London- Plan B !

Although the last 3 days were not we had planned everything has worked out well and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in London. The accommodation we stayed in was new, trendy , had great services ( WiFi, bar, restaurant – Japanese, back yard beautifully landscaped) and a wholesome breakfast each morning: pastries for MARK , cheese, breads, sliced meats , muesli yoghurt toast and a variety of juices – yum!

We had some huge days out and about, on and off the underground. It is such a well organised city compared to Istanbul and there are so many things to love about this magical city. The public transport is fast, regular and covers a huge area allowing you to travel from the West side to the East in less than an hour. The inner city appear quiet to me compared to Istanbul and there were fewer cars but alot of black taxi cabs.

Walked through Soho, along the Thames, Westminster, Covent Garden’s and ended up at the Stage show Wicked in the Victoria Apollo theatre. Wow! What a fantastic show. Amazing singing, humour lighting visual effects and props . Well worth the money. A night to remember.

The pubs are so visually appealing and welcoming. They are focused on family and people of all ages and other activities besides just drinking. Quiz nights, curry nights, board games to play and menus that cater for gluten free diets, calorie counters, nutritional meals for children and a range of prices to suit most budgets.

The English lost against Germany! (I am sitting in the airport and need to cover the screen for fear of being glared at !) We watched the game at the local Ealing pub and everyone was fired up ,dressed in red ( even us , but this was purely coincidental – when you are together 24/7 you start to dress like without knowing or possibly it is limited choice of what to wear ) . Anyway all was going well until the second goal scored by the English was disallowed- what a commotion in the pub! It was all downhill from there until the lost 4-1. The front page of the papers is full of it, the analysis and post mortems . You can liken it to when the All Blacks lose- which happens .