A Skip In My Step...

So the great Chicky Adventure is done and my sibling partner in crime has arrived back on the other side of the world (and is working through her jet lag by all accounts). 

It was such an amazing two weeks - firstly for the unadulterated 'just us' time, secondly for the opportunity for me to introduce her to this amazing city I call home, and thirdly for our shared pilgrimage to Amsterdam, Dad's childhood home, and the delicacies we enjoyed in memory of our Oma and Opa.

I've been meaning to pick up the blogging 'pencil' again over the last few days but I have felt so full of everything we did that I haven't known where to start. The anticipation of Lil Chicky's first trip here. The pride in the sharing of my new hometown and experiencing its fabulous-ness through her 'new' eyes. The privilege of helping her celebrate her 40th birthday. The sheer intensity of spending 2 weeks - 24/7 - together for the first time since...well forever. 

All underpinned by a lifetime of sisterly memories, the effortless and uncomplicated recall of funny stories, childhood scrapes and sibling rivalry, and squilions of photos... 

...including a few selfies.

DAY 2: Fab Finchley - looking for coffee in the pouring rain.

DAY 3: Can't go to London without visiting the Queen.

DAY 4: Hamers do 'the henge' (squeezed between visits to Salisbury and Bath). Technically not a selfie thanks to a kind Aussie chap on the tour, but close enough.

There's a small selfie gap here while we undertook birthday celebrations (part one - The Mousetrap and dinner in Covent Garden - and two - Pret-a-Portea at The Berkeley)...

DAY 5: Fashionista food at the Berkeley

...Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Globe Theatre and a visit to Carnaby Street.

DAY 6: Yes, we bought these. Because we had to get out of the rain. And the Irregular Choice shop was just there. Really.

Then we went to Amsterdam...

DAY 9: Arriving at Amsterdam's Central Station about 2 minutes before torrential rain...

Waiting for our first poffertjes (teeny tiny pancakes served with butter and icing sugar and eaten with a toothpick) of the pigrimage trip in Dam Square.

(More on Amsterdam in a later post).

After 4 days, we returned to London, hired a car and drove first to Silverstone and then to Donington Circuits to tick a few things off Lil Chicky's motorsport bucket list. Looks like Day 13 was a lucky one...

The Winners' Podium at Silverstone - cheesy but had to be done.

We decided to take Day 14 easy with a visit to the Museum of London after the 'wild storm' had abated...and when Day 15 dawned bright and blue-skied (if a little chilly), there was just one thing left to do...

DAY 15: It endeth on The Eye - our last sibling selfie of the trip.

Full of our time together and tired from our two weeks of tourist-ing, we said our emotional good-byes at Heathrow last Tuesday. After I'd waved until she'd disappeared behind the security barrier, I made the long trip home to Gidday HQ. It's still my warm and cosy haven but a little quieter. And yellow banner of the Money Shop, which became our welcoming 'nearly home' beacon as we turned into my street each night, has now taken on a new and poignant significance. Another memory, meaningless to anyone else but enough to inspire a skip in my step...

...one that only Lil Chicky will understand.

3 Sleeps To Go...A Little Pre-Christmas Cheer

This week I have been in and out of central London to meet with friends for a spot of Christmas cheer. There's something about Christmas lights that make things all glistening and beautiful and so I wanted to share a little of this week's Christmas sparkle with those of you who have spent 2011 following the Gidday journey.

If you remember, my meanderings began with 20 sleeps to go and a wide-eyed wander down Oxford Street.

Creating Christmas magic in Oxford Street

And last week I was dashing down Regent Street to meet friends for a pre-Christmas dinner and managed to snap a couple of sneaky pics in the middle of the bustling crowds:

Christmas lights in Regent Street

So this week it was time to slow down and venture further afield to discover a little more magic:

The famous Liberty of London storefront

Liberty are renowned for their Christmas windows...

...but I have to say that, while these are impressive, my heart still belongs to Christmas windows of department store Myer in my hometown of Melbourne.

Source: Rachel Gray, weekendnotes.com

Anyway, I continued on to fall across that bastion of all things hip, Carnaby Street:

Hmmm the lights look...interesting

They're still um interesting close up!

I finally made my way down to the back streets below Piccadilly Circus to meet my friend...

I do love stumbling across London's amazing churches like this one on the corner of Jermyn and Duke of York Streets

...and after drinks were done, I was off for another festive feed at Westfield London. I was a little early so I managed some sparkly snaps here too.

This was hard to capture but is really spectacular. This is over an 'outdoor' arcade featuring lots of restaurants along the left and the shopping centre entrances to your right. I'm standing outside John Lewis after walking from the tube station close by. Gorgeous!

This is the unadorned ceiling inside - kind of attractive in a wavy way right?

...and their Christmas lights?  Oh no....

So there was nothing left to do but join my Aussie friend, feast on fab Mexican street food at Wahaca and enjoy my first foray into the world of churros...

Churros - gone! Let's face it, anything with this much chocolate is always festive

...before heading home to bask in my very own Christmas Lights at Gidday HQ.

Hope this adds a little sparkle to your Christmas!

ps...the post title says it all peeps. Just 3 sleeps to go. Just naggin' sayin'