London: The Return

I'm not saying Michael and I were lucky to make it to London, but we did get quite camel-distracted in Abu Dhabi. We were the last to board our connecting flight: shame shame. 

The important thing is that we flew into Heathrow as planned on Wednesday 30 October, and straight into Hayley's waiting arms (and buckets of costa coffee, mmm jetlag).

Hayley lives in the Wimbledon area, which as yet seems entirely devoid of tennis. It's a lovely neighbourhood of narrow pointed roofs, topped with that slab of London-grey sky that I missed so much. We dropped off my stuff, got me showered, and headed straight back into the city to attack some nearest-dearest friends with movie-grade hugs. 

We found Miki in Covent Garden and ducked into a Wetherspoons near Holburn with a couple of her friends. The pub was Shakespeare themed. The food was deep fried. Fiona was very happy. 

One pub is never enough, especially when making one's auspicious return to London. When Miki took off to a Halloween party at strand campus, Hayley and I continued to Russell Square and found ourselves another pub. We then met Kyveli for dinner, which was the joy of joys right up until the moment jetlag punched me in the face. 

Next day I woke all fresh and fully attuned to London time. Hayley and I met Michael at Monument and headed directly to Borough Market for the important business of banoffee pie and mulled cider. I then strolled us along Borough High Street and through Guys Campus for old times sake. 

To complete our touristing, Hayley showed us Katharines dock just beyond Tower Bridge, and then we returned to Borough Market with Hayley's friend Léonore for lunch. 

We then walked along the south bank before crossing Waterloo Bridge - best views in London! - and heading up the Strand to another old favourite, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. More cider! 

Book of Mormon had long been booked in for Thursday night. It's the must-see musical event of the moment on the West End. If you've seen Baseketball or Team America then you'll have some idea of the sort of thing that lay in store for us. It really was very funny. ('I can't believe Jesus called me a dick!') The highlight was definitely spooky Mormon hell. Which, incidentally, is where the Book of Mormon's past and future audience is now headed.

On Friday morning I suddenly realized that I'd made plans to show my Melbourne friend Emma around London, so it was back to Borough Market for me. Such sacrifices must be made. We walked across Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's and then wound our way through inns of court to Covent Garden. Post-Primrose Bakery (those cupcakes!), we found Michael and headed down to the real food market on the south bank where we met Hayley for lunch. 

Hmm. It's starting to sound a little like London's all about food for me. But that is entirely, entirely not true. For example, when we met Miki at Somerset House after lunch, we had coffee. 

Having worked up an appetite for culture, Hayley and I took the tube to the Science Museum. It was unimpressive, really, particularly compared to the Air and Space Museum in DC or even our very own Science Works. Then dinner, then drinks in Earlsfield with Léonore and one of Hayley's housemates. We drank Pimms and pretended it hadn't been drizzling on us all day long. London, never change.