Natural History Museum

It may only be November, but everything is getting a bit crispy and a bit Christmassy here- this weekend we visited London's Natural History Museum. I was delighted to find it was one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in London- and the picturesque skaters in front only increased its beauty! Inside was the perfect blend of old architecture and new, modern exhibits. Highlights included the entry way (jaw dropping)

Deutschland!

Rhys and I are off to the Christmas markets in Cologne for a lovely four-day weekend. Sadly we are missing the supposed first snow of the year in London, but with a bit of luck maybe it will snow while we are browsing the Christmas markets sipping mulled wine...you never know

Visiting the BBC and stuff....that's how I roll

I have been reading the BBC news religiously, with varying levels of fervour, since I was 17.  When I was getting ready to move to London it was so exciting to finally be going to the land of the BBC, complete with not only the online version, but also BBC TELEVISION NEWS OH MY!

But then something unexpected happened. finally being here makes it less exotic and less foreign, so not all the news stories are about some far away land, but instead about the cat next door. Somehow this makes it less exciting. Even though, I admit I am still a bit of a fan girl. The BBC does do some amazing things, especially with their TV programmes, some of which are totally ridiculous and ludicrous.

Lord Mayor's Show

This weekend Rhys and I headed for the Lord Mayor's Show- a once a year event where the Lord Mayor of the city of London (that tiny bit in the middle) swears his allegience to the Queen. This is not Borris Johnson- the mayor of actual London, but a different guy (which we didn't realise at first). We also learned through the friendly guy next to us that the Lord Mayor is not elected  by the people- rather he is elected by businesses within his precinct. his role has existed since the time of the Normans, around 1066. In order to swear allegiance to the Queen, the Lord Mayor has a huge parade from his house- a huge stone monolith, to the Royal Courts of Justice. The parade is absolutely massive- we watched the whole thing go by and this took 1.5 hours! Participants included first various marching bands, representatives of guilds (such as lawyers, plumbers, tapestry weavers etc), sheriffs who help run the city, london taxi cabs, various charities and lots of the army, including missile launchers, marching in unison, bearskin hats, and tanks. Very impressive and exciting to watch!

Books this week

Last weeks' book review:
"Shakespeare" by Bill Bryson -> good and worth a read! a very quick overview of elizabethan times, and essentially concludes we know nothing about Shakespeare at all- not even how to spell his name.

"An Education" -> not worth a read. worth a miss.

This week I am reading:
1. "Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson (on a Bryson role)
2. "Fallen Angels" by Bernard Cornwell
3. "Notwithstanding" by Louis de Berniers

Expat nostalgia

Yesterday we headed out to watch the All Blacks play England in their first game of the European tour. The game was here in England, so it was showing at 2:30pm, not some ridiculous hour of the night like when it they play in NZ or the southern hemisphere in general. We headed to an Austrlian bar called Walkabout which was downtown near Charing Cross.  We got there just as the New Zealand national anthem struck up, and walking in the door we entered a huge crowd of kiwis, all sporting their all blacks jerseys and singing the anthem, and then doing the haka as well (of course).

Fall/Autumn

Well the clocks went back this week (dark at 5pm...!) and fall is Well and Truly Here...and winter is very close around the corner. I have high hopes for snow in London, we will see how that goes. But at the moment the autumn colours are out, and the trees are turning beautiful shades of yellow and red. Very nice when there are trees around to see!

Zoo!

Last weekend we took a break from touring the city and instead headed to the London Zoo. We decided to splurge and go to something that wasn't free at long last- and I don't really mind spending my money on the zoo which is a big part of conservation anyway- a worthy cause.