Back in London, Claire’s passport was again detained (we are used to this by now) and we finally got to our hostel at midnight. It was a nice little place down from Victoria station and on the bottom it was a pub and on top a hostel. The only worrying thing was the bunks which were 3 high and wobbled scarily if you were at the top and there was too much movement, other than that it was a lovely little place.
On our first day back we got up to go and see the changing of the guards which after 6 months we still hadn’t seen. We wandered around St James’ park for a while beforehand looking for squirrels which we found disappointingly few of. When we made it back to the palace it was FULL of people waiting to see the changing and this meant that we only got a spot at what I supposed were the barracks of the guards. We watched the band play some ‘fun’ songs like the Rocky theme before getting into the main event and their marching songs. An Irish wolfhound led the procession through the gates and we watched them disappear into the crowds.
We made our way up to Piccadilly Circus and Regent St for a peek at the end of financial year sales and found ourselves in Carnaby Place which was full of cute and quirky little stores. My next interest was to find out how the Harry Potter red carpet would be working the next day. I had been told it would be in Leicester square so we headed that way and found construction work and not a lot else, we guessed that they hadn’t started setting up yet and we would come back tomorrow.
On to Harrods next and Claire picked herself out a bag and we proceeded to get lost in the huge, expensive maze that is Harrods. When you see ‘Bargain’ racks for 300 pounds and under, you know you are in the wrong place. After looking at all the expensive things I was tired and ready to go home, however whilst on the tube I picked up a paper which had pictures of Trafalgar Square crowded with people setting up for the Harry Potter premier, so we made a detour to Trafalgar Square to check it out. On arrival we found a security officer who was being mobbed as he was handing out wristbands which would allow people into the restricted viewing area. Claire and I snapped up a pair of them, plus some extras for Shannon and Ben, and went to have a look around. On seeing all these people in various states of dress-up, playing HP celebrity heads or reading the books Claire looked at me and said ‘you want to sleep the night don’t you’. I did.
We went back to the hostel to shower and pack a bag and then hurried back. It took us some time to find a sleeping spot as it was quite crowded, but eventually we found a space just big enough for two little girls. That night we ate baked beans on bread (cold) watched people set up the stage and banners and red carpet, in fact they worked all through the night. We chatted to people around us although I had previously mentioned to Claire (who hasn’t read any of the books) that she wasn’t to say anything as she would only embarrass me. This meant that questions such as ‘why does that girl have a lion on her head?’ or ‘why is there so much red and gold?’ were conveyed to me in a whisper. We were told that rain wasn’t expected until 4am which was nice. Our sleeping arrangements were thus, One sleeping bag with both our legs in it, zipped up to our knees, this was then all inside a large garbage bag which was pulled up to our waists. The open bit of the bag was over the top of us whilst we lay on some cardboard we found then our bodies were inside a poncho, each of us had an armhole for our heads, which was then tucked into the garbage bag. We used our bag as a pillow although at one point during the night that got uncomfortable for Claire and she chose to use our loaf of bread instead. There was spooning to the max as it was cold, but with my five layers of clothing and Claire, I stayed warm.
At 4.30am we were woken by a rush of people, I don’t know who they were or where they came from but they were making a break for the front, over the top of us. We jumped up and they swept us along, but it there wasn’t far to go before it was so crowded with people that we couldn’t go any further. So that is where we stood for the next 12 hours. It started raining at about 11, a torrential downpour, the likes of which we hadn’t seen in England before and we stood in our rain coats and under other people’s umbrellas whilst it rained on us for the next four hours. We were wet through, neither of us had any shoes other than thongs, so our socks got soaked, and then Claire’s thongs broke and she stood there with only tights on her feet. The ground became a mixture of puddles, newspaper mush, food and strangers bags that had been left behind during a rush.
Then the sun came out, things began to dry, and the celebrities began arriving. Rupert Grint was the first to come and the crowd went wild, even though he looked kind of silly with his foppish haircut but what can you do? They would arrive and on the big screen we all watched them sign autographs and have their various photos taken for the magazines. Then they came up onto this huge stage in front of the screen at the base of Nelson’s column. There they were interviewed before walking the carpet all the way up the steps to the National Art Gallery where more people were waiting to interview them. Claire and I had a good view of the screen, stage and steps but no view of the red carpet in front of us so did not manage to score any autographs or kisses L however it was still amazing. They played some clips and trailers from the movie and there were just so many characters there! I can think of only five who we didn’t see, the Dursleys (not in the last movie anyway) McGonagall and Sirius. Everyone else was there, down to minor characters like Filch and Lavender. Emma Watson got the biggest cheer I think, but when Daniel Radcliff came second to last and was joined on the stage by JK, well I think all you fans out there understand that it was an important moment. There were tears in the crowd; there were almost tears up on the stage! At about 7pm it all finished and the cast went off to the theatre to watch the film and we made our way back to the hostel and collapsed into bed. I just want to say that when I was a kid I entered so many competitions to win tickets to premiers in England, who knew I would get there for the big one?
The next day we deserved the quiet day we gave ourselves. Washing cloths and getting sorted out before going off to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, 15. We also went with Claire’s friend Bec from Australia. 15 is in an odd area I think. It’s north London which is a little out of the way and was a bit of a rundown area. Not excessively so, but it is not very flash or expensive. In a side alley are Jamie Oliver’s two restaurants, the Trattoria is at street level and 15 is in the basement. We had delicious drinks at the bar before taking our seats and ordering. Bec and I went for different pastas whilst Claire took the recommended fish. They came out looking amazing and we weren’t too embarrassed to get out our cameras and take pictures! For dessert I had a chocolate tart with Guava sorbet, Claire had seared peaches with almonds and Bec had white chocolate mousse with raspberry sorbet. Delicious!
On the 9th we had a day planned out, we needed to go to Primark to get new shoes for Claire to start with. London’s major Primark is on Oxford St and is crazy. It’s basically Target, but cheaper. Claire and I had previously bought dresses and jackets here for 1 and 2 pounds respectively and this time scored 1 pound shoes amongst other bargains. We came out only slightly poorer and headed off to Camden Markets. This area had some bargain clothes stores but not as cheap as Primark so we weren’t that impressed and moved on to the vintage shops, checking out the punk/goth ones along the way. We followed directions to a new Banksy (graffiti artist) that had turned up and then made our way home to get ready for the night, which this time involved Les Miserables!
Wearing our new clothes we went into Piccadilly Circus and the theatre. We had the cheap seats right at the back of the theatre but once the show began we forgot all about that. It had me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath as well as sending shivers up my back and bringing me to tears. It also made us laugh so it really had it all! A fantastic night that had us coming out grinning and discussing it all the way home.
The next day we had to shift hostels (as it is peak season in London it was impossible to find just one place to stay for the whole time). Our new place was fantastically placed right on Piccadilly Circus but was not as personal as it had seven levels of hostel! We checked in and got straight out to Brick Lane Markets. It was an eclectic mix of garage sale type stalls and basement vintage warehouses with a large amount of exotic cuisines mixed in. We had some Asian dishes for dinner and resisted buying anything after the purchases of the day before. I had gotten sick after the whole standing in the rain for four hours thing and was slowly wilting through the day and so we made it an early night at our hostel.
On our second last day we bought some pastries and coffee from Tesco and walked down to St James park where we fed some squirrels and enjoyed our breakfast in the sun. We then strolled to Trafalgar Square and found a movie being filmed in the centre of it. Called ‘Street Dance 2’ there was a large stage set up with guys break dancing on it. The square was not shut to the public so there were just extras spread amongst the crowd to make it look like we were having a good time. We got into a few of the shots before going up to the National Portrait Gallery. There we mostly spent our time in a wing with recent contestants of the BP Portrait Award which were, of course, very good. We were then supposed to meet another of Claire’s friends who was getting in from New York that morning. We waited for her in the square getting in some more of the movie shots before finding out her plane had been delayed four hours but she would be there soon, so we got lunch at the pub before meeting her at Piccadilly Circus. All together we went out to Greenwich which Claire had been keen to see. The museum was closed by the time we got there but she still got to see the time line she had wanted to. From there we made our way further east to the Olympic Park. Although it is still under construction it is showing many similarities to Homebush. We could see the main arena and the aquatic centre from the viewing site we were on and an education board told us what we were looking at.
We went back in for dinner and met with Bec again and took her to Tesco to grab some dinner to eat in St James park (I really like the park) which was a most relaxing way to do it.
Our last day was the most stressful we have had in a long time! Claire’s mum had offered to pay for us to stay in a fancy hotel for our last night so we went to check in. Two hours, a train and a bus and several phone calls later we found it. We checked in and ran straight back out the door as we had to pick up our big suitcases from Hatfield. The original plan had been to have a leisurely day in St Albans doing some last sightseeing but we didn’t have the time so we just ducked in and out of Uni. It was like a ghost town, we walked past Telford court, both of us looking up to John’s window at the same time but of course he wasn’t there.
Our bags are not light and the stations we took them to were not disabled friendly and so we carried our bags up and down the stairs. I’ll say it once here then never again. I have one bag and Claire has two, a big and a little. This means that she has to leave one at the top of the stairs whilst she carries the other down then go back for a return trip. Except that at every station there is a lovely man who wants to carry her big suitcase for her. This meant that she never once carried her big bag up or down stairs. I got given help twice but other than that I worked my muscles carried the bag. On the other hand her two bags are more of a pain to wheel so I suppose it’s all give and take.
Back at the hotel we were again only there for as long as it took to change into something warmer as we were going out again. We had tickets booked for the Globe Theatre to watch Dr Faustus. We were 15 minutes late and I was so worried that they wouldn’t let us in, but they did and the fantastic players soon made me forget my stressful day. The story is about a man (Dr Faustus) who sold his soul to the devil in return for a demon who would serve him for 24 years. We were in the standing space (5 pound tickets!) but I didn’t even notice that I was on my feet for the whole time because the play had me so entranced. Claire was blown away by it as well and we both came out much happier than when we came in, which I think is a great quality for any entertainment!
Back at the hotel we extended out check out time so that maybe tomorrow we could enjoy the hotel.
And we did. There was a spectacular breakfast before heading off to the spa to try out the thermal pool, steam room, sauna and ‘tropical rainforest’ shower. Very relaxing and we haven’t been so clean in ages! Back in our room we packed our bags and checked out at 2pm. More bag lugging to Heathrow, although the Heathrow station is more accommodation for bags. At the check in my bag was 6kg over the limit and Claire’s was 20kg over. (That’s Double what she was allowed!) The man told us how expensive it would be to send them home (very) and then after looking at our anxious faces said, ‘its alright’ and just put them through. The benefits of being two little girls (earlier in the day the spa lady had thought we were 16).
Our first flight was just an hour to Germany with a quick transfer to a 10 ½ hour flight to Bangkok. We had a 4 hour stop over there and then 9 hours to Sydney and we landed at 6.30 on Friday morning. Our families met us there (guess who’s were late) and we all went to brunch together on the beach. I think the most descriptive I can say about that day is that by Saturday I had almost lost my voice.
It’s lovely to be home and I have already caught up with several people. There are lots of things that need organising that are currently keeping me distracted from actually being at home so I will give that a bit to set in. Internationals will be glad to hear that Claire and I are already going to be seeing each other after only 2 days apart so you don’t need to worry about your little married couple, we aren’t separating for good.
Thank you to everybody that has been reading our blog! It has been great fun to keep in touch with people this way and a source of entertainment for both of us, as well as improving our journalism skills!
This is a final ending of our travels, for now.
Love Gemma & Claire
