With Christine at work, Amy gone and Lucy spending time getting her London stuff in order I was free to do as much, or as little as I wanted! I wont say which I choose, but the day went quickly! I was soon cooking up a fishy feast for Lucy, Christine and Mel when they had finished work. Well I’m not sure if anyone outside of London heard, but there was recently a royal wedding over here. Surprisingly, it was kind of a big deal. Not keen on joining the diehard royalists (not really wanting to sleep out overnight) or muslim terrorists (who of course were protesting), we watched most of the ceremony on the tv at home. After this we headed down to the park where there was all sorts of entertainment going on, big screens, bands and DJ’s. Once again the booze kept flowing and what started out with minimal expectation, turned into quite a good afternoon. 
In her drunken state, Mel decided to cook us a BBQ, which was great, even if it was just sausages in a fry pan, as were not actually allowed to use the BBQ at the moment! 
While we have been talking about lots of being lazy, we have actually been sorting out as much of our stuff that we need to before we leave. This was the case again, mainly working out what to pack and what to ship home. In the evening we had some farewell drinks at a pub near Little Venice. This was nice, sitting by the canal in the sunshine, and great to see a few of our friends for one last time. Being a long weekend some people were out of town, so will have to catch up somewhere else, some other time. 
Our last week, our last pancake day! Sad for Christine, however Damien abstained, knowing what was coming. For lunch we were heading to The Victoria pub, another good local. 
Our last (London) Sunday roast, we were joined by Mel and Lucy. The food was great, everyone enjoyed it. After lunch Damien and Mel headed to the cricket at Lords. It was Middlesex verse Netherlands, but the main reason for going was to see Lords again. Knowing the system now we stopped off at the bottle shop on the way. 
It was a one day match, Middlesex batted first and made a big score. Most of the afternoon it was nice to just be sitting in the sun at Lords, with Netherlands Struggling early and then trailing along behind most of their innings. However 120 runs in the last 10 over’s, after half the crowd had left, got the remaining crowd involved and saw Netherlands fall 1 run short on the final ball. 
When we got home we ate the huge salads that Christine had prepared, and were considering an early night, when Pinks and Gemma dropped in. The girls are never shy of a drink, so shortly after eating we found ourselves in a pub on Queensway for a beer or two.
Monday was May Day, another public holiday! We walked up to Little Venice as there was a boat festival on there, but without a boat, it was kind of uninteresting. From here we headed down to the British Museum for two reasons. The first was there is a temporary exhibition on in the grounds, by Kew Gardens, which is a native Australian plant display. The main reason was to re-visit the Greek Section and in particular the Elgin Marbles, which are a series of stone carvings taken from the Acropolis in Athens. Since we are going there shortly, we thought we should have another look so that we can imagine them still being in their original location.
Too much culture in one day can be bad for one’s health, so the next destination was Damien’s choice, Hamley’s Toy Store here we come! Along the way we wandered along Regent Street which was still covered in British Flags as part of the wedding celebrations. 
We hadn’t been to Hamley’s before but had heard it was a multi storey toy store where the toys are out for you to try before you buy. While not as much fun as we had hoped, there was plenty to keep us amused. Christine got shot by an ‘air gun’, we raced slot cars and watched various other demonstrations by staff. There is also a big section for Harry Potter including a wall of wands. 
Tuesday we were back to work, Christine had school, while Damien was left with the daunting task of collecting the boxes and starting to pack all of our belongings into two boxes to ship home. This task was made even harder by the sun shining outside, although there were other tasks to be done involving a walk down the street.
The highlight of the day was the evening when we had a night tour of the London Tower to witness the Ceremony of the Keys. Before this we met Jade who Damien worked with in his first London job. She works in the area so we thought we would take the opportunity to see her again and have dinner together. After dinner, we headed to the London Tower, where we were met by Mel, after she finished her shift at work. The Keys ceremony is free and the tour only lasts about an hour. For the last 800-900 years the same ceremony has taken place at the same time, with one exception, during WW2 when the tower was heavily bombed, on that night the ceremony took place 14 minutes late. It is basically the locking of the two sets of gates on the tower. This is of course performed with the assistance of an escort by the royal guard. It was something different and a great way to see the tower without the crowds of tourists.
Thursday morning our shipping boxes were collected at 8am. This was a relief as it had been a late night getting it all ready to go. After a well deserved mid morning nap, Damien headed to the Tate Britain which he had only partially visited once before. The last time we were there, there was a massive plane hanging in the foyer gallery, but this was gone and replaced by some limbless sculptures. It was good to return and see the parts that were missed last time, some of it was interesting, however a lot of it was old English works including a number of Turners, which are all a bit the same.
Rushing home, Damien’s night had only just begun. Christine had invited Tunde from her school over for dinner and we were joined by Lucy also. Since Tunde will be meeting us in Vietnam, we figured an Asian stir fry might be a good choice with marinated chicken pieces. There was heaps of food which was all very tasty. Tunde has just returned from New York so we were happy to see her before we left as she missed our farewell drinks.
Well believe it or not, for all our bemoaning of the place, our last night in London has come around quite quickly. We were up early, for another free tour, this time of Parliament and the Houses of Common. This was a stunning tour, for a year and a half we have passes the outside of the Westminster buildings and admired them as our favourite in London. But to see the inside was a completely different experience. The interior is decadent, covered in portraits, frescos, red carpet and antiques. At one stage on the tour the guide casually mentioned that “that clock is worth about 3 million pounds and the table underneath it is worth about 1.8 million”. We saw the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which is where parliament sits, debates and laws are passed. Its amusing as despite them being the leaders of the country, there is still a line on the carpet that they are to stay behind, ensuring the two parties keep their distance. It’s also amusing that when there is a vote the councilors only have seven minutes to be in the House of Commons from when the speaker rings the bell, after this they are locked out and cannot vote. The amusing part about this is that these bells are not only located around parliament but also in the nearby pubs.
After the Parliament tour we walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Christine wanted one last chance to say goodbye to some of her favourites. Having been there a number of times it was nice just to breeze through the rooms, stopping occasionally at our favourites. It really is an amazing gallery with so many interesting works. Finally we crossed back over the Thames and up to St Pauls to catch the bus home. Mel was cooking us a dinner for our final evening which we shared with Chris, Kirst and another friend Mel. Mel and Chris have been at DC since before we arrived so we have got to know them both very well. It was a great dinner, but more importantly, was nice to have an evening with some of the people that have made living in London enjoyable. Sadly the nature of the place we were staying, so many of the people whose company we have enjoyed have already moved on to bigger and better things.
Finally Saturday morning rolled around, as sad as we are to be leaving some very good friends in London, some part of us has looked forward to this day since we arrived 18 months ago. After breakfast and some final goodbyes, including Frank the old bloke we have been living with at DC, we headed to our room for the last time to finalise our packing. Lifting our packs was no easy task, despite everything we have shipped home or thrown out they are still extremely heavy.
And then we were off… out the door, for the last time, excited to leave, excited to be headed back to Melbourne and most of all, excited about the next four months on the road home!
In her drunken state, Mel decided to cook us a BBQ, which was great, even if it was just sausages in a fry pan, as were not actually allowed to use the BBQ at the moment! While we have been talking about lots of being lazy, we have actually been sorting out as much of our stuff that we need to before we leave. This was the case again, mainly working out what to pack and what to ship home. In the evening we had some farewell drinks at a pub near Little Venice. This was nice, sitting by the canal in the sunshine, and great to see a few of our friends for one last time. Being a long weekend some people were out of town, so will have to catch up somewhere else, some other time. Our last week, our last pancake day! Sad for Christine, however Damien abstained, knowing what was coming. For lunch we were heading to The Victoria pub, another good local. Our last (London) Sunday roast, we were joined by Mel and Lucy. The food was great, everyone enjoyed it. After lunch Damien and Mel headed to the cricket at Lords. It was Middlesex verse Netherlands, but the main reason for going was to see Lords again. Knowing the system now we stopped off at the bottle shop on the way. It was a one day match, Middlesex batted first and made a big score. Most of the afternoon it was nice to just be sitting in the sun at Lords, with Netherlands Struggling early and then trailing along behind most of their innings. However 120 runs in the last 10 over’s, after half the crowd had left, got the remaining crowd involved and saw Netherlands fall 1 run short on the final ball. When we got home we ate the huge salads that Christine had prepared, and were considering an early night, when Pinks and Gemma dropped in. The girls are never shy of a drink, so shortly after eating we found ourselves in a pub on Queensway for a beer or two.
Monday was May Day, another public holiday! We walked up to Little Venice as there was a boat festival on there, but without a boat, it was kind of uninteresting. From here we headed down to the British Museum for two reasons. The first was there is a temporary exhibition on in the grounds, by Kew Gardens, which is a native Australian plant display. The main reason was to re-visit the Greek Section and in particular the Elgin Marbles, which are a series of stone carvings taken from the Acropolis in Athens. Since we are going there shortly, we thought we should have another look so that we can imagine them still being in their original location.
Too much culture in one day can be bad for one’s health, so the next destination was Damien’s choice, Hamley’s Toy Store here we come! Along the way we wandered along Regent Street which was still covered in British Flags as part of the wedding celebrations. We hadn’t been to Hamley’s before but had heard it was a multi storey toy store where the toys are out for you to try before you buy. While not as much fun as we had hoped, there was plenty to keep us amused. Christine got shot by an ‘air gun’, we raced slot cars and watched various other demonstrations by staff. There is also a big section for Harry Potter including a wall of wands. Tuesday we were back to work, Christine had school, while Damien was left with the daunting task of collecting the boxes and starting to pack all of our belongings into two boxes to ship home. This task was made even harder by the sun shining outside, although there were other tasks to be done involving a walk down the street.
The highlight of the day was the evening when we had a night tour of the London Tower to witness the Ceremony of the Keys. Before this we met Jade who Damien worked with in his first London job. She works in the area so we thought we would take the opportunity to see her again and have dinner together. After dinner, we headed to the London Tower, where we were met by Mel, after she finished her shift at work. The Keys ceremony is free and the tour only lasts about an hour. For the last 800-900 years the same ceremony has taken place at the same time, with one exception, during WW2 when the tower was heavily bombed, on that night the ceremony took place 14 minutes late. It is basically the locking of the two sets of gates on the tower. This is of course performed with the assistance of an escort by the royal guard. It was something different and a great way to see the tower without the crowds of tourists.
Thursday morning our shipping boxes were collected at 8am. This was a relief as it had been a late night getting it all ready to go. After a well deserved mid morning nap, Damien headed to the Tate Britain which he had only partially visited once before. The last time we were there, there was a massive plane hanging in the foyer gallery, but this was gone and replaced by some limbless sculptures. It was good to return and see the parts that were missed last time, some of it was interesting, however a lot of it was old English works including a number of Turners, which are all a bit the same.
Rushing home, Damien’s night had only just begun. Christine had invited Tunde from her school over for dinner and we were joined by Lucy also. Since Tunde will be meeting us in Vietnam, we figured an Asian stir fry might be a good choice with marinated chicken pieces. There was heaps of food which was all very tasty. Tunde has just returned from New York so we were happy to see her before we left as she missed our farewell drinks.
Well believe it or not, for all our bemoaning of the place, our last night in London has come around quite quickly. We were up early, for another free tour, this time of Parliament and the Houses of Common. This was a stunning tour, for a year and a half we have passes the outside of the Westminster buildings and admired them as our favourite in London. But to see the inside was a completely different experience. The interior is decadent, covered in portraits, frescos, red carpet and antiques. At one stage on the tour the guide casually mentioned that “that clock is worth about 3 million pounds and the table underneath it is worth about 1.8 million”. We saw the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which is where parliament sits, debates and laws are passed. Its amusing as despite them being the leaders of the country, there is still a line on the carpet that they are to stay behind, ensuring the two parties keep their distance. It’s also amusing that when there is a vote the councilors only have seven minutes to be in the House of Commons from when the speaker rings the bell, after this they are locked out and cannot vote. The amusing part about this is that these bells are not only located around parliament but also in the nearby pubs.
After the Parliament tour we walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Christine wanted one last chance to say goodbye to some of her favourites. Having been there a number of times it was nice just to breeze through the rooms, stopping occasionally at our favourites. It really is an amazing gallery with so many interesting works. Finally we crossed back over the Thames and up to St Pauls to catch the bus home. Mel was cooking us a dinner for our final evening which we shared with Chris, Kirst and another friend Mel. Mel and Chris have been at DC since before we arrived so we have got to know them both very well. It was a great dinner, but more importantly, was nice to have an evening with some of the people that have made living in London enjoyable. Sadly the nature of the place we were staying, so many of the people whose company we have enjoyed have already moved on to bigger and better things.
Finally Saturday morning rolled around, as sad as we are to be leaving some very good friends in London, some part of us has looked forward to this day since we arrived 18 months ago. After breakfast and some final goodbyes, including Frank the old bloke we have been living with at DC, we headed to our room for the last time to finalise our packing. Lifting our packs was no easy task, despite everything we have shipped home or thrown out they are still extremely heavy.And then we were off… out the door, for the last time, excited to leave, excited to be headed back to Melbourne and most of all, excited about the next four months on the road home!
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