows galore, all of them putting on their own version of Punch and Judy. The children all seemed somewhat bewildered, but the parents all seemed pretty excited about the "Whoooo Hoooo!'s" and the "Oh no you won't!'s". It certainly makes you think about the fact that such a beloved figure of English family culture is a drunk who beats up his wife and children....We were also treated to seeing children dancing around the maypole. They were all dressed up in their colourful costumes and moving their ribbons around. This was all nice and cute, but the woman who was leading was slightly too overenthusiastic about the whole thing. She clearly spends the whole year preparing for the maypole and this was her day to shine. After that (and seeing the goth puppeteers with their goth puppets...) we had had enough of English culture and decided it was time to head home.

During the week Jess quite rightly decided we hadn't been getting much culture for a while so we went to the Portrait Gallery. The place is 3 floors so we decided that rather than get frustrated by trying to do the whole lot in one night we would do one floor tonight and the rest later. So we got have a good look around all the really old portraits. Famous Kings and Queens of England from early times. Very impressive.

Friday we went back down to Tooting to see Chris and Rachel for the last time before they went back to New Zealand. It was good to catch up with them for the last time for a while, along with Tom and Gini and Tree and Katie.

Saturday it was time for our flatwarming. Contrary to popular opinion it was not a BBQ, but there was certainly plenty of snack food to go around. Cocktail theme worked out well with a mixture of Pims (really Pitchers which is much cheaper...) punch, mojitos, moscow mules and probably a few other drinks which people were experimenting with. Turnout was small but we had a good time nonetheless and partied into the early hours without disturbing the neighbours (we hope).

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London Week 7 - Oxford and the Tube

Another early morning on the weekend as we got ourselves up to head to Paddington Station where we were meeting with Robin and Mary to get the train out to Oxford. We arrived in a very chilly Oxford around 9am, which was before anything opened so we were able to have a look around and a cup of tea before things started getting busy. We hadn't done much study about what to do in Oxford so after a visit to the tourist centre we decided to book ourselves in for a 2 hour walking tour of the city and colleges. Little did we know what we were in for. We got to have a look around several of the colleges and had many of the main highlights of Oxford shown to us. If there was something to know about Oxford, this guy knew it. It was certainly interesting but we were pretty historied out by the time the tour came to an end. Certainly made the old wooden building at Victoria Law School look like nothing special.

After that we decided to take in another Oxford attraction, that being punting on the canal. You could punt yourself or get taken around by a professional punter. After seeing the people trying to punt themselves and worrying about falling into the canal we decided to go the safe route and get driven around. Punting was nice and relaxing and a good chance to just sit back and enjoy. On a hot day it would be great to just pull up and eat a picnic on the side of the canal. When we go to Cambridge we might just try to drive ourselves...

Time was getting on and we decided to head off for lunch. The tour guide had recommended the Turf Tavern for a good feed, not only that it was the oldest pub in Oxford so a good tourist attraction. We had ourselves a nice pint of ale, the girls indulged in a Village Idiot with White Horses for the boys. Unfortunately by the time we got there they were out of any decent food so we had to head down to one of the chain pubs in the main street to satisfy our appetites. After all of that there was time for a quick walk, via the Lewis Carroll shop and back on the train to London.

We kept a low profile during the week, but Saturday we received an invitation to go to a Tube Station Party with Tree. Luckily it wasn't a party at a tube station. Rather the idea was that everyone went along dressed in tube station theme. We spent the day walking via our favourite named suburb Elephant and Castle (it isn't actually very nice) to Old Kent Road. This was not only a chance to get some Monopoly fix but also to head to the Toys R Us and sort out our costumes for the night.

All equipped we headed off to Tree's in Hammersmith and then off to Queen's Park along with Tree and her flatmates for the party. Upon our arrival at the party we donned our costumes and were ready to go. If you have been reading carefully you will have worked out that we decided to go as our favourite Tube Station.....Elephant and Castle. Jess was the Elephant cause Elephants are more exciting. You need to check out the photos to get the full effect though. Tree and her flatmates were dressed as the three blind mice...cause there are lots of mice at the tube station. Some of the costumes included Queen's Park, Bank, White City as well as the always present Maintenance on the Underground Line. It was a good chance to get creative. We had a really great night. It was good meeting a whole bunch of new people and seeing a different part of London. We even learnt the story of how Elephant and Castle got its name. We won't recount the whole story hear, particularly as searching the internet seems to suggest there could be multiple stories, but it was certainly fun at the time.

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London Week 6

This week we managed to get along to our first London Show. It wasn't in the West End, but it was just as grand and flashy. The show is called Wicked and it is basically the story of what you didn't know about the Wizard of Oz, focussing on it all from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North. We don't want to spoil the story any more of that, but it was certainly entertaining and at 20 pounds each it felt like a good value night out.

Saturday and we caught up with Tom and Gini again, on the train out to Windsor. Windsor was one of the highlights of the trip so far. It certainly helped that we had great weather. Things started off with a tour around Windsor Castle. After queueing and heading through metal detectors and x ray machines (just like at the airport) and then we were off. Windsor castle as a tourist attraction is really well done. You get an audio tour each which you can carry around with you and it tells you about all the different parts of the castle and their history. It was no Alcatraz and some of the speakers on the audiotour did tend to go on a bit long (including Price Charles) but overall it gave us a really good insight into the history of the castle. Windsor is also one of the places where the Queen spends her time and it hosts a number of formal royal functions. The chapel in the castle also serves as the burial place for many famous kings and queens. Henry VIII, Charles II and even the Queen Mother are all buried there.

After that we found a nice pub and dug into Steak and Guiness pie, mmmmm tasty and as it turns out very much needed. We decided we needed an after lunch walk, but before that we headed off to a shop that had been recommended to us, the Chocolate Theatre where we munched on our chocolate hedgehogs and bought some chocolate fishes to take away with us (not the marshmallow kind). Then we were off round the back of Windsor Castle for The Long Walk. The Long Walk is basically a path that runs 5km in a perfectly straight line from the back of the castle, through a park, and then out into some larger paddocks filled with deer to a HUGE statue of King George the III on the back of his horse. There were plenty of people sitting there resting before the big 5km back. After that we had burned all that pie out of our systems and were reading for a sleepy train ride back home again. A good day all round.

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