Tourist to the max

Well, the excitement of Mel C was indeed hard to follow up. But somehow or other, London came through for me, with Wednesday filling Tuesday's large boots. First up, I paid a visit to the National Portrait Gallery (well it was actually free), and went to a fantastic exhibition of Irving Penn portraits (not free). I had lunch in the restaurant at the top of the gallery, which had a lovely view out over London.

Following lunch, I strolled through Trafalgar Square (all my photos of Nelson seem to chop off his head), through several lovely parks, to Knightsbridge (Canberra folk, I was looking for signs of penthouses everywhere so I could take a photo of a real Knightsbridge penthouse, but I came up empty), and the food halls of Harrods. I can safely say that in these food halls, I learnt something new. I did not realise that Liz Hurley has a line of beef jerky. Yes it is true - the (out of focus) evidence is below - and it is apparently guilt free.

Moving on from the hordes of tourists (such as myself) in the Harrods food halls, I went to the Museum of Natural History, which was really great, but which I will probably unfortunately remember most for being evacuated from - there was a practice fire drill as I was inspecting the sea creature fossils.

That evening Mandy and I had a delicious Vietnamese meal and walked home in the rain. Ah, London.

Yesterday I arrived back at my Aunt Amanda and Uncle John's house, and today we went into Cheltenham where my cousin Charlotte lives. The big mechanical clock below is in one of the shopping arcades, and apparently when I was very young I lay sprawled out on the floor with my cousin Georgina as the fish at the bottom blew bubbles from its mouth when the clock struck on the hour. There was no lying on the floor for me today, though my little cousin Tabbie, Charlotte's daughter, was a bit under-the-weather and she managed to throw some of her lunch on the floor. Poor Tabbie, hopefully she is feeling better tonight.

Mel C shines

Yesterday was a good London day. I met up with a couple of friends for a nice dim sum lunch. After lunch, I had a bit of a wander around Holborn and Covent Garden. Afterwards, I took the tube to Oxford Street and went into Liberty. I was hoping to hunt out some cutesy flowery fabric in shades of green and blue-grey, maybe with a bird or two, to use on another chair. Unfortunately they only had it in shades of brown and pink. Fail.

I then tried to escape the madness of Oxford Street and wandered along Carnaby Street and into Soho. It was much nicer wandering around here - lots of more unusual things (such as Rapunzel hair coming out of a window) and not as many big chain stores - there was only a Pret-a-Manger on every second corner. I did make it to the Hummingbird Bakery, for a red velvet cupcake. Thanks Lauren for the tip!

Then in the evening we went to see Mel C. Or should I say, Blood Brothers. It was a pretty gloomy show really, somewhat tragic - two twins, separated at birth, who fall in love with the same woman with tragic consequences. The highlight was Mel C, out of her usual sporty attire, and dressed in dowdy house frocks. She played the poor mother who gave away one of her twin sons very well. Quite far removed from her former life as a spice girl.

Well, out to a gallery or two today. Maybe Notting Hill.

Gail and Charlie are married

Made it to the train station in Glasgow with 2 minutes to spare last Thursday! Phew! So that meant things were on track to get to my cousin Gail's wedding on Friday.

The colour theme was a happy pink and orange, and everybody at the wedding was at good spirits to match. One of the highlights of the day was the speedy walk down the aisle by Gail and her dad. No point dilly-dallying with these things.

Charlie, Gail's new husband, is from a large Greek family, and so we had some Greek dancing during the reception. When the Greek music came on, the dance floor divided into two. The English people formed a big circle, arms around wastes, moving in and out - this must have been what they considered to be Greek dancing. The Greek folk, however, were doing entirely different moves - foot stomping, bowing etc. Quite amusing. There was no plate smashing.

After the wedding I went to stay with my cousin Lucy and her family. Had a nice relaxing time there, and after 24 hours I think I reached the point where her daughter Rosie, who is 11 months old, wouldn't burst into tears when I picked her up. We bonded over food.

Now I am staying with my friend Mandy in London. I spent most of yesterday trying to sort out visas for China and Mongolia. Today I'm meeting up with a couple of friends for lunch and have an exciting event on tonight. We are going to see Mel C (yes, from the Spice Girls) on the stage in Blood Brothers.