London - Foodie Heaven

19/02/15

Did a trip to Borough Market - with limited success(obviously more interesting for me then for the boys) - one of the oldest and largest food markets in London(London Bridge).
http://boroughmarket.org.uk/


Monmouth Coffee C0

Real 'foodie heaven'. Pretty much swarming with people (huge numbers congregating on the 'Monmouth Coffee Company') - best coffee I have had in a long time.
http://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk/our-shops/the-borough

Amazing variety of fruit and veges - all the types of mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces etc that you can imagine and more (I could have spent a long time investigating this with pleasure, but didn't push the kids buttons(although Ollie had a good interest)).
All sorts of people, stroppy man in the wine shop(seemed to have a 'dislike' of children), very creative lovely women(odd ringleted hair and brilliant blue eye makeup) in cake/bread stall (told us about her cats, dogs and snakes at home - gave the kids lots of free samples). Lots of very appealing oversized cakes, biscuits ...
Staggered home laden down with goodies.

 

 

London - Clapham

18/02/15

Revisited old haunts today.
Took the kids down to Clapham.
Had a quick walk around the 'Old Town' before heading to 'The Clapham Picture House' (still there on Venn St). Pretty eye-opening to see how much has happened in the Old Town - much more developed - more foodie places, very tidy and flashed up(lots of estate agents). The common looked amazing - I always loved it on a blue-sky winter day(black cabs and double-decker red buses dashing through it) - I felt kind of sad that we are no longer part of it.

Watched 'Shaun the sheep' - of course not my choice, but was enjoyable.
 Boys commented on the small screen and old-school seats(no cup holders and flip-up seats) - not really appreciating the 'picture house' charm.
We exited the movie into a foyer jammed full of people queuing to watch 'The Fifty Shades of Grey' (just released here - lots of adds everywhere(boys are pretty curious abut it)).
 

Venn St, sugar-loaded(after the movie) and cold.

Made our way down to 'Abbeville Village' for dinner. Meet Chris at Clapham South tube to do the nostalgic walk past our old house at 28 Lynette Ave. Spent a while peering at No 28 in the dim light (6:30 pm). Noticed they had replaced the fence and repainted the front door but then noticed 'shadows' inside the front door so decided to move on quickly before were 'spotted'.
Enjoyed walking down Abbeville Road (used to be our local 'little' shops), noticing that it too was much more 'upmarket'(lots more boutique shops and 'fine eateries'. Saddened to see that 'Treohans'(local one-stop shop for many years) had been replaced by a 'food cooperative' - not nearly as useful(but I guess it is about $$$ - a big site on a very fashionable street). Also very saddened to see that 'Newtons'(local restaurant we(+ Tony and Lita) frequented) had closed down - this explained why we couldn't book it.
Had a very enjoyable dinner at 'The Abbeville'. Yummy British food. Dogs at the tables provided extra entertainment for the boys. There was a gorgeous French bulldog puppy(1 year) at the table next to us.
http://www.theabbeville.co.uk/
Caught a black-cab home (kids first experience). Got to see the massive redevelopment going on at 'Elephant and Castle'. Drove over Tower Bridge which is always pretty amazing.

The Abbeville
 

London - Day in the City

17/02/15
Decided to take the kids past 'the monument' on the way to meet an old friend (Janice from my 'Bank of England' days) for lunch. Pretty impressive queue of people waiting to climb up it(half-term break for school here), so just did the blurb to the boys about it's relevance. Lots of building works going on around it (the whole space around the monument is now pretty closed in ).

Meet Janice at 'Simpsons' on Cheapside.
http://www.simpsonstavern.co.uk/
Chris rescued me from the boys who were causing a 'nuisance'(ignoring the 'please be quiet' signs) outside the tavern . He took them off for adventures on the 'Golden Hinde II'(replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship) while I had a catch up with Janice.
http://www.goldenhinde.com/
Really enjoyed lunch, was a real 'British Chophouse' so Janice and I both ordering vegetarian was a little out of the ordinary - the waiter seemed slightly amused as were we with the 'size' of the meals (and the 'goblet' sized glasses of wine) - real bloke sized food. I was even more amused by the facial hair displayed by the men (some quite fashionable(on the younger men) but some(on the older men) extremely old-school (long beards and moustaches - thick and grey)) - not too many women around. Was fantastic to see Janice again(looking gorgeous as always) and to hear what has been happening over the last 5 years since we last meet.

London - Brick Lane

 

 

Did a 20 minute walk from the apartment in Whitechapel to the 'Brick Lane' markets.
http://www.visitbricklane.org/
Was pretty excited when we got there with the choice of food. Buildings full of food stalls and the street lined with more food, the choices were overwhelming(mostly curries) and all of them very good.
Lots of stall holders handing out samples and making lots of noise. We avoided the famous Jewish 'Bagel' shop('Beigel Bake') and it's 40 minute queue down the street and around the corner! Ended up with some yummy curry and cake and chocolate (as always). Kids bought a massive meringue - seems to be a lot of them around.
Boy, there were a lot of people (you forget how squashed everything gets in London). Lots of stalls selling lots of things - heaps of vintage clothing, a lot of clothing that was way too 'odd' for me(I feel totally boring), heaps of art and jewellery. Very surprised at how 'urban cool' Brick Market is. People dressed very fashionably - I felt far too basic in my mac-pac down jacket and Chris in his gortex one. The graffiti was amazing - I had no idea about it - lots of people photographing it(me included). The kids got to enjoy some street performance too.

 

 

 

I then left Chris and the kids and walked to Liverpool Street via 'Spitalfields' market - great market too, lots of stalls within a very large open iron building. I was happy to pay my 30pence to use the loos at Liverpool St station(because there is nowhere else too find them- something that keeps catching us out with the kids). I then tubed to Covent Garden for a reminiscent stroll around it, taking in Jubilee Market and listening to the street performances and orchestral performances - once again amongst the huge numbers of people. I still need to readjust to the lack of personnel body space - quickly reminded that 50+ people can squash into a covent garden lift(and happily sneeze over everyone - no one seems to mind) and that people don't stop talking dribble even when you are  squashed hard against them( I guess that was me 20 years ago) - trying to develop my eye contact avoidance on the tube too.
Bought a dress worth 250gbp (couldn't possibly have ever been worth that) for 25gbp in txmax - great fun rummaging through the racks there - lots of kids losing patience with their mums in that shop!(for once not mine).

London - Buying a Car!

14/02/2015

Bought a car today - a big relief! Wasn't easy though. We had just missed out on a 'private' sale, realising that you needed to be first there with cash in hand ( a bit of a fight for anything 'good'). With the lack of a 'UK' bank account (still in process - another thing that isn't easy) we decided to head out to a huge dealer in Chelmsford. We walked around the corner with the hope of picking up a rental car to drive out to Chelmsford to find that this wasn't easy either! They had no cars (actually -10 cars(not sure what they really meant by this)) - ah , 'Yes' This is London.  So off we went on a bus to Liverpool St station (Chris had to jump off the bus half way there to run back to the apartment to check the heaters). The boys and I meet Chris at Liverpool St (he had hired a bike to make his journey - great that you can do this(you can even check the number of bikes available at each location through the London public transport website - 2pounds for unlimited 'half hour usages' over 24hrs)).
Another not easy situation - the train to Chelmsford required you to catch the over ground 3 stops then get on a replacement rail service bus (not off to a great start at all).
Ended up that the replacement bus was quite a nice adventure. We got to travel through the English countryside for 40ish minutes - passed through a gorgeous village called 'Stock'. Lachlan said 'this is really lovely here, it would be nice to be here but I think it would be too expensive'. Lovely narrow hedged lanes ...
We then needed to catch a taxi to the actual dealership - another not easy thing (had to keep an eye out for one large enough to fit the five of us). Pretty knacked we got to the dealership, which was a bit of an eye-opener - Huge! We were later told they sell approximately 250 cars a month. We had a great guy(extremely unpushy (I guess they don't need to be with their turnover)) help us.
At the end of the day there were only really two contenders ( the VAT free car in our budget had just been sold as was the very 'cool' Defender(which had been bought by someone exporting it back to NZ)). We took out the Landrover Discovery 3 for a drive - with three very excited boys in the back(looking pretty happy in the comfortable seats). Then we drove a Volvo XC90, which was very nice but was ruled out (very loud engine and more car-like). The very stylish BMW X5s were sadly too small as was the Volkswagen Touareg. So the Land Rover Discovery it was - this is actually the car we had in mind originally (5pm by the time we paid the deposit). We get to pick it up after a week of them doing the things they do to it. Now I get to organise car insurance with no UK address - very uneasy!

London - St Pauls

13-02-2015

Decided to try out the buses today.
Thought a short trip into the City to see St Pauls would be a good adventure.
Kids excitedly dashed up to the top deck off the double-decker bus.
Sadly it was a rainy day out so the we got to wonder what was outside the 'foggy' windows.
I insisted the kids listen to the audio guide(children's version) once inside St Pauls - in the hope they might absorb some info. Boys made more observations about a man having a sleep on a chair then on the architectural merits of the building. I decided to give up bombarding them with facts (ones I had only just learnt listening to my audio guide) and head to the stairs up! So we started with the 257 steps to the 'Whispering Gallery'(runs around the inside of the dome), where the boys did not 'whisper' as they raced around it. Then up the narrower twistier 119 steps to the 'Stone Gallery'. It was noted by me while listening to the audio guide at the whispering gallery level, that you could then decide if you are brave enough to climb right to the top(warnings of very narrow awkward spaces and claustrophobic conditions).
But no - not the case! Once to the next level I was told the only way down was to go right up(another 152 steps) and then down again. Boys were completely keen, but I stupidly had a bag over one shoulder and a very awkward big 'unzipped' shopping bag(with the big camera in it - which proved useless because I had forgotten that you cannot photograph inside St Pauls) over the other - I was not so keen. But with no choice we carried on - I was pretty nervous watching Lachlan (he only tripped once). Was a bit stressed at the top to take in the amazing view - you go outside onto a very narrow terrace around the outside. Pretty relieved to get back down to the cathedral floor without any loses.
Overall it was pretty cool that we made it to the top.
Had a quick look at Wellington's and Nelson's tombs in the crypt(missed out Sir Christopher Wren's tomb - the architect ) before afternoon tea in the crypt café.

Photo from the top - very nervously taken!

 Dashed into 'Boots'(chemist on Cheapside) on the way back to buy a couple of things. Turned around to see what the laughter was about -  Ollie and Jarvis had 'made-up' Lachlan with all the cosmetic testers. 'Ah, you have no girls', was the amused shop assistant's comment.

London - Bank of England

12-02-2015

Needed to visit Lloyds bank in the city today to try and open up a UK bank account.
Got out at Bank station - was overloaded with memories but also quite startled at the number of new glass high rise buildings and the mass of cranes in the skyline.
Was a massive effort to get the bank account process started - just couldn't provide the proof they needed of a residential address - no online documents acceptable, no trusts acceptable and nothing over 3 months old.
The boys were extremely patient - sat in the foyer(with their devices, of course) for a good 2+ hours (this resulted in the need for a public toilet which they have a major lack of in the city - Chris had to beg a café to use theirs for Lachlan).
After a squashed lunch - not much room to fit five anywhere inside during the peak of lunchtime especially in the winter and in the city(most people just takeout), we walked down to the 'Bank of England' Museum.




                       Lloyds Bank and the 'Gherkin'.                                        

Nice to have 'free' entry (admission charges have been very step) - boys got an activity pack with the carrot of a prize if they completed it (enough encouragement for Jarvis and Lachlan, not enough for Ollie). Poor Jarvis got an ear-bashing from a nasty older man and women while trying out one of the interactive devices(really designed for children, not adults!). Sobbing so hard he could hardly speak, he managed to tell me they had called him a 'stupid constipated idiot'. I was desperate to storm over and have a go ( I was absolutely wild), but I new that the sort of person that would say that to a child wouldn't think much of me and that I would end up even crosser (so I let it go - quite disappointed). Most people have been so lovely , especially to the boys, it gives you a big shock when you come across this.Anyway, moving on we spent quite a while at the museum(very well done), collected the prizes and headed back. I learnt quite a bit about the Bank of England which I would have benefited from knowing when I worked there - opps!



On the steps of the Royal Guardian Exchange, Bank of England in the background

Cranes in the 'City'

London - Tower of London

Tower of London today.
Ventured out (only a few stops on the tube) to Tower Hill with too little clothing on - got caught out with a particularly cold day. Tried to take the big camera out of its case and dropped it with my frozen fingers - crushed the lens cap on and couldn't tell if I had broken it - not a good start, I was 'grumpy' and cold and so were the boys. Tried to rush from the tube to the Tower to escape the cold - but remembered it is a castle (not warm) and mostly outside anyway.

Found a haven in the heated 'Crown Jewels' area. Tried to stir up some interest in the kids (we had a few child activity packs which failed to excite them). Got a bit of interest out of George IV's Grand Punch bowl - I remember this was the main point of interest for me when I visited years back.

After starting to warm up and feel better we walked around the top of the defensive walls, checking out the 'Royal Menageraire' display - very well presented and interesting for the kids (lots of things they could interact with). The boys were entertained by the story about the disappreance of the two princes Edward(12 years) and Richard in the Tower in 1483, believed to have been murdered by their uncle who was then to become King(Richard III). The White Tower was full of things to interest the kids (and keep warm) - 'Royal Amouries', lots of weapons and armour( Being built on the orders of William the conqueror as a fortress and palace and later to be used as a military storehouse) plus the basement believed  to be the site of the torture and interrogation of prisoners like Guy Fawkes.

Lots of interest about the beheading of Anne Boleyn and the hanging of Lady Jane Grey on the Tower Green - the boys like a bit of gore.
Got up pretty close to the Ravens( tried not to scare them away and cause the 'Kingdom to fall') - I remembered how they used to land on our balustrade when we lived in Tower Hill(apparently they do 'go absent without leave' sometimes).



Jarvis excited to see the 'Queen's Guards'.

Tower - prisoner's writings on the wall behind Jarvis.

Traitor's Gate

View from Tower Bridge ('Yes' we are cold!)

Then walked over Tower Bridge (admiring the views) to Butlers Wharf on the south side of the Thames. Had a brisk walk along the South Bank - popped in on Hays Galeria to admire Chris's favourite sculpture there. Was pretty amazed by the number of new buildings(very modern) - a lot of 'flashing' up. Had dinner at the 'Chop House' (an old haunt for us). Sadly not the best of meals this time (kids got to try mushy peas), but I did love the views(out at the Thames and Tower Bridge) and the memories.

London Day3

10-February-2015

Chris being Chris 'ran' into work today with his shirts for the rest of the week('shorts on', in the cold!) - sounds like him.
I started the kids on their correspondence school, looks good but will take a bit of fine-tuning.
Visited the British Museum today, had lunch(well just 'cakes'(mostly left uneaten(icing picked off)) at Patisserie Valerie on the way - noticed a bit of 'Allpress' coffee around).

Grimacing in the cold outside the British Museum

Too much to take in at the museum (super fantastic), so we concentrated on the 'not to miss' list.
The Grand Court is fabulous!





The Grand Court - Never a Dull Moment with the boys.

Did some prep work while there for our Greek trip to come (looked at all the bits of the Parthenon that won't be there in Athens!).
The kids felt pretty happy with themselves when they saw all the school trips 'working'.

The 'Rosetta Stone'(key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs) - surely this is educational for the kids??

The compulsory 'mummy' section.



They mummified everything - even 'eels'(in small bronze case).

Headed back to the apartment through the 'rush' traffic - had to watch out for Lachlan being squashed(too little to be seen in the huge waves of people getting on and off the underground).

 

 

London Day2

9-feb-2015

Did the first supermarket shop - wow wee! Great looking wines for under 6 pounds. Well know champagne more expensive here then in NZ(strange?)  but champagne labels I haven't heard of are a lot cheaper.
Kids were pretty into it too - most unusual. A few comments about the kids energy levels from other customers(mostly quite fascinated - 'Does he stop talking, who winds him up'(positively referring to Lachlan)).
Supermarkets are more like 'one-stop-shops' - linen, appliances, clothes, tvs etc ...
Lots of 'new' food items to try to educate the kids about - although they display much less interest then I do.
Lots and lots of convenience meals of all cuisines - tempting to not cook at all.
Quite a lot of 'organic' and 'low fat' options.
Confectionery way too cheap for the kids and 'my' good!

London Day1

8 - Feb-2015
So exciting, I was let loose for a few hours in Oxford Street.
Chris took three eager boys of to Hamleys, while I did the headless-chicken thingy on Oxford street.
Doesn't take long for the crowds and over-stimulation to get you though - so many people and so much stuff!
Loved looking at Selfridges again - it is such a beautiful store, even with masses of people in it. Hordes of people photographing the window displays - which were amazing. I immersed myself into the food court coming out laden with chocolate(easy purchasing - the fashion is too difficult). Reminisced about buying cigars for Chris (for Ollie's birth - not the best idea in hindsight) as I passed the cigar shop inside Selfridges. Pretty fascinated by the large number of 'beautiful' men(customers) in the men's fashion area - very well groomed hair, fabulous clothes, stylised walks ...
Lots of people queuing for 'fancy' afternoon teas. Lots of queues everywhere.
Dashed into the other big department stores - John Lewis, Debenhams  ...
Started jetlag 'wobblying' a bit too much so decided to call it quits with still a lot on my list.

Very excited boys back at the apartment, with very successful purchases from 'Hamleys' - Chris did well. They all enjoyed the in store demonstrations, Ollie buying the magic trick they were demonstrating(very cool, he has done a few performances for us).
Jarvis bought a great 'nano drone' , Lachlan a 'Big Hero 6' figure (quite large to squash into his bag).
Chris got the boys started on working out how to navigate the tube.
Underground not looking too bad (newish trains), a lot dirtier then the 'newish' immaculate/slick Dubai metro(not really a fair comparison).

Chris and kids had done the supermarket shop and started cooking dinner when I got back(quite unusual events - but well received from me). Amazed at what he had bought - whole 'Le Rustique' cheese for under 3nzd, stone fruit, berries in winter etc - I am very contented!

London Arrival

7-february-2015

Great flight from Dubai to London.
Arrived to a cold 5degC (at bit of a shock from Dubai and Bangkok).
Lachlan slipped in and out of sleep as we drove through London to our apartment, while I prattled onto the kids about all the landmarks we were passing on the way(memory lane) - Harrods being one of the most significant (very excited!).
Received a 'frosty' reception from the security guard at the apartment - Yes, 'welcome' to London! Nice apartment from the inside(plenty of space - most unlike London), The East End outside(still haven't been out yet - have filled the kids in on 'the Ripper') looks 'interesting' out there - I know things have changed a lot from our time here 18ish years ago - but?

7 February 2015

Dubai(2:30pm)-London(6:15pm) EK0003

Airbus A380

 

Dubai Day2

06-February-2015,  28degC

Early start today to get to 'Burj Khalifa' (tallest artificial structure in the world - 829.8m high(includes a 244m spire - a skyscraper on its own)).Was stalked/followed by a taxi as we walked to the metro to find that he knew what we didn't - the metro was closed that early in the morning(they seem to be late risers in Dubai). Was a hazy morning but fortunately clear up high. The buttressed core , 3 buttresses that form a Y shaped core , supports the 4000+ tonnes of steel, 100km of pipes 26,000 glass panels(it normally take 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior façade - nothing 'normal' about any of it!) etc...
Lachlan reached the pinnacle of his lift operating career(seems to be his new thing to take control of ever lift we go in) when we ascended to the observation deck 'At the Top 'on the 124th floor(452m high) in one of the 57 elevators (fastest ascending and descending at 10m/s) The kids fought over the 'Tellscope' electronic telescope (a device which allows visitors to view the surrounding landscape in real-time, and to view previously saved images such as those taken at different times of day or under different weather conditions.)
I think the kids did actually find this pretty 'cool'.


 



Outside Burj Khaifia

 

 

A massive building site






Headed over to 'Aquaventure' water park  located on the 'Palm'(an artificial Island on the coast). Not sure if this was really worth it's $600NZD entry price(but everything is crazy $$ in Dubai). Ollie and Jarvis  had a great time but Lachlan 'melted-down' over his failure to reach the 1.2m minimum height requirement for the 'best' rides. There is definitely some pretty amazing stuff there (something the kids are much more enthusiastic to talk about then me!)

Popped into the Jumeriah Beach Shopping Mall to catch a look at Burj Al Arab(world's only 7 star hotel). Couldn't get very close to it - lots of 'do not enter' blocks.
Yummy Lebanese dinner near to our Hotel in Deira.

Dubai Day1

Jarvis's 11th birthday today. Presents were given last night(to coincide with NZ time).

Slightly fascinated (or maybe amused?) watching the women in traditional dress (abaya(black robe and niqab(veil))) eating their breakfast this morning - very well considered mouthfuls.

Headed off after breakfast to take a look at Deira, the 'old Dubai'. Caught the metro down to the traditional souks - offering spices, textiles and gold jewellery. A bit tricky to find but we knew when we had found them(gold necklaces so huge you have to ask 'why', you'd probably fall over(maybe you stay sitting?)).



Souks in Deira (Gold and Jewellery)

Good prep work for Morocco to come - quite a bit of harassing. We lost Ollie for a few minutes to then find him dressed in traditional robe - children are easy bait! Well, it made for some good photos and of course a purchase. Pretty amazing atmosphere.


Largest Gold Ring

Yep, They Got Us!

Historic Souk Area

The kids had their first puff of a Lebanese Shisha - Jarvis who was the keen one found it 'disgusting', Lachlan chickened out, Ollie gave it a pretty good go but looked unimpressed.



Metro





Wandered along the port watching fishermen transporting their wares on traditional dhows.
Best-Looking metro I've even seen.