A Family Affair
Trip Start
Jul 18, 2010
1
47
52
Trip End
Sep 14, 2010
London, England, United Kingdom
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Once we made it to Hampstead we wandered the streets searching for our hotel, Matt knew it was on Frognal something but there was Frognal Road and Frognal Lane and we had no luck finding it - we only had the full details on email. Luckily we were staying right by Jono and Kate’s flat (we could not stay there as Matt’s mum and dad had taken over the futon bed in the lounge), and Kate was working from home due to the tube strike, so we popped in checked where our hotel was. Eventually we found it just around the corner from where we got off the bus, and we checked in then shot down to the local Sainsbury’s to satisfy our growling stomachs.
We had planned to meet up with Paul and Kathy (Matt’s mum and dad) but they were stuck on a bus in town due to the tube strike so we had a nap at our hotel instead. We had gotten up at 3am in Athens on London time, so we were pretty exhausted and fell asleep until the early evening. The plan for that evening was to go out for dinner in Covent Gardens with Paul and Kathy, Jono and Kate, and Matt’s second cousin and her partner who also live in London – this was made slightly more complicated for everybody by the tube strike, especially as Paul and Kathy took two and half hours to get back form town on a bus. Once they had freshened up again we set out with them to a nearby overground train station (they were not striking) to head into town. Kate had to stay longer at home to finish off some work, and Jono was stuck somewhere else trying to get back to his work office from a meeting, so the four of us caught the train to a tube station that had just reopened (the strike ended at 5pm but it took a long time for everything to reopen).
Finally we made it to Covent Gardens and met up with Lou and Simon (Matt’s second cousin and partner) for a drink while we waited for Jono to catch up with us. He arrived shortly after and we tried to get into a Jaime Oliver restaurant, but there were too many of us for them to fit. We found a nice Italian place down the road and ate a fun family meal there instead. On the way Matt saw a Cinema Store full of movie books, figurines and paraphernalia which was shut but he swore to return to while we were still in London.
The journey home was slightly easier as a few more Underground stations had reopened and between the tube and a cab we completed it in much less time than the way in to town. Paul, Kathy and Jono returned to Jono’s flat and we walked around the corner to our hotel.
By the next morning the Underground was fully operational again so after breakfast we went around to the flat to meet Paul and Kathy and head into town. Kathy and Lou wanted to go shopping so we started out in Oxford St – the first stop was Selfridges where Matt saw a dress for Lou to try on which she was unsure about, but once it was on she knew straight away she looked awesome. Of course we bought it, then kept looking around the store where Matt found a cartoon David Hasselhoff card and keyring which he too had to buy. Then it was down the road to Primark, but Matt was well over that store by this stage so he looked in a nearby bookstore instead.
We then walked up to Regent Street, where we checked out the ridiculously high priced fashion in Liberty (although the old fashioned building was very cool) and the amazing toys in Hamleys – only the world’s most amazing toy store. After all that shopping and walking we were ready for lunch, so stopped at a Starbucks to eat, then continued down Regent Street before catching the tube one stop to Covent Gardens so Paul could go to the London Transport Museum. Lou and Kathy were not that keen on the Museum, so Matt took his dad in while the ladies checked out the nearby markets and shops instead. Once the boys had finished looking at all the old trams and trains Paul and Kathy headed back to the flat while Lou showed Matt back around the markets as they had some very cool retro signs and tshirts she knew he would love. From there we headed through Leister Square to a nearby carbon-neutral vegetarian restaurant where we were meeting up with our friends Graeme and Ruth for dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant (which was not our choice by the way) was closed so we found UK’s first hummus bar instead – yes that’s right we had dinner at Hummus Bros, where all the dishes are based around good old whizzed up chick peas. It actually wasn’t that bad, and it was great for us to catch up with our Kiwi friends who we hadn’t seen for a year.
After dinner we all strolled down to the Thames and along Southbank chatting and catching up, then went our separate ways at a train station and we set off back to Hampstead. On our way through Hampstead to our hotel we got a text from Kathy to say that they were at a pub eating dinner – and by total coincidence we were right across the road when the text came through! We went in and had a drink while Paul and Kathy and Jono and Kate had dinner, then said our final goodbyes (Paul and Kathy were flying to Ireland in the morning and we were relocating to a Heathrow hotel) and returned to our hotel.
