Well today my plans kind of got rearranged. I had booked a twelve pound tour of the West Highgate cemetery for this afternoon - right about now I should be starting a walking tour. However the weather has altered my plans - it absolutely poured here (and is still sprinkling) so combined with probably walking in the rain, wet slippery hilly paths and knees that are sore and shaky today from the dampness I went with being prudent and safe. Sometimes it sucks to have to be sensible but I know I did the right thing. So hey I decided why not go to the Internet cafe where I can type up a catch up post and have a full sized keyboard to do it and not have to balance it on my knee either. (bonus!) I will add the pictures when I get back to the B and B. At least I can watch BBC player and TV tonight without feeling guilty that I should be writing a blog post!
It's been a busy time since I arrived on Saturday evening. Wow what a long trip that was...three trains, a tube train and a bus. But the scenery....
Well hello again Berwick; nice to see you.
I was absolutely exhausted when I arrived at the B and B. None the less that didn't stop me heading out on Sunday morning first thing. I had heard about a Victorian pet cemetery in Hyde Park so had to go and check it out. You can have a private tour for 50 pounds (for up to six people) but otherwise you have to make do with peeking through the fence. Or you can see it from the top of a double decker bus - so of course after peering through the fence I had to go back to the next bus stop, hop on a bus and high tail it up to the top where I could barely see anything from there either. Here is an article someone did on it if you are interested. I am such a sucker when it comes to dogs..I can just imagine doing the tour myself and weeping through the whole thing...a lot of dogs were killed under the wheels of carriages. (waaaa!!!)
I then took the bus over for a very brief visit to Notting Hill - I know now where the colourful houses are and I missed all the tourists on the other side of the road.
I hopped on another bus to Holland Park entering it at a different place than I have done previously so that was interesting. As always the Kyoto Gardens were my favourite.
From there I headed over to West Brompton where I took a tour of the cemetery which was so interesting. Loraine, a gal from Australia who was staying at the same airbnb as me told me about it. as she was taking part - it was all so interesting. I'll be doing a blog post on the cemeteries I visited on this trip - fascinating!
Afterwards we went to a pub for a drink and discovered they were offering a Sunday roast - something we both had yet to tick off on our must do lists. Yum!
That evening I did a pub tour of Soho which is the entertainment centre of London including theatres, pubs, nightclubs and sex clubs - it was interesting to learn more about that area. The word Soho is actually a hunting cry - the area was a great hunting area known as Soho Fields until development after the fire of London in 1666. I didn't indulge in any drinks though - we had a twenty minute stop in two pubs along the way but by the time you fought to get your drink at the bar it would have been too rushed. I'd already had my pub visit before I took the tour.
Monday I attempted to walk around Hampstead which was kind of a joke after all the walking I did before. I really didn't accomplish too much but I tried - I did finish up a walk I had started a while before. I then took a bus to Regents Park where I did a comparison of different benches there, in other words my butt moved from one to the other - and had some ice cream! It was a glorious day weather wise.
Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath - not that far from where I am currently staying.
Tuesday I decided to give my poor old knees a break and didn't plan a whole lot. I took the bus to nearby Golders Hill Park which was amazing. I had walked through it once but did not realize how big it was. It even had a small zoo!
Now that's a combo you don't see every day...the Golders Hill zoo
I spent way too much time watching the lemurs - they were quite entertaining - I am not quite sure what these two are up to and don't think I want to know!
I then went back to the room for a couple of hours to rest before heading down to the West End on the tube. I picked up my ticket at the theatre and then headed over to St Martins in the Fields - had a chicken and pasta dish which didn't thrill me I must admit. I've had such better meals there. I visited Stanfords book shop - always a nice place to snoop around. Then it was on to the Adelphi theatre to see Kinky Boots. It is a musical based on the movie - the plot follows a young man who inherits his father's shoe factory. The business is in danger of failing when he meets a Transvestite. He comes up with the idea of making sturdy but beautiful boots for men to wear - kinky boots! I loved it and I can truthfully say it's one of the best shows I've seen in a while - and I've seen a lot!
Which brings me to today. I had a shop at Camden Market while dodging the rain - all stuff for me, me, me! Another unhealthy obsession - drink coasters. And when they have adorable little animals on them...well I should just give them my wallet and say help yourself. God help me if the designer had made t-shirts. I now have earrings with hedgehogs on them..bet you can't say that! (and a pair of Big Bens as well...okay maybe earrings are another obsession) Then it was fish and chips at Poppies and here I am.
Tomorrow I plan/hope to make it to Borough Market again as well as visit Maltby Market (if I can find it) for the first time. I need to buy my tea at tea4you at Borough Market. I googled Turkish pizza and there seems to be a place on the South Bank so here's hoping. Hoping for a decent day so I can stroll along the river a bit. Then it's a comedy tomorrow evening.
The clock is tick tick ticking on my time here in London...I will be a busy gal!
It's been a busy time since I arrived on Saturday evening. Wow what a long trip that was...three trains, a tube train and a bus. But the scenery....
Well hello again Berwick; nice to see you.
I was absolutely exhausted when I arrived at the B and B. None the less that didn't stop me heading out on Sunday morning first thing. I had heard about a Victorian pet cemetery in Hyde Park so had to go and check it out. You can have a private tour for 50 pounds (for up to six people) but otherwise you have to make do with peeking through the fence. Or you can see it from the top of a double decker bus - so of course after peering through the fence I had to go back to the next bus stop, hop on a bus and high tail it up to the top where I could barely see anything from there either. Here is an article someone did on it if you are interested. I am such a sucker when it comes to dogs..I can just imagine doing the tour myself and weeping through the whole thing...a lot of dogs were killed under the wheels of carriages. (waaaa!!!)
I then took the bus over for a very brief visit to Notting Hill - I know now where the colourful houses are and I missed all the tourists on the other side of the road.
I hopped on another bus to Holland Park entering it at a different place than I have done previously so that was interesting. As always the Kyoto Gardens were my favourite.
From there I headed over to West Brompton where I took a tour of the cemetery which was so interesting. Loraine, a gal from Australia who was staying at the same airbnb as me told me about it. as she was taking part - it was all so interesting. I'll be doing a blog post on the cemeteries I visited on this trip - fascinating!
Afterwards we went to a pub for a drink and discovered they were offering a Sunday roast - something we both had yet to tick off on our must do lists. Yum!
That evening I did a pub tour of Soho which is the entertainment centre of London including theatres, pubs, nightclubs and sex clubs - it was interesting to learn more about that area. The word Soho is actually a hunting cry - the area was a great hunting area known as Soho Fields until development after the fire of London in 1666. I didn't indulge in any drinks though - we had a twenty minute stop in two pubs along the way but by the time you fought to get your drink at the bar it would have been too rushed. I'd already had my pub visit before I took the tour.
Monday I attempted to walk around Hampstead which was kind of a joke after all the walking I did before. I really didn't accomplish too much but I tried - I did finish up a walk I had started a while before. I then took a bus to Regents Park where I did a comparison of different benches there, in other words my butt moved from one to the other - and had some ice cream! It was a glorious day weather wise.
Kenwood House in Hampstead Heath - not that far from where I am currently staying.
Flowers in Regents Park
Tuesday I decided to give my poor old knees a break and didn't plan a whole lot. I took the bus to nearby Golders Hill Park which was amazing. I had walked through it once but did not realize how big it was. It even had a small zoo!
Now that's a combo you don't see every day...the Golders Hill zoo
I spent way too much time watching the lemurs - they were quite entertaining - I am not quite sure what these two are up to and don't think I want to know!
I then went back to the room for a couple of hours to rest before heading down to the West End on the tube. I picked up my ticket at the theatre and then headed over to St Martins in the Fields - had a chicken and pasta dish which didn't thrill me I must admit. I've had such better meals there. I visited Stanfords book shop - always a nice place to snoop around. Then it was on to the Adelphi theatre to see Kinky Boots. It is a musical based on the movie - the plot follows a young man who inherits his father's shoe factory. The business is in danger of failing when he meets a Transvestite. He comes up with the idea of making sturdy but beautiful boots for men to wear - kinky boots! I loved it and I can truthfully say it's one of the best shows I've seen in a while - and I've seen a lot!
Which brings me to today. I had a shop at Camden Market while dodging the rain - all stuff for me, me, me! Another unhealthy obsession - drink coasters. And when they have adorable little animals on them...well I should just give them my wallet and say help yourself. God help me if the designer had made t-shirts. I now have earrings with hedgehogs on them..bet you can't say that! (and a pair of Big Bens as well...okay maybe earrings are another obsession) Then it was fish and chips at Poppies and here I am.
Tomorrow I plan/hope to make it to Borough Market again as well as visit Maltby Market (if I can find it) for the first time. I need to buy my tea at tea4you at Borough Market. I googled Turkish pizza and there seems to be a place on the South Bank so here's hoping. Hoping for a decent day so I can stroll along the river a bit. Then it's a comedy tomorrow evening.
The clock is tick tick ticking on my time here in London...I will be a busy gal!
Comments