Welcome!

HELLO! A warm welcome to one and all from London!

Denise and I decided that this would be a good way to update our friends and colleagues on our adventures in London during this attachment. This blog will capture the more light-hearted, social aspects of our trip. It will of course contain lots of pictures of us gallivanting through London, and the interesting things we have seen/done. (If there is sufficient interest, we can even post pictures of handbags and start online catalogue and shopping service).

DAY 1

Denise and I arrived in London at 5.30am yesterday morning, all sore and achy from our not-so-comfortable flight on the A380. Yes, we got to sit on the A380, but we didn't realise this until we got onto the plane and read the safety information card. Anyhow, the plane was big and steady, but extremely uncomfortable - something wrong with the seats; not ergonomically designed or SQ is stinging on kapok. What followed was 13 hours of tossing, whining, and trying to devise a way to put an A4 sized pillow to some use.

We shared a mini-cab down to Prince's Square (off Bayswater), where our studio apartments were located. Vancouver Studios are located within a Grade II listed Victorian building, with a nice back garden inhabited by a big ginger cat called Zeus and a more elusive one, Hera.



After some milling around waiting for the rooms to be ready, we were both pleased with our rooms. Bright, clean, spacious rooms, with kitchenette, ensuite shower facility, and free broadband and TV. Excellent value for money - highly recommended to future visitors to London who don't want to pay a pound of flesh for accommodation. Here are some pictures of Denise's room (which got upgraded to a double due to lack of availability) -




After a scrumptious lunch in Chinatown, we headed to Portobello Market for a romp in the Sunday market. Stalls selling antiques and "passing off" items are a-plenty here.



So are fancy cupcakes and other scrumptious things.
(Denise tried a "red velvet" - they do taste as good as they look!)



As 3pm drew near, Denise found herself a pub to watch the Man Utd vs Wigan game - result is of course a foregone conclusion but as all die-hard fans go, must watch the last game of the season. Result: 2-1, Ronaldo and Giggs.

While Denise was surrounded by hot sweaty men in the pub, I took a walk with my friend W through Hyde Park to see sun-dried tofu. Lots of tofu on the lawn. My picture doesn't do the scene justice - it was tofu for as far as the eye can see. It's like Little India on a Sunday, but imagine you're looking at the negatives.



Dinner was fabulous roast duck at Bayswater. Conked off to bed very early. Which explains why I'm up at 5am writing this entry.

Weather: Sweltering. Too hot for comfort. Hope weather drops 5 degrees.