The Hayward – Le Comtes finally got a trip into London on their own today. It was a stunningly cold day, after the mild weather recently it was a shock and put a damper on the outing. Janine (being a woman of few wants) only needed to see Buckingham Palace. We got there, but unfortunately they were doing the changing of the guards (most people love it), but it meant there were massive crowds and we have very limited views of the Palace. We didn’t hang around too long. We got the tube back over to Piccadilly Circus and headed down to Soho for lunch (Soho Pizzeria), a stroll down Carnaby st and a walk through the famous Berwick St (revue bars galore) and theatre district of Shaftesbury Ave to Covent Garden. Janine had a look around the place while Jamie and I went through the 22 million pound redeveloped London Transport Museum. It was one of the best I have even been in and although we had a hour and a half, we could have spent 3 hrs there not a problem. The upstairs cafe was good too. The exhibits took you through time and the development of all public transport from horse drawn carriages through to the modern day busses, trains, cabs and tubes. It was very visual and hands on, it was stunningly done and I would go back in a flash over and over. I didn’t even touch the surface of what is in there.
At the end of the day we walked across the Thames, and what a sight!!! Nobody told us how stunning the lights were, the London Eye was all blue and other buildings were gold and yellow etc it was stunning.
We still have a few days here and are hoping to get to Brighton and have a look about in the car that Sarah is lending us over the next few days, including Cliff’s manager (you people know who I’m talking about), he’s a dear old friend of Mum’s, so I have to take a gift over to him.
Some high lights so far.
The Trains
The Tube
The Papers – Guardian and Times
The TV – BBC
Football – no bloody rugby in sight
The Beer – mines a Bitter please
The sights – old old old buildings, castles etc etc.
The people – well they are English aren’t they
The cosmopolitan city – Jamie is loving all the cultures.
Radio – BBC Radio 5 Live
Some negatives.
Internet – yet to be invented yet
Coffee – your havin a laugh
The English – smile you buggers
The glum – my green rain jacket stands out a mile in a sea of black annoracks.
Only a few days left before we leave the Northern Hemisphere after 6 months
New Zealand War Memorial – London
Green Park on the way to Buck Palace
