European Reflections

So, as I mentioned in my first post this blog is going to be a mixture of many things. I thought I might start with some reflections of a recent trip to Europe.
First thing to note is that I really don't sleep much on planes. I learnt this lesson a long time ago but it was reinforced this trip. By the time I got back to Australia I'd seen 14 movies, 7 on the way over and 7 on the way back. A plane trip provides me with an excuse for a movie marathon it seems, since there's not really much else to do. Also, they feed you a tonne of food on Emirates flights. Not that I'm complaining, but wow!

Stained glass ceiling in Harrods Foodhall 

Anyway, London was my first port of call. It's an amazing city, I've been before but this time I could explore some other stuff. Ended up meeting some 'locals' while in the Victoria & Albert museum who showed me around Harrods and Hyde Park. Did you know that Harrods has a Pet Kingdom? I did not. They have the cutest Bengal Kittens (or they did while I was there)! Well we explored Harrods for a while and then decided to grab some food from the Foodhall to eat in Hyde Park. The Foodhall of Harrods is fantastic. There's some brilliant stained glass and blown glass lights, and it smells delicious down there. I ended up buying some elderflower bubbly, to try something new, and some kind of bacon and cheese bread twist. I can attest to the fact that their bakery goods not only smell wonderful but taste it too!

It's kind of fun to meet nice randoms in new cities and have them show you around, I quite enjoyed it as it meant I wasn't all alone on my first day in London. Did I forget to mention that this was the afternoon I'd landed in London that I did this? I thought it would be a good way to stay awake if I ventured out of my hotel to explore a museum, and bumping into Jen and Vi with the help of a lovely German/American woman on my tour of the museum was an even better way, since it at least meant I got to see a few places and didn't go back to my hotel until after 7pm.

Outside British Museum

Managed to find my way back to the British Museum the next day, because what's a trip to London without stopping there? Was slightly disappointed to find that one of the rotating exhibits was "Australian Season", full of paintings and sketches by Australian artists like Sidney Nolan. I've seen enough of those in Australia, I was going overseas to see new stuff! I guess I can look at the positive side of it though, it meant there was less I had to rush about to see :-)
Amusingly enough I bumped into the German/American woman and her family again, after also having seen them in Harrods the previous evening. Had a lovely chat once again, very amused by the whole thing. But I guess if you're tourists in London there's a few set places you're likely to go, so it's not so surprising that I kept bumping into Bridgit and Stephanie (her daughter).

Foyer of the British Museum

I mastered the Tube/Underground, whatever you like to call it. I was expecting it to be terrible but it was mostly on time and not too bad. Crowded at times, but that's to be expected on any form of public transport, not just London's.
Other London exploits included a jaunt to the West End for a show via Bar NightJar (an amazing place!), a visit to Regent's Park and some time at the Wallace Collection and the Museum of Childhood - more to come on these!

Disclaimer: All photos posted were taken by me.