DAY 101-107 - London the finale!

A week in London - the highlights package!
** An early start and we were on our way back to Athens airport (again!) to catch our Easyjet flight to Berlin, Germany.  We were surprised upon arriving at Berlin the lack of customs and passport control and this lead to a few questions when boarding our Ryanair flight a couple of hours later as we had, no stamp in our passports to say we had 'entered' Germany so they were a little confused as to whether we were allowed to get a stamp to say we were leaving...hmm confusing stuff!
** In the departure lounge The pack met another fellow Kiwi Nicoletta. We had not met a lot of Kiwi's on our travels, the majority of our fellow hostelliers were Aussies so meeting fellow Kiwis is a treat. Boarding our Ryanair flight Abby got a seat next to Nicoletta and spent the next two hours discussing travelling, Flight of the Concords and other essentially New Zealand topics. They left each other at customs saying " well have a nice life" etc. another random meeting.

** For accommodation in London we hunted out Hillspring Lodge. It was located near Willesden Green  so we got a week pass for unlimited travel between zone's 1&2 on the tube. Hillspring Lodge was excellent, since it was reasonably priced, the bunks were solid, and the breakfasts were some of the top ones we'd had with accommodation. We were sorry to leave this place for Smart Hyde Park Inn for the last two nights in London.

** 2 stops down from the Hostel is the much revered Lord's Cricket Ground which we thought we'd check out... little did we know (being such Cricket fans and all!) that the 5 day test between England and Pakistan was to begin the following day so the Grounds were swarming with security and we had to get our bags searched and be patted down just to get into the souvenir shop - craziness!

** Next on list was the Tate Modern as recommended by our new friends from Oakhall. During the fantastic breakfast that morning it was noted that the south of England was due for torrential rain. As we left the lodge under blue sky we scoffed at the weather report ( a risky thing to do as we don't live in London what do we know a about London weather?). By the time we emerged from the underground at Southwark (pronounced suthark) the sky looked more menacing, heavy rain filled clouds crowded above us. Briskly we walked to Blackfrairs bridge to attempt to find a graffiti art by Banksy (Abby's little obsession seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy). Alas it was not to be found so we turned our feet along the river Thames to the Museum... seconds before we enter the heavens broke and the forecast rain began. So we entered the Museum along with half the other tourists residing in London.

The collections in Tate Modern consist of works of international modern and contemporary art dating from 1900 onwards.
The Tate Collection is on display on levels three and five of the building, while level four houses large temporary exhibitions ( not free therefore not viewed) and a small exhibition space on level two houses work by contemporary artists.
 The galleries are in the former Bankside Power Station.
We wandered through giant rooms filled with giant sculptures, paintings, statues, movies, by artists such as Monet, Picasso, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali.
As we started to leave the Museum our attention was captured by classical music and a gathering crowd on the mezzanine floor above a massive open space (turbine hall where the electricity generators of the old power station, is five storeys tall with 3,400 square metres of floorspace) Looking down to the bottom floor we saw a group of ballet dancers rehearsing on bars set up on the painted wooden floor. It was mesmerising watching them stretch and move.

Feeling culturally fulfilled we dashed back out into the rain to a pub we had passed on the way to the museum, that we noted with our bargain seeking radars, had shared meals. We slowly ate our nachos hoping the weather would ease but to no avail it steadily poured down from the sky. Our great plans for the day also drained away. So instead we decided to full fill Abby's other desire, to find a Good Flat White or a flat white would do. Off to Soho to find the Flat White Cafe. More running through the rain, weaving between the black umbrellas and down narrow streets we discovered the cafe and a Good Flat White. Hooray!!    
** Most definitely the biggest highlight of our time in London was hanging out with Abby's friend Nicola (you may recall her from previous blogs when she took us under her wing, back in our early London days and that she was looking after some excess baggage while we were in Greece) 

she was tour guide extraordinaire providing lots of useful London tips and it was lovely having another member in the Pack!  We meet up with Nicola our first night back to retrieve the 'excess' luggage and she took us to this great place called GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen). It's run by Kiwis and golly gosh the Burgers are AMAZING! They also had other classic kiwi items on the menu such as L&P and Whitaker's Chocolate. So the awesome Nicola printed us off 2-4-1 vouchers and we tucked into a great feed. A dose of Kiwi goodness was just what we needed after arriving back into the average weather of London.

** Again we seeked
Kath and Jess, so culturally knowledgeable, were able to walk around in record time. Abby and Nicole were left in their dust to emerge an hour later than these speedy art appreciators. Highlights were van Gogh- Sun flowers, Claude Monet- The Water-Lily Pond ,Paul Cezanne, Bellini,Botticelli,Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo.. well actually the list would get a bit long you get the point.

** The changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace happens at 11am every other day and we thought we'd get there early to get a good spot... turns out that by 10:30 at least 1000 other people had, had this good idea before us!  Nevertheless we split up and found some good spots by the main and east gate.  The ceremony is quite a grand affair with two lots of guards marching, one from St James's palace and the other from the Wellington barracks, each with a full marching band leading the way and if that's not enough a group of mounted soldiers proceed in and out for what reason we are not entirely sure!  By the main gate, Molly the policewoman was in charge and spent the entire 2 hours trying to ensure that people were walking on the left and that the crowd kept back so that there was a walkway for them to do so.  This lady had the patience of a saint as one silly tourist after another made her life difficult - unfortunately she didn't resort to the tactics of the policemen across from her, who got one of the mounted policemen to back his horse into the crowd to create the walkway through! She was also very helpful in telling us what was going to happen in the changing of the guard as alot of it happens in front of the palace which we couldn't see.  With not being able to see alot, we didn't miss out as the crowd around us provided us with plenty of entertainment.

** An afternoon in Greenwich.  Although Greenwich is just across the river from London, it feels isolated and still has a bit of a village feel. We stopped at the Information Centre, which was also a museum and made the most of the various, props and dress ups. 

We then made our way to the Greenwich markets. These were filled with stalls ranging from leather products and jewellery right through to food and antiques. We managed to fill in a good couple of hours wandering around and talking to the stall owners. Seeing as we were in Greenwich we thought it was probably best to go and see the Meridian (the point of 0 degrees longitude, where east meets west) we joined the line to stand on the meridian line and explored the clock and telescope museums that were located around the sight.

** Nicola suggested a trip out to Richmond as a way to escape some of the hustle and bustle of a bank holiday weekend in London.  Richmond is located along the river Thames on the outskirts of London.  We spent some of the morning sitting in the sun having a cup of tea and spying out some of the cheeky squirrels including the native red squirrel.  A long walk riverside found us to be just a little lost but we eventually found our way back to Richmond for some dinner before heading back to London to see the Phantom of the Opera.

** After an "interesting" couple of hours checking out the Notting Hill carnival - Europe's largest street carnival attracting over 1 million people - madness!  We ventured off to something a little more sedate... the Old Spitafield markets.  This is a large covered market containing everything from leather goods to jewellery to the whole range of food stalls.
** Hillsong Church London.  Throughout our travels we have been to a range of churches. In my (Nicole's) personal opinion Hillsong London was one if not the favourite. The service was held in the Dominion Theatre which during the week is where the musical We Will Rock You can be seen. The music was awesome, the band was great and one of the speakers was a kiwi so that was a bonus. The evening service was filled with music and praying with a short message on focusing on the Healer rather than the healing. Most of the music was new but they did bring out One Way which had everyone in the building bouncing.

** Hamleys - 6 storeys of toy goodness.  After going to a Hamley's store in Glasgow we thought we better go the original store. The London Hamley's made the Glasgow store look tiny. Each level had a different range of toys, one floor was just for soft toys! The best thing about Hamleys is that you can try before you buy which is an idea of brilliance.

** When picking a show to go to, we agreed upon our top three most wanted: The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables. This mad it easy since The Lion King was booked out, Les Mes was more expensive and had average seats available left, and so we went to Phantom and got front balcony seats (which I (Kath) appreciated, since there were therefore no tall people in front to block the view).

Phantom was phantastic!!! haha. The singing was amazing, and the sophistication of theatre set was incredible. We all sat packed in seats with little leg room and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Alas they were strict about prohibiting cameras throughout the show so we have only photos of the stage before the show began. I'll assume that most people will know the story line, and if not... you should remedy that fast. In all we'd highly recommend seeing it live, and words cannot describe the awesomeness of the production. London west end really knows how to put on a show!

** Kath and Abby decided on their last night in London to treat them selves to another west end show. Kath's Nana Roy had recommended the The Mousetrap. The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,000 performances so far. It is the longest running show (of any type) of the modern era. The play is also known for its twist ending, which at the end of every performance the audience is asked not to reveal. So it shall not be revealed Ha! Well if the price is right..... Any way it was a very enjoyable play all preformed around one set, clever and great acting.
(Random pictures to finish)