I think I need to inject coffee into Bobbie's bloodstream about an hour before she wakes. LOL She's calling me the site-seeing nazi.
Today was the day. The day for trepidation. The day of fear. The day of the London Eye. What was I thinking? I'm afraid of the little kiddie ferris wheels at Floriade ... and here I was standing in line at the biggest flipping ferris wheel (sorry ... but that's what it is - point blank) in the WORLD. Ugh ... loads of people lining up. Had read in our little guidebook that peak time is 12-3pm ... we were there at 11am. It's like when you put ant-rid out and the whole damn nest is soon seething around it. Grabbed the salt and vinegar crisps (get with the lingo) on the snatch, grab and pay stand while in the line to calm my nerves. Worked a treat until we had to step into the glass capsule while it was still moving. What was that about? Slowly, slowly it inches its way up. The views are stunning I will say, great photo opportunities too. But I was feeling very nervous and touched with a little vertigo as I went near the sides and really, the sign that said not to lean on the doors was totally unnecessary I felt. Bobbie thought it very amusing watching me inch my way around the capsule with my knees glued at times to the wooden bench in the centre. Oh hardy, ha ha. I stood close to the edge thinking myself very brave when she decides to give me a little shove from behind. The American dude found it amusing too. I wondered out loud if Bobbie would like to go lean on those doors. Oh yes and jumping up and down was hilarious too ... NOT. "OOOooooo" it's swaying Lisa" Pffft, mocking me when the fear factor is legitimate. I mean seriously, this is the same woman that was scared of the real people in the dark at Madame Tussauds. Really compleplating taking her to the London Dungeon and LEAVING HER THERE.
Went on the Hop On Hop Off Thames River Cruise which was very interesting and the jokes were worth having a laugh at. Getting very hungry now so when the tour stopped at Westminster we went into The Red Lion for a feed. Very appetising menu but when we went to order they said we couldn't order for at least 20 mins ... apparently very busy and I think the cook was under duress. Sat down and enjoyed our lemonade / wine. We're perfecting the art of taking selfies so decided to take one with the bar in the background. Just as we finished taking the photo I noticed the sly, yet totally non-stealthy movements of a photo bomber. We laughed outloud at him and the resulting photo is brilliant. So we asked him his name and Bobbie posed for a selfie with him. Pretty 'Martin' did not speak a lot of English but at least he had a great sense of humour. Our 20 minute waiting period over, we ordered our Jacket Potatoes ... no, we couldn't have that (they ran out) .... ok, ordered a couple of other things - oooh, lucky ... they were the last ones. What English Pub runs out of food??? On a main strip? It was delicious though and an hour and half later we rolled out of there to go visit St Paul's Cathedral. We arrived there and after some discussion with the ticket lady, we decided we didn't have sufficient time to climb the stairs to the dome. So we decided tomorrow would be a better option.
Off to Trafalgar Square then .... Bobbie was totally amazed at the sheer amount of people just sitting around and doing nothing more than people perving. Grabbed a cuppa in the square cafe .. and much to Bobbie's disappointment, found out that it was permissable to drink alcohol in the square. Sat around for a while and took some great photos .... but it's the quick or the dead if you want to get a photo in front on the lions. Some crazy father put his 3 year old up between the Lion's feet - now it's about 7 metres off the ground and stood back to take photos. Loads of photo had their hearts in the mouths as the little girl jumped from one paw to the other.
Grabbed a bus, rather than the tube, and chatted to some great little Aussie kids on the way home. Went for dinner down the road at the Hyde Park Perk Bistro which was super quick service and now we're prostrate on the bed with some serious Food Babies. Time to hibernate me thinks!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Things that go BOO, Jet Lag and Sore Feet
... continuing on
Tuesday found us up bright and um ... earlier making our way to Madame Tussauds. I haven't been there for well over 20 years *warning warning ... age awareness alert*. The lines were INCREDIBLE - we were there by 9.30 and the queue was wrapping right around the domed building. Luckily for us we had prepaid and went into the much quicker queue. Oh my ...... the first room was sooooo full - can anyone say 'sardines'??? Brad & Ang were there, Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera (GEEZ she's tiny ... smaller than Kylie Minogue I'm sure .... but with really big boobs!). Robert Pattison had his own room?!?!? Had some great fun getting up close and pesonal with Princes William & Harry, Johnny Depp (drool, slobber) and Shrek (actually, think I may have gotten a little too close to Shrek ^^). Bobbie DEFINATELY got way too friendly with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and for the sake of tendy innocent eyes, we probably won't post that photo!
There was a separate little display call 'Scream' ... they were adamant that anyone under 12 could not go in as it was apparently very scary. Bobbie & I went in ... well, we are a little over 12 so the age limit was not really an issue. Bob didn't realise there were real people in there (even though they were announcing it beforehand). They were all acting as though they were in an asylum and would suddenly jump out to try and lift the terror level to code brown (you know ... where you have to change your underpants?). The first guy got right up in our faces acting nutty so, I turned around and said 'I like 'em crazy' .... he followed us roughly halfway through the exhibit just constantly going 'ha ha ha'. I just went into giggles. Meanwhile shuffling in front of me, Bobbie has her head down and is hiding behind the young boys hoping the people don't notice her (and I believe she was wishing fervently that I would stop interacting with the crazies). When we got out she said how scary it was ... I guess going on the Jack the Ripper Tour is out of the question for her!!! I could not stop laughing. The wax figures were brilliant - even saw a few that Madame Tussaud had done herself - incredible. A brilliant 4D experience was the last thing through the building and the effects were stunning - think Movieworld but BETTER. The 3D parts were so real and when Wolverine was stabbing into metal, you would get a jab in your back from the seat. I would scream/giggle. Bobbie wasn't so scared - poor wee poppet!
We stopped for a croissant and coffee on our way out - UGH ... worst croissant we've had - dry and lifeless.
We then made our way to the Tower Bridge where we got rejected because of our voucher - apparently the Wholesaler hadn't been paying them, so we were sent on our way. We couldn't be bothered buying a ticket so walked across the bridge and decided to go to the Tower of London. Stop for some traditional fish & chips ... and I had to have the special little box it came in. At 8 pounds, it was expensive ... and then I accidentally knocked Bob's to the ground as she was about to put sauce on it. 5 minutes later, Bobbie was having a very expensive lunch as she refused to let me reimburse and purchased another box. It wasn't that crash hot and when I got a bone in my mouth, that was it. Fish bones and me don't gel.
Onto to Tower of London .... the crown jewels was very interesting, but by this stage ... jet lag was making Bobbie walk like a zombie and my feet had decided to swell and make me walk like I was swaying to a jazz beat all of my own. It was very good though. We were shattered afterwards and made our way back to the apartment where we rested for about an hour before going to meet one of my CIT course buddies for dinner. Ash took us to The Elk in Fulham and ordered the Elk Platter ... cause all three of us were ready to eat a moose by that stage. Loads of laughs and girly giggles made for a great night. Apparently Ash found 'Scream' scary too *sigh* ... now who's going to go on the Jack the Ripper Tour with me huh?
Tuesday found us up bright and um ... earlier making our way to Madame Tussauds. I haven't been there for well over 20 years *warning warning ... age awareness alert*. The lines were INCREDIBLE - we were there by 9.30 and the queue was wrapping right around the domed building. Luckily for us we had prepaid and went into the much quicker queue. Oh my ...... the first room was sooooo full - can anyone say 'sardines'??? Brad & Ang were there, Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera (GEEZ she's tiny ... smaller than Kylie Minogue I'm sure .... but with really big boobs!). Robert Pattison had his own room?!?!? Had some great fun getting up close and pesonal with Princes William & Harry, Johnny Depp (drool, slobber) and Shrek (actually, think I may have gotten a little too close to Shrek ^^). Bobbie DEFINATELY got way too friendly with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and for the sake of tendy innocent eyes, we probably won't post that photo!
There was a separate little display call 'Scream' ... they were adamant that anyone under 12 could not go in as it was apparently very scary. Bobbie & I went in ... well, we are a little over 12 so the age limit was not really an issue. Bob didn't realise there were real people in there (even though they were announcing it beforehand). They were all acting as though they were in an asylum and would suddenly jump out to try and lift the terror level to code brown (you know ... where you have to change your underpants?). The first guy got right up in our faces acting nutty so, I turned around and said 'I like 'em crazy' .... he followed us roughly halfway through the exhibit just constantly going 'ha ha ha'. I just went into giggles. Meanwhile shuffling in front of me, Bobbie has her head down and is hiding behind the young boys hoping the people don't notice her (and I believe she was wishing fervently that I would stop interacting with the crazies). When we got out she said how scary it was ... I guess going on the Jack the Ripper Tour is out of the question for her!!! I could not stop laughing. The wax figures were brilliant - even saw a few that Madame Tussaud had done herself - incredible. A brilliant 4D experience was the last thing through the building and the effects were stunning - think Movieworld but BETTER. The 3D parts were so real and when Wolverine was stabbing into metal, you would get a jab in your back from the seat. I would scream/giggle. Bobbie wasn't so scared - poor wee poppet!
We stopped for a croissant and coffee on our way out - UGH ... worst croissant we've had - dry and lifeless.
We then made our way to the Tower Bridge where we got rejected because of our voucher - apparently the Wholesaler hadn't been paying them, so we were sent on our way. We couldn't be bothered buying a ticket so walked across the bridge and decided to go to the Tower of London. Stop for some traditional fish & chips ... and I had to have the special little box it came in. At 8 pounds, it was expensive ... and then I accidentally knocked Bob's to the ground as she was about to put sauce on it. 5 minutes later, Bobbie was having a very expensive lunch as she refused to let me reimburse and purchased another box. It wasn't that crash hot and when I got a bone in my mouth, that was it. Fish bones and me don't gel.
Onto to Tower of London .... the crown jewels was very interesting, but by this stage ... jet lag was making Bobbie walk like a zombie and my feet had decided to swell and make me walk like I was swaying to a jazz beat all of my own. It was very good though. We were shattered afterwards and made our way back to the apartment where we rested for about an hour before going to meet one of my CIT course buddies for dinner. Ash took us to The Elk in Fulham and ordered the Elk Platter ... cause all three of us were ready to eat a moose by that stage. Loads of laughs and girly giggles made for a great night. Apparently Ash found 'Scream' scary too *sigh* ... now who's going to go on the Jack the Ripper Tour with me huh?
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wakey Wakey Sleepy Head
Lisa checking in ............
So the plan was to meet up with some family today (Sunday). Didn't get to bed until after 12 (fairly sure Bobbie had her second wind and lasted a good deal longer than me) and woke promptly before 8am - there really is no way I can sleep in ... even with jetlag *sigh* It was sometime later that my spooning partner awoke ... groggily ..... crying out for coffee. By the time we had had breakfast, beautified ourselves and attempted some sort of organisation it was close to 11.30am. Wandered up and down the High Street here in Kensington for a while before meeting the lovely lovely Raili (Jari's cousin and my Raili's namesake).
Raili is an air steward with Air New Zealand and as luck would have it, her roster was clear this weekend so it was possible to catch up. Being as organised as we were ... we rattled off all the places we were keen to see with our own personal tour guide "um, dunno ... what do you think Raili?" :) It was fine though, she knew just what to do. So off we went in search of adventure and mayhem.
With Raili brandishing her scarf like a professional, we navigated the tube and found ourselves in Leicester Square where, while Raili search her clever little 'find a deal' iphone app, Bobbie and I contented ourselves with taking photos of ourselves (aka selfies). Photo bombing was a good giggle and when we get a cord to connect the camera we'll upload it .... classic. Had lunch in the Cafe Rouge which was very very nice, complete with frenchmen. Great value - two course meal for 8 pounds and Bobbie & Raili were very very appreciative of the wine on offer! So after our long leisurely 2 hour lunch, we were ready to move again. Off through Soho, down Carnaby Street (Oh, the most DEVINE and quirky shoe shop there) and into one of Raili's fav perfume stores. Note to self: Must get the name of that gorgeous rose perfume. Earlier in Carnaby St Raili had recognised a doctor from one of the shows on TV - something about horrible medical stories that he fixes .... sounds like an SBS show ;P Later in the perfumery Bobbie was super excited to be standing next to him as he sniffed the tester bottles and using elegant sign language *cough* wondered whether it would be rude to tap him on the shoulder and say hey! Verdict was ... if he crossed our path a third time it was a sign ...... there was no sign. But hey, she stood next to him right?
Bit of a wander down Regent Street ... amazing buildings curving in one structure. Impressive. Bobbie had found a like minded soul in Raili and we HAD to go into Zara ... I really must learn how to shop. Went to Piccadilly Circus and found the majority of the tourists sitting ON the fountain looking like a bunch of locasts descended on a crop of corn but with the street music playing, cars and buses flashing by and lights flashing all around - it was a great atmosphere ... would love to see it at night. Love seeing London with fresh eyes!
Then it was time to part company for our next date :) Our nephew Cody & his gorgeous girlfriend Karlie recently moved to London so we had an appointment to meet them for dinner in Covent Garden at 7.00am. Had to go home and freshen up a little after the days walking tour however unfortunately for us there was a lot of engineering works going on with the Underground which totally messed up our navigation skills to get us there in time.... ok, Bob takes a while to get ready ... which is probably why she always looks great. I'm too lazy 'meh, this'll do' Finally made it there at 8.15am OOPS
Had a great time though ... so proud of them both, great jobs, great attitude. Cody sounded a little concerned about having dinner with the aunties as on his facebook status he said he was taking a hammer in case it all went south (literary license taken here on the wording ;P) Didn't go south and Bobbie & I returned to our apartment exhausted but without hammer shaped dents in our skulls. I promptly fell into bed ... and Bobbie stayed up - night owl that she is.
Too knackered to continue with today's adventure ........... stay tuned xo
So the plan was to meet up with some family today (Sunday). Didn't get to bed until after 12 (fairly sure Bobbie had her second wind and lasted a good deal longer than me) and woke promptly before 8am - there really is no way I can sleep in ... even with jetlag *sigh* It was sometime later that my spooning partner awoke ... groggily ..... crying out for coffee. By the time we had had breakfast, beautified ourselves and attempted some sort of organisation it was close to 11.30am. Wandered up and down the High Street here in Kensington for a while before meeting the lovely lovely Raili (Jari's cousin and my Raili's namesake).
Raili is an air steward with Air New Zealand and as luck would have it, her roster was clear this weekend so it was possible to catch up. Being as organised as we were ... we rattled off all the places we were keen to see with our own personal tour guide "um, dunno ... what do you think Raili?" :) It was fine though, she knew just what to do. So off we went in search of adventure and mayhem.
With Raili brandishing her scarf like a professional, we navigated the tube and found ourselves in Leicester Square where, while Raili search her clever little 'find a deal' iphone app, Bobbie and I contented ourselves with taking photos of ourselves (aka selfies). Photo bombing was a good giggle and when we get a cord to connect the camera we'll upload it .... classic. Had lunch in the Cafe Rouge which was very very nice, complete with frenchmen. Great value - two course meal for 8 pounds and Bobbie & Raili were very very appreciative of the wine on offer! So after our long leisurely 2 hour lunch, we were ready to move again. Off through Soho, down Carnaby Street (Oh, the most DEVINE and quirky shoe shop there) and into one of Raili's fav perfume stores. Note to self: Must get the name of that gorgeous rose perfume. Earlier in Carnaby St Raili had recognised a doctor from one of the shows on TV - something about horrible medical stories that he fixes .... sounds like an SBS show ;P Later in the perfumery Bobbie was super excited to be standing next to him as he sniffed the tester bottles and using elegant sign language *cough* wondered whether it would be rude to tap him on the shoulder and say hey! Verdict was ... if he crossed our path a third time it was a sign ...... there was no sign. But hey, she stood next to him right?
Bit of a wander down Regent Street ... amazing buildings curving in one structure. Impressive. Bobbie had found a like minded soul in Raili and we HAD to go into Zara ... I really must learn how to shop. Went to Piccadilly Circus and found the majority of the tourists sitting ON the fountain looking like a bunch of locasts descended on a crop of corn but with the street music playing, cars and buses flashing by and lights flashing all around - it was a great atmosphere ... would love to see it at night. Love seeing London with fresh eyes!
Then it was time to part company for our next date :) Our nephew Cody & his gorgeous girlfriend Karlie recently moved to London so we had an appointment to meet them for dinner in Covent Garden at 7.00am. Had to go home and freshen up a little after the days walking tour however unfortunately for us there was a lot of engineering works going on with the Underground which totally messed up our navigation skills to get us there in time.... ok, Bob takes a while to get ready ... which is probably why she always looks great. I'm too lazy 'meh, this'll do' Finally made it there at 8.15am OOPS
Had a great time though ... so proud of them both, great jobs, great attitude. Cody sounded a little concerned about having dinner with the aunties as on his facebook status he said he was taking a hammer in case it all went south (literary license taken here on the wording ;P) Didn't go south and Bobbie & I returned to our apartment exhausted but without hammer shaped dents in our skulls. I promptly fell into bed ... and Bobbie stayed up - night owl that she is.
Too knackered to continue with today's adventure ........... stay tuned xo
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Are we there yet?
YES!!!!
So the adventure has begun. Bobbie & I arrived separately at the very 'special' Sydney Airport International Inn. It was very quiet in the hallway until I knocked (code like). The door opened and then there we were jumping up and down squealing with excitement and going in circles. Hope no-one was sleeping. It was a while before we calmed down and finally went to sleep at about 1.30am.
Got to the airport in the morning and tried on a little travel agenty type sweet talking at the Check-In counter. We were hoping for a little insider information on just how full the plane was and whether we could be positioned so that we could quickly grab adjacent seats in order to lie down. Not to be - would have so totally worked for us had the plane not been at 90% capacity as I was handing out London accommodation information to the Check In lady like a pro!
Going through Duty Free was amusing .... we got as far as the comestics area and spent a good deal of our time there shopping. Ooops. Watched about 4 movies on our way to Hong Kong ... laughed out loud numerous times at Little Fockers. funny
A 6 hour wait in Hong Kong Airport was not a problem - window shopping was brilliant and we were taking notes left right and centre for our return visit. The only problem was when Bobbie discovered Zara .... she just about went into meltdown and I could have sworn she wanted me to leave her there! "We're coming back Bob" .... her sad little face as we exited the store was only softened because she let herself buy a very cute little denim jacket.
The flight to London was a cattle train ... omg, sooooo many people. Our travel agent/CIT teacher/friend certainly got us the best seats - right down the back on the side ... actually managed to almost get diagonal! It was a very tiring trip so we were really glad to arrive in London at long last after over 12 hours. Having the break in between was genius. Had arranged the airport transfer for about 1.5 hours after our arrival fully expecting that customs and immigration would take that amount of time. Apparently at 5.30am there's barely anyone in the area. Did not see a single customs agent (and we did have the song 'bad boys' backing up our approach) and were through in just 15 minutes. A little more sweet talking, and a handover of my business card got us our transfer early. Arrived at our accommodation to find no-one was there to meet us ... and so we sat on the stoop. Stoop sitting is not all it's cracked up to be. An American lady was starting to feel very sorry for us and we eventually got a number for the actually apartment manager ... the damn booking agent (despite numerous calls) had not let him know we were arriving at any particular time. Let that be a lesson "Without a travel agent, you're on your own!"
We jumped on the tube and figured we'd go check out Covent Garden. Didn't know if the train was going in the right direction ... just felt like winging it. Gorgeous part of town .... loved it ... the market was cute and plenty to see. Felt very weary close to lunch so went back to the apartment and had a snooze for a couple of hours.
Went to see Chicago last night too ... and we both very nearly fell asleep. We managed to peg open our eyes and the show was FANTASTIC. Amazing, funny, brilliant. So delirious with sleep depravation we made our way back to the apartment to the tune of Bobbie attempting (and failing dismally) with a British accent "Allo Govna ... you got a fiver, I'll give ya a fiver for lifting your skirt" ... oh dear, could be a long trip if she tries Italian! Got to the apartment and found the door ajar. EEEEK!!! Slowly entered (we did what all those crazy women on horror movies do - what is with that?) Holding our newly purchased brollies aloft, we entered ready to club whoever had broken in. Checked the toilet 'clear'.... shower recess? 'clear'... loft? 'clear' ... kitchen cupboards (you know .. .they always hide in there waiting for you to fall asleep!) 'clear' .... oh dear, first night here and we didn't shut the door properly. Oops our bad!
So the adventure has begun. Bobbie & I arrived separately at the very 'special' Sydney Airport International Inn. It was very quiet in the hallway until I knocked (code like). The door opened and then there we were jumping up and down squealing with excitement and going in circles. Hope no-one was sleeping. It was a while before we calmed down and finally went to sleep at about 1.30am.
Got to the airport in the morning and tried on a little travel agenty type sweet talking at the Check-In counter. We were hoping for a little insider information on just how full the plane was and whether we could be positioned so that we could quickly grab adjacent seats in order to lie down. Not to be - would have so totally worked for us had the plane not been at 90% capacity as I was handing out London accommodation information to the Check In lady like a pro!
Going through Duty Free was amusing .... we got as far as the comestics area and spent a good deal of our time there shopping. Ooops. Watched about 4 movies on our way to Hong Kong ... laughed out loud numerous times at Little Fockers. funny
A 6 hour wait in Hong Kong Airport was not a problem - window shopping was brilliant and we were taking notes left right and centre for our return visit. The only problem was when Bobbie discovered Zara .... she just about went into meltdown and I could have sworn she wanted me to leave her there! "We're coming back Bob" .... her sad little face as we exited the store was only softened because she let herself buy a very cute little denim jacket.
The flight to London was a cattle train ... omg, sooooo many people. Our travel agent/CIT teacher/friend certainly got us the best seats - right down the back on the side ... actually managed to almost get diagonal! It was a very tiring trip so we were really glad to arrive in London at long last after over 12 hours. Having the break in between was genius. Had arranged the airport transfer for about 1.5 hours after our arrival fully expecting that customs and immigration would take that amount of time. Apparently at 5.30am there's barely anyone in the area. Did not see a single customs agent (and we did have the song 'bad boys' backing up our approach) and were through in just 15 minutes. A little more sweet talking, and a handover of my business card got us our transfer early. Arrived at our accommodation to find no-one was there to meet us ... and so we sat on the stoop. Stoop sitting is not all it's cracked up to be. An American lady was starting to feel very sorry for us and we eventually got a number for the actually apartment manager ... the damn booking agent (despite numerous calls) had not let him know we were arriving at any particular time. Let that be a lesson "Without a travel agent, you're on your own!"
We jumped on the tube and figured we'd go check out Covent Garden. Didn't know if the train was going in the right direction ... just felt like winging it. Gorgeous part of town .... loved it ... the market was cute and plenty to see. Felt very weary close to lunch so went back to the apartment and had a snooze for a couple of hours.
Went to see Chicago last night too ... and we both very nearly fell asleep. We managed to peg open our eyes and the show was FANTASTIC. Amazing, funny, brilliant. So delirious with sleep depravation we made our way back to the apartment to the tune of Bobbie attempting (and failing dismally) with a British accent "Allo Govna ... you got a fiver, I'll give ya a fiver for lifting your skirt" ... oh dear, could be a long trip if she tries Italian! Got to the apartment and found the door ajar. EEEEK!!! Slowly entered (we did what all those crazy women on horror movies do - what is with that?) Holding our newly purchased brollies aloft, we entered ready to club whoever had broken in. Checked the toilet 'clear'.... shower recess? 'clear'... loft? 'clear' ... kitchen cupboards (you know .. .they always hide in there waiting for you to fall asleep!) 'clear' .... oh dear, first night here and we didn't shut the door properly. Oops our bad!
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