A Week in London

Our first mission was to buy warm clothes.....headed of to the Westfield complex at Shepherds Bush.  Amazing place, a whole section dedicated to the Who's Who of designers, Australian included, didn't even glance at some of the windows ....right out of my league.
We were lucky enough to find some outdoor clothing shops with the remnants of their winter stock and I ended up with this incredibly warm down-filled waterproof jacket...one where I didn't look like a ten-pin bowling skittle!!... in khaki green as well....so happy:)

We spent the week cruising, a little gym, lots of walking and the general to-ing and fro-ing on public transport...I can well understand the tiredness the Londerners seem to have, it's so tedious getting around, paricularly when dealing with the weather.  We loved walking Maddie to school, she chattered as she scootered, navigated through other pedestrians, other scooters, and the  traffic when crossing the roads.  A really good way for her to get around as I reckon walking would be much more of a chore and much less fun. It's quite unnerving for the uninitiated tho', always wondering how much of the world around her she actually takes in, while she multitasks.

We minded Luca while Nic went to gym...as you can imagine not a chore in the least, scared the nappy off him early in the week, letting out one of my laughs while holding him, cried his little heart out poor thing.  He quickly adapted to his noisy loud nanny...

Had a trip to Cambridge.  Matt and Nic rented a "street car" for the day...a people mover.  An absolutely freezing, damp day spent among the colleges of Cambridge...beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets, a waterway where you could be punted or punt yourselves....the latter provides much amusement for onlookers as you watch the boat going round in circles:)

Love the flowers under this beautiful tree

and where am I going??

 ....a great night out with the Grundels, fantastic Italian food close to their flat in the old part of London....walking through narrow, dimly lit roads, a diverse assortment of building frontages, clubs, delis, restaurants, pubs, surrounded by swirling fog, and mist....


Was able to have lunch with Calvin, my nephew.  He and Matt work a couple of streets away from each other, too easy!

This trip was our first visit to the West End...we had tickets to "War Horse" given to us by Matt & Nic for Xmas.  A play centerd around WW1, about a horse who had been sold  to the army for transport in Europe...the amazing thing about it was the use of these bigger - than -life puppets for the horses, which were puppeteer-ed by up to four people at one time...their use of choreography embodied the characteristics of horses...snorts, ears twitching, tails flicking etc...other aspects to encapsulate the story-telling were the use of people and dialogue; screen projections of bombers, ground fire; the sounds of bombs dropping, cannon and gun fire; and stage props , this life-like tank; trenches...a really clever and enjoyable production.