LONDON CALLING
Wasn't that a great song; sorry, I digress. Since arriving on the Iberian Peninsula (approaching 2 years now, believe it or not) the kids have visited many places but not yet gone to the UK. So what better to do for
Aimee's 12th birthday than fly first class over to London, and stay at the Ritz on Piccadilly for 4 days to celebrate the occasion. We skip first class and fly with the rest of the discount fare cattle on
Easyjet, arriving at 11:15pm. Apparently there has been a
train strike in London all week, but luckily we have arranged for the hotel taxi service to pick us up (given the time of night and with young children this seems a better option than public transport anyway). We are confronted at
Customs by the news that the
computer system across the whole country has
shut down and the queue is a mile long. Lucky break - pretty much everybody in the line is holding a EU passport, but the non-EU passport queue only has 4 people in it (
Travel Tip: get an Australian passport for airport contingencies!). It's 10 minutes to midnight when we exit and our driver is nowhere to be seen - not happy! He finally arrives and at 1:30am we finally arrive at the
So Quartier Hotel next to
Kilburn High Road tube station (not quite the Ritz!). We were quoted
70 pounds for the taxi but he demands
85 in CASH - not happy again, and I don't have the paperwork on me. Finally to our room - and the door key doesn't work. It takes 3 days before we get a key that works!
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| Birthday skype with Ruby in Hawthorn |
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE......we head towards the station under heavy skies, but not before I give the
manager an appraisal and demand my 15 quid back (I've produced the quote!) - it takes 3 days to get it and she reminds me not to forget to write a hotel review on
TripAdviser!!
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| Bleary eyed on the tube |
So we're at Southbank and our first event is the
London Dungeon tour. It's moved from its original place and is now next to the London Eye. It's pretty impressive and gives interesting accounts of life in
'Her Majesty's Care' and a history lesson on several notorious criminals like
Jack The Ripper, Sweeney Todd and Guy Fawkes amongst others. (
Travel Observation: Australia may have been settled by convicts and petty thieves and our heritage brought into question accordingly, but the
crème de la crème of villainy clearly remained in England!).
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| Buzzy looks a little too happy for my liking! |
We walk past the
Houses Of Parliament and
Big Ben (Liam's #1 priority this trip) and up
Whitehall past the
Horse Guard. They are a very patient breed of soldier, putting up with the taunts of those standing by. Up past
Trafalgar Square we go and at 4:00pm we arrive at our destination -
Fortnum & Mason.
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| What exactly is a 'General Lying-In Hospital'???? |
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| Three very snappy dressers |
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| I wonder if those boots chafe... |
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| Surely he's not tall enough to guard Her Majesty!!! |
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| I can't get over the boots!!! |
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| Horsing around in Whitehall |
Up to the 4th floor we go to the
Queen's Jubilee Tea Salon where we have booked for high tea - an occasion befitting our princess. Buzzy is in huff and memories flood back of our
last visit here 5 years ago when he
threw a scone at an elderly couple next to us. Luckily, he snaps out of it when his glass of
ginger beer arrives, and we enjoy a
royal spread of delicacies and treats that includes
plain & fruit scones with Somerset clotted cream and F&M preserve, Sunflower Chocolate cupcakes, and assorted finger sandwiches. There is nothing like it (although we are yet to experience the Ritz). The
pianist in the foyer plays a beautiful rendition of
'Happy Birthday' as a waitress brings out a slice of chocolate Gateau adorned with a candle, and the whole restaurant give Aimee a clap - fantastic.
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| F&M Queen's Jubilee Tea Salon |
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| The birthday girl..... |
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| .....with goodies.... |
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| ....OMG... |
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| Jammy dodger and macaroons...mmm, mmm |
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| Buzzy's own 3-tier setting. |
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| Birthday girl gets a candle to blow out |
With full tummies, we wander up
Regent Street to
Oxford Circus and catch a
double decker bus back to our hotel where Aimee spends the rest of the evening opening her gifts from friend and family far away. Great day.
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| Bedtime story after a big day |
Early rise on day 2 as we head to
London Bridge, in the shadows of
The Shard. Dulcinea has been working long hours so we shout her to an hour at
Float Works, a relaxation centre where one lies in a
private pod of salt water similar in concentration to the
Dead Sea.
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| The Shard |
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| Dead Sea salt bath therapy...aaaah. |
Luckily, she doesn't drown and 90 minutes later we're on our way to
Ripley's Believe It Or Not at
Piccadilly Circus. In all my visits to London there are 3 places I have studiously avoided -
Mdme Tussaud's, London Dungeon, and Ripley's, but Aimee wants to see 2 of my pet hates. LD was fine given it is all new, but Ripley's is everything I feared it would be, bar a couple of interesting experiences. (
Travel Tip - I could still do without
EVER seeing these 3 attractions, and they are
VERY expensive!).
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| Wax 'tourists' - clever |
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| No feet.... |
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| ...no Aimee |
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| What on earth is this? |
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| Aaaah, right |
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| The maze was pretty cool I must admit |
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| Aimee practices her instantly disappearing graffiti skills |
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| Laser Race - Aimee only breaks 6 beams to steal the jewels |
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| Don L breaks a few more - I'll never be Catherine Zeta-Jones |
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| Lunch break at Fernandez & Wells |
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| Is that Irish Breakfast tea I see on the menu????? |
Next stop is
Hamley's the
world's biggest and best toy store (
Travel Statement: the
FAO Schwarz store in
New York pales beside this monolith). We spend
HOURS on the
4th and 5th floors, it is superbly run with demonstrators everywhere and superb displays - the Lego figures were worth the trip alone. Needless to say, the kids have birthday present funds and pocket money to burn and don't leave empty handed. I love Hamley's.
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| Hamley's toy demonstrator. What on earth is she doing??? |
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| Aaaah, OK. |
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| Stuffing a build-a-bear |
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| Rubbing its heart for luck - sheeesh!! |
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| Meeting the Royals |
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| Amazing Lego work |
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| Los ninos meet Betty |
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| This is more like it :) |
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| In-store demonstrator.... |
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| ...the result. |
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| Two storm troopers - which one's made of Lego? |
Then it's back to Southbank for a ride on the
London Eye, delivering spectacular views over central London and beyond. We finish the night with dinner at the Betsy Smith pub near our hotel. The food is fine, but we have to almost beg to gain entrance (
Travel Tip: on the continent, kids are welcome anywhere but in the UK they are not allowed in licensed premises after
8:00pm).
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| The Eye - really is spectacular |
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| Eastenders from the top |
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| The Shard - it certainly stands out! |
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| Houses of Parliament & Westminster Abbey |
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| Bear-ly containing their excitement! |
An ad-lib day. We head into
Fitzrovia for brunch at a bistro where the food is fortunately a little better than the service. Then it's time to split up; the chicas head for
Oxford Street and all those silly girlie shops whilst Buzzy and I do some really cool things like popping into
Hobgoblin Music where Buzzy tries out a
Yamaha F310 acoustic guitar for size, we check out
Foyle's bookstore,
Vintage Magazines, wander into some stores in
Denmark Street where Buzzy plays a few tunes on an electric piano and then do a bit of window shopping in
Soho - much to his amusement! We have a quick
Snog and then meet up with the girls and stroll through
Leicester Square, pop into Foyle's again for a quick gander, before settling on dinner at
Balans in Soho.
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| Hobgoblin Music - I'll have the Yamaha F310 please dad |
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| Famous Denmark Street |
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| Soho skool uniform shop |
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| Time for a quick snog..... |
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| Yum!! |
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| For some reason, birthday girl wanted to visit Leicester Square |
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| Birthday girl and The Bard in Leicester Square |
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| Face it, nobody does national pride better than the Brits |
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| Just don't let him get in! |
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| Crikey, it's Colin's book, Britain's #1 Jazz Bestseller (and the last copy!) |
Our final morning, and we walk up the road and around the corner to
Abbey Road. The kids scribble some
graffiti on the famous studio wall and then take a stroll across the most famous
pedestrian crossing in the world. It's amazing, there are scores of people here and it must be irritating for drivers having to contend with damned tourists re-enacting a record cover!
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| That's not George, it's John Dickenson!! |
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| A sensible graffiti artist |
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| Aimee doesn't realise it gets whitewashed on Monday |
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| How cool are those kids! |
Time for lunch at Roma's Café, a trendy eatery that served
revolting coffee (the quest continues unabated) and got under my skin (
Travel Tip: there are a
LOT of places in London that
do not accept credit cards; worse, they do not advertise this fact at all well).
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| According to Roma's Cafe, this is a latte! Sheeesh, the Quest continues... |
It's back to the hotel to pick up our bags and catch the tube to Victoria where we board the
Gatwick Express (
Travel Tip: a family ticket 'only' cost
39.80 and it's a 30 minute ride. That's significantly less than a cab so weigh up your options). Another successful sortie, and Easyjet gets us home safely at 8:00pm. Time to switch the Spanish translator back on......
