Day 13:Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir

Up early this morning to board The Eurostar to Paris, it was sooo busy and I felt like we had rushed and pushed and scrambled our way onto the train, all without coffee. You think I was grumpy, you're right, it took me about 1/2 an hour and a large coffee to become human again (sorry Sandy).

The trip to Paris was so quick, I think the train does about 300 km/hr. We were there before we knew it. Sandy learnt to say no in French very quickly, particularly with the beggar with child who approached her twice. 

We taxied to our appartment, where we were met by Martinn for our very thorough orientation, Sandy feels like Gulliver in her presence. 

After orientation was over she then showed us the fridge, she has cooked us  dinner for tonight and also breakfast for tomorrow.

The Menu:

What a spread, and such a nice gesture for our first night and morning here while we get our bearings( if we get our bearings). We have successfully been for a walk around the neighbourhood, found the supermarket, wine shop, ordered a beer and a coffee, tomorrow I will try to order a coffee with milk in it. I did also discover Paris' oldest Pattisiere but more on that later. 

They do seem to like their electric cars as well.

A Kia Carnival they're not, but I am sure they are kind to the environment.  

Day 1 in Paris and no Eiffel Tower in sight, stay tuned.

Bonsoir mes amis.

Day 12: London it's Been a Blast

Our whirlwind tour of London is almost over, and I think we have packed as much into our 3 days as possible. Our appartment is in a fantastic location in Kings Cross, 5 mins walk from the tube.

Last but not least was Buckingham Palace, we caught the tube and walked through a beautiful park, not Hyde but another one, so many people out enjoying the sunshine.

Buckingham Palace sure is one big house with very flashy gates and lots and lots of gold. We had tickets to the state rooms and the Royal Childhood exhibition. Wow those rooms, so much gold, so much luxury, so much pomp.  It is such a shame I wasn't allowed to take photos, because it really is hard to explain, but this is one of the rooms we were allowed in ( obviously when no-one was home though)

The exhibition itself was great and so was the footage of the Queen acting like any normal child, dancing and showing off for the camera. Sandy had a déjà vu moment while in the palace, not sure if she was channeling the Queen Mother, more likely Princess Margaret I think.

We went through about 10 rooms and after about 2 hours ended up in the backyard, not a corgi in sight.

Sandys palace fact: The backyard is 36 acres, just a bit larger than a courtyard block.

What Her Royal Highness does have in her backyard ( apart from a couple of dickheads taking selfies) are royal squirrels, this was our first squirrel so we were very excited( it's the little things).

After the palace tour we had to go back into Oxford St to pick up some shoes I had ordered, This involved a 2km walk, once again because our internal compass seems to always point in the opposite direction, maybe it's hemispherical( not sure if that's a word but I'm going with it), anyway by the time we got there it was new feet we needed and not new shoes. I think if we were doing that 10000 steps for everyday in sept we would be up to about the 22nd by now.

London you have lived up to all our expectations and more, heres to visiting again, when you're not so far way.

Words to Sum up London:  Expensive, Historical,Surreal, Busy, Crowded, Tiring

Day 11, The Tower, The Clock and The Eye

This morning we got up about 8am, my back is still sore so it takes me about an hour to warm up( starting to piss me off ). Sandy has had to be the pack horse for the last week, I am forever grateful. 

We got the hop on hop off tour this morning to the Tower of London, call me stupid but I thought it was just that ... a tower, but no it is a whole castle with multiple towers. It is being surrounded at present by 88000 ceramic poppies to commemorate the 100 years since WW1 and the soldiers who lost their lives, very special.

This is also where the Crown Jewels are held, no photos were allowed, but never have I seen so much gold and diamonds in the form of crowns, sceptres, platters, jugs etc, an amazing sight. 

It was then a trip on The Thames to The London Eye. 

FACT: It is about 350kms long( marginally longer than the Torrens but about the same colour). Supplies about 2/3's of Londons drinking water( let's hope there is some form of treatment before it reaches the tap).

We motored past Big Ben and disembarked on the opposite bank. After the usual security checks we got into our pod with about 12 other strangers and got an amazing birdseye view of London and it's surrounds.

After this we made our way to Oxford st for a very poor shopping effort of which I am hoping to improve on but with limited time left.

Our London Discovery: A very expensive city, everything is approx double. I.e petrol £1.35/ litre, Sandwhich £6.95, Shaw and Smith wine at Hestons £75.  If everything had a $ sign instead of a £ sign it would be on par, maybe if they sold of some of those jewels they could subsidise us poor Aussie tourists.

P.S. This Griswald now has a cold and is subsidising the British economy with her regular trips to Boots Chemists.

Day 10: London Calling

We arrived in London at about 5.30pm yesterday at Canada Water ( yep Canada Water in London.... go figure), after being told that a taxi was a half hour away I decided to try my luck with Uber, an online taxi/chauffeur service, which I set up before I left as it is worldwide. A car turned up as requested and we made our way to the hotel, 1/1 Uber and I will try it again. 

Appartment is good and Sandy finally got to do some washing, it's been over a week. After a well earned rest we attacked the tube with gusto, Sandy only had to be reminded 3x to stand on the right and me once. We have decided to be the perfect tourists starting our day at Piccadily Circus and then continuing on to Trafalgar Square.

After Trafalgar Square we made our way to Harrods, in particular the food halls...OMG, there is nothing you can't buy.

All this food was making us hungry and for someone as indecisive as me there was just too many options. We settled on something typically English in a Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwhich , and where else to eat this but somewhere else typically English, Hyde Park, if only we could find it. According to the sales person it was 2 mins away, well our internal GPS's have been faulty since the start of this trip so 20 mins later and not a tree or blade of grass in sight, we perched on a ledge next to some car park and ate our sandwich .

We ventured back to Harrods after lunch to continue our shopping and check out their Xmas floor, luckily Harrods use a Westie as one of its trademarks so I had no trouble in convincing Sandy about the souvenirs.

We arrived at Dinner on time without getting lost, and surprise, surprise the restaurant backs on to Hyde Park, what a beautiful setting for what was to be a fantastic meal. The menu is based in period dishes from the 13th Century onwards, we skipped entree and went straight for main course, Bone in Rib if Hereford Prime (c.1830) perfectly cooked, we couldn't eat it all.

We then both had deserts, The Tipsy Cake ( c.1810) and The Tarte of Strawberries( c.1560). The Tipsy Cake with spit roasted pineapple was the best desert that Sandy has had.

I had the Strawberry Tarte, the presentation was spectacular and it did taste amazing but it wasn't quite as special as the Tipsy Cake.

To finish our evening off we were given a tour of the kitchen, very busy and also very professional, as you would expect. What a first full day in London and what a fantastic way to end it, we are truly lucky.

Day 9: E.T Phone Home.

It was the final day of our whirlwind bus tour around Great Britain. Our last morning of getting up at 5.45am, we won't miss that! We left Wales at 7.10am heading for Bath, where we had a walking tour and a tour of the  famousRoman Baths, (obviously whoever named Bath was lacking a little imagination, just think, if the same person got to name Edinburgh it would just have been called Castle).

The baths were very interesting and only required the smallest amount of imagination to appreciate what it would have been like all those years ago. 

They are from a natural hot spring so you can actually see steam rising from the pools. At the end of the tour you get to taste the warm water, and for all my water chemistry friends I do have the composition (trip is now a tax deduction).

Our final stop on the tour was Stonehenge, particularly interesting because there is no one story of how or why these giant stones came to be here.

Is it for religious purposes, is it a temple, some sort of sacrificial altar, or was it aliens that erected this over 5000 years ago? It was a fitting end to the week and one of the highlights.

Day 8: To Be or Not To Be

This morning we got up again at 5.45, no reference to shining. Tiredness proportional to days on tour. The day began with a tour around Liverpool, The Albert Dock, home to the cotton, tobacco and slave trade... Happy to know this has mostly ceased now. Also the home to White Star Lines where the plans for The Titanic were drawn up.

Some Culture: Home to the half lamb/ half banana sculpture...it's significance.. NFI. Google it, it is hideous. 

Onwards and upwards the next part of our Liverpool driving tour was dedicated to the Fab Four i.e Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and John Lennons childhood home. It is a shame that people feel they need to deface things in order to pay their respect.

After Liverpool we headed to the home of another writer William Shakespeare at Stratford upon Avon. Shakespeare or Will (as those of us who have visited his home know him as) was also known as The Bard of Avon( the River and not the cosmetic company). Will was born in 1564 and died sometime after that, writing a few popular tales in between, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet to name a few.

Stratford Upon Avon was wet and gloomy most of while we were there. What we did discover is that neither of us really listen to directions and we get a little lost, can't wait until we are in London or Paris.

After Stratford Upon Avon was the afternoons travel to Wales, Cardiff to be specific. We cleaned up during the afternoons bus quiz, securing us a box of Maltesers. Who knew we were now experts in British history. 

Arriving into Cardiff was like arriving into a police state, over 9000 Bobbies, that is a whole lot of police and a whole lot of Hi-Vis, turns out it wasn't for our arrival but for many of our world leaders on Friday for the NATO conference. Sandys dream came true when she got to pretend she was an extra on The Bill.

Cardiff is a very nice city with a large student population, cheap drinks and what appeared to be a lot of very young mothers ( something to do with the cheap drinks perhaps). Cardiff does have a very nice castle as well, Caerphilly Castle, note the weathers improvement.

What did Cardiff teach me? 

That Scottish people may speak funny but Welsh people spell funny as well! And if you need to leave your bike anywhere you may require more than the one lock.

Day 7: Pencils and Popstars

Yet again another early morning, we are getting up at 5.45am all mornings except for one on this bus tour so we are getting tireder by the day which is probably evident in my ravings.

We left Loch Long for Liverpool in the rain once again, mornings always seem rainy. The " comfort stop" this morning was Gretna Green, famous for lots of weddings, and I think you can get married at age 12 there, such a sensible option. Think of the benefits, no need to serve alcohol at the wedding, if you have children straight away they are off your hands by about age 30, you can celebrate your golden anniversary at 62, and let's face it who wouldn't want to be with the same person for 70+ years? 

Enough of the romance and it's back on the coach to Keswick in The Lakes District ( most visited area in the UK). Keswick is a 13th century market town famous for cheese and something called Kendal Mint Cake.

Another beautiful village with the sun shining and people with puppies everywhere, dogs were allowed in most places here, pubs, restaurants and shops, our sort of town. Once again a very hikey, mountain climbing type of place. Keeping my dream alive.

Fun Fact: The pencil was invented here, Derwent, and tell me who didn't want a set of Derwents at school?

Back on the bus and with more scenery than you could poke a HB at we headed on to Liverpool, the birthplace of The Beatles, not quite as exciting as the birthplace of the pencil but who are we to judge?

What magnificent weather Liverpool has put on, and to my surprise a very pretty city with a great dock area as well as some unique accommodation options.

Just beginning to realise that things are a little more pricey in the UK as well, i.e about $6.50 for a med coffee. I think I keep seeing the amount in £ and forget to convert to $. Royalties from my monster pics should start arriving soon and it will be first class all the way.

Today's Shoutout: All the Westie owners in the UK who let these two mad Aussie women pat their dogs.