It was very strange leaving Jon behind at the airport in Prague as I set off on an adventure – adventures are something we have grown accustomed to doing together!
The flight to London was stupidly fast, and
has made me appreciate more than ever the beauty of air travel! 90 minutes and we
were landing in London Luton airport (miles away from the city). I hopped on a
coach and headed into the city, a much more comfortable ride than the airplane!
I managed (just) to navigate the local bus routes and find the hotel we were
staying at, the Westport Inn. I pulled my bag up to the door of the pub
downstairs and was greeted by a few rowdy old lads having a few beers. Mum and
Dad were inside and there was lots of hugging and kissing as we reunited. It
was great to see them in such high spirits having just come from America, they
are clearly enjoying themselves.
We walked down to Camden Lock in the evening
to find somewhere to have some dinner. We stopped in at a nice English Pub
filled with character and had some delicious pub grub. Steak and Guinness pie
for Me and Mum and bangers and mash for Dad.
In the morning we had breakfast at the little
café across the road which was as British as they come. Cereal was nowhere to
be seen, so unless you want something fried, you’re out of luck.
We managed to get hold of my Nan’s sister,
Sheila and her husband Jim who coincidently live 2 minutes walk from where we
were staying! We had a cup of tea with them and spoke of family and our lives.
We headed straight into the city centre fro a
long day of walking after tea. I think it’s easier for me to list where we
walked rather than explain:
West End, Picadilly circus, Trafalgar Square,
the National Gallery, Houses of Parliament and Beg Ben, Westminster Abbey, St
James Park, Buckingham Palace, back up to Picadilly and Regent street then down
to Charring Cross station! We were exhausted. From here we met up with Nan’s
brother Don and his wife Joan. Don and Joan visited Australia last year so it
was wonderful to catch up with them again so soon. We had a drink in Covent
Gardens then wandered through soho where we stopped at an Italian restaurant
for dinner. After too much food and wine we walked back to Charring Cross with
them and said goodbye, promising to see them again very soon. Mum, Dad and I
decided we would then hop on a bus (double deaker and front seats, of course)
and head down to have a look at St Pauls Cathedral and Tower Bridge. Well worth
the effort! The only disappointment was that St Pauls was closed for the night
and we couldn’t go inside, but the dance troupe rehearsing on the steps of the
Cathedral was great to watch!
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| Trafalgar Square |
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| Big Ben and Houses of Parliament |
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| St Pauls Cathedral |
The following morning we were off to Bath in
our rental car with, believe it or not, slightly sunny weather! We stopped off
at my Pop’s brother John and his wife Chris’ house to see them and their brood
of grandchildren. It was so nice to see my second cousins and their little
ones. There was Naiomi, 9 months, and Thomas and Amelia, twins, who are 5
months old. Such beautiful children!
We also stopped in to see Stonehenge which was
less than inspiring. We didn’t buy tickets to go inside the chicken wire fence,
opting instead to take a few customary photos then get back in the car and
continue on our way!
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| Stonehenge |
Bath is such a beautiful city, a real
honeymoon destination place, full of gorgeous little townhouses and winding
cobbled streets. It took us a good hour to just get into the city though, the
traffic was something out of a nightmare and had Dad crying into his steering
wheel!
We stayed at an amazing little B&B called
Cranleigh House. It’s Victorian style made us feel like we had just stepped
into a Jane Austen novel!
We made our way into the middle of town and
decided to have an early dinner before we hit the Roman baths. We ate at Sally
Lunns, the oldest house in Bath, tucked down a little back street with wonky
windows.
We went to have a look at the Roman baths
after dinner which were really interesting. It’s just a museum so you can’t
actually go bathing here, but there was so much to see we spent an easy few
hours there. You could look at the remains of the Roman Baths from the 4th
century, along with lots of history about the period and the people of the day.
Dad did a ‘Rybak’ tour, taking about half the time of Mum and I!
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| The Roman Baths with the Bath Abbey in the background |
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| Roman Baths |
We had a delicious breakfast at the B&B
the next morning then went into town for a few hours. We did a tour of the Bath
Abbey which took us up to see the bells, the Bishops balcony and the top of the
tower giving up great views of Bath.
Cream tea was a must while we were in Bath so
we found a little café and had our scones, clotted cream, jam and tea. It was
amazing. In Australia we call these Devonshire tea’s.
It was a pretty whirlwind tour of Bath as we
only had one night there and not even a full day to explore but the little
taster we had made us fall in love with the city. It’s beauty is astounding
with it’s matching houses (if you wanted to live in Bath, it was compulsory to
build your house out of stone sourced from the area!), sweet little shops and
rolling green hills right outside the city limits.
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| Bath |
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| Bath Abbey |
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| Vaulted Ceiling of the Abbey |
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| View from the top of the Abbey |
We of course made the obligatory trip to West
End whist we were back in London for a night and we opted to see Mum and Dad’s
favourite production, Les Miserables. It was amazing. The sets, singing and
acting blew us away and we all spent most of the performance crying! A quick
drink at a local British pub after the show capped off our evening beautifully
however we did follow this with a minor disaster with the London busses, but
that's a different story.
All in all, we loved the UK; the people, the
food (especially Mum) and the language! Never take for granted the ability to
ask someone for directions in your own language!
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