A big day out
I had quite a big day out yesterday and finally had the feeling that I made good use of the free days I have been having. There really isn't any short way to write this blog entry so I will put it all out there and everyone can skim for interesting bits.
At the moment a friend, Richard, who I met and worked extensively with in university is in London. He has stopped over here for 5 or so days from a 3 month stay in India - he has lost a lot of weight and has a big pirate beard - and will be heading on to Scotland (I think) on Monday. In the mean time we caught up on Thursday evening and resolved to go to the Tower of London on Friday with Steve (a friend he met on a previous trecking trip through Nepal - also a local in London) as a pseudo-guide. Very nice chap is Steve.
I met up with Rich at around 11:00 AM yesterday morning - our plan was to walk through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James Park and meet up with Steve outside his office building at around 12:30 PM - he was having a half day you see. The walk was spectacular as always. Hyde Park is so gorgeous these days. The grass so soft and green, the trees have their leaves or have small sprouts, cute little dogs chase each other around and wrestle on the walking paths, and the flowers are out in full force; it's tulips galore, pink, purple, blue, yellow - you name it. We arrived at Steve's work precisely on time.
To get the day going Steve thought we should get a pint under our belts so off we went down to walk along the Thames and arrive at what could best be described as a bar/restaurant on the front deck of a docked ship. We eached grabbed fosters (not the best beer around) and plonked on some seats and chatted while we took in the sun. Oh, I don't think I mentioned that yet. Yesterday was tremendously sunny and warm. If you stayed in one spot too long you could feel the shirt warming up on your back. I started to remember similar Friday drinks with the APA out on the deck of the pub/restaurant we would frequent when the staff would need a lift. On the deck of that ship it felt like I was right back in Oz for a while. The beers were finished in 30 minutes or so and onward Steve led us to find a somehwhere to eat some lunch.
We happened upon a sandwiche bar called Eat who serve up freshly made yummy sandwiches and sandwiche related consumables - drinks, muffins, baguettes, you know. Each of us grabbed some lunch - chicken, bacon and salad roll for me - and we went round the corner to find a spot on the grass in a small open-air park. It was filled with office-types on their lunch breaks sitting in groups in the sun and chatting away. And thats exactly what we did for the next half hour or so. After finishing lunch and enjoying that warm sun for just a few more minutes we were off again to find the boat which would take us on a touristy cruise down the Thames to the Tower of London.
Not much further down the Thames we found the departure dock for the boat company and each payed £6.00 for a return trip up to the Tower of London dock. The boat ride should have been more fun for me - it was a flat barge type boat with all the seats out in the sun - but with that warm sun out, some food in my belly and having to stay seated for the 40 minutes, I spent half the trip trying not to nod off to sleep. At one point Rich gave me a wake up jolt with his knee cause he could see I was checking my bags in and boarding the sleepy-train. There was actually a guy talking to everyone over some speakers and pointing out all the buildings as we floated down the Thames but his monotonous tone seemed to just make me more sleepy. BUT, I did make it past the tired moment and was back on board in no time (no pun intended). We arrived at the Tower of London dock soon after and got off the boat, to see hoards of tourists in the areas outside the tower entrance . Luckily, it didn't take long to get a ticket - £14.50 though - and in we went to see one of the bigger tourist attractions in London.
All in all I quite liked the Tower of London. We took a Yeoman Warder (I think they are some kind of live-in gaurd at the castle, also called Beefeaters) guided tour of some of the castle yards and went on to see the crown jewels and the armoury. The jewels and accompanying gold finery were exactly what you would expect I guess. Very shiney, very valuable looking and very well secured. You have to walk through this HUGE metal safe-type door to get in there and then pass through one again to get out. The armoury was pretty interesting as well - lots of suites of armour, lots of swords, muskets and spears. At around 5:30 PM they began closing the exhibits and we had to make our way out of the castle walls. One of the better touristy things I have done since arriving way back on the 24th of March.
Onward from the Tower of London we went, walking over the London Bridge and onto the other side of the Thames to walk back east along the river and take in the "Earth from the Air" photo exhibition going on.
The above image is curtesy of the exhibition web site www.earthfromtheair.com
At that moment (around 6:30 PM) I was starting to feel a little drained from the days proceedings and felt like heading home for a quiet night infront of the idiot box with someone from the Mew Crew for company. Rich and Steve had started talking about what we would be doing that night - some pool, some pints and some yummy dinner. And then, hooray, I got my second legs. We all jumped onto the Circle Line at the Monument Tube Station and headed for Bayswater Station which is just round the corner from where both Steve lives and where I am staying in Paddington. By some coincidence it had turned out that Rich was staying with Steve not more than 5 mins walk from where I am staying in the Mew.
Once in Bayswater, Steve took us to a pub called The Shakespeare - or Shakey, if you are in the know. We had a pint or two amongst some merriment and decided it was time to get some solid food in our stomachs. But first, with Steve's guidance, we headed down to a local pool hall/club and put our name on the chalkboard to secure one of the pool tables for the evening - and then on to our evenings meal. Steve took us to a fantastic little place which serves up well priced Caribbean food. What the heck is Caribbean food, I know you are thinking. I thought the same when I heard we were going there. Basically what I got served was like a mild chicken breast and potato fruity curry served onto a thicker type pita bread and wrapped up. It was quite a big meal and the large chunks of chicken were a particular hit for me - I will be definately going back there. It was also there that I saw that I had gotten sunburnt during our time eating lunch in the park and on the barge. Steve said I didn't look too bad and that it was a typical englishman's suntan so I shouldn't feel out of place. Luckily for me Rich and Steve were a bit sunburnt too. Safety in numbers.
After a hearty dinner of about 40 minutes or so we headed back to the pool hall where the DJ had started playing (a bit of electro-house, right up my alley) and things were really picking up - maybe around 9:30 PM at that point. It didn't take long before we got the call that we could take a table and set about trying to beat each other at pool. I have to say the standard of play was not all that bad - Rich and Steve looked to have had their fare share of pool games in the past. Over the hour that we had on the table everyone one a few games each and it was 10:30 PM before we new it - you only get 1 hour on the pool tables for your £10.00 you see. After finishing our pints we headed off again. This time to the local pub which was buzzing with activity.
As we got in you immediately noticed the big screen up on the wall with lyrics for the karaoke being projected onto it. A fellow was doing a pretty darned good job of belting out some song I can't remember the name of. For the next half hour till close, Rich and Steve introduced me to one of their favourite pub games - this arcade golf machine towards the back of the pub. I was no good at it what-so-ever and I think ended up about 13+ after 9 holes. But it was great fun to play that while listening to various pub-goers get up and do their best to sing along to their favourite songs. Everyone would cheer and give them a clap at each songs end so it was a great atmosphere. As you would know by now, must pubs close at 11:00 PM over here - so our round on the back 9 of the arcade course was a little rushed. They eventually got us out of there at around 11:30 PM, but we had to leave through the back entrance.
Home time one would think. But we needed a bit of a nightcap so headed to this small obscure east-asian cafe to play some dominoes, have a go at the shisha/hookah and drink some mint tea. It was great fun, we walked in and were the only caucasian people in there. We grabbed a table and ordered a shisha with apple and a round of mint tea and grabbed a set of dominoes - or 'bones' as Steve calls them. We had to sit for a while to remember just how to play dominoes but it came flooding back quickly and we were instantly immersed. At around 12:00 midnight they closed the doors to the cafe and wouldn't let anyone else in - the room slowly got a little more smokey and we were really having fun. Much like the games of pool everyone seemed to have their fare share of wins at dominoes. When it wasn't my turn I could look around the cafe and see the atmosphere; young (my age) and old regulars sitting around smoking their shisha playing dominoes and backgammon, the two small TV's mounted in the corners of the room playing what looked like arabic TV channels and for the most part just showing east-asian pop music. I think we all really enjoyed ourselves there and finally resolved to have one last game of dominoes and head off. It was around 1:30 AM when we walked out the cafe door into the cold night - kinda nice to get out of the smokey room though.
We decided to head back to Steves place which was more or less just across the street, for some music and a cheeky gin before bed time. We all camped out in Steve's lounge room (much bigger a lounge room than I have become accustomed to these days) and put on some music - very much wind down stuff. At some point we were all singing along to one or two of the songs - for the most part I was just doing the chorus lines and making general kinda noises during the other parts cause I didn't really know the words as well as Rich and Steve.
I think it was around 4:00 AM when we decided it was bed time. I bid them adieu and made my way home (only a 5 minute walk). On the way home I happened upon a local fox maybe about 20 metres down the road from me in the estate where Steve lives. It just stood there for a while and watched me while I watched it and then it trotted off into the scrub. I guess that was the perfect ending to what was a mixed bag kinda day. We did a lot of things and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
At the moment a friend, Richard, who I met and worked extensively with in university is in London. He has stopped over here for 5 or so days from a 3 month stay in India - he has lost a lot of weight and has a big pirate beard - and will be heading on to Scotland (I think) on Monday. In the mean time we caught up on Thursday evening and resolved to go to the Tower of London on Friday with Steve (a friend he met on a previous trecking trip through Nepal - also a local in London) as a pseudo-guide. Very nice chap is Steve.
I met up with Rich at around 11:00 AM yesterday morning - our plan was to walk through Hyde Park, Green Park and St James Park and meet up with Steve outside his office building at around 12:30 PM - he was having a half day you see. The walk was spectacular as always. Hyde Park is so gorgeous these days. The grass so soft and green, the trees have their leaves or have small sprouts, cute little dogs chase each other around and wrestle on the walking paths, and the flowers are out in full force; it's tulips galore, pink, purple, blue, yellow - you name it. We arrived at Steve's work precisely on time.
To get the day going Steve thought we should get a pint under our belts so off we went down to walk along the Thames and arrive at what could best be described as a bar/restaurant on the front deck of a docked ship. We eached grabbed fosters (not the best beer around) and plonked on some seats and chatted while we took in the sun. Oh, I don't think I mentioned that yet. Yesterday was tremendously sunny and warm. If you stayed in one spot too long you could feel the shirt warming up on your back. I started to remember similar Friday drinks with the APA out on the deck of the pub/restaurant we would frequent when the staff would need a lift. On the deck of that ship it felt like I was right back in Oz for a while. The beers were finished in 30 minutes or so and onward Steve led us to find a somehwhere to eat some lunch.
We happened upon a sandwiche bar called Eat who serve up freshly made yummy sandwiches and sandwiche related consumables - drinks, muffins, baguettes, you know. Each of us grabbed some lunch - chicken, bacon and salad roll for me - and we went round the corner to find a spot on the grass in a small open-air park. It was filled with office-types on their lunch breaks sitting in groups in the sun and chatting away. And thats exactly what we did for the next half hour or so. After finishing lunch and enjoying that warm sun for just a few more minutes we were off again to find the boat which would take us on a touristy cruise down the Thames to the Tower of London.
Not much further down the Thames we found the departure dock for the boat company and each payed £6.00 for a return trip up to the Tower of London dock. The boat ride should have been more fun for me - it was a flat barge type boat with all the seats out in the sun - but with that warm sun out, some food in my belly and having to stay seated for the 40 minutes, I spent half the trip trying not to nod off to sleep. At one point Rich gave me a wake up jolt with his knee cause he could see I was checking my bags in and boarding the sleepy-train. There was actually a guy talking to everyone over some speakers and pointing out all the buildings as we floated down the Thames but his monotonous tone seemed to just make me more sleepy. BUT, I did make it past the tired moment and was back on board in no time (no pun intended). We arrived at the Tower of London dock soon after and got off the boat, to see hoards of tourists in the areas outside the tower entrance . Luckily, it didn't take long to get a ticket - £14.50 though - and in we went to see one of the bigger tourist attractions in London.
All in all I quite liked the Tower of London. We took a Yeoman Warder (I think they are some kind of live-in gaurd at the castle, also called Beefeaters) guided tour of some of the castle yards and went on to see the crown jewels and the armoury. The jewels and accompanying gold finery were exactly what you would expect I guess. Very shiney, very valuable looking and very well secured. You have to walk through this HUGE metal safe-type door to get in there and then pass through one again to get out. The armoury was pretty interesting as well - lots of suites of armour, lots of swords, muskets and spears. At around 5:30 PM they began closing the exhibits and we had to make our way out of the castle walls. One of the better touristy things I have done since arriving way back on the 24th of March.
Onward from the Tower of London we went, walking over the London Bridge and onto the other side of the Thames to walk back east along the river and take in the "Earth from the Air" photo exhibition going on.
The above image is curtesy of the exhibition web site www.earthfromtheair.com
At that moment (around 6:30 PM) I was starting to feel a little drained from the days proceedings and felt like heading home for a quiet night infront of the idiot box with someone from the Mew Crew for company. Rich and Steve had started talking about what we would be doing that night - some pool, some pints and some yummy dinner. And then, hooray, I got my second legs. We all jumped onto the Circle Line at the Monument Tube Station and headed for Bayswater Station which is just round the corner from where both Steve lives and where I am staying in Paddington. By some coincidence it had turned out that Rich was staying with Steve not more than 5 mins walk from where I am staying in the Mew.
Once in Bayswater, Steve took us to a pub called The Shakespeare - or Shakey, if you are in the know. We had a pint or two amongst some merriment and decided it was time to get some solid food in our stomachs. But first, with Steve's guidance, we headed down to a local pool hall/club and put our name on the chalkboard to secure one of the pool tables for the evening - and then on to our evenings meal. Steve took us to a fantastic little place which serves up well priced Caribbean food. What the heck is Caribbean food, I know you are thinking. I thought the same when I heard we were going there. Basically what I got served was like a mild chicken breast and potato fruity curry served onto a thicker type pita bread and wrapped up. It was quite a big meal and the large chunks of chicken were a particular hit for me - I will be definately going back there. It was also there that I saw that I had gotten sunburnt during our time eating lunch in the park and on the barge. Steve said I didn't look too bad and that it was a typical englishman's suntan so I shouldn't feel out of place. Luckily for me Rich and Steve were a bit sunburnt too. Safety in numbers.
After a hearty dinner of about 40 minutes or so we headed back to the pool hall where the DJ had started playing (a bit of electro-house, right up my alley) and things were really picking up - maybe around 9:30 PM at that point. It didn't take long before we got the call that we could take a table and set about trying to beat each other at pool. I have to say the standard of play was not all that bad - Rich and Steve looked to have had their fare share of pool games in the past. Over the hour that we had on the table everyone one a few games each and it was 10:30 PM before we new it - you only get 1 hour on the pool tables for your £10.00 you see. After finishing our pints we headed off again. This time to the local pub which was buzzing with activity.
As we got in you immediately noticed the big screen up on the wall with lyrics for the karaoke being projected onto it. A fellow was doing a pretty darned good job of belting out some song I can't remember the name of. For the next half hour till close, Rich and Steve introduced me to one of their favourite pub games - this arcade golf machine towards the back of the pub. I was no good at it what-so-ever and I think ended up about 13+ after 9 holes. But it was great fun to play that while listening to various pub-goers get up and do their best to sing along to their favourite songs. Everyone would cheer and give them a clap at each songs end so it was a great atmosphere. As you would know by now, must pubs close at 11:00 PM over here - so our round on the back 9 of the arcade course was a little rushed. They eventually got us out of there at around 11:30 PM, but we had to leave through the back entrance.
Home time one would think. But we needed a bit of a nightcap so headed to this small obscure east-asian cafe to play some dominoes, have a go at the shisha/hookah and drink some mint tea. It was great fun, we walked in and were the only caucasian people in there. We grabbed a table and ordered a shisha with apple and a round of mint tea and grabbed a set of dominoes - or 'bones' as Steve calls them. We had to sit for a while to remember just how to play dominoes but it came flooding back quickly and we were instantly immersed. At around 12:00 midnight they closed the doors to the cafe and wouldn't let anyone else in - the room slowly got a little more smokey and we were really having fun. Much like the games of pool everyone seemed to have their fare share of wins at dominoes. When it wasn't my turn I could look around the cafe and see the atmosphere; young (my age) and old regulars sitting around smoking their shisha playing dominoes and backgammon, the two small TV's mounted in the corners of the room playing what looked like arabic TV channels and for the most part just showing east-asian pop music. I think we all really enjoyed ourselves there and finally resolved to have one last game of dominoes and head off. It was around 1:30 AM when we walked out the cafe door into the cold night - kinda nice to get out of the smokey room though.
We decided to head back to Steves place which was more or less just across the street, for some music and a cheeky gin before bed time. We all camped out in Steve's lounge room (much bigger a lounge room than I have become accustomed to these days) and put on some music - very much wind down stuff. At some point we were all singing along to one or two of the songs - for the most part I was just doing the chorus lines and making general kinda noises during the other parts cause I didn't really know the words as well as Rich and Steve.
I think it was around 4:00 AM when we decided it was bed time. I bid them adieu and made my way home (only a 5 minute walk). On the way home I happened upon a local fox maybe about 20 metres down the road from me in the estate where Steve lives. It just stood there for a while and watched me while I watched it and then it trotted off into the scrub. I guess that was the perfect ending to what was a mixed bag kinda day. We did a lot of things and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
