Drum roll please… London Part Two at long last

Just when you’d packed up your picnic, swiped away the beginnings of angry tears and punched in your mum’s phone number to tell on us… we’re back! But seriously, if you do feel a little neglected regarding the length of time between blogs, please remember this.

Every day for me now is a bad hair day. Every day I discover a new insect bite, often in places inappropriate to scratch in public. Every day I shower in my thongs (flip flops for your Brits). And every night, Sean and I bicker about who will have the head torch to read our book with and who gets the teeny weeny mag light, when really, whoever ends up with said head torch may wear a smug look but they still look like a twat. Mm-hmmmm… we are camping and that’s how we roll in our new every day life.We don’t get wifi so much and we miss you more than you miss us, so there!

Anyhoo, we left you at London! We managed to drive up again the very next day after the wedding to visit the infamous Hazzy Hamburger and her Olympic superstar boyfriend Pete. We arrived at their sunny apartment where Haz had put on an amazing spread filled with fresh veggies and amazing things she knows we’ve been missing in Europe. Bless you, Haz . So after catching up on the past couple of weeks since Biarritz, it was time to hit the sights of London!!!

Where to first? Duh.

Harrods of course!!!

We wandered around the hallowed halls, oohing and ahhing at the opera singer hollering over the escalators (they actually hire professional singers to entertain shoppers!), the incredible food hall, the puppies in the pet store and furniture that cost an average yearly wage. Of course we bought something, no one needed to know that our Harrods bag featured 3 mini cupcakes (couldn’t afford the full size ones ha).

Next Haz took me to the most sacred place in London. Years upon years of history, war stories and the recipient of millions of pounds. Top Shop, Oxford Circus. The biggest and best in all of Great Britain and I had a fistful of pounds saved from nights leaping onto Sean at midnight while a spider dangled over my terrible hair while our flimsy tent nearly collapsed around our ears. It was time to seek my reward.

Harriet and I had a blast, while we sent the boys off to the man shops in the area and we took so long they went to the pub for a drink (pints of coke,  they be crazy). It was a mighty success, thanks to the honest appraisal of Hazzy and we both walked out swinging our purchases happily.

I was in a ridiculous state of happiness. Even more so when i discovered my little Pip Squeak was coming to hang out with us that evening. When I worked at WAIS, Harriet was the sport science prac student from London and loved hanging out with me so much she told everyone at home and Pip decided she had to see what all the fuss was about and came to meet me for herself. It was love at first sight. Their versions of the story may differ ever so slightly, but the end result was the three of us are still good buddies and it was amazing to be all together again!

After dropping a pint of pear cider in  my lap, we went out for indian. Say what?  Yup, I was trying to elegantly sit down at the pub and somehow my bag swung out and tipped the ENTIRE, completely full pint on to my new jeans. Fortunately I found it hilarious and a good excuse to change into a new article of clothing from Top Shop so you may note my outfit is different in coming snaps.

Pete, Haz, Haz's sister Amy, Pip and me at indian in Brick lane

After a hearty meal, what better activity to take part in than going to the gym? Not any old gym though, but Frame fitness in the ultra chic area of Shoreditch and owned by our very own Pippi! Pip and one of her friends opened the gym about a year ago which purely does classes – and about 200 a week or 30 classes a day! Yoga, spinning, reformer pilates, dance and even a class that’s dedicated to Glee. I wanted to move in and live a long, happy and healthy life inside Frame. It was truly amazing and Pip is one clever little lady – so if you live in East London, I’m totally jealous and get yourself to a class because you’ll have loads of fun.

Me, Pip and Haz at Frame

After a fun day and night in London, we caught the train back to Haz and Pete’s and collapsed into their roommate’s bed (thanks so much for the loan, roommate!). The next day Pete had planned a big bike tour for us and we needed our beauty sleep for the paparazzi.

Haz, Pete, Sean and I set off on a mixture of road and commuter bikes to see all the sights of London. We whizzed through our host’s local area of Hammersmith and through Hyde Park, imagining what it’d be like there when the Olympic triathlon and marathon are held in 2012. Then we arrived at Buckingham Palace which was crawling with tourists and gently nudged our way to the fence to cop a look at the guys in the big silly black hats.

Buckingham Palace and the flags were out too meaning her Maj was inside!

Pedal, pedal, pedal, puff, puff, puff and next stop was Big Ben and Westminster Abbey for a quick look (we did this whole tour in just over 2 hours as we needed to get back to Uckfield!).

Big Ben ahoy!

Side note: thanks to Haz for donating her whole outfit as i didn’t intend on doing any exercise while in London and there we were doing a 2 and half hour bike ride!

We then raced off to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge which was great, via the London Eye (no stopping just a quick wave before zooming off oncemore).

Two goofballs in London, with Tower Bridge in the background

We also saw the lions at Leicester Square, Covent Garden fleetingly, the very centre of London and more bits n pieces that Pete knew loads about. He could seriously earn a crust as a tour guide, we had top quality that day! Thanks Pete and Haz, you guys were wonderful hosts and we wish we could have hung out longer.

Alas! The Moore family were waiting for us in London and we had a date in Brighton the next day with Ricky and Fleur. Brighton was the place I spent a lot of time while i was travelling aged 20 and I couldn’t wait to race around with Sean. Unfortunately, the weather was dismal so Ricky, Fleur, Sean and i battled the elements at the pier before holing up in a cafe for lunch, wandering through the lanes and finally succumbing to the dry confines of the shopping mall.

Just another lovely summer's day at the beach! Fleur, Ricky and me fuh-reezing in Brighton

Our last night in England was spent at home in Uckfield (sigh, it so feels like home and i miss it already!) with take away, Ricky Gerrans’ movie, updating nail polish and Ben and Jerry’s. It was heaven and then Katie came home and told us about her glamorous new job in which she had a gorgeous new suit bought for her! Seeing as she wasn’t in previous family pics I made her pose with her shopping bags…

Katie, looking glam even at 11pm on a tuesday night!

We loved England and I wish so much that we had more time there as we had loads of special family catch ups, spoke in English as much as possible to anyone we could, bought upmagazines, books, Revels and Minstrels for the next road trip and really just had a fab time.

Next stop for the blog is Belgium and Amsterdam but in real time, Sean and i are in the Black Forest in Germany (yup – it’s where the cake is from! Sean had a big fat slice today and I may have had a couple of forkfuls) and tomorrow we head to Zurich! So excited to see Switzerland, I’ve never been there before! So asta amigos, we’ll be back shortly and miss you all terribly… please write, why you no write no more?! You’re just as bad as us, aren’t you?!

Lisa and Sean xoxo