From the Sublime to the Ridiculous...

A significant part of squiring said Mother and partner around town is weaving an interesting (and largely unplanned) trail of meals and snacks.  Last Sunday we were off to tackle tourist things again and after another excellent trip on the London Eye (my 4th), we were somewhat stymied in our plans to visit Westminster Abbey and St Pauls Cathedral (apparently they do services, being Sunday and all, and out of respect, rubber-neckers are not welcome...) and decided to console ourselves by lunching at the cafe in the Methodist Central Hall Westminster, just opposite Westminster Abbey (http://www.c-h-w.com/cafe/index.shtml).  So down to the 'crypt' we went...to be surprised and thoroughly delighted by nice comfy seats and delicious great value food (my pollock in courgette and mushroom was fantastic and the roast of the day looked excellent too)...with drinks it was all about £7-8 each...what a bargain!

Later in the afternoon, having made our way to that other great London tourist mecca, Harrods, we stopped for a coffee in the Ca'puccino cafe down in the gift shop.  It's got these really awesome white Alice in Wonderland chairs and an extremely indulgent list of coffees...anyway, we decided to lash out on a Custard Cream coffee (him), a Pannacotta coffee (said Mother) and something that I couldn't pronounce that had layered liquid dark chocolate, coffee and soya (to replace the milk).  They came in glasses not much bigger than something that you'd swig a large shot of tequila from (which, in deliciously rich hindsight, was about all we could manage anyway) and were so-o-o pretty to look at...the bill, on the other hand, came to about £16.

And like naughty children, we loved every sublime minute...

The Eye in the Sky...

In honour of my friend K departing for Down Under this week (well today actually!), yesterday we embarked on an action-packed day in London town to celebrate her penultimate 24 hours in Ol' Blighty...and to get the very best overview, we started off with a trip on the London Eye (http://www.londoneye.com/). This large 'wheel' began its life on the south bank of the Thames on New Year's Eve 1999 to celebrate the new millenium...and during the 30min trip, provides the most spectacular views of London. I've included some of my pics below for you to have a squiz yourself...

Next we took a River Cruise which started at London Eye and chugged down river just past Tower Bridge and back again - another fascinating way to see and learn about the history of London although the colonial in me did flinch a little on the inside to learn that St Katherine's Docks was where the convicts were assembled for transportation to Australia. No pics of this to share yet as my camera battery chose this moment to advise that it was awfully tired and needed to rest - timing is everything!

After this we wandered through two of London's loveliest parks - St James' Park & Green Park. One of the things I love about Londoners is their absolute celebration of gorgeous sunny weather - lots of people get out into the parks/along the riverbanks to lunch, sleep, play and even have business meetings - yes, I walked past some semi-serious coffee & compendium types sitting in the 'deck-chairs-for-hire' in Green Park. There is a real sense of 'making the most of it' that I don't think we have in Australia but maybe that's a case of 'too much' sunny weather and familiarity breeding a bit of contempt.

Anyhow, K is off tonight so it will just be me in my cosy (aka small) flat again so stay tuned to see what other adventures come my way...

View of back of Charing Cross Station

View of London

View of St Paul's Cathedral dome

View over St James' Park to Buckingham Palace

View of Houses of Parliament at Westminster & Big Ben