the anticipation begins...
The past few weeks working and living in London have been fantastic. I have really enjoyed the family I'm staying with and have gotten to know the city very well... and I love it. After drifting around from country to city to place these past few months I can honestly say that London is one of the few places that could really feel like home to me. I enjoy the people, the places, and the general vibe in this city - I most definitly have strong british roots that make me feel at home here. It will be sad to say goodbye to the kids and tourist family life, but I have to edmit that running at a faster pace with people my age sounds very appealing these days. The anticipation for Euro 2007 is building!!
In 2 weeks my Ghanaian wing man Femke from Holland is coming to London to visit. She has never set foot on english soil and we jumped at the opportunity to explore yet another city together. I am really looking forward to seeing her and catching up - as well as receiving my long awaited kente pictures! (Kente is the traditional cloth from the Ashanti Region of Ghana, and we all had photo boot pictures taken in traditional outfits, hilarious and very very memorable!)
So the past 2 weeks have been extremely busy, with several visitors to the flat I worked a lot but also saw a lot. Nicole and I took off with the kids on Tuesday to visit Bath, home of the roman baths and Jane Austins old stomping grounds. To put it simply = I loved it. It was beautiful and very classic old english. We went on a walking tour and finished off the day in the bath museum. I loved the architecture and the history you could feel as we wandered through the streets and public squares. Its a great feeling that is scarce if even existant in Canada - we're young! Over all it was a great day but we we're all exhausted by the end.
With visitors over to mind the children once in bed Nicole and I jumped at the opportunity to go out for the evening together. I feel so lucky to have found such a compatible boss - especially through the internet and never having meet preivous to my arrival in London. We decided to check out the Maple Leaf Pub to catch up on hockey and canadian music. The pub was nice, but overall slightly dissapointing. As we left in search of a new location (as the leaf closed at 11:30? why so early?) we stumbled upon... Diago! He was a very friendly bike taxi driver who offered to take us to a great pub for a small charge. Now the reason this is so funny; Jenna is 3 and LOVES the very popular Dora Character from Dora the explorer cartoon series. But she isn't the only star of the show... she has a cousin = Diago! who is an animal rescuer! Now I hadn't had much exposure to recent childrens shows/movies in the last few years but I've now seen my fare share, so when Nicole and I heard Diago we both broke out into the theme song for Diago the animal rescuer. Quite possibly one of the funniest moments in London thus far! But I think its one of those moments that the true hilarity of it was captured in the moment... haha,
Later in the week we decided to check out the royal and well known Kew Gardens. It was pricy to get in, for well not much more than the average beautiful parks that you can visit for free. For any future London visitors this is something you can skip. It was beautiful, and a great way to spend a few hours with the kids as they had a really cool play ground - for the cost of entrace, there just wasn't enough bang for your buck.
After paying an entrace fee for a park we decided to check out the newly fixed up and free public park: Battersea Park. It was beautiful, had a great childrens zoo, and definitly worth while to visit when in London.
We made our regular visit to the Borough Market on friday: picked up the usual garlic stuffed olives (i am actually addicted to them), fresh bread, and some meat for supper. I love just walking through there and looking at all the wonderfully delicious foods! After we went to visit the Pirate Ship. This is another tourist trap that is not worth your time. It was cool to see but lacked info and activities to do on board, and over all a bit of a dissapointment. But the kids enjoyed what there was and definitly we're naturals with the pirate lingo... Arr maighty! We be pirates!
And an extra note I forgot to add in previous weeks - we went to the most incredible sushi restaurant ever. These kids eat sushi which is awesome in itself, but we went to a restaurant with a conveyor belt with all different plates of sushi just slowly passing by... very very delicious,
In 2 weeks my Ghanaian wing man Femke from Holland is coming to London to visit. She has never set foot on english soil and we jumped at the opportunity to explore yet another city together. I am really looking forward to seeing her and catching up - as well as receiving my long awaited kente pictures! (Kente is the traditional cloth from the Ashanti Region of Ghana, and we all had photo boot pictures taken in traditional outfits, hilarious and very very memorable!)
So the past 2 weeks have been extremely busy, with several visitors to the flat I worked a lot but also saw a lot. Nicole and I took off with the kids on Tuesday to visit Bath, home of the roman baths and Jane Austins old stomping grounds. To put it simply = I loved it. It was beautiful and very classic old english. We went on a walking tour and finished off the day in the bath museum. I loved the architecture and the history you could feel as we wandered through the streets and public squares. Its a great feeling that is scarce if even existant in Canada - we're young! Over all it was a great day but we we're all exhausted by the end.
With visitors over to mind the children once in bed Nicole and I jumped at the opportunity to go out for the evening together. I feel so lucky to have found such a compatible boss - especially through the internet and never having meet preivous to my arrival in London. We decided to check out the Maple Leaf Pub to catch up on hockey and canadian music. The pub was nice, but overall slightly dissapointing. As we left in search of a new location (as the leaf closed at 11:30? why so early?) we stumbled upon... Diago! He was a very friendly bike taxi driver who offered to take us to a great pub for a small charge. Now the reason this is so funny; Jenna is 3 and LOVES the very popular Dora Character from Dora the explorer cartoon series. But she isn't the only star of the show... she has a cousin = Diago! who is an animal rescuer! Now I hadn't had much exposure to recent childrens shows/movies in the last few years but I've now seen my fare share, so when Nicole and I heard Diago we both broke out into the theme song for Diago the animal rescuer. Quite possibly one of the funniest moments in London thus far! But I think its one of those moments that the true hilarity of it was captured in the moment... haha,
Later in the week we decided to check out the royal and well known Kew Gardens. It was pricy to get in, for well not much more than the average beautiful parks that you can visit for free. For any future London visitors this is something you can skip. It was beautiful, and a great way to spend a few hours with the kids as they had a really cool play ground - for the cost of entrace, there just wasn't enough bang for your buck.
After paying an entrace fee for a park we decided to check out the newly fixed up and free public park: Battersea Park. It was beautiful, had a great childrens zoo, and definitly worth while to visit when in London.
We made our regular visit to the Borough Market on friday: picked up the usual garlic stuffed olives (i am actually addicted to them), fresh bread, and some meat for supper. I love just walking through there and looking at all the wonderfully delicious foods! After we went to visit the Pirate Ship. This is another tourist trap that is not worth your time. It was cool to see but lacked info and activities to do on board, and over all a bit of a dissapointment. But the kids enjoyed what there was and definitly we're naturals with the pirate lingo... Arr maighty! We be pirates!
And an extra note I forgot to add in previous weeks - we went to the most incredible sushi restaurant ever. These kids eat sushi which is awesome in itself, but we went to a restaurant with a conveyor belt with all different plates of sushi just slowly passing by... very very delicious,
posted by gillian at
4:11 AM
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