Hot In The City
It was another gorgeous day in the Old Dart today, with temperatures soaring. We’ve had nothing but blue skies since we’ve been here. Last time we visited this fair country, it was the dead of winter and just breathing produced icicles in your nose. We had gloves, scarves, boots, coats, hats… It was all about crackling fireplaces, mulled wine and keeping cosy. It’s incredible what a different place it is in summer. The Londoners really embrace the outdoors in summer and the streets are buzzing with people strolling, chatting and relaxing. It’s chalk and cheese.
Our day got off to a bit of a panicked start. Toby had lost a piece of the padding from inside his boot/cast and was finding it incredibly painful to walk. We quizzed him about where he last had it and turned the place upside down looking for it. We’d all but given up hope until a Ross glanced down at the boot and discovered the missing pad had been velcroed to the outside of the boot the whole time!
Generally we’ve found the coffee in London to be a bit ordinary but there are some hidden gems around the city that can supply a very decent brew indeed. One such place was ‘Soho Bikes’, a bike shop that doubled as a coffee shop & even had Tim Tams on the menu! This was a tip off from one of Sam’s friends and, hidden in a funky back laneway, you’d never really stumble upon it without local knowledge. As we’d hoped, they did do really good coffee – a great start to the day. It was fun visiting this cool area with its trendy op shops, fabric shops, tailors and providores. Soho reminded me a lot of Melbourne. They were setting up market stalls down the centre of the laneway looking like they had some cool things on offer but we’d arrived a bit early and for some reason none of the shops opened until 10:30, probably saving us money!
Since today was our last full day in London, we made a list of all the things we were yet to do & still wanted to see before we left. Everyone added to the list and then we passed all the info on to our logistics expert Sam, who set about scouring maps, checking Tube times and ascertaining opening hours, before plotting our day for us and setting the schedule – which was fuller than a bull’s bum walking up a hill.
Trafalgar Square was our first stop and there was plenty of action on the street. Tourists were out in force enjoying the sunshine, snapping themselves with statues left, right and centre. The fountain was looking mighty tempting for a quick dip but we decided to refrain. No one wanted to spend their last night in London in the clink. Lord Neilson, atop his lofty column, looked on.
Since the jostling crowds earlier in the week had prevented us from getting a good gander at the Palace, we decided to stroll up the grand, tree-lined Mall once again to try and get a better look. As we walked, the Queen’s Household Cavalry provided quite a spectacle, trotting up the driveway of all driveways atop their magnificently manicured matching steeds. Complete with plush shagpile saddles, they were looking resplendent in their red-tasseled, shiny spiky hats, sashes and white gloves. They must have been sweltering but their poker faces gave nothing away. We could hear the big brass band moving closer and though the hoards had gathered, we had a much better vantage point today. Viewing Buckingham Palace in all its magnificence, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live in such grandeur. You could feasibly go for 6 months without ever spotting a single fellow house mate. The 78 bathrooms (yes, SEVENTY-EIGHT) would mean you’d never have to wait for a shower or have to endure a cross-legged dance while waiting to relieve yourself. Think I could get used to that.
After a lovely walk through Green Park – London really does have a lot of beautiful green space mixed in with its urban sprawl – we boarded a train and emerged from the Underground on the Kensington High Street, which sounds very fancy indeed. Molly had her heart set on visiting The Design Museum in Kensington but the boys were keen to see Chelsea Football Club’s home ground, Stamford Bridge so we divided along gender lines for the afternoon. An exhibition centred on ‘Colour’ was brilliant and the Museum was well worth the visit. The boys enjoyed their double-decker bus ride and lunch at a classic English pub in Fulham. They got to see the Champions League and Premier League trophies but still felt annoyed it hadn’t gone to their beloved Manchester United!
A quick trip on the tube had us all reunited and ready to enjoy London from the air, aboard the famous London Eye. Buying fast track ‘skip the line’ tickets online was one of our best moves yet as the queue was enormous. As we bypassed all those poor souls sweating buckets in the line, no shade in sight, we were stoked to cruise straight to the front of the queue and into our roomy pod. Though the pods can hold up to 26 people, ours was by no means full & we shared it with a couple from Adelaide, partway through a 12 week tour of Europe, away from their kids and grandkids. They were having a ball! The view was truly amazing, the blue skies facilitating clear vistas out across the vast horizon. There was a 4D film to watch afterwards which was very short but surprisingly good.
From the Eye, we hung around in leafy Jubilee Park while Ross and Molly finished the floors they’d missed at the Tate Modern gallery. It is such a buzz to see Andy Warhols, Picassos and Matisses in the flesh (so to speak)! There were plenty of shady trees for us to sit under in the park and lush, soft grass to plonk down on to listen to the array of talented buskers in residence. Interestingly, lots of Englishmen and women were dressed in long pants, cardigans and jumpers (& believe it or not, that great fashion faux pas: socks and sandals)! It was 35 degrees!
We walked along the Thames through Southbank to meet Ross and Molly and the riverfront was alive with late afternoon revellers filling and spilling out of the pubs and cafes that lined the boardwalk. It was a brilliant atmosphere with pop up shops and eateries in colourful shipping containers. We decided to stop and have a drink overlooking the water. Grabbing a seat at the first place we saw with any vacancies, we got comfortable at a big outdoor table. Glancing around, we soon realised we weren’t in any old beer garden but a very posh hotel, the Mondrian, brimming with immaculately primped, well-dressed patrons, eying us with a degree of disgust mixed with suspicion. Hmmm. Perhaps our sweaty singlets, thongs and boardshorts didn’t quite cut the mustard. Even the waiters and security guards were dressed better than us! Despite feeling like proverbial sore thumbs, we pressed on and ordered some cold libations- ahhhh, just what the doctor ordered. When it was evident we were about to leave, one of the waiters came running over to offer to escort us out. I’m still not sure if he was just being overly helpful or whether he was worried we’d try to steal something on the way out. He did shake our hands when he bid us farewell!
Dinner tonight was back at our local, the Black Dog. We watched Wimbledon on the big screen while feasting on traditional English fare, including a taste of rarebit (which, embarrassingly, I’d always thought was a type of rare ‘rabbit’!)
The Airbnb flat where we are staying is so well-equipped and has been brilliant but it doesn’t have fully opening windows and tonight, being such a stinker, it was feeling like a Turkish steamroom. It has 2 mobile airconditioning units and 3 bedrooms so there was almost an all-in brawl at bedtime over who was going to get the aircon in their room and who was going to be left sleeping in the Bikram Yoga studio. Unfortunately for Toby, Molly was feeling the affects of her asthma & needed some cold air so it was his turn to miss out. In a huff, he took his pillow and declared he would sleep outside on the tiny concrete balcony, broken leg and all. Can’t imagine he’ll get much sleep but here’s hoping!
