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Vegemite Tales

Last night a big group of ex-pats gathered together to go see a production of Vegemite Tales at Hammersmith.

It’s a comedy about a house full of aussies living in London. It was an absolute crack up watching all thecharacters representing the different elements of antipodean life.

One of the plays features that impressed me was that each character at some point throughout the evening did a monologue where they discussed what they “did” and “did not” like about London.

For example, one of the characters Eddie, said he didn’t like the Heathrow Injection. The phenonmenon whereby upon arriving in London the girls stack on at least a stone and the guys lose all their muscle mass.

This made me laugh as I noticed that my skin has started losing its elasticity already.

I would love to hear what other people “like and dislike” about London too. So drop us a comment if you feel so inclined.

How’s This For Fun?

The Steels Have Arrived

We woke up early yesterday morning to greet Michelle’s parents, Ray and Maree, as they arrived on our doorstep after a marathon 20+ hour flight from Brisbane.

It was so exciting to see them. After a round of hugs and love we helped them carry their luggage up the three flights of stairs to our apartment where we excitedly caught up on all the goss. Sometime here Michelle and I received gifts of chocolate and lollies. Cherry Ripes, Allens snakes and red frogs. The good stuff that you can’t obtain easily over here.

After freshening up we took the Aussies out for some sight-seeing. We headed to Kensington Palace, the palace where Princess Diana lived with her boys. It was pretty tiring actually and much to serious for anyone who just arrived after a mammoth aircraft flight, so we quickly moved onto a cafe across the road for a caffeine fix and brunch.

After lunch we made our way to the Royal Mews, which houses the Royal family’s land transport. It was great seeing all the Royal carriages, and Rolls Royces.

We then moved on back home for a little RnR and a wonderful homecooked fish n chip meal.

Everyone slept like a log and we awoke this morning to glorious sunny weather so we were excited to head out on a river cruise down to Grenwich. Michelle and I had been there before but it was great to go again with the sun out. After Grenwich we moved onto St. Paul’s cathedral. It’s massive, a similar size to Notre Dame in Paris.

We’re back home now and enjoying a nice cool drink. Michelle and I have to head back to work tomorrow which is a shame. At least the parents have another day to enjoy London before they head up to Scotland on Wednesday.

Brick Lane

Last night we met up with Ben’s school and uni friend Matt, Matt’s girlfriend Katie, and a bunch of their friends at a bar named One of 2 near Liverpool St.

After a few drinks with a great bunch of people, Ben and I wandered a few streets to a place called Brick Lane. Basically it’s a lane lined with heaps and heaps of curry houses and is famous for the touts who harass you for business as you walk along, offering all sorts of ‘special deals’. Think Melbourne’s Lygon Street times 10!

Fortunately we had been recommended one of the good ones – Le Taj (Interesting. Can’t decide if they’re French or Indian perhaps?) where we enjoyed the most delicious meal.

Apart from the 1.5hr trek home, as it’s a fair way from where we live plus tube delays, we had a fantastic night and can’t wait to get back to try some more curry.

I must also say that summer finally arrived this week with glorious sunny warm days. It’s overcast and a bit cooler again today but that’s a good thing really as the poor English can’t handle too much of this thing we know as sun!!

Wimbledon

I finished up work early today and headed down to Wimbledon with John to watch a few matches.

The only challenge of the evening was lining up to get tickets. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get in but once through the gates it was all worth it.

We stopped by the Wayne Arthur’s and Paul Hanley’s doubles match and were gripped to our seats (well not really as we were standing) right up until when they lost. Then we left. It was off to Henman Hill to watch the Greg Rusedski and Joachim Johansson singles match.

We had a great time and I’m thinking of heading back sometime next week, especially if an aussie hangs in until the end.

We Have Some News!!! – Part Two

Day Two

After packing so much into our first day, we dropped the pace back a bit and enjoyed an extra hour lie in. After breakfast, we jumped on the Metro and headed off to the Notre Dame.

I thought I had seen some pretty impressive churches on our travels through the USA but after seeing the Sacre Coeur I had to reconsider. It was my first European church and I was dumbfounded. I can’t understand how they architect and build these beautiful buildings. Notre Dame impressed me even more. It is absolutely huge.

After Notre Dame, we headed over to Bacteria Alley, it’s full of restaurants and side alleys, basically a tourist trap that people think is the Latin Quarter. We successfully dodged it while making our way through the real Latin Quarter. On our travels we stopped for a coffee. It was here that I could no longer dismiss the exorbitant prices you pay in Paris. Our coffees cost 5 euro each. That’s the equivalent of 8 Australian dollars, 6 US dollars or 3.32 British pounds. That purchase hurt.

After our coffee’s we stumbled upon Luxumbourg park. A beautiful park where the Parisians sunbake, read and relax on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It was an amazingly beautiful park but they have park rangers that rouse on you if you walk, sit or lie on the grass. Defeats the purpose of a public park really.

After the park, we checked out the Pantheon, another enormous wonderous monument before deciding to laze for another hour or two in a cafe out of the blistering heat.

Before long it was time to head back home on the Eurostar. It was here that our wonderful weekend was tainted. There was a signal fault somewhere along the line and our train was delayed by over an hour and half. This meant that not only did we have to sit in an un-airconditioned train station on the hard floor for way to long, but that we’d also miss any possible form of affordable public transport home. We arrived back in London about 1:30am (an hour an half after the last tubes or trains) and had to fight with over 300 other people for the handful of cabs available to us.

Of course Eurostar provided cab vouchers for us (which we had to fight with the other passengers for 20 minutes before getting one) but they only were for one cab company and the wait was estimated to be well over an hour.

We considered our options and started walking back to Jaimee’s place (a long, long walk) and were lucky enough to flag down an unlicenced (mini) cab. We decided to pay the 30 quid to get home.

It was a late night to sleep and a terrible morning to wake up to. We both just wanted to cry as we trekked through the rain, an hour late to work.

I have already forgotten about that pain that was a trip back to London and can only remember that great weekend that Jaimee, Michelle, Damian and I shared.

We Have Some News!!! – Part One

Michelle and I decided to follow in Tom and Katie’s footsteps and …… visit Paris.

On Friday night, Michelle, Jaimee, Damian and myself jumped on the Eurostar and made our way through the chunnel into France. It was a short 3 hour journey and we arrived in Paris at 10:30pm.

Walking from the Gare Du Nord (North train station) to our hotel was an experience I won’t forget. The area is not the prettiest part of Paris but it was my first taste of it and I was excited. There were heaps of neon lights, cafe’s, and dodgy ‘sexy’ dvd stores. We pretty much crashed straight away for a restless night in our hotel so we could be up nice and early for a full day of sightseeing in gay paree.

Day One

We enjoyed a garden breakfast of croissants, ham and cheese and plain cakes before embarking on our first mini-adventure – figuring out the Paris Metro (subway) system. Damian’s 5 years of secondary school French lessons were a godsend. I couldn’t read any signs and would have struggled to purchase our two day (du jour) metro pass.

Once through the metro gates it was off to Trocadero station. Walking out of the metro stop you are greeted with the most magnificent view of the Eiffel tower. The smile on my face was so huge. It’s amazing to see. We made our way down and lined up for our tickets to ascend the Eiffel tower. The line was relatively short (30 minutes or so) and the ride up was great. The view from the top is so awesome. It’s up there with the Empire State Building. A must do.

Paris is another big spread out city like London, but it several orders of magnitude more beautiful. A true delight.

After the Eiffel tower we jumped on a boat for a cruise down the river Seine. The river Seine, unlike the Brisbane or Thames rivers, is a beautiful emerald green colour. We learnt a fair bit of history about Paris as we motored past Notre Dame, the Latin quarter, the Louvre and other various monuments.

After the cruise and being in the 30+ degree sun for over an hour we started to fade quickly so we breaked for a little nap under some shady trees before making our way down Champs-Elysees. Champs-Elysees is the massive passage way that leads down to the Arc De Triomphe. It is a beautiful walk, sidelined with thousands of retail stores and “people watching” cafes.

In France everyone sits in cafes with their chairs facing out onto the sidewalk. The only place in Australia I have come across this is in Noosa.

We eventually made it up to the Arc De Triomphe and I must say it’s pretty spectacular. I have seem replicas of this monument in Las Vegas and New York but those ones are about 1/5th of the size. I also learnt that its design is a ripoff of the Arch of Titus in Rome.

We headed back to the hotel for a kindy nap in air conditioned comfort before heading back out about 7pm to Montmatre. Montmartre is an touristy area and you often see the hill where the carousel and Sacre Coeur are in movies (eg. Amelie).

We spent a few hours on the steps in front of the Sacre Coeur overlooking the most amazing view of Paris as the sun set before our eyes. It was amazing.

You can check out some photos from the weekend 06-17 Paris Weekend Trip”>here.

Stay tuned for Part Two.

I’ve Picked Up My First Bad Habit In London

I’ve been in denial for the last month or so but I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I now snore.

My snoring habit began after I returned from my Scotland trip and started work. At this time, I got a good case of the sniffles and have not been able to recover since. My nose is constantly blocked up. Day in, day out.

I think I now sleep with my mouth open, and the result of breathing half through my nose and half through my mouth, is what Michelle affectionately calls the ‘chainsaw’.

Snoring, means that Michelle doesn’t sleep well, which in turn means that I don’t sleep well. I’m determined to find a solution to my problem.

Has anyone got any ideas?

PS> I know the title says ‘My first bad habit…’, that’s actually a bit misleading. There’s also the almost daily consumption of alcohol too. However, that’s the culture in London so whether it’s a bad habit or not is questionable.

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a full weekend of all things fun.

Friday night Michelle and I caught up for a beer with John and Kirstin’s chicken at Hammersmith. We enjoyed a few beverages before ending the night at a Thai restaurant. It seems now that I have a taste for Thai I can’t stay away from it.

We had a lazy morning Saturday before catching a bus out to the nearby ASDA store. ASDA is like a Pick n Pay hypermarket. A grocery store that actually has all of the food items you could ever want. At ASDA we picked up supplies for our first Putney party.

We finally managed to get the guys from Jaimee’s place around for a payback pizza party. It is Paul’s birthday tomorrow and the girls got a Happy Birthday song along with some yummy cake and ice cream thrown in for good measure. Happy Birthday Gygi Pop.

Once again, we enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning. I managed to finally finish watching the latest series of 24 before getting up and cooking some omelettes. Mmmmmm… eggy goodness.

Not to miss a beautiful day we jumped on a bus and headed a little further out west to a town called Richmond. It is a beautiful riverside town, full of life and atmosphere. A great place to enjoy a coffee or beer and watch daytrippers in row boats on the Thames.