Borough Market, Wapping Pub Crawl and Whale Spotting

Hi,
Been a while since we last spoke. Hope you missed us as much as we missed you. This should have been up two weeks ago, but we got lazy. And no one emailed or anything to complain or ask how we were. Which made us sad, along with the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder due to the lack of sunlight), but we're better now. Except, we've both lost our Aussie tans and now are more pasty white than normal.

Nah, truthfully, we're all right. We've just been busy.

OK, I'm going to tell you a story. It's a true story. The events that took place happened two weeks ago. A whale took a wrong turn (perhaps near Albuquerque) and swam up the Thames. Londoners went whale crazy. It's like they've never seen aquatic life in the Thames before. Not like our toxic fish (yeah, we heard about that over here, you can't hush everything up). Well, this whale, let's call him Willy (I'm assuming "it" was a "he", and no, no one called the whale Willy), well, everyone got worried about it. Why is Willy here? Are we all going to die? Did Willy bring presents? Can Willy make the trains run on time? What's the exchange rate for Euros today? And that kind of thing. Then the media told us that some smart animal welfare group said that they needed to turn Willy around and get him back to open water or he would die. First they needed to find Willy. So there were people on the banks of the Thames trying to look for it and helicopters in the sky and everything. A major operation. They eventually located Willy and tried to Free him. But sadly, despite their best efforts, Willy died.

Some historical research later, and it appears that London and whales do not get on that well. And whales have in fact swam up the Thames on a few occasions. On each occasion, these friendly, unarmed whales somehow come to an untimely end. Mostly after a traditional London harpooning.

Anyway, back to the blog. Two Saturdays ago Tam and I visited the brilliant Borough Markets (near London Bridge). It's similar to the monthly Growers Markets near Star City Casino, but it's on every week (Friday to Sunday) and is huge and quite popular. Even Prince Charles has been known to trot down and have a root around. We've not seen him (or any other notable celebrities) though.

This is only a tiny bit of the market. It's hard to take a good photo cos there's just so many dang people around.


Cheeses!


They even sell loads of weird exotic meats and things.


This is the cake stall with the yummiest chocolate cake on the entire planet.


We didn't get any cake that day, even though it is the tastiest in the world, but we did buy a sourdough baguette, a chorizo, some compte cheese, and a soft cheese we can't remember the name of. Then we left and had a little picnic on the bankside. And nearly froze our hands off.

This is a cool pub near the Thames outside of the Market opposite where we had our lunch. Remember this Alan? We came here for drinks one night.


The HMS Belfast (I know, I don't care either) with the lovely Tower Bridge (back right) and London Tower (back left). Wow! You can see blue sky :) with scary rolling grey clouds. No whale though.


The Tower Bridge and lovely Tam.


Deciding on having a nice relaxing day, we walked along the Thames, through St Katharine's Docks, and planned on visiting some of the oldest pubs in London in Wapping (pronounced wopping). Tams says we had a wopping good time ;)

This is the Town of Ramsgate pub, apparently London's most famous riverside pub. We braved the chill and headed out to the back courtyard, which almost opens out onto the Thames. A quaint little pub. Music choice was a bit ick. They even played some James Blunt. I can't believe this guy is even popular. He sucks eggs so bad. At first I thought it was just a British thing (like the weird sense of humour), then I found out he had infiltrated Australia as well. Shame. Shame.


Sorry, about the blurriness of this pic. Call it beer goggles. This is the Prospect of Whitby, just down the road a bit. A nice medieval pub. Our guide book says people like Admiral Bligh (of Bounty fame) used to hang out. Nice little pub, also with a courtyard outside. And a hangman's noose.


We noticed a flurry of activity on the other side of the Thames with all these people standing on the bank, and we headed out to the courtyard to see what all the commotion was about. And this is what we saw...


That's poor Willy there on the barge. Some elaborate plan to carry him back to the ocean, but he never made it. They performed an autopsy on him and declared that he died of dehydration. The big guy never stood a chance.

Amsterdam: Vice City

We planned a quick and cheap trip over to Amsterdam for the weekend. We flew out on Saturday morning at 8am and came back Sunday night at 10pm. We were a bit worried initially as the Tube (London Underground) had planned another closure of some lines, including the connection to Heathrow airport. The tube, although very handy, sucks majorly sometimes when the staff go on strike or when stations are closed due to the "non-availability of staff". It's worse than Sydney sometimes.

Anyway, its a short and sweet flight of about an hour and suddenly the plane is making its descent and then you're in the Netherlands. It's even colder than it is here in London, but its redeeming quality is its brilliant blue skies (but then again, the winters here in London aren't as terrible as what some people make them out to be - sure, it's cold, but not freezing cold all the time, and we haven't seen much rain or sleet or snow, there are sunny blue skies sometimes, and we haven't seen much fog or mist). We then arrived by train at Centraal Station and queued at the Tourist Information Centre where we got transport info, a strippenkart (similar to a travelten), and some museum tickets (better to line up for 10 minutes once than at each place).

We caught a tram first to the hotel near the Vondelpark and Museum district to drop off our daypacks, then visited the Van Gogh Museum. Yes, Vincent Van Gogh, the guy who chopped one of his ears off (and gave it to a prostitute at the local brothel called Rachel). Sad story. Brilliant man. Inspirational in a way cos he started off as a no-talent bum and then made it through his own style.

Sorry, we didn't take any pictures inside or of his works (although you are allowed to for some), but we did buy some postcards and a print of some of his works we really liked which we'll show you when we come home if you ask us really nicely. For now, you can check out the museum's website.


This is the Rijksmuseum just a few hundred metres east of the Van Gogh Museum. We didn't visit this one as we couldn't be bothered. On the right outside of the frame, there was an ice rink, where we watched kids fall over for a few minutes. Back and behind the Van Gogh Museum was the Concertgebouw (concert hall). Sorry Tom, forgot to take a photo for you.


This is one of the traditional dutch 'delights' - a broodje haring. We got one of these to share at a local market. It's a raw herring in a bread roll with chopped raw onions and pickles. Not something we'll ever want to eat again. We also had some pancakes for lunch, but the ones in Paris were much better. We didn't much rate the food in Amsterdam. Though they do make a tasty croquette. But more on that later...


This is the Dam Square (main square). They've got the Koninklijk Paleis where Queen Beatrix lives (some of the time), a Madame Tussaud's, the Nieuwe Kerk, a war memorial, and some shopping centres.


Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace)


Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)


This is the Magna Plaza, which is not in the Dam, but behind the Paleis on the other side. Its a big shopping centre. It used to be the Post Office. The guide books say that people didn't really like the look of it and they called it "Postal Gothic".


We're not sure if its just age or poor construction or whatever. But a lot of the buildings seem to be a bit slanted. Or maybe it's just because drugs are decriminalised.


This is the one of the stalls at the Bloemenmarkt. It would be nice to come and visit in Springtime when they've got more tulips out.


One of the best things we did in Amsterdam was the Anne Frankhuis. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside the Anne Frank House but it was fantastic. It's the actual house where the Frank family hid from the nazis, and they take you through the secret annexe behind the bookshelf and into their tiny home where the Franks and another Jewish family lived in secret for about two years until someone betrayed them and they were taken away by the nazis. She died about a month before the liberation as she thought her family were all dead and gave up hope. She didn't know that her father Otto was still alive. He was given her diary (by one of his former employees who had managed to save them from the nazis) when he was released and found out that all of his family died in the camps.

On a more happier note, the other cool thing we did was the Heineken Experience. It only cost 10 euros each to get in, and that included all the exhibitions and stuff inside (like the Cinimagic-style "What it feels like to be a bottle of Heineken" ride, or the virtual shire horse and drey tour around Amsterdam, or pretending to be a DJ), 3 glasses of Heineken, and a souvenir glass to take home.


Old (and very cool) Heineken Ads


Tams playing the Heineken Drums


Although not obvious, this is the virtual shire horse and Drey tour through Amsterdam.


On the back wall at the last bar where you use up your beer tokens. Heinekens, as far as the eye can see.


This is a view up the Keizersgracht (King's canal). You can see some of the buildings don't look so straight ;)


FEBO! This place is awesome. You can buy hamburgers, croquettes and stuff like in a vending machine. Although we don't have any photos, we did walk through the Red Light District, which kind of works in the same sort of way as FEBO. You walk up and down one of the canals and they have women dressed in bikinis in the windows of the buildings. It's quite weird and a bit scary. You're not allowed to take photos there or else. We did see some people getting arrested by the cops. And when you get to one end of the canal (up the northside), you can find all the weirdo hard drug pushers. And you have to walk by really quickly. Amsterdam is bizarre.


This is the Bulldog at Leidseplein. There are many branches of the Bulldog. It's one of the most famous coffeehouses (i.e. soft drug shops) in Amsterdam. We were told before we came to Amsterdam to avoid the milkshakes but to try a spacecake. We chickened out and avoided everything. On the Saturday night, we saw this one guy running along one of the squares. Running full-pelt. He suddenly stopped on a mound of dirt and started yabbering away in jibberish. Then he took off across the street and started yelling at parked cars. We don't need none of that. We're sensible.


More architecture - St Nicolaaskerk


At the Damrak


The Grasshopper Coffeeshop (with the Oude Kerk in the background)

Hanging out with Alan in London

Alan came over to visit us on his way home to Sydney from Cleveland via Europe and Asia. He arrived at Heathrow on New Years Day a little earlier than expected, and had to wait about an hour for me to front up at the airport to pick him up (sorry Alan). We were still a bit bleary eyed from staying up at home watching the fireworks on the tele and a bit under the weather from the few quiet drinks with our housemates Tristan and Kelly and their friends Chris and Kim. Tam said she'd stay at home and tidy up a bit before Alan arrived, but I knew she just went back to bed.
It was so good to see a familiar face. We were both so happy and excited to see each other. Poor Alan's been living in semi-isolation in Cleveland since July. At least I've got Tammy here with me.

First stop was the London New Years Day Parade. We managed to get there after it had already started but we still managed to see some good stuff (like American school marching bands shipped over here directly from the good ol' US of A, a cavalcade of mini's and scooters, floats from all the Boroughs, and balloons).


Felix the Cat.


Itty, bitty, magical, and mysterious Beatles.


A very happy Alan taking snaps near Piccadilly Circus. We were able to spend a few days with him because of the holidays, but had to leave him on his own for a few bit while we went to work.


Tam and Alan at the New Years Day Parade with the Duke of York Memorial and Westminster Abbey in the background. Spot the famous celebrity from Toy Town.


Noddy, the little man with the red and yellow car (sadly, minus car).


The next day we took the tube over to Camden to wander around. But we didn't buy any records with that old motown sound (sorry, The Waifs just popped in my head). Took Alan over to check out the Camden Markets and we also introduced him to some fruity Fruli beer. Love those Camden Markets, although we still haven't bought anything from them yet. I think it's that whole Newtown/Enmore vibe that it got going on.

This is a statue of the famed detective of 221b Baker Street located just outside Baker Street Tube Station. We saw this the night I suggested we go exploring Wimbledon. Which kind of sucked as we didn't bring a map and didn't know where anything was and also because it was so dark and all the shops had closed already. Sorry. My bad.


Besides the Parade, we also did a bit of sightseeing and walking and eating out and drinking in pubs and at home. But mostly just chilling at home catching up and finishing up the bottle of Raspberry vodka Alan brought us (Tam's new favorite drink). The other cool thing we did with Alan was watch the Mary Poppins musical in the West End. I've always loved Mary Poppins as I grew up watching it (and Empire Strikes Back and Grease), and since we've been here in London, I've always wanted to go and watch it. It was a great show with great company and we had the best time. The cast and songs were good, and the sets were amazing (the best I've ever seen, with ingenious transforming capabilities), Bert (the chimney sweep guy) walked up the walls and upside down on the ceiling, and Mary Poppins could do magical things and even fly around the theatre. How's that for awesome? One of the best things we've experienced so far on our trip. Still have a smile on my face and songs in my head. It was SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!


These are all the good photos we took. You'll have to ask Alan to see his ones. He's already left and gone over to Copenhagen. We miss you already Alan. Thanks for coming over. We'll see you and everyone of you other guys soon!