Exploring London

And so the sightseeing began after a top shelf 'Bon Iver' concert at the impressive Hammersmith Apollo and a big curry cook up for the 440'ers. Rhi and I started with the V&A museum, Harrods and Westminster checking out Big Ben and the eye. That night we also travelled the short journey to Kentish Town, guitar in hand and busted out some open mike night tunes. Myself still finding my way around the mike and Benny churning out yet another solid and experienced set. The second day we timed our visit to Lizzys Buckingham palace to see the wet weather version of the changing of the guard. I saw the palace a decade ago so i think i can be forgiven for forgetting how ugly of a building it is. After watching some poms on horses trot past the palace we headed though the always impressive Hyde park. Next we tubed back into the action of Trafalgar square and smashed a very handy stuffed spud in the process. After lunch we made our way up through the Covent Garden shopping alleys and down the repetitively commercialised Oxford st. If you like the big brands 4 times over go for Oxford st. If you like finding hidden little alley shops explore Covent Garden. That night we headed back into the city to a night of 'Proud Caberet' to watch our extremely talented roomate Cess bust the moves whilst we devoured a 3 course meal and the odd cocktail. A sleep in day found us eventually and we used the afternoon to visit Abbey rd and walked through Hampstead Heath during sunset (A MUST). Friday night I showed Rhi what a standard flying horse night is all about. After the drinking, dancing and tubing we grabbed the deservedly famous Rosey Kebab. The last weekend in London town had arrived and I had a footy filled day at both the pub and park with Jamie whilst Rhi opportunistically got up early and got the last cheap (5quid) ticket to 'Matilda' the musical matinee. Sunday we headed for Portobello rd in Notting Hill for breakfast and exploring the markets and of course movie scenes. After that we headed back to marble arch for the unique experience of 'Speakers Corner'. On the corner of Hyde park political and religious vocalists stand on either a box or steps and blast the onlooking crowd with some of their warped opinions. Add a couple really drunks and opinionated onlookers and youve got an entertaining half hour. We then walked through the park and down to the natural history museum which is almost too big for one visit so Rhi and I explored only the highlights. We started the week with a visit to the large Foyles bookshop to spend the BDO voucher i got from work and got some bound travel companions. We then spent the remaining days organising travel stuff with visits to Camden markets, Shepherds Bush shopping and finished my London stay off with a pub dinner with the 440'ers. Off we flew after some early morning tubing with luggage (avoid if possible). Pics are on Flickr.MAH