Happy Oz Day!

Skate Away

For my third weekend in a row of having people from Melbourne visit, my guest for this week was Al - another colleague from Melbourne. He had just returned form Cuba after having an amazing time eating, partying and sightseeing.

He was only in London for one day before he flew off to Hong Kong and then home. So I made so I made time for him and we met for brunch in Covent Gardens (I'll have to find a new place for February :P).

My granola parfait with fresh fruits :)

Thanks for a great catch up Al :) See you in Melbourne at the end of the year!

After sending Al off, I made my way to Oxford Street to meet up with Wern Yi and Jeremy. I've been on the hunt for new bedsheets for a few weeks and finally found one I liked in John Lewis but they didn't have the right size (it always happens to me!). But luckily they have a new batch coming in next weekend so I'll be back there to collect it :)

So the highlight of the day? Ice skating :D

Every year, Somerset House hosts a ice skating rink for the public. It's not cheap (13 pounds) so you couldn't do it even though it was definitely lots of fun!

Ice skating rink in front of Somerset House.

My cool fat ice skates :)

Poor WY struggled to find her balance on the ice but luckily her ice skating pro husband was there to assist :)

It was freezing on the ice!

After about 40mins of skating, WY had had enough. lol.

Somerset at night :)

Be My Guest

For some reason, now seems to be the time where everyone from Melbourne is visiting Europe. It's good because it makes me feel like I haven't left Melbourne at all! :) The best part is I get to catch up with people who I wouldn't normally see or haven't seen for a long time.

So this weekend it was Norman. Yes, he was here in September, loved it so much that he took 3 months off to travel around Europe properly.

Friday dinner was at an Indian restaurant in Brick Lane. If you've ever been to Lygon street back home, you'll understand how it feels to be pounced upon by the waiters/waitresses wanting you to eat at their restaurant. If you go to Brick Lane, it's like that... except ten times worse! Every single restaurant you pass (and I mean EVERY single restuarant), you are a target for Indian waiters, managers or owners to approach you and offer you the best deal they think will lure you into eating with them. 'I'll give you a three course meal for 10 pounds and a free drink. ' 'We can offer you free rice and nann bread with your meal'. 'Our restuarant won the award for best restaurant in 2011!' (and we were only half way through Jan?!). It was quite amusing at the start but by the end of it, it was just annoying. We finally settled for a restaurant with blue lights (no, that didn't influence my decision at all! :P) but was a bad choice. The service wasn't great, the room was cramped... (I sat behind a secret door that led to the kitchen and when they needed to use it we had to move our whole table back and forth for them to get through.)... our mango lassi was sour and the food was only so so. AND they didn't sell any desserts! Won't be going back there in a rush!

We decided to go to Covent Garden for dessert and because it was late (for London standards), we didn't have many choices and settle for this little place (can't remember the name).

It was freezing cold that night but Normy still wanted his strawberry ice cream sundae :P

Sensible anna and her warm tea.

Anna, Normy and I at Covent Garden before we said goodbye.

Saturday was planned to go and see the Lion King however when Norman tried to booked semi-cheap tickets, they were all sold out. I was so disappointed as I had told everyone that I was going to see the Lion King when Norman would be in town but now would have to wait a month to get tickets for it! There were tickets available but there were full price (76 pounds). So instead, Norman and I decided to meet for yum cha for brunch. Met at Picadilly Circus and decided to quickly try one last time to check whether places had Lion King tickets. We weren't having very much luck so we decided to just go to yum cha... except that no place were open until after 12 (doesn't yum cha sessions usually start at 11:30am??). With time to kill we wondered around the streets of London and stumbled across a small ticket discount place that had a sign for 'From 25 pound - Lion King tickets'! We got excited and quickly went in to inquire. And guess what? They had tickets for 40 pounds! :) But all was not so smooth when we found out they lied to us twice - one for selling us tickets for 40 pounds but giving us tickets that said 25 pounds, and two, for telling us that the seating was in the middle of the balcony but were actually a lot higher up! You never know which ticket places are dody or legit until you buy from them. But I was over it once it set in that I was going to watch the Lion King! YAY!

Lunch before the show was at a place called Byron. A classy humburger chain restaurant that was known for their hamburgers but also sold other foods. Normy and I were very impressed by the service and the food. We had veggie burgers which tasted devine! And on the side we had corgette (zucchini) chips! Yum! The price wasn't too bad either! A nice quick meal and service with a smile - that's what I like :)

Then it was time...
Our view from high above.

Just before the show.

And the verdict? Absolutely amazing! Definitely one of my top 3 musicals. If you only see one musical in your life, I high recommend the Lion King! I was literally at the edge of my seat watching the whole show. The stage props, the actors, the dancers and singers, the costumes were all equally fantastic! The way the actors took the role of animals and moved like them was incredible. The arrangement of the stage tied in so well with the story. I love that they had added their own ideas to the story to include more dancing and singing. This is one musical I would definitely see again but from better seats.

After the show we met up with Daga - a girl I met in Romania at Darren's wedding (she's Polish, not Romanian :P) - and Anna for dinner. We had fish and chips at a pub near Embankment and finsihed the night with a beautiful stroll along the River Thames.

The view is so pretty at night.

I like this shot with our almost silhouettes and the lights of the city in the background.

St Paul's at night.

Doesnn't it look like a haunted mansion from this angle?

Mel's back in town

Having to start back at work straight away after returning to London, my body didn't have time to adjust to the jetlag. (Note to self: Do not start work straight after a 24hour journey on a plane!) By the end of the week, I was exhausted! So much that I felt like a zombie! And then there was no rest for the wicked on the weekend as Mel and I had arranged for her to stay with me while she was in London.

So Anna, Mel and I spent all of Saturday together from morning till late at night. Our first stop was Borough market where we took advantage of all the morish foods that was on offer. Granola bars, brownies, sun dried tomato in olive oil, mushroom pate, bread, cupcakes and more. And that was just the food stalls on the outside courtyard. If you planned it well enough, you could go for lunch and not spend any money - taste testing is a wonderful thing :) But then of course taste tasting keeps you wanting more and that's how your money slowly disappears from your wallet. :P We had lunch with another highschool friend - James, and his lovely girlfriend Ashleigh (unfortunately I forgot to take a photo). It was a quick bite though as they were off to watch the matinee show for the Lion King.

Borough Market has a famous coffee company shop called Monmouth. It is reknowned for its smooth silky taste of coffee and usually there is a long line outside the store. That particular day, however, Mel and I rocked up to a surprisingly short line... so short that there actually wasn't one there! Obviously there was something not right. We later figured out that they were refitting their store and could not operate the coffee machines. SO instead, there had employees stand outside the shop to direct people to this place:

The Rabot Eastate.

You can't see a line her but inside there were so many people. It took about 15-20mins to wait for our drinks. Good business for them I guess! :)

So before us girls spent all our money at Borough market, we decided to head down town to Oxford street to pick up a few things Mel had on her list and also to browse around the Christmas sales. A few hours passed and it was time for dinner. Anna kindly invited us to her belated Christmas KK dinner with her housemates. It was at a French restaurant called Le Mercury in Angel. A three story restaurant that was packed from top to bottom. It could be the fact that they offer you a three course meal for under 15pounds! I wouldn't say the food was fantastic but it was cheap and decent food for that price.

From back to front(left) - Kym, Sebass, Kum, Mel (right) Long, Liz, Anna, me

Sunday was spent with Mel and I trying to chase up another friend at Covent Garden who was here in London. Cherie - a colleague from back home - was here on her honeymoon but unfortunately we never ended up meeting due to her having to juggle other plans that her husband had made. :(

Just a Spoonful of Sugar please :)

One thing I love about London is that I can go to the theatre and watch a musical just like I was going to the cinema to watch a movie back home. I didn't realise, until just recently, how many musicals I've actually seen while in London.

Mary Poppins has been, and still is, playing Melbourne and when it first came out, I kept reading facebook comments about how fantastic it was. I was sad that it had been and gone in London. But luckily enough, my lovely brother bought tickets for my mum and I to go and watch it while I was back in Melbourne.

I'd have to say, it wasn't as spectualar as I expected. I think I had high expectations because of friends and family telling me how great it was. It was good... but not the best I've seen. When I told both my brothers this, they were shocked as they loved it! I think for me, musicals have to include a lot of dancing and singing... and awesome stage props as well. Mary Poppins didnt deliver on the dancing which is partly why I was disappointed. The stage props were good but again, not great. It could have also been due to the fact that mum and I didn't have good seats. It was more towards the sides and quite high up.

I know when a musical is really good when I'm literally on the edge of my seat and wanting to join in! Mary Poppins just didn't do that for me :( Overall I enjoyed it, especially the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious song and dance, but I wouldn't be in a rush to see it again.