Okay. I’m over London. I’ve remembered why I could never live here. Yes, there’s a plethora of crisps, endless amazing places to eat, some of the world’s finest architecture, and history dripping off every brick. There are even those gloriously unnecessary big-city shops (selling nothing but umbrellas, or ink pens, or jumpers spun from Latvian wool, or a place to get your chandelier tightened). Add in the world-class museums, theatre, and concerts, and it sounds unbeatable.
But it’s also dirty, noisy, expensive and when there’s a tube strike… infuriating.
Today’s one mission was to head to Southwark to meet Cameron for lunch. I woke up tired. We squeezed onto an overstuffed number 9 bus that unceremoniously dumped us at Hyde Park Corner instead of Aldwych. From there we trudged through (a beautiful) Green Park and Piccadilly, ducked into Lillywhites (which, despite its website’s bold promises, had not what we were looking for), then caught another bus to Waterloo. A walk along the Thames took us to the Tate Modern, where we finally met Cameron. Lunch was an absolute delight.
Afterwards we wandered through the Tate, crossed the Millennium (a.k.a. Bouncy) Bridge to the utterly divine St Paul’s, and strolled along Fleet Street… never not fascinating. At the Australian High Commission we were told a number 9 bus would get us back to West Kensington. We waited. An elderly woman beside us had started waiting for the 9 in her twenties.
L suggested an alternative… bus to Clapham, then hop on the Olympia train. Longer, yes, but guaranteed seats. (Map-hounds will notice it was a completely bat-shit route to take.) Still, it worked. A mere three hours after first reaching Aldwych, we finally stumbled home.
Now packing. Because tomorrow, if we manage to get to Heathrow, we’re off to beautiful, strike free Berlin!
The Obligatory Blog 