Well we've arrived in London. We arrived on Sunday afternoon after a horrendous flight with no sleep. Not sure why, but I was completely freaked out the entire flight from LA to London. Every time the plane hit some turbulence I was convinced we were about to plummet to the ground, even taking rescue remedy, sleeping tablets and rubbing Peace of Mind cream on my neck didn't help.
So needless to say I was already pretty emotional by the time we arrived. Once we arrived in Sudbury Hill where we're staying, I think everything just hit me and I got really depressed. I think it was finally arriving at our destination, where everything was really strange, and there was no one at the house when we arrived. So I think I was just really lonely and I was ready to go home right then!
I've gotten a bit better since then...but still feeling really homesick and missing everyone. Especially the dogs :(
The place we're staying in is pretty far from the centre of London, about a 40 minute tube ride into Picadilly Circus. We're on a central line, so we don't have to change unless we want to go north or south. We've mastered the tube pretty quickly, haven't gotten on the wrong one yet, and that includes several trips where we've changed onto several different lines. So we're pretty proud of ourselves.
On Monday we caught the tube into Oxford Circus because we had to go to the HSBC to get our debit cards and activate our bank account. We couldn't get over how many people there were on Regent Street and Oxford Circus. It was like Christmas rush hour times a thousand. It was pretty claustrophobic, just being around that many people, and everyone's moving really fast. Everyone moves really fast in London, all the time.
So we opened our account super easily. It was great we were able to open it from NZ, as otherwise it would have taken weeks for them to set up, and we wouldn't have been given a proper bank account. So hurray for ASB.
On Tuesday we went to the massive Westfield Mall in Shepherd's Bush. It's amazing. It has all the shops, but without the horrendous crowds. So I know where I'll be shopping from now on. Plus, it's inside so you don't get rained on and it's open late every night. It's 2 levels, but each level is like an NZ shopping centre in itself. It's probably 4 times the size of St Lukes.
We haven't really brought much stuff yet, I've been looking for a winter coat, but haven't managed to find one I like yet. Hopefully I can find one soon, because today it dropped to 14 degrees, where as the rest of the week it has been in the 20's, so it was a big shock for us. Not sure how I'm going to survive winter...
After Westfield we went to High Street Kensington, which is like a mini Oxford Circus. Still pretty busy, with lot's of shops, but not insanely crowded. We wandered around Notting Hill and through Holland Park looking at all the amazing houses.
On Wednesday we went to the Tower of London, Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square. The Tower of London was awesome, we had a guided tour with a Yeoman guard (Beefeater). It was really interesting, they told us the whole history of the Tower and everyone who had been killed there. They also had an exhibition on the armour of previous King's of England, that was more interesting for Bradley than for me. There's only so many suits of armour you can look at...
We loved Covent Garden. Bradley found an amazing comic book store called Forbidden Planet, I think he could have stayed there for hours. I think it was the same as when I discovered the Sephora beauty store in San Francisco. The comic store is really big, it's 2 levels and filled with comics, toys and books. They also do in store signings with celebrities, Simon Pegg and Guillermo Del Toro are both signing books next month, so we might pop along to see those.
We stumbled across Trafalgar Square by accident, we just walked around a corner and there it was. It really is awesome, it had a really cool atmosphere, there were heaps of people just hanging out, sitting on the steps. It was crowded, but didn't seem as bad as other places, maybe because it's such a large space. Reminds me of how people hang out in Aotea Square.
Today we went to see Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. It was freezing today, so we had to stop at Hammersmith tube station and buy me some gloves and a scarf. We were trying to find a good umbrella, but they all seem pretty flimsy. So if anyone can recommend an umbrella store...
We saw the Parliament Buildings, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We were amazed at the size of Westminster Abbey, it is so tall and just keeps going as you walk around it. We were pretty disappointed by Buckingham Palace, we arrived and it was kind of like 'Is that it??' I was expecting it to be bigger maybe, not sure. Just didn't seem that grand.
We walked through St James Park to get from the Parliament Buildings to Buckingham Palace. It's such a pretty park, there are birds and squirrels everywhere. We were really excited about seeing the squirrels, people were hand feeding them. They run up to you as soon as you see them. That freaked me out a bit, I wasn't sure if they would bite me or not! We got lot's of photos, and will have to bring something to feed them with next time.
We haven't taken too many photo's of London so far. We're going to Portobello Market and Borough Market tomorrow, so hopefully we'll take some more photos then.
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