The first week

We left over a week ago but it feels like we’ve been gone for a month. We started with a night in Sydney.

Then had two sweaty days in Singapore.

Thirteen hours in the air followed by a very short stop in Helsinki Airport.

Then off to London.

Due to the excellent Finn Air Business class (we were not sponsored but we are open to offers wink, wink) we arrived in London Fresh as a pair of daisies. We checked into our hotel and resisted the urge to take a dip in the subterranean thermal pool opting to head out to spend the day at Notting Hill market. Then we jumped on a double-decker bus which took us passed Kensington, Hyde Park, marble arch, Bond Street and Regent Street. We got off in Piccadilly Circus and waded through the human tide to the West End where we had a yummy dinner and caught a show.

I was overjoyed to spend a morning at Hampstead Heath. It’s been a long held dream of mine and the lungs of London did not disappoint.

There were no queues at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, the location of the beginning of the Dark Night of the Soul/The Crisis in the movie (where Hugh Grant overhears Julia Roberts shit-talking him on the set of her Henry James movie.)

(On Saturday, I had planned to buy a book from the Notting Hill bookshop. Michael and I both love the movie Notting Hill. So, it turns out, do millions of others. The bookshop was frantically busy with a huge line of Girls waiting to stand-in-front-of-a-Boy. We had scones and tea instead.

On Monday we ended up at Word on the Water, the bookshop in a riverboat moored in Regents Canal.

It was a stinking hot day and unfortunately we got on the wrong bus ending up in the middle of nowhere in east London. We did go past the Pentonville prison so marked that off the monopoly board. I think I’ve got the full set now. We also happened across a very quirky old cinema complex where we had a much-needed icy cold Coke so it wasn’t a total waste.

London was a hoot.

We met some local Wildlife.

We visited the Courtauld.

And finished our brief stay with a cruise on the Thames and a visit to the tower of London.

And then it was time to pack up and head to Amsterdam. Our hotel room here is about twice the size of our room in London and quite luxurious. We are not natural travellers and really appreciate a bit of comfort.

We originally planned this trip around a world masters Squash tournament but unfortunately hubby is injured and unable to play. As soon as he is able, he will be back in training for the next one. Luckily they are held every two years.

We’ve been walking, eating, and doing an unprecedented amount of day drinking.

We visited the Van Gogh museum tonight.

Good night from Amsterdam. We’re off to see some windmills tomorrow.