Good morning all,
We're about to leave London and catch a train out to the Cotswolds to start the 50km a day cycling trip for the next 3 days...here's hoping we survive!
So, the last couple of days have been a blur. After our last entry, we had grand plans of heading down to do some quick shopping at High St Kensington and then out for dinner. Needless to say, one shouldn't lay their head on the bed when jetlagged if they want to achieve such an aim!
14 hours later and we were up and ready to hit the streets of London Town. First a quick trip down memory lane, around the corner to High St Kensington. Not much doing there and after getting a SIM card, it was onto the tube for a trip into a part of town we had only been to once before - Brixton (on the south side). Here we hit the Brixton market and our senses were tantalised by the smells, sounds and tastes of the Caribbean and fresh food! Jeff loved it so much, before we knew it he had bought a little van and set up shop! He always claimed he could cook, but now he was making money from it! Or trying to...unfortunately it didn't work out...back on the train again!
As lunch approached and being hungry from the Brixton markets, we headed out east to Whitechapel to hit Brick Lane for a curry. 
Whitechapel Road is one busy place, fulll of people and good to see, like Brixton, a different side to London than just the West End. Brick Lane seems to have changed a bit since the last time we were here, but then again, it was probably because we had usually gone there for dinner when it is no doubt livelier. At least here though, you get a good view of the gherkin!!
Whitechapel Road is one busy place, fulll of people and good to see, like Brixton, a different side to London than just the West End. Brick Lane seems to have changed a bit since the last time we were here, but then again, it was probably because we had usually gone there for dinner when it is no doubt livelier. At least here though, you get a good view of the gherkin!! We'd be seeing a bit of this building over the next few days from different points of the compass!
After a stroll down Brick Lane, we stumbled across a new and emerging market/art precinct in a disused brewery..the Old Truman Brewery. This place was fantastic - little bars and food vans, music and exhibitions. This is where we ended up having lunch, next to a broken down coupe. Lunch consisted of a couple of beers washed down with some thai food!! :) 
We then enjoyed a couple of hours looking at a photographic exhibiton and surveying the final year works of uni students that were involved in design, including new aids that were relevant to the world of OT and others that were relevant to the planning world...so we were at work on holidays!! Had a chat to a few of the designers/students - there are some clever people out there!
We then enjoyed a couple of hours looking at a photographic exhibiton and surveying the final year works of uni students that were involved in design, including new aids that were relevant to the world of OT and others that were relevant to the planning world...so we were at work on holidays!! Had a chat to a few of the designers/students - there are some clever people out there!With a meander through Spitalfields and back to Liverpool St, we headed back to the hotel (that's what they call it) to get ready for a night at the theatre. We finished off Friday night watching the stage show of Yes Prime Minister which was set in the current era, Just like the tv show, this production was very witty and had us laughing most of the way through.
Saturday, another view of the gherkin and the east side of London...this time the Olympic site was our focus. First though, another trip down memory lane to the North End Road fruit & veg street markets that they hold on sat mornings and that we used to get most of our fresh food from...the stuff here looks great and is so much cheaper than home at the moment...yum!
Off to Stratford via a quick visit to Canary Wharf so someonee who shall remain nameless could enjoy some shopping. Jeff used this time to follow the live sccores on the Parra game and had put the phone away with 2 mins to go, thinking they had won for sure...but no they always find a way to lose!
Onto bigger sporting events and the london Olympics site was our next stop. We took part in a walking tour around the site and seeing the place being built and some of the regeneration works being carried out, with new buildings and cleaning up of this old industrial area. A few photos below (sorry the blog site isn't playing nice today so they're up the top!!)
To Top off a good day, we were very lucky that Kerryn invited us over to her house for some drinks and here we spent the night enjoying great wine, beer, food and of course great company. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting new people and catching up with Kerryn again - though this time kerryn and Jeff ddidn't get sea sick! We were having such a good time and with the sun staying up as it does we ddidn't realise the time, until someone pointed out it was 11pm! We hotfooted it to the bus to make sure we got home before they stopped...luckily we found a bus straight to West Kensington and home again!
Thanks for a great night Kerryn, hope you can make the trip to Oz soon!
To everyone else, hope you made it to the end of this long entry...sorrry it was a bit rushed - have a train to catch - keeo an eeye out for reports on our cycling trip!
Cheers
Stace and Jeff
