(no subject)
It would seem I'm perpetually a month or two behind with this thing!! Please note, none of the pictures in this entry are mine.
Alright, down to business :) So, I was up to Maris' visit!
Maris, her Mum, Josephine, and Maris’ b/f Sebas arrived either on the 7th or 8th of March, while I was at work. They chilled at my place until I got home.
We were all super-excited and had a huge feast ending with red wine and chocolate - and watching CSI!!!
Maris now understands why Horatio is so hilarious - just not the same with Spanish dubbing, lol.
Thursday - after work I met up with them and Blaise and Nick for dinner at a pub called the Knights Templar. It's this nice, airy, CHEAP pub that has a couple of kewl stone round tables, paintings of knights, stone and metal ornaments and the weirdest toilets ever - Mrs G. wanted to take a photo, lol.
Friday Maris and co. were off sight-seeing, whilst I was back at work - lame…
I met them after work at the British Museum!! So wonderful :) They were pretty tired and it was late, so we just stayed for another hour before heading home.
That evening we had another feast and enjoyed CSI Friday on cable, lol. No, there is no such thing as too much CSI.
On Saturday 10th March we went to the Tower of London. We spent 4 hours there and it was FANTASTIC. We went on the free tour, run by a Beefeater, we saw the Crown Jewels, went up and through the various areas of the tower and walked along the castle wall.
Aerial View of the Tower of London
After the Tower of London, we decided to walk around and check out some stuff - all the while looking for a pub to watch the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game that was on that evening.
We saw (the outside) of St. Paul's Cathedral - massive and beautiful. We continued in the direction of the West End, starting to feel slightly concerned that we hadn't yet found a pub that was showing the game.
We finally found a place, and told them we would come back and watch it there... in the meantime, we went and saw Trafalgar Square - it was lovely at night, though it was weird to see all these li'l emo kids with their iPods sitting on the world-famous lions and chillin out with their friends. Not exactly how I spent my early teenage years, loitering on a world famous monument late at night. Yes, I was jealous, lol...
So, we headed back to the pub and found that they were NOT going to show a game with 2 of the best football teams in Spain in one of the greatest grudge matches in Spanish football, they were in fact going to show a REPLAY of some crappy England rugby match. Explain the logic to me people cuz I don't get it!!
In one final bout of desperation we caught the tube (by now our legs were DEAD) and headed to my favourite place in London - Leicester Square. Don't ask me why I like it, I just do.
At Leicester Square we found a random pub called the Crooked Surgeon and the lovely European bouncer made me ever-so-happy when he said they were definitely playing the game, and on all 3 levels of the pub!
So, we settled in with some pub grub and watched a great match! I was going to Real Madrid and I think Seb's or Mrs. G. was going for Barca (psh!!). The final score was 3-3, so everyone was happy. :)
On Sunday, we met up with Blaise and Nick and headed to Portobello Markets! We walked down the road of stalls and had a lovely time window, or kerb, shopping. Oh! And we saw the house where George Orwell lived! Very cool, especially as I'm reading 1984 at the moment.
We also went into the book store that was owned by Hugh Grant in the movie Notting Hill. Exciting stuff, heh heh.
After Portobello Markets, it was on to Hyde Park. There we had a lovely picnic and enjoyed the sunny day, as we viewed Apsley House, a mansion that sits at Hyde Park Corner.
We walked through Hyde Park to an area called Knightsbridge where all the ridiculously rich people live.
At this end of Hyde Park we saw the Albert Memorial, built by Queen Victoria, in memory of her late husband. It's beautiful, with its large statue of Prince Albert in the centre, surrounded by 8 sculptures/statues - 4 depicting Victorian industrial arts and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing), and four more groups representing Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas.
Later we explored Harrods!! Blaise and Nick, who are seasoned veterans of London, knew all the interesting facts of the different places they took us, so they knew were all the entirely bizarre facts about Harrods...
There is INCREDIBLE artwork, mostly Egyptian-style, all the way up the sets of escalators to the top of the buildings. The strangeness starts when you are informed that all the Egyptian sculptures on the walls and on statues have the face of Mohammed Al Fayed's, the owner of the store... eeeeeerie.....
Stranger still was the life-size wax sculpture of Mohammen Al Fayed. It was WAY too life-like...
Then there were the statues and momentos in memory of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, including a wine glass from the couple's last evening together... hmmm...
We ended the evening at Buckingham Palace. :) It looked very beautiful at night, and we sat on that big statue and relaxed, staring at the Queen's house, wondering if she was actually at home, lol.
The 12th and 13th I had work, so by night I was pretty tired and we basically cooked and chilled at home. On the night of the 13th we hugged and said our goodbyes, as they had an early flight home the next day.
After work on the 14th, I started house hunting. One word... YUCK. The state of some of the places I was shown was AWFUL. Moving right along...
I think it was the next day that I started my new job, and this was when it all started happening...
Alright, down to business :) So, I was up to Maris' visit!
Maris, her Mum, Josephine, and Maris’ b/f Sebas arrived either on the 7th or 8th of March, while I was at work. They chilled at my place until I got home.
We were all super-excited and had a huge feast ending with red wine and chocolate - and watching CSI!!!
Maris now understands why Horatio is so hilarious - just not the same with Spanish dubbing, lol.
Thursday - after work I met up with them and Blaise and Nick for dinner at a pub called the Knights Templar. It's this nice, airy, CHEAP pub that has a couple of kewl stone round tables, paintings of knights, stone and metal ornaments and the weirdest toilets ever - Mrs G. wanted to take a photo, lol.
Friday Maris and co. were off sight-seeing, whilst I was back at work - lame…
I met them after work at the British Museum!! So wonderful :) They were pretty tired and it was late, so we just stayed for another hour before heading home.
That evening we had another feast and enjoyed CSI Friday on cable, lol. No, there is no such thing as too much CSI.
On Saturday 10th March we went to the Tower of London. We spent 4 hours there and it was FANTASTIC. We went on the free tour, run by a Beefeater, we saw the Crown Jewels, went up and through the various areas of the tower and walked along the castle wall.
Aerial View of the Tower of London
After the Tower of London, we decided to walk around and check out some stuff - all the while looking for a pub to watch the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game that was on that evening.
We saw (the outside) of St. Paul's Cathedral - massive and beautiful. We continued in the direction of the West End, starting to feel slightly concerned that we hadn't yet found a pub that was showing the game.
We finally found a place, and told them we would come back and watch it there... in the meantime, we went and saw Trafalgar Square - it was lovely at night, though it was weird to see all these li'l emo kids with their iPods sitting on the world-famous lions and chillin out with their friends. Not exactly how I spent my early teenage years, loitering on a world famous monument late at night. Yes, I was jealous, lol...
So, we headed back to the pub and found that they were NOT going to show a game with 2 of the best football teams in Spain in one of the greatest grudge matches in Spanish football, they were in fact going to show a REPLAY of some crappy England rugby match. Explain the logic to me people cuz I don't get it!!
In one final bout of desperation we caught the tube (by now our legs were DEAD) and headed to my favourite place in London - Leicester Square. Don't ask me why I like it, I just do.
At Leicester Square we found a random pub called the Crooked Surgeon and the lovely European bouncer made me ever-so-happy when he said they were definitely playing the game, and on all 3 levels of the pub!
So, we settled in with some pub grub and watched a great match! I was going to Real Madrid and I think Seb's or Mrs. G. was going for Barca (psh!!). The final score was 3-3, so everyone was happy. :)
On Sunday, we met up with Blaise and Nick and headed to Portobello Markets! We walked down the road of stalls and had a lovely time window, or kerb, shopping. Oh! And we saw the house where George Orwell lived! Very cool, especially as I'm reading 1984 at the moment.
We also went into the book store that was owned by Hugh Grant in the movie Notting Hill. Exciting stuff, heh heh.
After Portobello Markets, it was on to Hyde Park. There we had a lovely picnic and enjoyed the sunny day, as we viewed Apsley House, a mansion that sits at Hyde Park Corner.
We walked through Hyde Park to an area called Knightsbridge where all the ridiculously rich people live.
At this end of Hyde Park we saw the Albert Memorial, built by Queen Victoria, in memory of her late husband. It's beautiful, with its large statue of Prince Albert in the centre, surrounded by 8 sculptures/statues - 4 depicting Victorian industrial arts and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing), and four more groups representing Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas.
Later we explored Harrods!! Blaise and Nick, who are seasoned veterans of London, knew all the interesting facts of the different places they took us, so they knew were all the entirely bizarre facts about Harrods...
There is INCREDIBLE artwork, mostly Egyptian-style, all the way up the sets of escalators to the top of the buildings. The strangeness starts when you are informed that all the Egyptian sculptures on the walls and on statues have the face of Mohammed Al Fayed's, the owner of the store... eeeeeerie.....
Stranger still was the life-size wax sculpture of Mohammen Al Fayed. It was WAY too life-like...
Then there were the statues and momentos in memory of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed, including a wine glass from the couple's last evening together... hmmm...
We ended the evening at Buckingham Palace. :) It looked very beautiful at night, and we sat on that big statue and relaxed, staring at the Queen's house, wondering if she was actually at home, lol.
The 12th and 13th I had work, so by night I was pretty tired and we basically cooked and chilled at home. On the night of the 13th we hugged and said our goodbyes, as they had an early flight home the next day.
After work on the 14th, I started house hunting. One word... YUCK. The state of some of the places I was shown was AWFUL. Moving right along...
I think it was the next day that I started my new job, and this was when it all started happening...