First Week in London!

Very strange to think it was just over a week ago we flew into Heathrow and stepped off the plane. It feels like a month. Just a week ago that I had to line up with about 200 other travellers to get through the air port. If you know me well which I think everyone reading this does, you know patience is not my prized virtue. Lucky the line moved fast.

We are staying at our friend Maggie's house on Kildoran street where all the houses look like this!

Our first day in London was spent mostly sleeping, but of course with a stop in at the pub where we saw our first squirrel!! It's hard to see but he is in there.

Who said anything about jet lag? Come Saturday night we were up and ready to head out for some drinks!

Sunday we went and experienced a bit of what London is all about. People, everywhere. This quiet little place is called Oxford Circus. It is amazing. Hoards of people everywhere and awesome shopping.

Monday I was out and about exploring by myself. For a girl from the Coromandel who is hesitant to use the Auckland buses for fear of ending up in Pukekohe I pretty much owned the tube! It is an amazing form of transport. The weather was kind, actually *touch wood* it hasn't rained yet! Met up with Katie for lunch then with Charlene at Hyde park. Funny how seeing the Londoner made me home sick for NZ.

After some lazing in the sun we went to the pub (as everyone seems to do on a Monday here) to catch up with C's old workmate's.

    

     

Following boring admin appointments tra la la we met up with Charlene's London friends for a delicious Mexican meal.

Awesome funny bunch

Charlene and her Bestie Merryn

Finally made a friend T A L L E R than me, meet Steph!

Lucy and I were having trouble getting the geography of the city and also felt like being pure tourists so did a bus tour. This revealed a lot about London and it's history. It also revealed to me that London Bridge, Tower bridge and the Big Ben were not all the same thing, three separate icons all together... At least I wasn't as bad as the dumb American behind me who didn't realize London had a river running through it! Some shot's from the tour of some icons, our awesome old tour guide, some protester's & J K Rowling's house!

I wish I had taken photo's of Bedford, the pub we went to that night with Charlene and her friends. First appearances were, this is a normal English pub, pub inside the pub was a mini Globe Theatre looking place where new acts play Monday through Thursday, great way to see some up and coming London talent for free.

Wonder what the biggest Westfield in Europe is like? Well here's a picture but we still haven't seen the whole thing, not even half of it after our two trips there....

Headed to the famous Brick Lane for a drink then dinner. Put Scott forward as our barter man... He did well, we each got a naan, podadom, entree, main and rice for ten pound each! 

After a maxed out full of fun, week with good company & new sights we headed down to Brighton... A place just as packed as London with awesome little boutiquey lanes, but no sandcastle's in site, a few bikini's but no one in the water because it's fa-reezing, and plenty of good food and PIMMS....

Do not walk to the water without your shandel's OUCH.

Beautiful gardens in Brighton near the Royal Pavilion.

Drink of the weekend.

Babe's on the pier.

Brighton Beach.

Our amazing house.

A few things before I go that I can say about London... After a day walking around you will always have black boogers, people are far less clean and green, there are no fifty pound notes around, the coin's are a pain in the butt. All the houses look the same, and what they call houses we would call a block of townhouse/flat's. The tube is an amazing form of transport, well done whoever made it!

xx