Big Adventures, Little World

The day that Monica and Para came to London I unfortunately had to work so I was eagerly waiting 5.30 to get out of the office and see them! It had been a while since we had someone visit and I was looking forward to seeing them, having not seen them in over a year. Elese had picked them up from the airport and I rushed home after work to find one in the shower, and one asleep in my bed. No need to rush home at all! Later on though, we got ready and took them out for a night at Bogan Bingo! If you don’t know what it is, click the link! We had a great night out and got very messy. In mind, body and our clothes due to all the Bingo markers and it was safe to say that Friday was a tough day at work. What did that matter though, we had fun, and Elese won a weekend in a Wicked Camper. What a  great night! Monica and Para didn’t care either as they just slept most of the day until Elese took them out for a bit of shopping on Oxford Street and then I met them when I finished work where we took them around and showed them a bit of London including Buckingham Palace by night, which was very different to the other times that I had been there. There were only a few people around and we could actually get up close to the gates and have a good look. We also walked on as  many streets of the Monopoly board as possible!

Moni, Para & Scotty on The London Eye

Saturday was a bit of a touristy day, for myself as well as there is a lot that I still haven’t done in London. We first went into central London to do one of New Europe’s walking tour that I had done before, but by the time we got to Trafalgar Square, we were all hungry and getting a bit tired. So we stopped in Trafalgar Square and had something to eat before I took them on my very own London tour and gave them the history that I knew about it all. It actually turns out I know a bit about some of the landmarks, even though Para never really believed a thing I said. I took them around to most of the places that they would have seen on the walking tour anyway, as well as more streets from the Monopoly board and we ended up at the London Eye for our ‘flight’ on it. The London Eye is the tallest ferris wheel in Europe (once the tallest in the world) and stands at 135 metres while the wheel itself is 120 metres. I hadn’t actually been on it before even though it is one of the biggest attractions in London, so I was looking forward to it, as were the girls. It really was quite cool and we got to see some really good views out from over London, including a long the Thames River and the skyline every way you look. The wheel moves quite slowly with the whole rotation taking about 30 minutes, but it didn’t seem as slow as I expected. At the end of it we headed down to the riverbank for a Thames River Cruise which was a lot of fun and relaxing at the same time. It was good to just sit back on the boat and see all the sights along the Thames with a bit of comedic commentary including interesting and fun facts on the side which made it that bit more fun.

They were only visiting London for a couple of days so that night we spent at Jimi’s to show them what a English BBQ is like, and it was nothing like they had expected! At least the weather held out though and we could sit in the backyard, have a few drinks and eat some meat. Sunday morning we headed into Leicester Square to show Para around Chinatown and also visit M&M’s World and meet Dung. We had a look through M&M’s World which is 4 floors full of M&M’s paraphenalia and crazy tourists throughout the place so you can barely move! Then we headed down to have a Sunday roast at a pub, another very English thing, and then realised that we had just enough time to rush home, pick up the bags, then get to King’s Cross Station for them to catch the Eurostar to Paris. It was close, but they made it with a very small amount of time to spare, as when we got there the train was already boarding. I’m sure if I hadn’t have gone with them they would have missed the train, just like some of their flights they had missed in the US. Then they were gone. It was a whirlwind visit but was great to have them both stay for a few days seeing as it had been so long since seeing either of them. I love when people come to visit me, even if it is only for a short time!

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