damo & kath get lost: london, uk

4 - 14 November, 2014

Aren't you lucky, you beautiful readers you. Two posts in quick succession of each other? You're welcome :)

Today's post is all about London, innit. London was never part of the plan, however after discovering how many people we know in London, we decided it was worthwhile making the short flight from New York to visit some of our closest (in a social, not spatial way) friends. So we did. And it was awesome.

The highlights

Giant shout out to the awesome people! In no particular order (other than Zara, who is first because she put up with our stuff in her beautiful home for 10 days, and Mike and Joe for hosting us for 2 nights): Zara Symes and her housemate Adele, Michael Wickham, Joe Langford, Katie Callaghan and her baby Joe Joe, Annika Hudson, Andrew Halliday, Em Moran, Maz McEwan and her boyfriend Keith, Nadine Von and her partner Lex, Leah Davies, Chris Marsh, Nicola Andrews, and Sophie Chapple. You all rock! Thanks for taking the time to see us, share some coffee/beers, and show us an awesome time!
Then there was some touristy stuff, like the hop on hop off bus, river cruise and ghost tour (all of which I recommend, especially the ghost tour which ended up being a private tour with this proper English chap).
Markets. I can never get sick of markets. Although for some inexplicable reason they all start with B? We checked out Broadway, Borough and Brixton markets. Being beautiful but busy, big bravo born by... barkets. That's the best B sentence I could come up with. Terrible. I challenge you to do better!
We utilised a present from Aaron, Alisha, Andy and Justin to enjoy the London Eye. In style I might ad, with a classy glass of bubbles. Thanks guys!
We were joined by Zara and Halliday to watch Wicked the musical, which was, well, wicked I guess.
Fireworks for Guy Fawkes night, where there was even two dudes battling it out with lightening. Weird. And muddy. But fun!
Home cooked meals, namely made by Em and Zara where we drank good wine and talked about nothing for hours. And laughed. Oh man did we laugh.

It was incredible catching up with everyone. Thanks to the modern science of aeroplanes, hopefully we can do it all again some time.

The Summary

Weather: Cold and overcast however surprisingly we managed to avoid most of the rain. We even saw some blue sky occasionally!
Activities: Mostly centred around catching up with friends and food.
Food: Yes please. Home cooked meals galore!

Beverages: Red wine and beers. Hearty.

People: All the friends!
Accommodation: Zara's comfortable bed and two nights crashing at Mike and Joe's pad. Thanks guys!
Budget: Under budget thanks to the generosity of our London friends :)
Fun fact: At the Savoy hotel, they are superstitious about hosting dinner with 13 guests. So much so, that if you had 13 guests, they would have a member of the staff join. After a while, with staff members bickering, they substituted the 14th staff member for a wooden cat (who has a full table setting prepared). They still carry out this practice to this day.
Overall: London was awesome, great catching up with everyone, and miss you all already!

Over and out, until the next blog detailing our trip to Paris!

Bye bye,
Damo (and Kath)

We look good! Some of our fave peeps - H, Em and Zarz. Thanks for all the yummy dnners and laughs.

Our gracious hosts - Zara and Adele. You gals rock!

They said make yourself at home. So I did.

3 girls, delicious food and a limp flower. Sorry I missed you Nix, next time!

You can get this photo enlarged and printed to put on your wall if you want. We're the next boy band. Yours truly with Mike, Joe and their flattie Mark.

Hanging out with the gang at Brixton markets. Thanks for coming down, Soph!

Preparing for a great night out near Hackney with Mike, Annika and Joe.

Kath and Leah catching up whilst Damo caught up with Nadine and Lex (photo missing).

Guy Fawkes fun, with all the fireworks behind us. No, I'm not giving a thumbs up, I'm holding a handbag. I quite like it. No judging!

At Guy Fawkes, these guys would battle old school. With lightening. I think the red guy one. The blue guy was then sent to the glue factory. (I think he worked there)

Maz and Keith. Haven't seen Maz in about a decade!

Kath and Zara hugging under a sign of irony. On their cultural art gallery hopping adventure.

Guess where my right hand is...

For rememberence day, they planted over 880,000 plastic poppies around the tower of London representing every fallen soldier from world war 1. Plus, there was blue sky. Incredible.

London bridge, not falling down.

Jump shots are most fun in densely packed crowds. Mainly for me. Not anyone else.

The millennium bridge on a sunny day!

Tower of London as viewed from a boat cruise - such tourists.

This pic kinda captures it all - double decka buses, bridges, London Eye, Big Ben, it's quite spectacular.

Trafalgar square. Despite my thorough search, the monopoly man could not be found.

Big Ben doing his thing.

London eye against a London sky.

The only people that seemed to ride the merry go round were adults. Go figure.

Pretty sure I won the stare off with these two dodgy characters.

Coffee at sunset in the park just outside Buckingham Palace. At 3:30 in the afternoon. Oh yeah, sun sets just after 4pm in November. What's January like??

However once the sun does set, the lights come on and it's incredible!

Some very cool streets in London town. Nice houses too.

The tour guide from the ghost tour. Although I could see straight through most of his stories... eh? Straight through? Forget it.

A kid of about 8 took this photo and totally nailed it! Was a great show too.

Enjoying the view from the London Eye on a clear night. Thanks again Mete's and Burmeister's! Best 30th bday pressie ever!

And there she is, in all her glory! Although that's big Ben, so let's call it a he. There he is in all his glory! Now it sounds dirty. Let's just say London is pretty.