London Calling
It’s safe to say we were feeling a little weary as we embarked on our first day of proper sightseeing in the nation’s capital. We lugged our bags around Kings Cross Station after unsuccessfully being able to locate Platform 9 ¾ and, emerging up from the Underground, we weren’t sure whether or not the sun had actually risen yet. The sky was a dull sort of grey and the street lights were all stll on but as the hours ticked by, we were never really aware of the day dawning or the sun lighting up the sky. It was weird! The sky just got a whiter shade of grey.
The mercury was reading 13°C but there was a bit of a wind chill factor and we soon realised our “warm” change of clothes was pretty inadequate! I was just wearing a pair of trackies and a t-shirt under a hoody (thought I’d show some class on the first day) and I was shivering in my socks! Toby had a thin sloppy joe on too and his teeth were nattering away!
Our first stop was our hotel, right near Euston Station, to drop off our bags and see if we could possibly negotiate an earlier check-in but our luck was down and we were locked out for the best part of the day. Not to worry; we had some serious sightseeing to do! We bought ourselves some seats on the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus and braved the open rooved section upstairs. For those of you that have already been to London, I know I’m not telling you anything new but you can’t come to London and not see it as a giant game of Monopoly! We passed all the properties on the board, including Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Leister Square, Oxford St, Bond St and on to the high class Park Lane and Mayfair, where we’ve all invested some serious money into hotels and houses in our time. No one charged us for landing on their property which was a bonus but there was certainly no free parking and alas, no one slipped us $200 for passing GO.
The bus trip was fun with a live Englishman giving us the rundown on all the famous sights and sharing his quirky English sense of humour with us. It was surreal to be actually crossing the Tower Bridge, hearing Big Ben chiming loudly and seeing the Tower Of London, Buckingham Palace and Parliament House in person! This was a bit of a reconnaissance mission today and even though it was a hop-on-hop-off bus, once we’d hopped on, we didn’t do any hopping off. This was for two reasons, one: because it was too bloomin’ cold and two: because we were too bloomin’ tired! Hopefully next week, when we’re feeling a lttle more sprightly, we can go back and visit all the different sights and remain fully conscious.
We had a fantastic lunch at a great little classic English pub in Regent Street with such English treasures on the menu as “bangers and mash”, “pork pies” and “ “Scotch eggs”! It was brilliant with a little fireplace, dark wood chairs with high backs, tartan carpet and a view out the window to some cute little window boxes across the laneway overflowing with bright little blooms! We had a quick jaunt up Regent and Oxford Sts and did a spot of window shopping. A quick note here, I have realised that the two family members I have come away with are not the shoppers of the family – an understatement – unless of course we’re looking in sports shops or electronics shops – so I think it’s going to be a challenge to get in some quality retail therapy (or otherwise endure the endless complaints once their very limited shopping thresholds are reached. Wish me luck!)
There are so many things about London that are “just like the movies”. The classic red phone boxes and the cute little cabs everywhere! We came upon an empty phone box and were so impressed with how cute it was, I seized the moment and ushered Toby in for a photo opportunity. He willingly obliged but upon opening the door realised it was plastered wall-to-wall with pornographic images so graphic they’d turn you off your breakfast and the floor of the phone box was littered with beer bottles and syringes! We implored Toby to just look out the window at us and “whatever you do, don’t look around!” The things you do for a good photo! We hailed a London cab back to the hotel when it was finally time to check in and the cabbie was nice and chatty, in his thick cockney accent, talking up his soccer team and about his recent foray into rugby. He had some Beatles music playing in the cab which was a good soundtrack for where we were!
By the time we reached the hotel we made a beeline for our beds and let me tell you, a pillow never felt so good! We totally crashed and when we were woken by Rossco a couple of hours later and advised we needed to get ready for dinner, Toby and I were equally perplexed! Dinner?? Toby was in such a deep, jet-lagged induced coma, he was talking loudly in his sleep, muttering something about Ross joining in to play, since he was already there. It was pretty funny! Finally we were able to rouse him from his stupor and he yelled out “DINNER? WHAT THE…??
We dined at a fantastic authentic Italian restaurant called “Sale e Pepe”, where Ross had been once before, in Knightsbridge. All the waiters were Italian and singing loudly in Italian as they brought the food from the kitchen. The main waiter was a little Pavaroti and he loaded us up with delicious Itallian fare, starting with olives, hot crusty bread and olive oil and finishing with the best profiteroles Toby had ever tasted. At the end of the meal Pavaroti brought out three little liqueur glasses and said in his great Italian accent “Drinka up! You needa this after your longa journeya!” He gave us all one so we assumed it wouldn’t be alcoholic. Surely not? I had a quick whiff and confidently declared it safe to drink. “It just smells like lemons”. So Toby had a small swig…followed by a loud coughing fit and an exclamation of “Whoah!! That’s disgusting!” Ross and I followed suit and tried ours and confirmed that yes, it was indeed alcoholic and that it was a potent little concoction at that! Toby politely spat the remaining contents of his mouth into his serviette and washed it down with a couple of after dinner mints. My hopes of a future career as a sniffer dog have been dashed!
