The Welsh love keeps keeping on

A quick few photos that Maggie took with her camera phone when I was leaving at the train station.

I love this one of me on the train....one of those photos you can never take of yourself, but that is so evocative of adventure and travel.

And while I've been home for over a week now (boo hoo) I received a lovely package of Welsh love in the post today. Some pamphlets and books, some sweets and just some really sweet thoughts. Lovely. Maggie has moved on now to the next part of her holiday, and so I will also leave Wales behind. But before I totally finish with my trip; LONDON.

I've said before that I first went to London when I was 18. It was a side trip that I did with the other exchange students studying in Norway and Sweden with my organisation. It was always fun to get together with them and it was mad and silly and exciting. But even so, I still remember, when we got off the ferry that we'd taken from Sweden and bussed down to London, the overwhelming feeling I had that I'd come home. At the time I put it down to the fact that the UK was close enough to Australian culture and that Aus was what I was really missing. But I have to say that I felt it again, that feeling of "this is where I am meant to be" when I went this time too. And London. I love London. I mean, I love NYC too- I think I am a big city person- but in a different way. To me, London feels like home, even with all it's faults. Maybe because of them. I remember saying to my friend when I was 18 that I wanted to live in London, and I still feel that way.

So it was just lovely for me to be on my own in that city. To arrive in the afternoon and dump my things in my hotel room (aka a cupboard with a bed) and then just go out walking. To be caught up in the hustle and bustle of people getting on with their lives; coming home from work and school and to just drift along amongst that was so wonderful for me. I was staying a few blocks from Paddington station, so I walked down through Hyde park and into Kensington area.

I am such a tourist snob, and hate to get out a map when I'm walking around. Kensington was where we had stayed 9 years ago, and I am somewhat familiar with bits of it. I still managed to get myself hopelessly lost, and had to find a cafe to regroup in. I eventually made my way up into Notting hill area and slowly made my way back to my room. I didn't even stop for dinner, having had a delicious slice of quiche and raspberry yoghurt at the cafe. It was so delightful for me to crawl into bed after a shower, foot sore and tired, listening to the sounds of London through my open window and to watch a bit of TV before going to sleep.

The following morning, I was up early with the commuters and walked all the way along Bayswater Rd into Soho. I wandered around for ages, just, ahem, getting lost (and then ducking into an alley to check my map) before I made my way to Piccadilly circus to meet my friend for lunch. After lunch we walked over the Hungerford bridge and along the south bank just past Shakespeare's globe. She had to be on a train home, so we stopped for a coffee before she caught her train. The one very touristy thing I had wanted to do was to go to see a play at the Globe, but by the time she had left, I'd missed the performance, so I decided to just slowly walk back. Something to do NEXT time. The photos I took were mainly of interesting things I saw along the Thames. (once again, crappy photos as I was playing around with the settings)

I did cross to the north side as there seemed to be less of a crowd, and just ambled my way down. Of course I had to take a photo of the London Eye for the kids (it's a Doctor Who thing).


And I thought this was interesting:
See the "scars"?

I think this is a really ugly war statue in terms of how it's plopped in the middle of the street, but I really like the idea that the women took on different costumes.
As I said, I slowly made my way back, walking up through Trafalgar square and up Regent St and then back along Oxford and Bayswater with all the commuters going home. Of course, I was laden with bags from the shopping I had done- mostly gifts for the kids, and by the time I got back to the hotel, I was exhausted. But it was a great day. I have to admit that I had a few tears in my eyes walking back.

My last morning, I was up at 6 and out the door. I walked into Hyde park and just enjoyed the morning- joggers, dog walkers, the peace and quiet.
I had seen this exhibition on a news item on TV and I really wanted to go and have a look. Unfortunately they hadn't finished setting it up, but it was still really cool.

And then, on the way back through the park, I had a very strange little squirrel run up to me. I wasn't sure if he was just inquistive or whether he was going to attack me...

I got back to the hotel in time for breakfast and then made my way out to the airport.

So sad to leave- it's been a bit hard coming back here, especially with the HEAT that we've had. Hard to get back into life, especially as we're on school holidays. But the trip was so good for me; so good in fact that Matt has suggested that I do a trip on my own every year. It was what I needed to find me again. And it wasn't a bad thing for the kids to miss me and have to do all those jobs of mine that they take for granted.

Right, from now, we'll be back to our usual blogging...