London on a gilded shoestring – Day 1

Jetlag is a bitch. The good thing about waking up with the sun each morning was that I was getting quite a lot done. The bad thing was finding myself nodding off by 7pm, over my dinner plate. The cause of this jetlag was my recent holiday to the UK. B and I spent over 3 weeks in Belfast, visiting his family and friends, and then 6 whirlwind days in London on the way home.

The very first time I saw London, was when E and I backpacked around the UK. As students, we were on a tight budget, so it was truly a shoestring holiday. Being gainfully employed now, I was determined to make the most of our trip to London. By the end of the 6 wonderful days, I’d managed to completely wipe work from my memory and eat my weight in technicoloured dream-macaroons. Joy. And yet, I felt sad to leave because there was still so much of London I wanted to explore…so many cakeshops to pop in to, the Tate Britain to see .. But as our plane descended into Sydney city at 8:30 on a Thursday night, I peeked out the window and gasped at the jet-black landscape encrusted with glittering jewels, marvelled at the graceful arc of the Harbour Bridge, and remembered why I call Sydney home.

Now that I’m slowly getting my act together and have been sifting through the many pictures we took during our trip, I’m going to be doing a recap of the time we spent in London, starting with Day 1, in which we didn’t actually do anything! We touched down in the afternoon and made our way to Sydenham, where B’s cousin and family had generously offered us a place to stay. The rest of the day, we spent with them – getting to know 2 1/2 year old Gracie (who was initially shy and quiet for all of 5 minutes before reverting to her usual chatty self), having dinner (M cooked – lovely sea bass with pinenuts and olives) and banana ice-cream for dessert, and then retiring to the spare room we were staying in, which also doubled as a Dr. Who shrine. Between two walls of shelving groaning with Dr. Who videos, cassettes, books, memorabilia and assorted literature, we slept.

Next : Day 2 : K-10 with Seamus, Minamoto Kitchoan, La Maison, Parlour at Sketch, Piccadilly Circus, Laduree, St. John and that dessert.

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