London?

London is one of the world’s iconic cities, but one thing I do not associate with it is hot weather. Nonetheless, today it was hot. Tomorrow is also supposed to be hot – and then it rains. I can’t help but think some of my preconceived images of the place will be easier to spot that day.

Anyway, today in the heat we wandered around with only partial aim, and hence only partial success. The first move was to Foyle’s bookstore, which was very deliberate and very successful. After weeks of failing to locate a suitable book for Lauren to read (ie: her approx age group and in English) we resolved that problem. We also bought Aidan a copy of the Shakespeare text he’s about to study, just because we could.
After that I managed to update the wardrobe with some hot weather clothes, and snaffle the first few of the 26 Monopoly locations I intend to see in these four days.

In fact, our apartment in the West End turns out to be pretty well-located for Monopoly. It’s also pretty well located for food and drink, as we discovered to our disadvantage. Soho is right next door, and literally right next door is a nice little eating and drinking strip.

However, we walked off towards the city to go on the Eye, but walked too far. Once you hit Leicester Square you are suddenly in tourism central, and we learned in Lisbon in particular, that that is not the place to try to get food. Anyway, long story short, we eventually found a nice little pub for lunch, but not without covering some miles and some grumpiness.

We then did the obligatory walk past whatever the tower which is commonly mistaken for ‘Big Ben’ is called, and on to the Eye. A ratio of 30 minutes in a queue and 20 minutes on the ride wasn’t too bad, and helped immeasurably by the ice creams. Both Aidan and I were surprised by how uninspiring the view from the Eye is. I was keen to go and expected a great view, but London is actually waaaaay more impressive from ground level. However, here is the legally required view.

From there, the girls headed home by underground to prepare for their show, the stage production of Matilda. Aidan decided to join me to go collect some more Monoploy locations, something he is no doubt still regretting. It turned out to be hot, further than it looked on the map, and totally devoid of the juice bars we were looking for. We got a few more, but you’ll notice the for Fleet St we only got number 3, and that is because it turned out to be a long hot walk in the wrong direction.  Anyway, it completed that set, and now I hope to put a hotel on it and at least recoup some of what we invested to get there!

We then staggered back to the apartment, finally finding a gaggle of juice bars within 200m of the place. I’m seriously thinking that we shouldn’t leave the immediate vicinity without being fully provisioned.

Aidan and I then sat out on the rooftop terrace to eat dinner, and watch the moonrise. And do maths homework (the real world, frankly, bites).

For a final hurrah, when the girls got back from their show (excellent, just alas in the wrong part of the theatre to be showered in confetti), we wandered round the corner for a late evening snack and drink. A great thing about London is that everyone is so poorly dressed I was able to go out in my indoor ‘slipper-type’ shoes that at home I wouldn’t be seen dead in out of the house, without looking remotely out of place – so that was excellent for my poor, tired, sore feet.  🙂