My journey across the pond

I went to London a couple of weeks ago. I had never been before, and when you live overseas there is this feeling that you need to see a few places before you move back to Australia, because everything's so far from Melbourne. Not saying we're moving home soon or anything - we really have no idea but I'll keep you posted.

This was the view at Newark Airport, where I sat for quite some time.

But eventually I landed in London. I stayed with Simon Tanner at his flat in Clapham Common. I have a history of sleeping on Tanner couches, and couldn't help but be reminded of my 5 week residency on Sally's couch in Kirribilli in the cold Sydney winter of 2005. (Thanks again Sally! So glad our friendship survived!).

Arriving in the city to meet Simon after work I was excited to see iconic London things, like double decker buses and cute red phoneboxes. Simon later told me that they smell so bad because people urinate in them, but I still loved them.


After dumping my bags at Simon's flat, we went straight to Oxford street to visit a shop many people have told me about: Topshop. Charlotte told me when she first visited it, she cried tears of joy, so I was eager to see this store. Unfortunately it was a Friday afternoon and was SWARMING with people. The clothes were nice and cheap but not worth the hour long wait to try them on. So I put Topshop on my list of things to revisit on the Monday. Then we looked at the other touristy places around the city, like Carnaby Street (disappointing..I was expecting to see mods and Austin Powers types..what was I thinking?), Picadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Trafalgar Sq etc. Then home for an early night.

The next day was more London sightseeing then on the Sunday we caught the train to Oxford. I really wanted to see some English countryside but the car hire places were closed, so we went on a bus tour around the university instead. It turned out to be very educational, we saw all the different colleges where great thinkers studied. We even saw where Mr Bean studied (Rowan Atkinson) and Bob Hawke. (I was waiting for the tour guide to point out where my hearthrob Hugh Laurie studied but later discovered that he went to Cambridge).





We had a delicious pub lunch at a pub where a group called "the Inklings" used to meet.That's C.S Lewis, Tolkien and others. This was 'steak and ale' pie, and it was delicious.

It was a fun day, and only took an hour on the train. I was very excited to be passing through Slough, where The Office is set


So then on Monday, Simon was at work so I wandered around London by myself. I went to the National Portrait Gallery, then tried to revisit some places in Covent Garden but got very lost, even with a map. I think I'm just used to living in Manhattan, the easiest city to navigate with its numbered streets. I hate feeling confused! I don't know if it's because I'm getting older...I even found the plot of my inflight movie "Ocean's 13" to be moving too quick for me...it's only going to get worse with age isn't it?!

But then I remembered that sometimes getting lost in a foreign city is the best thing. I had another go at looking for the Hyde Park Stables, and actually found them, and discovered the most magical little residential area, called "Mews". I guess they're the old stables at the back of bigger houses, and they're in quiet cobblestoned lanes. At the end of this one street I found not one but TWO horse stables. It was heaven! These houses sell for about 1.2 million pounds each so I have to start saving.
This is Bathurst Mews, where the stables are (and my future home if I win Tattslotto).

There's a couple more photos I want to post but blogger is not letting me so I'll finish up now. I have to say a big thank you to my gracious host, Simon. He put up with my tourist ways and gave me a great tour of his town. Thanks Simon! See you in New York soon.