Much to my amazement, I've had emails from people asking why I've stopped blogging.... (Heavens! Someone other than my parents and my Aunty De is reading this!!!)
I've had a very good excuse - April 21 saw the arrival of my partner Anthony, for a three week holiday! Yippee!!!
We spent our first four days in a very funky little B&B at Lancaster Gate, just near Hyde Park (there was no way we were going to inflict our reunion, after two months apart, on my housemates!). It was also a fabulous base to explore from, and I began to realise how much of London I haven't seen yet either!
Our first day took us for a wander through Hyde Park (which is huge! I always thought, in those English period novels, how silly is was to ride children on ponies in a park... but this is no ordinary sized park...it took half an hour to walk across the 'short' side!) and down to Harrods. Yes, my big burly rugby playing feller was apparently also born to shop.... Harrods is an amazing place to see, although at £400 for a leather belt (thats ($A1000) and £60,000 for a necklace, we didn't buy anything. We did, however find an excellent cheese platter in their deli and some wine. (I even ate stinky cheese!)
From there our adventures became something of a 'monopoly board' tour... we wandered up past Mayfair, along Picadilly, stopping at a market we found along the way, where Anthony bought himself a big long stemmed pipe!
Next, we crossed Picadilly circus, down to Trafalgar Square and The Strand, up to Leicester Square and Covent Garden, before grabbing a well earned pint in Bow Street (famous for its history of 'ladies of negotiable affection'... and gents too, by all accounts!
Sunday saw us test the Swan Hotel's claim to the 'best fish and chips in London' (they were rather good!) and ride the London Eye, followed by dinner at Wagamamas - they're a kind of chain of asian diners here. Some people sneer at them, but those people have obviously never had the duck and leek gyoza there! Yum, and more Yum!!
Buckingham Palace, the Horse Guards on Parade, and then suddenly it was evening again and we joined up with Sarah and Mark to check out London's oldest pub, The Olde Mitre, established by the Bishop of Ely in 1534 or thereabouts... Found another excellent old place for dinner, nothing over 7 quid, which is cheap for this part of the world... that boy has a nose for sniffing out good pubs with large meals...
Tuesday morning we were up at 3am to go to the Anzac Day dawn service at the war memorial at Hyde Park... Anthony was resplendent in full police dress uniform and cracks a fine salute, I must say! The service itself was rather moving - all of our grandparents were involved in WWII in particular, and, as an Aussie and a Kiwi, the ANZAC identity is something we both share. Of course, one of the things that made the Anzac landing such a tragedy was a series of massive cockups by the high command - if only that idiot in Canberra who keeps sending our lads to Iraq would learn from history, realise when he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and bring them home...
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