London Trip 2014
Here lies the (heavily edited, elided, editorialised?) photographic record of my trip to London in June 2014 to meet up with Chris and explore a foreign land. Along the way I hit Liverpool for two days and stayed with Dave, and then we made the trip to Spain for a week to stay with the gracious David and Dave in their apartment near the beach.
All of the pics here have been resized down to 1200 pixels wide (originally around 4k) so if you’d like a higher-quality version of some of the images, please let me know and I’ll send it. I’d put them all up at full quality but they total 24GB. :P
After getting some decent sleep for the first time in two days, I jumped on the bus with Chris on his way to work in Kensington. Lots of pics from the bus as I saw the city for the first time, plus: — My first breakfast at Bill’s Restaurant and Cafe in Kensington High Street Station — Wandering through Whole Foods and seeing their exclusive British Cheese area, lol — Entering the massive Kensington Park and seeing the Palace, the gardens, and the native waterfowl near Hyde Park — Popping into Whiteleys’ to get a shot of their cool interior — Running across a new family of potentially deadly swans being taunted by small children while their father egged them on
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Wandering from Chris’ place in Battersea north over the bridge and into Chelsea, which I initially mistook for a slummy area until a Lamborghini drove past. It’s actually a snobby, monstrously overpriced area! Chris was travelling that night so I ended up staying out late after walking through the Buckingham Palace area and had dinner in Park Lane Hard Rock Café to escape the light rain. I apparently picked the most expensive Hard Rock in the city, but the servings were ridiculously huge.
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Caught the bus into Kensington with Chris again, and had a breakfast omelette at a very respectable-looking French café on the corner heading east. Wandered down to South Kensington where I ran across the incredibly impressive Natural History Museum and got distracted by a temporary butterfly show. A zillion photos and my camera died, so I left the Museums until another day.
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Our first weekend to explore the city. We caught the ferry down to Greenwich, snapping shots of the landmarks and bridges we travelled past. Here lies the Cutty Sark, which until that point had just been a weird name I’d heard in my childhood. We had brunch on the waterfront then walked through the greens to the Observatory, escaping the rain in the gift shop and cafeteria before checking out the telescope. Wandering slowly back down the hill, we caught the ferry in the rain and stopped at Tower where we discovered we’d need to auction off limbs in order to afford a ticket inside. A gentle walk took us back to a connection home, but not before we covered lots more of the city including St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gerkin, an inexplicably a Bollywood film set.
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Off to Brighton Beach we go — my first pebble beach. Weird but at least there’s no sand going everywhere. Beautiful warm weather the entire time. Found the naked beach area as we walked down the board walk towards ice creams, sand sculptures, and adverts for disgusting mushy pea pies. Once we’d explored the beach and amusement area on the pier, we headed into town itself. Windy little roads and strange shops abound, including a dog cafe.
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Here lay the remains of the British Olympic Games. It’s a nice open space with pretty buildings, but I wasn’t too impressed with the upkeep of the area — it’s basically a ghost town. Kind of sad to see. And everything is gated so tourists can’t even see the olympic pool or velodrome without paying to get in. Also in this album are the shoes that gave me fifty cent blisters that I still have almost a month later and a Lego shop that was inside the nearby Westfields plaza. Did a little gift shopping in there.
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Tuesday I jumped on the train to Liverpool to visit Dave (my ex) and see he and his husband’s place that they’d just rebuilt a significant portion of. Caught the Virgin train, taking about two hours, and then explored the city as much as I could before meeting Dave at around 8:30pm. Liverpool is much bigger than I thought it was. Everyone around me recommended things to check out, including the Cavern Club where the Beatles performed before they made it big, and a variety of cathedrals that are absurdly huge. Bonus points to Liverpool for building a bridge that looks like the birth canal, btw.
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Dave and I spent the day walking through Liverpool starting with a short train trip from the house to town, then into the waterfront. We had croissants for breakfast from a small café with a very friendly waiter, roamed through a few museums, and had lunch at The Pumphouse (endless jokes ensued from all parties). After I saw Dave off at the train station for his flight back to Spain, I spent my last few hours taking shots of the city from a high point and exploring their incredible city library.
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No justification here — I felt really sluggish and slept in. Spent the day sorting through photos and reading in the sun at Chris’ place. He was due home late after a big night out at a work do so I ducked down the road to the local Weatherspoons pub called the Asparagus and had an awesome steak (with peas on the side… I don’t remember the last time I had them alongside steak). This place was incredible value for money — check out the menu — and it was delicious. Apparently the Weatherspoons group stay cheap because of how they purchase ingredients that aren’t too far from their used-by date. Meh, was great.
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Another lazy wandering day leading to discovering a new area of the city, this time Picadilly Circus and Carnaby Street. Along the way near Hyde Park I realised that a heavy metal concert was about to start behind a huge fenced barrier — Lamb of God? Lots of middle aged guys in death metal shirts. Carnaby Street has the most incredible shoe shop I’ve ever seen. Stopped at a lovely pub near Bond or Oxford Street (can’t remember) and had lunch while the city busied itself around me.
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After a week and a half in London we packed up and ran to the airport for Spain. Well, bused to the airport for two hours anyway. Long queue time and baggage issues aside, the flight went quickly and before I knew it the landscape of Spain was passing by outside the window. It was my first trip into a non-English country and I was very excited to get out of the airport and see some real Spanish countryside. It didn’t disappoint. I took lots of pictures of mountains and felt immediately at home. So many thanks to Dave and David for picking us up, hosting us for an entire week, being both fantastic company and tour guides around Denia, and even dropping us off at the end of the week when they didn’t need to. Thanks a ton.
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Wonderfully warm weather, constant sea breeze, a delicious breakfast, and approximately 60 shirtless nineteen-year-old guys in small football shorts goading a large horned animal into stabbing them repeatedly. That sums up our first day in Spain, alongside the awesome Zenza bar we spent two hours basking in afterward and the great dinner cooked by our hosts. (This album contains my favourite picture of Chris btw, the one with pure joy in his eyes.)
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We all got up and half an hour later were eating in a lovely café in Denia. Three servings of the local egg breakfast for the boys, and of course I ordered something unique that took longer to eat than anyone else’s. Wish I’d gotten a pic of the fruit, ham, cheese, preserved meat, and nutella breakfast I had alongside a big chocolate milkshake. Explored Denia that day and took in the pretty mall area that goes on for five hundred metres with trees and lights overhead. Later that week it’d be blanked out for the firework festival and made completely unrecognisable. We tried to visit the other venue of Zenza towards the end of the arvo but didn’t make it; we got distracted by a beachfront resort with sofas and deckchairs and a huge elephant statue. Incredibly peaceful. (Couldn’t help myself getting a shot of the local supermarket. I remember standing in a pharmacy earlier that day trying to work out which tubes in front of me were toothpaste and not denture paste. The words, they mean nothing.)
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Jam packed day. Headed out with Chris in the morning to explore Denia for a while and get some brunch (huge entrée followed by big pizza followed by me giving up), then after cabbing it back to the house we toddled to the beach near the house for an hour or so. First and probably last time I’ll get to wear those speedos in public, because they sure aren’t coming out in Australia. Once we realised that time had escaped us, we rushed back to the house and started getting ready for dinner out. It was incredible — easily some of the best cooked and presented food I’ve ever had. After dessert we were treated to Limoncello — just a little bit potent — and watching a chef cook flambé crepes from scratch, fire jumping to the ceiling. Chris got a great shot of that. Finished off the night late with an unexpected (at least for me) festival. We walked around the pier near the restaurant looking at boats we couldn’t afford and then headed into town to find a presentation of traditional Spanish dresses was on. Caught the tail end of it, then aimed ourselves at the mall area to watch the absurdly unsafe fireworks festival begin. Tons of people dressed as devils running through the mall shooting fireworks everywhere, including on top of people and under their feet. Visually spectacular, and set up to press people down the street towards the big static firework displays. Poor Chris got a hot firework spark to the skull and instantly blistered up. The scab didn’t fall off until a week and a half later.
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On Wednesday David and Dave took us for a trip to Moraira, a beachside town with incredible views and an fantastically well-positioned restaurant where we had a light lunch of tapas meatballs. Yum. Then it was into wine country through the mountains, stopping to purchase a few things from the winery and a random generous fruit vendor, and on to Nick’s bed and breakfast far in the hills. I spent the afternoon cuddling an affectionate dog.
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A quiet lazy day with a brief venture into the wilds of Denia for lunch, a walk through town, and a lot of time sunbathing and swimming at the nude beach (which I obviously don’t have photos of and/or didn’t include photos of). After heading home I had some time to burn while Chris was getting a massage and Dave was putting a barbecue together so I took tons of nature pics out the back. Apologies.
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What an incredible day this was. I’m still not sure how David met Amable but he and his hubby own a huge, gorgeous house in the hills, overlooked by a mountain, with an incredibly lovely interior, a pool, an outside dance floor with nightclub lighting, and a beer tap. He was so generous in inviting us English-only speaking tourist strangers into his home, cooking such great food, and keeping us happy for the afternoon. This was such a good a day, eating wonderful food and playing in the pool. Lots of times when I saw Chris’ face lit up with genuine playful joy. (I’m required by law to mention Chris’ swollen feet, for which I was apparently responsible after stepping on them in the pool. He adopted such a sad look that night. Such a delicate boy.)
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Before we left Spain in the evening, David drove us all down to south Denia for a swanky lunch on the cliffside, in a gorgeous area where rocky land meets the sea and natural caves are carved through the rock at water level for swimmers to explore. Wish I’d jumped in actually. After heading back home and packing up, we started the long sad drive back to Alicante and the airport. No baggage dramas this time, and the security coming out of Spain is so much lighter than when leaving England. Once we touched down it was a coach back to Victoria, then a bus home. Long day.
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Late rise and breakfast at a great café in Battersea. It’s the first time I’ve ever queued at a café and it was entertaining to see how the British automatically form an orderly queue without complaint. Aussies would be bitching and walking away. After a week of shockingly low alcohol prices in Spain it was laughable to see a glass of Cava advertised for five quid. You can get a bottle of the stuff for three or four euros in Spain. After brekky we headed towards Clapham Common, which I wish I’d spent more time in — I immediately felt at home there. Laid back, incredibly beautiful park, lots of male couples cuddling or holding hands or reading together on the grass, and a decent main street of shops, pubs, and bars. Later that day Chris had an apartment viewing going on so I walked along Battersea Reach and took snaps and wrote diary entries for a while. Yet more pictures of ducks! I don’t actually have a waterfowl fetish, just so you know.
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And so came the day that I finally got back to the museum district in Kensington. Last time I got down here my camera died after two pics in the Natural History Museum so I left it for another day. There’s a lot of pics in this gallery. First off was the Science Museum. Loved the main hall — a beautiful space with a huge thin wheel in the middle that had a wrapping LCD screen inside showing a physics demo. Below that was the steam power exhibition, leading into another hall full of space and aeronautics machinery. Tons of stuff to do inside, and four floors to explore. I particularly liked the geometry area where mathematics met papercraft — lots of photos there — and the thread sculptures demonstrating virtual surfaces. Because I’m a cheapskate and hate just buying random junk, the only memento I bought was a custom penny with the science museum’s logo on it. Next was the Victoria and Albert Museum full of art, sculpture, and fashion displays (the latter of which I didn’t spend much time looking at). I have to admit that I was distracted by the male form sculpture in the main hall… amazing that someone can visualise what they want to achieve from a marble block and slowly etch it away into a recognisable, beautiful form. Also, three hundred year-old willies. Beyond that there was a room entirely composed of white and gold decorations which was incredible. Like most encompassing experiences photos don’t do it justice so I’ve only include a shot or two. I wandered aimlessly through exhibition rooms for a while until I found the objects display, a collection of random strange, unique, or beautifully designed common objects. There was an interesting information booth about 3D printed guns as well. Next came the enormous and honestly breathtaking Natural History Museum. From the outside it’s impressive enough, but the inside is amazing. Such a wonderful space, and clearly designed to draw the eye to certain areas of the room. Of course I hit the dinosaur area first and took lots of pics, then wandered through the minerals and jewels section and the Treasures room where one-off, priceless items like moon rocks and dodo skeletons are on show. The giant sequoia tree was my last stop before I ran out of time and jumped on the tube back to Leicester Square to meet Chris as he finished work. I hadn’t explored much of Leicester at that point but suddenly found myself inside a huge M&M World shop. Who even knew M&Ms were important enough to justify a four-level shopping complex. Kinda horrifying, but very well done. I smelt like M&M chocolate for ten minutes after leaving that shop, and I swear they were pumping the aroma out of the building to guide small children towards them like the Pied Piper. Last but not least we walked to Soho. I’d been to Carnaby Street before and explored a few shops, but we went into a bar this time and had a drink. Lovely place, the Rupert St bar.
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Another huge picture day. Started by catching the bus to Kensington and idly retracing the way I’d been through before on my way to Bond St. Yet more ducks. Realised a bit in that I should hit Selfridges, whose impressive window displays I’d seen from afar with Chris a while back. Selfridges is like Australia’s Myer or Grace Bros times a hundred, filled with upper class speciality jewellery, gift, handbag, and confectionery shops who don’t hold back from charging what they think they’re worth. Lunch was served at the Cape Town Fish Market, which is a terrible name really and was way too expensive for what I got. Also, it’s pretty underhanded to charge someone AU$7.50 for a bottle of water without them actually ordering it. Nasty. Stopped in at the Orbital Comics shop at Chris’ recommendation and had a drink somewhere nearby, reading for a bit and just zoning out. Met Chris at around 6:30 and began to head towards the London Eye, where we had tickets to go up above the city that night. The Eye was great, and we chose a perfect day for it with lots of light and little haze. About half an hour later and we would have caught the sunset, but ah well. Saw lots of miscellaneous things on the way back to the apartment, including war memorials, Downing St, Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Column, and a giant blue cock.
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I wandered pretty aimlessly on Wednesday, not taking many pictures but exploring the nooks and crannies of the city. Started with an overground train from Clapham Junction to Waterloo, over the bridge to the south east corner of Green Park where I sat for a bit basking in the sun, and then a lazy walk towards Picadilly and along Shaftbury Avenue. My goal was to finally get to Covent Garden, but it didn’t happen, and distracted, I ended up going back West along Oxford for lunch and a drink with a lucky branch down Berwick discovering Gosh! Comics. (Also, bagpipes are bloody awful.)
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Sent north on a random quest by my mother to locate and sack an international Girl Guides lodge, I boarded the tube to Hampstead. I’d wandered a different route than usual from Chris’ work that morning — north along Kensington Church St — and eventually stumbled across Ladbroke Grove station. Hampstead was a nice spot but I got lost by not looking at my GPS often enough. After I found the Guide’s lodge and got some memorabilia I aimed directly for Hampstead Heath, which I’d been warned about previously as being both ridiculously huge and a big cruising spot for men who enjoy the woods. I stayed on the family-friendly east side. Except for ducking in to have a look at the men’s-only pond that is. Then I almost got myself in trouble by catching a cab that stupidly couldn’t take card (in the middle of a city? how daft). Thankfully I had a fiver and just jumped out early.
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Chris had been telling me to visit Covent Garden for days but I kept getting distracted by other little areas of the city, and parks, and cafés to eat in. So on Friday I aimed directly at it and ignored all other side streets. Covent Garden is lovely. Bought a bunch of postcards, gifts, and two overpriced Banksy prints here (I know, employing capitalism in the pursuit of Banksy art is indefensible). Definitely a tourist trap, but clean and pretty and organised nicely. There’s even shirtless tuk tuk drivers waiting on people in the mall area.
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Oh the boredom of waiting in an airport for six hours. Spent half of it in the lounge being harassed by their staff to take the complimentary massage. Kuala Lumpur is a nice airport aesthetically — cool unique ceilings and a garden in the centre inside a big dome. Bit strange how the escalators are organised though. Before I left I grabbed some banana and walnut bread, along with some carrot cake and a fruit smoothie, from the airport’s Boost bar. Something funny about seeing an Australian brand operating in a Malaysian airport.
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Twenty one hours of flying and waiting in lounges finally got me back to Australia at 10am whereupon I was immediately horrified by the food available at Central. Croissants have forever been ruined for me thanks to the endless French bakeries in London. And wow, you can’t possibly be asking for AU$4.95 for a muffin. I paid £1.60 in Chelsea for god sake. Anyway, home. :)
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Any comments you leave will appear here!
Didn’t they have games on the consoles at your seat? Nice snaps of the flight path.….
I sincerely hope that wasn’t a Malaysian airline! Oh no, wait…you’re back, so I guess not. Ah KL airport.…divine eh?
That brekkie looks suss.…loved the swans, and the shots of Kensington Gardens
Fab shots! Loved the ones from the water…and the eye looks amazing! Geez London has changed since I was there! Who’s the dude with all the microphones and paparazzi?