for those of you playing at home, this is part two of the travel diaries. i had such a good response from the last one, that i made the decision to keep the feature up! (the crowd goes wild).. here we go!
04-01-2011
So where was I...? Oh yes..
So, new years eve: daytime.
Erin and I headed into London early so as to be able to get as much in as possible before having to get home for the part-ay. The day started out expensive. Overland train to London: about £7. one way. And almost 40 mins. Then, once IN London, I had to buy an oyster card (cheaper travel card), which is another £20 pre-loaded then money is gradually deducted each time you use the tube or public transport. For Kiwis, think: Snapper. For Melbournians, think: Myki. For Adelaideans, think: futuristic.
First stop: Tower of London. You may have seen the pics. It. Was. Quite. Big. And Erin is quite the history buff so she was able to give me a guided tour without having to hang about with the huge crowds of foreigners all admiring the blah blah of blah and the blah stone where queen blah did blah blah while blah blah happened... See, I pay attention.
Sidenote: on the subject of a dime a dozen, let's talk about the red telephone booth:
Someone needs to get onto the Australian Tourism board asap because I will not let another Australian be fooled into believing the red phone booth is a LONESOME LONDON TRADEMARK. it's NOT. they are EVERYWHERE. as are black cabs. To make a point, Erin and I had intentions to have photo with every red booth we came across but it was EXHAUSTING and boring. so we gave up after 14th or something. we did have a picture with a Paddy AND a phone booth somewhere around Charing Cross. *WINNING*
Our adventure brought us to Oxford Circus. Starbucks. Topshop. H&M. Primark. Selfridges. Uhhhhmmmm. *dies* although shopping on this strip almost killed my will to live a little bit. It was pure madness. Like, there were people employed to simply tidy a square metre at a time of these shops there were that many people trashing them that quickly. Needless to say though I did make a FEW purchases :D
Lunch was at a TRADITIONAL English pub, where I indulged in garlic bread and diet coke. It's about as English as I can go without questioning what's in everything. Desert was waffles (YUM!) from a street stall on the walk to next stop: Buckingham Palace. It... Basically looks like it does on the Telly. Just much.. Bigger. Queenie was in residence but didn't come out tho I did call to her for tea and scones. Selfish. I saw squirrel too, that was cool :D from Bucks we headed to Trafalgar Square, where they were setting up for new years celebrations, and it was starting to get dark and the National Gallery (which is the building behind the square and statue of Nelson) was all lit up - looked really pretty!!
Ummm I think we then headed home - it was about 5 at this point and the party was supposed to start at 6:30 and we had to change, etc etc. We got home and Paul had set the house up BRILLIANTLY. what a good kid. The party was a 70s theme so we'd tried to keep the food and drink fitting with the theme - baby cham, bucks fizz, finger food on toothpicks etc - was gonna have fondue but being that a third of the confirmed guests were lactose intolerant we binned that. I don't remember much of the party. So... Yeah. There are a few photos up - none that I took, or recall being in. To those of you back home who were (un)lucky enough to speak to me that night... *blushes* sorry.
New years day we THOUGHT about cleaning. But didn't. Instead, "we got a Chinese and watched TV". Yummmmmmmmmmm. I lie, we tidy SOME. but basically didn't...do..anything.
the day after that, I headed into London, ALONE. .....BIG MISTAKE. it was a public holiday, and there were scheduled works on 2 different tube lines. I was planning on catching up with a mate from Adelaide, Kaitlin, who lives on the other side of London, but instead I got lost. So I walked. From one side. of London. To about just over half way. It took near 2 hours. Then, it got dark, and I got scared, called Erin and made her tell me how to get home. All the ways to get to Kaitlin were out of my reach and I was frustrated by the idiocy working in "customer service" in london's underground, so it seemed the best answer. In my two hours I got to do some more sightseeing, St. Paul's Cathedral, Somerset House, Traf Square again and some other awesome stuff -- and got out of the house again, so it wasn't a complete disaster.. Just missed out on seeing someones skull that I miss a whole lot.
Yesterday I ...... Dunno. Oh, shopping. Ha. Today, we went BACK into London to see all the sights we missed on new years eve: Tower + London bridge, heaps of...historical english things, some ships, landmarks, Borough Market (fresh food etc), Millennium Bridge, Parliament House + Big Ben, the London Eye.. The sun even came out and I had to take my gloves OFF...went to Covent Garden + Jubilee Market and bought a souvenir hoody (I'm laaaaaame), went to the West End, Leicester Square, Southbank + Shakespeare's Globe Theatre... Speaking of West End, I'm gagging to see Lion King while I'm here, um um yeah I think thats about it today? A LOT. and I was wearing NEW BOOTS. I have tomorrow off, my feet are knackered.
Next trip will include Mayfair, Portobello and Camden markets, Abbey Road, Hyde Park and the posh suburbs.. Hopefully spot a celeb or two. Until then, I'm off to Ireland to see Danny this Friday for a couple of weeks for his birthday then when I get back, my cuzzy from NZ, Rebekah will be here and we'll hopefully do some jet setting around Europe!! Its all coming together :)
Miss you all, love most of you!!!!!
Til next time, be good :D
that's all for now.. until next time.
erica x
