Tuesday, 21 February 2006

London - February 2006





So, after spending a few days in Singapore, and heading to the airport a good 9 hours early!!!! We headed out on Lufthansa airlines to sunny London, via Frankfurt.

Well, I was told it was sunny once.

Alas, London was definitely NOT sunny when we landed. Some might say cold, grey and miserable were more accurate words to describe the weather…I prefer to say, cold, grey and with the definite likelihood of significant precipitation…but not miserable as I enjoy rain and after coming from Australia, where it just doesn’t rain any more, it was a welcome sight.

When we arrived, two lines were in place for customs entry. One line was for the Great Unwashed. Samantha entered the queue for this line. The other line was for foreign imports, for example South Africans, Kiwis and of course, the best imports into the country, Australians. Someone has to do some work in this country, so suffice to say, the line I was in was quite long.

Somehow or other, I managed to get into the country, thanks mainly to my Scottish (NOT ENGLISH) Grandparents.

So, we were free to continue our journey and we decided to take the subway and train to Samantha’s cousin (Angela) and her husband’s (Luke) flat in Souf London.

No dramas, but let me say, we were tired and when we arrived we were absolutely stuffed, however, it was only 1pm and the best way to beat jetlag is to get onto local time quick smart, so we decided to visit the local Horniman Museum…..a very eclectic museum, but interesting nonetheless. We both almost fell asleep in the museum but we managed to get back to the flat and despite catching colds from Paul and Silvia’s bairns, we were fine and the jetlag wasn’t a major problem.

Had a good time down in London, walked around a fair bit, saw the sights again, but decided against heading into Westminster Abbey (£10 each) and St Paul’s Cathedral (£9 each) as these prices are a joke, churches should be free and anyway, translated to the little aussie battler, these prices would be $25 each and $ 22.50 each….so, in our view, far too expensive, especially with better things to spend our money on than adding to the coffers of the Church of England!

London is definitely one of the class cities of the world, with so much on, so much to see and with a real buzz to it. I would recommend it to anyone….for a few days at least!!! Just don’t expect too many people to be friendly.

After a few days in London catching up with Angela and Luke and enjoying the sights, we caught our bus to Newcastle….only a pound each…so great value!