1) Found a place to rent
2) Found employment (although neither of us have started work yet)
3) Found a pub that we can call our 'local'
4) Visited a lot of the tourist sites
5) Got our head around London's public transport system.
UK Residents
We have started to consider ourselves as residents - so much that we have contracted the local affliction for impatience. Like at the Tube station when someone's Oyster card fails at the gate and holds up a queue of people; or when the next train is a lengthy 5 minute wait and we start considering alternative routes. But what epitomizes 'impatience' in the City is when passengers ignore signs to prepay for bus tickets and attempt to count out coins for the driver only to be met by chanting boos by other passengers requesting the bus driver to boot the guy off.
Expat Catch-ups
Catching up with other Australians in London is a great way of making sure we don't lose touch with home or our accents. Summer is a great time to meet at a park or a pub and soak in the fun and atmosphere of living in London.
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| Enjoying the sun with a picnic in the park |
As the sun sets quite late during summer-time, many tourist attractions start putting on special events to increase the evening traffic - open air cinemas, night markets and Zoo nights where we enjoyed a bit of jazz (that hopefully didn't disturb the animals too much), a lot of Pimms with lemonade and watched the 'silent disco' - basically a large group of people standing with headphones, grooving to the music, singing the chorus (but not many other lyrics) of pop songs in complete isolation. The result to the observing bystander was just like being a karaoke, except no one was self conscious about how well they were (not) singing.
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| Drinking beer at the London Zoo Nights |
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| Silent disco - people with headphones singing in their own little worlds |
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| Cocktail of the day - Most Bar, Tower Bridge |
Dinner was at the chain restaurant, Zizzis - great for group meals as the pizzas are huge and ample for sharing.
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| They didn't lie about this pizza being a little spicy |
Home Cooking
Whilst in London, we have eaten some great pizza. One cooked by our Norwegian guests and also Olie's creation using pita bread from the 24-hour international grocer up the road, loaded with pasta sauce, salami, cheese and baby spinach. Pizza is one of those foods that whilst we are looking forward to eating it in Italy for authenticity, we know that we may be disappointed if we don't go to the right places and it may just taste like what we could get in Melbourne.
And after 8 weeks into our travel adventures we are missing the variety and quality of food from Australia as we have had more than one bad experience with dodgy meat and for some reason carrots that don't like fridges. But still we have persevered with home cooking and even traditional English food.
Whilst in London, we have eaten some great pizza. One cooked by our Norwegian guests and also Olie's creation using pita bread from the 24-hour international grocer up the road, loaded with pasta sauce, salami, cheese and baby spinach. Pizza is one of those foods that whilst we are looking forward to eating it in Italy for authenticity, we know that we may be disappointed if we don't go to the right places and it may just taste like what we could get in Melbourne.
And after 8 weeks into our travel adventures we are missing the variety and quality of food from Australia as we have had more than one bad experience with dodgy meat and for some reason carrots that don't like fridges. But still we have persevered with home cooking and even traditional English food.
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| Roast rolled pork shoulder with mixed vegetables |
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| Gammon (ham) steak, homemade chips, fried egg and pineapple |
The English summer also has an endless supply of berries on offer and since we consider blueberries, raspberries and strawberries as our favourite fruits, we have had fun experimenting with fruit cocktails when the supermarkets near us constantly discount stock due to their short shelf life.
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| Berry and kiwi fruit cocktail |
Det er bra. That's good
This was the new phrase we learnt from our visiting Norwegian guests - Michelle (Olie's sister) and Marius (her boyfriend) who came to stay over this past week, bringing a touch of Scandinavia to our home with gifts such as an authentic cheese grater and slicer (that drew blood on Olie's finger), a bottle of liquor that is traditionally aged on a ship circumnavigating the globe.
In preparation for their arrival, we loaded up the fridge with bottles of corona, a 40 pack box of Mee Goreng, and most interestingly a bottle of Hoegaarden Rose - packaged in a champagne bottle, it frothed like beer, was served in wine glasses and tasted a bit like Swedish berry cider.
Our overseas guests came with a rather unique wish list of things they wanted to do whilst in London town. From Michelle's side it was: eat sushi, go shopping (she came with an empty suitcase and discovered Primark), and see the Phantom of the Opera sequel 'Love Never Dies'. From Marius's perspective, the objective of the trip was more simply: eat Nandos (that he missed from his student days at Monash Uni in Clayton), visit Stamford Bridge (he is a big Chelsea English football fan) and watch Norway v Portugal (Euro 2012 qualifier match) on Saturday night.
Love Never Dies - London Theatre
Always Tourists
This week we have found time to start booking holidays outside of London. Well, time has always been on our side so it was more about getting motivated to spend money before we had earned any pound. To inspire ourselves, we took a tip from friends that had been here for a while and bought ourselves a map of Europe and hung it in our kitchen. We used colourful stickers from Poundland to visually keep track of the cities that we have visited to date - only two - London and Dover.
We also started a spreadsheet to keep track of our travel 'Wish List' with the first tab listing all of the European cities that we had to cover before we returned home to Melbourne. It was also our method of tracking flights, hotel rooms and key tourist sites per city. Over the next couple of months our travel itinerary includes: Munich (for Oktoberfest), Copenhagen, Krakow, Rome, Lyon, Majorca, Dublin and Oslo.
Another activity that we tried just once was a salsa dance class at a bar right next to London Bridge. Whilst we met a range of different people from Chile, Europe and Sydney; we felt that because we had to swap partners (who were often quite experienced) it wasn't as enjoyable as if we were just learning as a couple and therefore could progress at the same pace.
History lessons occur frequently and often for free whilst we are in London. The British Museum constantly lures us in to spend 2-3 hours covering off a significant period in the history of mankind. With 3 visits notched up, we have only covered off a relatively small proportion of the entire collection, including the exhibits of Egypt, Assyria, Rome, Mesopotamia and surrounding ancient civilizations of the Etruscans, Minoans and Trojans.
What makes us take our time when visiting each display case, is simply the opportunity (and excitement especially for an ancient history buff like Mei) to see first-hand the objects once only accessible via Year 7 ancient history textbooks or BBC documentaries.
Objects like the Rosetta Stone - an ancient script in three languages that allowed historians to understand Egyptian hieroglyphs;
Sculptures of great world leaders like Alexander the Great who conquered much of the known world from the Mediterranean Sea to the Himalayas by the time he was 30 years old; are priceless at helping us in the modern age learn from the past about people and culture.
However, an ethical nerve was touched when reality hits about how the museum has acquired a number of the items. Photos of early explorers dressed in khaki digging the pyramids sponsored by the museum on expeditions is one way that items get taken out of the ground, cleaned, restored and put on display for the public to admire; however the colonial imperialism 'plundering' route is probably a more accurate description.
The ancient Greek sculpture exhibition known as the 'Elgin Marbles' is accompanied by some very lengthy descriptive plaques justifying why the British Museum cannot simply give these treasures back to Athens (conservation reasons) even though they were once part of the Parthenon and probably are as important to their national identity as Big Ben is to the English.
The plaques also justify that had Lord Elgin (who donated the collection to the museum) not removed the sculptures in the first place, they would have been eroded and 'lost' due to pollution, impact of civil unrest and religious tensions - the museum citing that the spread of Christianity spawned the destruction of many classical Greek works of art and temples.
But whilst we admire evidence of the great civilizations of the ancient times courtesy of the activities of Victorian age treasure hunters, perhaps we forget that plundering, looting and vandalism have always been part of human society.
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This was the new phrase we learnt from our visiting Norwegian guests - Michelle (Olie's sister) and Marius (her boyfriend) who came to stay over this past week, bringing a touch of Scandinavia to our home with gifts such as an authentic cheese grater and slicer (that drew blood on Olie's finger), a bottle of liquor that is traditionally aged on a ship circumnavigating the globe.
In preparation for their arrival, we loaded up the fridge with bottles of corona, a 40 pack box of Mee Goreng, and most interestingly a bottle of Hoegaarden Rose - packaged in a champagne bottle, it frothed like beer, was served in wine glasses and tasted a bit like Swedish berry cider.
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| Not quite a beer, not quite a wine. Just an all round interesting drink |
Our overseas guests came with a rather unique wish list of things they wanted to do whilst in London town. From Michelle's side it was: eat sushi, go shopping (she came with an empty suitcase and discovered Primark), and see the Phantom of the Opera sequel 'Love Never Dies'. From Marius's perspective, the objective of the trip was more simply: eat Nandos (that he missed from his student days at Monash Uni in Clayton), visit Stamford Bridge (he is a big Chelsea English football fan) and watch Norway v Portugal (Euro 2012 qualifier match) on Saturday night.
With 6 days in this city, our guests made use of our stash of London tourist brochures and before long were exploring the city using the weekly Oyster cards.
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| Knight statue near Liverpool St |
Love Never Dies - London Theatre
Mei and Michelle watched 'Love Never Dies' (whilst the boys spent some time bonding in Soho), booking on the day of the performance at the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square and got amazing tickets seated in the dress circle. And whilst we both enjoyed the performance, it still doesn't beat the original Phantom in terms of memorable songs. The boys instead hit the pub and watched Pirates of the Caribbean.
To ensure we ticked off Marius's goal of watching the Norway v Portugal game, we set out exploring the sports bars in Central London that wasn't showing the England v Switzerland match. This was a challenge but eventually we found ourselves at the Jetlag bar / lounge near Warren St that was internet streaming onto a projector screen and was filled with blonde blue eyed men that we thought had to be fellow Scandinavians but were in fact supporting Portugal. To console the Norwegians after the loss, we headed to Chinatown for our typical late night meal of roast-duck / roast pork, giving Michelle the opportunity to eat her much-craved dumplings.
This week we have found time to start booking holidays outside of London. Well, time has always been on our side so it was more about getting motivated to spend money before we had earned any pound. To inspire ourselves, we took a tip from friends that had been here for a while and bought ourselves a map of Europe and hung it in our kitchen. We used colourful stickers from Poundland to visually keep track of the cities that we have visited to date - only two - London and Dover.
We also started a spreadsheet to keep track of our travel 'Wish List' with the first tab listing all of the European cities that we had to cover before we returned home to Melbourne. It was also our method of tracking flights, hotel rooms and key tourist sites per city. Over the next couple of months our travel itinerary includes: Munich (for Oktoberfest), Copenhagen, Krakow, Rome, Lyon, Majorca, Dublin and Oslo.
Another activity that we tried just once was a salsa dance class at a bar right next to London Bridge. Whilst we met a range of different people from Chile, Europe and Sydney; we felt that because we had to swap partners (who were often quite experienced) it wasn't as enjoyable as if we were just learning as a couple and therefore could progress at the same pace.
History is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another. ~Jacob Burckhardt
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| Front entrance to the museum |
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| Head of an Egyptian Pharaoh |
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| Olie posing with some statutes |
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| Assyrian Winged Animal gate statue |
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| Rosetta Stone in a very reflective glass cabinet |
Sculptures of great world leaders like Alexander the Great who conquered much of the known world from the Mediterranean Sea to the Himalayas by the time he was 30 years old; are priceless at helping us in the modern age learn from the past about people and culture.
 |
| Alexander the Great - Marble statue head |
However, an ethical nerve was touched when reality hits about how the museum has acquired a number of the items. Photos of early explorers dressed in khaki digging the pyramids sponsored by the museum on expeditions is one way that items get taken out of the ground, cleaned, restored and put on display for the public to admire; however the colonial imperialism 'plundering' route is probably a more accurate description.
The ancient Greek sculpture exhibition known as the 'Elgin Marbles' is accompanied by some very lengthy descriptive plaques justifying why the British Museum cannot simply give these treasures back to Athens (conservation reasons) even though they were once part of the Parthenon and probably are as important to their national identity as Big Ben is to the English.
The plaques also justify that had Lord Elgin (who donated the collection to the museum) not removed the sculptures in the first place, they would have been eroded and 'lost' due to pollution, impact of civil unrest and religious tensions - the museum citing that the spread of Christianity spawned the destruction of many classical Greek works of art and temples.
But whilst we admire evidence of the great civilizations of the ancient times courtesy of the activities of Victorian age treasure hunters, perhaps we forget that plundering, looting and vandalism have always been part of human society.
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