Bec & Dave's Blog: June 2009

We returned from Norway on a Sunday, and spent Monday and Tuesday unpacking and repacking (what a fun job) before my folks arrived on Tuesday night, when we caught up for a drink and some dinner at Leicester Square. Wednesday started with one last breakfast at The Breakfast Club at Angel, and ended with a twenty/twenty county cricket match at Lords. Thursday we met up with the parents in central London, discarded Westminster Abbey as waaay too expensive, and took them for a bit of a session (he he) at Temple Walkie. Saturday, after popping in to Temple for the afternoon for a mates farewell drinks, we were joined by my brother for the performance of We Will Rock You at Tottenham Court Road, and then Sunday we took Mum and Dad to Brick Lane for a yummy curry lunch, followed by a foray up to Angel for a few at the Bull. So a pretty fun week for our last full week in London.

On Monday, Dave and I jumped on a train up to York. Upon arrival, we grabbed some breakfast and headed over to the famous York Minster, with its amazing interior. We then walked some of the city walls, headed to the Richard III museum where we made up our own minds just who killed the princes in the tower, and trekked halfway out of town (or so it seemed) to our hostel, coming back in to do an interesting (if not very scary) ghost tour. The next day we discovered was Coronation Day (the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coranation) so we saw a 21 gun salute in the park, which was pretty cool. We then crashed on the grass a while for a lazy nap in the sunshine, before a spot of (book) shopping, dinner at the pub and a train back to London.

The following day was Origin I, which was being shown live at some of the Aussie bars, so we headed to (you guessed it) Temple Walkie. We arrived there at 10, and were joined by J, Nathan and a couple of others for kick off at 11, after which we lost track of time and before we knew it it was 7pm and time to go to Shakespeare's Globe to see "As You Like It" (very good performance).

Thursday night we headed to 'Beating Retreat' at the Horse Guards with Bec and J and a couple of others. This military display was originally used in a war when beating or sounding a retreat brought a halt to the days fighting, and as a spectacle was pretty cool.

Friday afternoon J, Bec, Dave and I headed out to Stansted for our flight to Amsterdam! We spent a great weekend discovering the delights of Amsterdam, and managed to fit in a bike ride out into the countryside, where we found no tulips but a windmill and a cheese and clog factory. Kitsch souvenirs galore!

Come Monday, Dave and I said a sad farewell to Bec, J and London, before boarding our flight out of Heathrow at 10.30pm, bound for Sydney via Hong Kong.

Some final pics below. We are back in rainy Sydney (what were we THINKING leaving a gorgeous London summer??) looking for work and adjusting to being back.

Bike riding in Amsterdam