Not much time but there is still lots to see!
Ok, so I know I blogged just over a week ago, but gosh I have been up to a lot! So since my last post I have been to 3 shows, 4 country towns, several London attractions and even managed to squeeze in some pub meals.
Once Judith returned we met for a pub meal in Greenwich. This of course is the home of Greenwich Mean Time, the place where time starts, 0 degrees longitude. We went to the Observatory where they first created Longitude. Apparently a lot of boats got lost in the mean time...excuse the pun...before Longitude so it was very necessary.
Here I am at 0 Degree Longitude. Each night a big laser shines out over London marking the line from this point.
So Philby arrived and we pretty much got to sight seeing straight away. I had been desperate to go to Abbey Road, so we got out the map and headed that way relatively early on Saturday morning. We must have walked across it 12 times to get the right photos, cross back to where we were going and to carry on down the street. We got some photos though. Dad, I know you would love to have all of us kids do this for real someday and now that I know where it is, we can! We felt a bit bad for the cars that kept stopping to let everyone cross. It was very strange because we all know they never stop in Doha!! And we even had enough time to take some photos! Amazing
Here are some photos of Abbey Road.
So after our Beatles flashback, we headed down past the London Zoo to the Camden Markets. It was a little less impressive than Portobello Road, so we stopped in the pub for some beers and food. We met up with Judith Morgan from Doha. We decided to brave the queues at Madame Toussauds. Apparently everyone must go to the wax museum so we did! Its not cheap, but we did have a good time. Here are some photos of the highlights.
Me and my favourite pirate! Arhhh, me mateys!
Philby and Robbie!
Me and Princess Di
The Beatles - we did just go to Abbey Road after all.
That lame Prime Minister of Australia
Later that night we met up with a few Londoners who were in Doha for beers and dinner. Was a great time. Then on Sunday we had another full day of sight seeing. We went to the Globe Theatre, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace all in one day. The Globe was definitely a highlight for both of us as it was very well done and our tour guide was very informative. She was a little enthusiastic, probably overly. I automatically assumed she had to be a desperate for work actor (sorry actor friends but she was annoying), but then she did something awful which made me realise no way could she be an actor! We were sitting inside the Globe and she said Macbeth at least 4 times outloud and never went outside, spun around 3 times and spat on the ground or whatever you are meant to do to fix it. The theatre is cursed forever now! Can someone tell me it must not matter inside the Globe because I was nearly having a heart attack. Philby was laughing at me because he had never heard of the curse before. It was crazy! Very good tour though.
Here is the Globe in all its glory.
So like I said we also made a pit stop to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was closed because it was Sunday. Weird. Here are a few happy snaps from that.
So then we got up early on Monday - something like 6am - to head up to York to see the guys at Stage One. We went first class on the train. It was all that was available. So we skyped for free and had a brilliant brekky with bacon and eggs and something horrible called Black Pudding. Definition: blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. Mmmm sounds great! We saw Stage One's office workshop, met up with Jim Tinsley and Andy Balmer for a beer and headed back into York for a looksey. York is a very old town and it even has a wall around the city for protection. Gotta love that. Our trip looked something like this. It was brief as we headed back on the train that night to see Mary Poppins in the West End.
So Mary Poppins was good. The scenery was amazing but the flying of people was pretty lame. JT and the guys from Stage One would have been so unimpressed! It was ridiculous actually. But the music was great and the show was too. I wish they would have sang Sister Suffragette. Mrs Banks was a little bland. The next morning we woke up relatively early again, hired a car and drove to Brighton. We met up with Dave and Craig for lunch before we went and saw Tap Dogs. After walking around the pier, seeing King George IV's summer home and drinking a few beers, we headed back to London for Philby's early morning First Class flight back to Australia. Brighton was very nice and I am sure it is even better in summer. I hear Cate Blanchett lives there...so if its good enough for Oscar winners, its great for me! Brighton photos:
The pier itself
A funny photo about a railroad that is the oldest running train that was obviously not running
King George IV's ridiculous summer home
So the next morning Philby headed off early and I went to a matinee of Frost/Nixon which was fantastic. It closed on the weekend to head to New York so I am really glad I got to see it. At the same theatre is the infamous Equus with the kid who plays Harry Potter naked. Too bad it opens just after I go. I really would have liked to see the play - for its content of course! Jeez....and he's 17 now anyway!
Spent a couple days just shopping and just hanging out. Then on Friday Dawn and I head to Bath for the weekend.
We stayed in this lovely town called Bradford on Avon. Sort of like Stratford on Avon but not I guess. The weekend was about seeing the Roman Baths, sitting in the water at the spa, catching up on some lovely food, seeing some really old stuff and relaxing a bit. Luckily we walked a lot because we definitely ate too much gourmet food! The Roman Baths were absolutely amazing. The concept of history was well and truly beyond me. They were approximately 2000 years old...crazy. Walked through them listening to commentary by Bill Bryson which made it all the more amusing. It really was amazing to think about all of the technology they had way back then for heating and all of that. We then headed to the spa in town for a dip. It was a bit less than impressive. The water was totally chlorinated, it cost 20 quid each for 2 hours, the rooms with the baths were so super modern you could have really been anywhere and to top it all off, the lights went out in the change rooms at the end of our stay! I lost the top I was wearing under my buttonless cardigan and I nearly had to leave the spa wearing just my bra, my buttonless cardi and my coat! But some worker found my top as I ran all over the change room (which was mixed sex) in my jeans and a towel looking for it.
Here are some phots of the trip up until this point
Bradford on Avon
The Bridge Tea House (over 500 years old)
Our Old Manor Hotel (also over 500 years old!)
Some from the actual Roman Baths (2000 years old...for those keeping track of my history lesson)
So after a not so impressive time at the spa, we called it a bit of an early night (after struggling through our included dinner at our hotel...guess the spa leaves you not hungry). In the morning we ate bacon and eggs and more bacon and went for a drive to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was pretty amazing. 5000 years of history. Unfortunately even our audio guide couldn't give us many asnwers as to why they built it or even how they did it, but it was very informative. Apparently each month of the year the sun shines between 2 of the rocks and then moves around as the calendar goes - if that makes sense. They aren't really sure if it was for this calendar purpose or not, but they are still discovering more and more. Here I am at Stonehenge.
We arrived back Sunday afternoon and Dawn and I decided to just veg out in front of the TV and watch DVDs. And now that I am back in London, I have several things left to do. Already this week I have shopped in Bond St, lunched in Covent Garden with Judith and Valie, got kind of scared at London Dungeon, audio toured at the British Museum (Rosetta Stone and all Mom), looked at tombs in Westminster Abbey, enjoyed the fashions at the Vic and Albert Museum, drank a Coke in a crypt and even managed to cook lasangna and apple crumble for Dawn and her brother's family. Whew and its only Tuesday here. Going to see Wicked tomorrow arvo, got to hit a fav pie shop of Dawn's and still gotta fit in the London Eye. I will be in Bahrain a week from today for my 1 day layover, and soon enough back in Australia.
Hope all is well. Lots of love,
Sarah
Once Judith returned we met for a pub meal in Greenwich. This of course is the home of Greenwich Mean Time, the place where time starts, 0 degrees longitude. We went to the Observatory where they first created Longitude. Apparently a lot of boats got lost in the mean time...excuse the pun...before Longitude so it was very necessary.
Here I am at 0 Degree Longitude. Each night a big laser shines out over London marking the line from this point.
So Philby arrived and we pretty much got to sight seeing straight away. I had been desperate to go to Abbey Road, so we got out the map and headed that way relatively early on Saturday morning. We must have walked across it 12 times to get the right photos, cross back to where we were going and to carry on down the street. We got some photos though. Dad, I know you would love to have all of us kids do this for real someday and now that I know where it is, we can! We felt a bit bad for the cars that kept stopping to let everyone cross. It was very strange because we all know they never stop in Doha!! And we even had enough time to take some photos! Amazing
Here are some photos of Abbey Road.
So after our Beatles flashback, we headed down past the London Zoo to the Camden Markets. It was a little less impressive than Portobello Road, so we stopped in the pub for some beers and food. We met up with Judith Morgan from Doha. We decided to brave the queues at Madame Toussauds. Apparently everyone must go to the wax museum so we did! Its not cheap, but we did have a good time. Here are some photos of the highlights.
Me and my favourite pirate! Arhhh, me mateys!
Philby and Robbie!
Me and Princess Di
The Beatles - we did just go to Abbey Road after all.
That lame Prime Minister of Australia
Later that night we met up with a few Londoners who were in Doha for beers and dinner. Was a great time. Then on Sunday we had another full day of sight seeing. We went to the Globe Theatre, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace all in one day. The Globe was definitely a highlight for both of us as it was very well done and our tour guide was very informative. She was a little enthusiastic, probably overly. I automatically assumed she had to be a desperate for work actor (sorry actor friends but she was annoying), but then she did something awful which made me realise no way could she be an actor! We were sitting inside the Globe and she said Macbeth at least 4 times outloud and never went outside, spun around 3 times and spat on the ground or whatever you are meant to do to fix it. The theatre is cursed forever now! Can someone tell me it must not matter inside the Globe because I was nearly having a heart attack. Philby was laughing at me because he had never heard of the curse before. It was crazy! Very good tour though.
Here is the Globe in all its glory.
So like I said we also made a pit stop to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was closed because it was Sunday. Weird. Here are a few happy snaps from that.
So then we got up early on Monday - something like 6am - to head up to York to see the guys at Stage One. We went first class on the train. It was all that was available. So we skyped for free and had a brilliant brekky with bacon and eggs and something horrible called Black Pudding. Definition: blood sausage or black pudding or blood pudding is a sausage made by cooking down the blood of an animal with meat, fat or filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. Mmmm sounds great! We saw Stage One's office workshop, met up with Jim Tinsley and Andy Balmer for a beer and headed back into York for a looksey. York is a very old town and it even has a wall around the city for protection. Gotta love that. Our trip looked something like this. It was brief as we headed back on the train that night to see Mary Poppins in the West End.
So Mary Poppins was good. The scenery was amazing but the flying of people was pretty lame. JT and the guys from Stage One would have been so unimpressed! It was ridiculous actually. But the music was great and the show was too. I wish they would have sang Sister Suffragette. Mrs Banks was a little bland. The next morning we woke up relatively early again, hired a car and drove to Brighton. We met up with Dave and Craig for lunch before we went and saw Tap Dogs. After walking around the pier, seeing King George IV's summer home and drinking a few beers, we headed back to London for Philby's early morning First Class flight back to Australia. Brighton was very nice and I am sure it is even better in summer. I hear Cate Blanchett lives there...so if its good enough for Oscar winners, its great for me! Brighton photos:
The pier itself
A funny photo about a railroad that is the oldest running train that was obviously not running
King George IV's ridiculous summer home
So the next morning Philby headed off early and I went to a matinee of Frost/Nixon which was fantastic. It closed on the weekend to head to New York so I am really glad I got to see it. At the same theatre is the infamous Equus with the kid who plays Harry Potter naked. Too bad it opens just after I go. I really would have liked to see the play - for its content of course! Jeez....and he's 17 now anyway!
Spent a couple days just shopping and just hanging out. Then on Friday Dawn and I head to Bath for the weekend.
We stayed in this lovely town called Bradford on Avon. Sort of like Stratford on Avon but not I guess. The weekend was about seeing the Roman Baths, sitting in the water at the spa, catching up on some lovely food, seeing some really old stuff and relaxing a bit. Luckily we walked a lot because we definitely ate too much gourmet food! The Roman Baths were absolutely amazing. The concept of history was well and truly beyond me. They were approximately 2000 years old...crazy. Walked through them listening to commentary by Bill Bryson which made it all the more amusing. It really was amazing to think about all of the technology they had way back then for heating and all of that. We then headed to the spa in town for a dip. It was a bit less than impressive. The water was totally chlorinated, it cost 20 quid each for 2 hours, the rooms with the baths were so super modern you could have really been anywhere and to top it all off, the lights went out in the change rooms at the end of our stay! I lost the top I was wearing under my buttonless cardigan and I nearly had to leave the spa wearing just my bra, my buttonless cardi and my coat! But some worker found my top as I ran all over the change room (which was mixed sex) in my jeans and a towel looking for it.
Here are some phots of the trip up until this point
Bradford on Avon
The Bridge Tea House (over 500 years old)
Our Old Manor Hotel (also over 500 years old!)
Some from the actual Roman Baths (2000 years old...for those keeping track of my history lesson)
So after a not so impressive time at the spa, we called it a bit of an early night (after struggling through our included dinner at our hotel...guess the spa leaves you not hungry). In the morning we ate bacon and eggs and more bacon and went for a drive to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was pretty amazing. 5000 years of history. Unfortunately even our audio guide couldn't give us many asnwers as to why they built it or even how they did it, but it was very informative. Apparently each month of the year the sun shines between 2 of the rocks and then moves around as the calendar goes - if that makes sense. They aren't really sure if it was for this calendar purpose or not, but they are still discovering more and more. Here I am at Stonehenge.
We arrived back Sunday afternoon and Dawn and I decided to just veg out in front of the TV and watch DVDs. And now that I am back in London, I have several things left to do. Already this week I have shopped in Bond St, lunched in Covent Garden with Judith and Valie, got kind of scared at London Dungeon, audio toured at the British Museum (Rosetta Stone and all Mom), looked at tombs in Westminster Abbey, enjoyed the fashions at the Vic and Albert Museum, drank a Coke in a crypt and even managed to cook lasangna and apple crumble for Dawn and her brother's family. Whew and its only Tuesday here. Going to see Wicked tomorrow arvo, got to hit a fav pie shop of Dawn's and still gotta fit in the London Eye. I will be in Bahrain a week from today for my 1 day layover, and soon enough back in Australia.
Hope all is well. Lots of love,
Sarah
posted by sjg | 11:05 am
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