Photo: The view from our hotel
After nearly 24 hours travel (there was an 8 hour layover at Doha International Airport) we finally arrived at Heathrow, worked out how to navigate the tube and checked into our hotel. From there we went to see the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – something that I really wanted to do. The theatre itself was absolutely beautiful! There is nothing even remotely similar in Australia – the balconies, the lighting, the beautiful red curtain! It’s a pity the ballet didn’t live up to the theatre… It was ‘Sylvia’ so I don’t know if the actually ballet itself added to how bad it was (that’s the first time I’ve seen it performed), but there were many almost drops of the lead (who didn’t really have any stage presence), there were mistakes from the most of the cast, unison was just no where to be seen… I expected more from this company. I should however say that the dancer who played Eros was fabulous as were the couple who danced the Goat duo. Oh and the sets! Wow!
Photo: The Royal Opera House curtain
The funniest part of the show however was the guy sitting behind us, with his girlfriend. He was talking about ‘…checking the finances to see if it’s a good investment…’ and then ‘…asking Mummy to pay for it…’! MP called him a preppy – I so have to agree!
Anyway, we did a lot of touristy things like the Tower of London, the London Tombs (scary!), Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, St Peter’s Basilica, the Natural History Museum, the Thames, etc, etc, etc. Lots of walking around everywhere, taking the tube everywhere, the sort of thing that you do when you are in London. All of which was great and added to the whole London experience, but that’s not what I loved the most about the trip.
Firstly, people spoke English and better yet, they understood when I spoke English to them!! And because of this, the entire trip was a whole lot easier. Plus, everyone was so very polite! On one day, there was a runaway train due to leaves on the track which caused severe delays on some of the other lines. Anyway, the day after this there were notices up at the tube stations apologising for the delays! MP also saw at one station, the platform officer help an elderly lady onto the train. He then radioed the next station so that the next platform officer could help the same lady off the train!
Oh and don’t get me started on the accents! We have an English friend here in Oman and he was talking about all the different accents people have there before we went over. It was so funny to hear them; it really is exactly like it is on TV. And the kids of the many private schools speak so well; concise and intelligent – and these are kids of say ages 9 to 12. At the ‘Britain at War’ museum, I heard one girl of about 10 say how ‘…ingenious…’ the cardboard cake was (made like that during the war due to the lack of availability of ingredients).
I think though, the big thing for me was that it was so easy and so normal, I could relate to everyone around me. I felt safe, I felt like I could actually do things and not need MP to do it for me or speak for me or whatever. It was so far from where I currently live and I liked it. I (briefly) had some of my freedom back. It didn’t hurt that there were so many Australians there also! Every single tourist group we were in had at least one other group of Australians in it.
The only time I didn’t feel completely comfortable was our final night there. We went to West End to see a play called ‘Ghost Stories’ (if you get a chance to see this play, do! It’s exactly what the title suggests, but I made a promise – like all members of the audience – that I would keep the secrets of the play, so that is all I can tell you…). Anyway, on the way to the theatre, a random guy walked passed us and whispered to MP “Marijuana? Pills?” It wasn’t scary, it was actually quite funny, but still puts you slightly on edge. It was on the way home that I felt…unsettled. Of course, this may have had something to do with the fact that I just watched a scary play! You know how you get a vibe from some people? I had that with this one particular guy who we walked passed on our way to the tube station. Stupid really, we were on a street full of people and really, that’s the same sort of thing I have experienced in Australia.
It was also nice to be able to go to a pub or a restaurant and have a glass of wine with dinner without having to hide in a 4 or 5 star hotel or behind curtains and closed doors. I definitely made sure I enjoyed this every night! Plus the ‘normal’ foods (if I never have to taste or smell cumin ever again, it will be too soon).
Photo: The Thames
But now that we are back I’m feeling quite homesick. As a friend just emailed to me, it’s the closest I have been to Oz since moving overseas. It’s nearly Christmas, something that is not celebrated here but it was all over London, so it’s been a crash back to reality here. There are National Day celebrations here in a few days, so there are red, green and white lights up all over the place – I’m trying to delude myself into thinking it’s for Christmas! Coincidentally, the Queen will be here in a day or so for the celebrations…
There were two not so great things about London though; it was all coming up roses! The pollution there is pretty bad. It’s the worst that I have experienced so far. I first noticed it whilst we were circling over the city on our delayed landing, that brown smudge across the sky. I didn’t pay too much attention to it initially, there is usually a haze here due to the dust cloud, it wasn’t until we were on the ground walking around it in that it really hit home. Each night we’d come home with a film of grim covering any exposed skin, collecting around our fingernails and nose. I wonder if in cities like this, whether there is a higher rate of respiratory disease?
But the other more shocking thing was the bad coffee!! Wow… So very, very bad. I was warned by the Yeoman guide we had that the coffee in London was bad but I didn’t listen! The first morning I had one and nearly gagged, but thought maybe it was because it was filter coffee. So the next time I got a cappuccino on board the Thames cruise – hideous! But again, I figured this was because it was made on a boat that didn’t really have the facilities for making a decent cup. Finally on our last morning, I had a lovely latte at a café on Portobello Road but it was made by a Frenchmen!! No wonder it was decent!
When I lived in Oz, I never really had any desire to visit London because so many Australian’s go there. Now however, I see why they flock there and I cannot wait to go back to explore some more!
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