Euro Trip!

Phew! I made it to the UK!!

I landed in Heathrow airport and caught the tube to Pimlico station in Victoria to my hostel. It was pretty exciting to see the very English houses wizz past from the windows while the sun was setting.

After a pub feed of a lamb rack and a (half) pint of beer I had an early night ready for some touristing in the morning.

Sunday 05/03/2017
First up was the free walking tour that went past a lot of Royal sites in the city. I looked out the window when I was getting ready and thought 'What a beautiful day! I'll just wear my long cardigan!'. Famous last words... I like to think I was being optimistic after the negative temperatures of Norway..

We met in a park and I was simply amazed that there were daffodils just popping up out of the lawn. Everywhere! I took heaps of pictures but they don't really compare to the ones I took on other days so I'll save them for later.

Then we went to Buckingham Palace. The Queen wasn't in today but they changed the guard anyway.

After much walking and zigzagging along various streets looking at various famous buildings, eventually we made it to Trafalgar Square. The weather was starting to play games with us by this stage. It had started raining but the guide quoted Mark Twain - 'If you don't like the weather ... wait a few minutes'. So we did and then it was sunny again.

There were so many beautiful buildings I really tried not to take too many pictures.

This is the Admiralty Arch which leads from Trafalgar square to The Mall which leads to Buckingham Palace.

This is Whitehall where they are meant to have the changing of the Horse Guards but they were setting up for an event this week.

Note that it is sunny again!

The most touristy photo possible with a red phone booth and the Elizabeth Tower of the Palace of Westminster (home to Big Ben (the bell inside)). If only a black cab or double decker bus had driven past...

This is Westminster Abbey famous for coronations and royal weddings.

The houses of Parliament.

The tour guide was fantastic and told us heaps of small details and interesting facts about different places we passed. He told us about the gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes day and the Grand of Duke of York and heaps of others. If you come and visit I will remember them when we visit the places :D

I had no plans for the rest of the day so I decided to do the other tour in the afternoon that covered the street art of the East End. One of the organisers showed me which tubes to catch and were to get the best lunch in a very cool market that had every nationality of food. It was so delicious. I had something that had cooked bananas and corn bread.

While we were waiting for the group the weather chucked a wobbly and poured the heaviest rain I had seen since the cyclone then not five minutes later it was sunny again.

Monday 06/03/17
I met with my locum agent and had a coffee before wandering around to see St Pauls Cathederal. It was very beautiful but I was much more impressed with the cherry blossoms and flowers and squirrels.

This was possibly the smallest pub ever. I believe it was called Black Friar's (after or before the tube station?)

In the rose garden beside the cathedral there was teeny tiny squirrel. It was digging around in the mulch

Then I walked along and over the Thames river to the Tate Modern. I had wanted to go to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre but they had a show on and weren't letting people in.

It's just so cool that they have theses super modern things right beside the really old.

Then, after walking around the Tate Modern Gallery feeling very uncultured because I didn't appreciate the very modern art, I met my accountant at the pub and he put the beer on the work credit card. We filled in some forms to get a bank account then I left to get ready to go to the theatre for the evening.

I went to see Aladdin!! I was really excited because the ads looked amazing and I loved the Disney movie.

The show wasn't as great as I had expected. The actors seemed bored and tired and it was a bit fake. The genie was the best part but he was no Robin Williams...

Tuesday 07/03/17
I went to the Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Harrods. I also tried to set up a bank account which nearly left me in tears. I have made a separate blog of the arty stuff so you don't have to look at heaps of pictures of paintings and photos of dresses.

Harrods is shopping heaven. (I think) I have been to some of the fanciest shopping centres in the world (Orchard Road in Singapore, Galleries Lafayette in Paris, Saint Moritz etc) But nothing compared to the grandeur of Harrods. The entire building was beautiful.

They even have a Shoe Heaven!!

After much walking an cake eating, I went to see another musical - WICKED! This was actually fabulous! I will willingly watch it with everyone who comes to visit!

Wednesday 08/03/2017
Fairly boring day today- Mandatory training so I could get a job. But I got to walk around another suburb and see different buildings and apartments so it was still fun. Of the twenty people in the class, three were radiographers from Australia!

After the course I went to catch up with Carley Bennett who I know from school/Pony Club and worked as a vet with Mum. It was so good to see her and have someone to eat dinner with and chat to!

Thursday 09/03/2017

I really wanted to see the changing of the horse guards today. I got up and walked the half hour to the area. When I was nearly there, there were police and barricades up on all the streets diverting traffic and while I thought it was annoying, I was easily distracted by all the beautiful spring flowers.

And there were mounted police patrolling everywhere.

And this little guy just ran up my leg! I had stopped to take a picture of it and it just kept coming closer so I kept very still and he climbed up to my knee!! Most exciting thing so far!

More flowers! It is just sooo beautiful that these vibrant daffodils just pop up out of the lawn!

With some frustration I found that the changing of the horse guard was not happening today as there was a function on in that area. But there were heaps of people lined up along The Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace so I figured I'd wait and see what they were looking for. And lo-and-behold, a motorcade drove past. The first one had a lovely lady with a nice had and matching suit on but she didn't look as old as the Queen and her wave was not right so I figured it was Camilla.

Then, just as I was about to walk away, another motorcade came along. This one was going much much slower and had much nicer cars. And Guess who it was!!!

Needless to say she has the royal wave down pat!

This is the Duke of York Column - famous from the nursery rhyme. He was the commander in chief of the British army and was very popular with his troops because he paid them in beer on their days off (or so the tour guide tells me). After his death, the troops voted to donate a day's wages to fund this monument. He also led a massive reform which involved lots of training - marching to the top of the hill perhaps?

It's a bit hard to appreciate, but the royal standard is flying above Buckingham Palace which indicates the Queen is staying there today..

As usual, I found some horses. These were enjoying their coffee break! One even got to have some coffee!

Then I walked to Trafalgar Square and ducked into the National Portrait Gallery for some culture. Some very beautiful works of art there. Definitely one of my favourite galleries. Then, because it was such a stunning day, I ducked out to Greenwich.

This was the Sherlock Holmes Pub (in London still)

The London Eye as seen from near the Embankment Tube station

This is the very important point where Greenwich Mean Time is measured from. They also have handy standard measurements like yards an feet...

This is the view from the top of the Greenwich hill. It was such a beautiful day!! The building at the bottom is the National Maritime Museum and behind that is the Greenwich University.

This was at the National Maritime Museum

This evening, the locum agency I was using was holding a drinks evening so I went along to meet more people. I sincerely doubted I would see anyone I knew but there were two girls from the same year of uni as me and another guy that I had met at a friends place a year or so ago.

Friday 10/03/2017
TEA DAY!!

Today I went into London City for a Tea Masterclass. But first I had to get past all the old old old buildings. London City is technically only a square mile along the Thames river and the rest of 'London' includes the city of Westminster and 32 boroughs. The boundaries of London City are indicated by these statues. Apparently, the Queen has to ask permission from the Lord Mayor to enter the City.

I just got carried away with all the different old buildings...

They just add stuff on willy-nilly if they need more rooms and there is enough space...

My tea master class was at the original Twinings store/museum. It was very educational! And I bought a lot of tea!!!

We tried six different teas ranging from white tea through green tea to black tea. They were all very different and some better than others. They were very professional about their tea- they set a timer to brew the tea, three minutes exactly. We drank all the tea black but a bit of milk is acceptable in English Breakfast etc if desired. I preferred Oolong to green tea as it wasn't as bitter. They also had a black tea that reminded me of billy tea boiled in a quart pot so I had to buy that one too.