London pt. 2 iii.

On Saturday night we headed into Central London to the Cuckoo Club where we met up with Sinje and Hilde! We had so much fun, and it was so nice to catch up with them :)

London pt. 2 ii.

From the Princess Diana memorial we walked along The Serpentine to Hyde Park Corner where the New Zealand Memorial is. The New Zealand memorial is dedicated to NZers who lost their lives in WWI and WWII as part of the Commonwealth forces.

 We then walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace where naturally, we took selfies.

We then headed to Westminster Abby to see Big Ben where we also happened to bump into Russell Brand and a large group of protesters, as you do...

We ended our unofficial walking tour of London by walking across the River Thames to The London Eye before getting on the underground at the Waterloo station (and singing Abba songs in my head, while thinking about Granny lots.)

London pt. 2 i.

On Saturday morning I woke up 'popped in' to my Aunty Maria's 40th birthday via skype which was entertaing haha. Seeing Dad in a rainbow mohawk was a weird experience I don't feel the need to ever relive. (Love you!)

After an interesting skype session Catherine and I watch the All Blacks vs. England which made me feel like we were at home. I didn't realise how much I would miss watching rugby games haha.

Once we'd watched the game and had breakfast we headed to the Portobello Markets. They were by far the best markets I've ever seen, and they were massive. There was so much to see, there were so many different types of people who were all really interesting to watch (#creepy) and so many different stalls. 

We spent the morning looking through the markets and then found ourselves in Notting Hill quite conveniently outside Jamie Olivers restaurant Recipease so naturally we had lunch there.

[haloumi saland and peanut butter milkshakes]

After the yummiest lunch everrrr we walked through Kensington Palace Gardens which were beautiful - just like everything else in London haha. We weren't allowed to take photos in there but I so wish we had!

From there we walked to the Albert Memorial outside of the Royal Albert Hall.

From there we walked across to Hyde Park where we saw the Princess Dianna Memorial Fountain, (loved that lady.) We just happened to be walking in the gates as a tour group were arriving to so we hovered near by to hear the story behind the fountain - thanks random tour guide!

[It's that grey thing hahaha. Sorry for the terrible photos]

The water feature was originally designed to be a place for families and friends to enjoy together, where children could splash and play and cool off in the warmer months. It is fed from a spring at the top of the hill and water flows both ways - anticlockwise on one side and clockwise on the otherside. Health and safety got involved and decided it wasn't safe for people to play in the water, people continued to play in the water, health and safety fought it for awhile before giving up. Princess Diana probably would've loved the idea of the children playing in the water. 

Sorry for the loooooong post...

HI REBECCAAAA. love you.