A Birthday, Lavender & a Surprise Show

Saturday 16th June 2018

Today is Eden’s 26th birthday and because she’s away from home for it for the first time we wanted to make it a special day. A small cafe in Clapham Common called Minnow was where we were heading for brunch that we had walked past multiple times and boasts a beautiful archway of flowers over it's entrance way. It looked promising but unfortunately the food wasn’t that great at all. They didn’t bother to tell us that they hadn’t run out of baked beans and failed to replace items on my breakfast that they promised they would as they contained dairy. Not to mention they add on a 12.5% "optional" service charge like most places in London which always annoys us. They did however not charge us for the two hot drinks ordered but we still left feeling disappointed. Lew had forgotten his sunglasses so we had to quickly head back to Stockwell via a cute market where we picked up some fresh raspberries and Samuel brought Eden a big bunch of flowers as a present from her mum. Getting onto the underground we made our way into Bank station where we had booked free tickets for the Sky Garden. They release tickets every fortnight on a Monday at 9am and you’re better to book yourself into one of these slots than just turning up and hoping to get in. It’s at 20 Fenchurch Street at the top of a building (35 floor) which is known as the walkie talkie and consists of three stories of landscaped public gardens as well as an open air observation deck overlooking London city and multiple cafes and restaurants. It was honestly the first time iv had a view over London and it was incredible to see the Thame (despite it being filthy looking) wind its way around the city. We could see the large buildings of Canary Wharf’s business district in the distance with the tree covered area of Canada Water in front of it where we spent the first few weeks of our time in London. You could also see a unobstructed view of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and of course the building called the Shard which looks like it’s made of shards of glass. We took some photos, admired the gardens and then the boys sat and ate a couple of donuts whilst we planned our next adventure. Since we were in the area we decided to walk towards Tower Bridge and walk around the outside of the Tower of London. From what we could remember this was rather expensive to go into (approx £23 ($44 nzd)) and we would keep it on our list for another day. It was beautiful walking around the riverfront but it was swarming with self stick welding tourists. Last time we were here it was freezing cold mid winter and just Lew and I so it was nice to get some typically touristy photos of us all in front of the bridge. After picking up some fresh caramelised nuts from a street vendor which enticed us with their sweet smell, Samuel grabbed a slushy and we walked across the famous bridge. The boys tried to guess how many rivets were holding it together but us girls just admired the view. The bridge itself was built between 1886-1894 and took 5 major contractors and 432 construction workers to complete the bridge within those 8 years. Once building had been finished it was the largest and most sophisticated bascule bridge ever completed (bascule comes from the French word for "see-saw") and the bascules were able to be opened using hydraulics powered by steam. It takes only a minute to raise the bridge to its maximum angle to let a ship through. If these engineering things are of interest to you there is a engine room full of the original pumping engines, accumulators and boilers on display however Sam and Lew didn't seem interested today so we gave it a miss. With it still being the early hours of the afternoon we walked up the side of the Thames in the hope of finding the Leadenhall Market which dates back to the 14th century and is situated in what was considered the center of Roman London. The market was originally for meat, poultry and game but is now home to boutique retailers, fancy restaurants and upmarket wine bars and pubs. In 1666 the Great Fire that destroys most of London also ruined part of the market and it was then that during the rebuilding phase the market became a covered structure and was divided into the Beef Market, the Green Yard and the Herb Market. Fun fact of the day was that during the 18th century there was a goose that became a pet of all the stall owners after escaping being slaughtered unlike 34,000 other geese at the market. He was called Old Tom and died at the age of 38 where he lay in state in the market and was buried on site. An even more interesting fact for you Harry Potter fans out there is that Happy Potter and the Philosophers Stone was filmed here in 2000-2001 and Leadenhall Market was used to represent the popular wizarding pub the Leaky Cauldron and the magical shopping street of Diagon Alley. The market was indeed very old and beautiful with its high arch ceilings and intricately painted shop fronts but unfortunately something we didn't realise was that its closed on weekend! With that being a bit of a failure Lew and I decided one more sight seeing adventure was in order since it was so close by despite some tired sore legs from one party member! The stunning St Pauls Cathedral was only 15 minutes walk away and we hoped to go inside it since we hadn’t done so yet. Outside there was the best street performer we had seen so far - a man painted in all black standing insanely still. Even the rendering of his paint covered body was impressive and we stayed a couple of minutes hoping to see him flinch but he didn’t. Even the drip from his nose didn’t seem to faze him. We threw him some coins and begun the walk around the cathedral. Unfortunately it does cost if you want to visit as a tourist (free to worship) and there was a bit of a queue so we decided we were happy admiring its glory from the outside. St Pauls is another one of Britians famous architects Sir Christophers Wrens masterpieces. It was built between 1675 and 1710 after the former church was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire and is dedicated to Paul the Apostle. It was where Sir Winston Churchill's funeral was and also the location of the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. The cathedrals beautiful dome roof can be seen from all around London and it is quite famously photographed peaking out amongst the rubble and smoke of the Blitz which it miraculously survived (photos below). Our last stop of the day was to get some more toppings for Lews homemade pizza which he had prepared the dough for last night. One of his Italian friends at work told him about a place called Merccato Metropolitano where he brought his ingredients near Elephant & Castle underground station so we planned to go there on our way home. Looking at the photos of it on google maps we convinced Sam and Eden to come along and we grabbed a bus to give our feet a rest. The place was not at all what we were expected but we were very pleased to discover it as it had a huge range of good and drinks from all over the world- Italian, Spanish, Mexican, French, Indian - you name it! Feeling a bit unsure as to where he buys his produce from we looked around but only found one Italian place that seemed to have mozzarella and salami behind the counter. They seemed reluctant to sell it to us at first and I urged Lew to find out whether this was the correct place his friend was meaning. Turns out it wasn’t but the chef had already begun serving us small slices of salami from multiple blocks for us to choose from. We went with a big block of spicy stuff for £12 ($23 nzd) and then some fresh mozzarella for £10 ($19 nzd). It certainly added up and we would never spend this much at home on ingredients but Lew has decided his pizzas have been lacking lately and perhaps shitty ingredients from the supermarket has been the issue. We all caught another bus home and all four of us were well and truely exhausted. We all went our seperate ways and napped or watched some Netflix to chill before dinner time. At 5.30pm we rushed to get the pizzas prepared making the tomato base from scratch with fresh herbs and garlic and chopping up all the toppings. Lew stretched out the dough and begun getting pizza in the oven as time was running out before we needed to leave for our last adventure of the day. Everyone got to choose what topping they preferred and by 6.30pm we were all fed and we rushed to get changed for our surprise event. Neither Eden or Sam knew that we had brought tickets for all four of us to go to a show on the West End called 'Dreamgirls' at the Savoy Theatre for Edens birthday present. We basically ran to the station (or rather I did!) as we needed to get on the Charring Cross branch of the Northern Line and these don't come very frequently to Stockwell. We had a slight issue when we got down into the station and we were about to jump on the train when we realised there was only three of us there. Lew for some reason hadn't come down yet and I realised that I had his wallet in my handbag and he uses his contactless to get on! Whoops! The train pulled away and I thought we had missed it but thank goodness the next train coming through was the one we wanted so all was not lost! Sam & Eden only realised where we were headed to when we walked inside the beautiful lobby of the theatre in the entrance was of the swanky Savoy Hotel to collect our tickets. We literally arrived at 7.30pm on the dot which is when the show was supposed to start and everyone was being ushered into their seats. We were down on the bottom level in the stalls which actually had a pretty good view. I hadn't a clue what the show was about but Eden had been wanting to watch the movie which has Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson in it for awhile so it didn't seem like a bad choice after all. For those of you who also don't know anything about the show it is based in the United States in the 1960's which was a revolutionary time in American music history. It is about an African-American girl band called The Dreams and their turbulent ride through a world of fame and fortune and the realities of show business. The first half of the show wasn't my favourite and I found the main actress a little screechy as well as the theatre being incredibly hot and one person in the crowd fainted and had to be carried out. We had to get outside to cool down during intermission like most of the other members of the audience. By the second half we were enjoying the show a lot more and once it had finished we were pleased we had chose this as our surprise. So far we have managed to get to The Book of Mormon (absolutely fantastic!) & 42nd Street (excellent if you like tap dancing) in the West End with tickets to Hamilton later in the year when Lews parents come to visit. We all decided to catch the bus back home to save money and so we could see the pretty lights of London. Once we arrived we had the carrot cake with cream cheese icing (dairyfree!) and fresh raspberries for dessert as we sung Eden happy birthday. Man did we fit a lot in today!

The 'walkie talkie' where the Sky Garden is located at the top

Sadley these have been added since the Westminister Bridge attack to stop cars from driving onto the pedestrian walkways

He will watch 'Orange is the new black" in any position, whenever he can...

Do you believe me when I say this is an actual man?

Air_Raid_Damage_in_Britain_during_the_Second_World_War_HU36220A.jpg

Sam & Eden with the Shard in the background

Savoy Theatre in the entrance of the swanky Savoy Hotel

Sunday 17th June

After such a late night we all had a bit of a sleep in. Most of the morning was then spent tidying and cleaning as Sam & Eden were moving out of our flatmate Row's bedroom as she is back from holiday today and needs her room back and they are moving onto another friends couch. Eden had found a placed called the Mayfield Lavender farm south of London on a website called https://secretldn.com/ which gives you off the beaten track things to do. We decided to make a day of it and took a regional train south to a small railway stop called Belmont station where we could walk to the lavender fields in half an hour. We found a cute bush track all the way there and we reminded ourselves how much we need to get out of London and explore things like the Surrey Hills and the Lakes District where we can walk in the fresh air and greenery. The lavender was really only just beginning to bloom for the season so I am sure it will be more impressive next month when it is all out but we didn't mind. The entrance fee is supposed to be £2 ($3.90 nzd) each but this seemed to be only if you were coming in the main gate which we didn't as we just climbed a fence. We took some photos and looked at the items they were selling in the tents before finding a pub close by for lunch. We caught an Uber to a small town called Carshalton where we found a pub called the Greyhound that was rated the best in the area. They did the most excellent fresh fish n chips which Lew and I shared along with a salad. Poor Eden realised that she had lost her NZ credit card at this point and after a quick call to the lavender farm she discovered it had been handed in there. We grabbed another Uber back there to pick it up and then walked the same bush track back to the station. The trains weren't so frequent so we ended up catching a bus to Morden where we transferred to the Northern Line to get home. Sam & Eden packed up the rest of their stuff and made their way to their friend Jontys place in an Uber and we waved our goodbyes feeling a little lonely already. They were kind enough to give us a very unnecessary gift but something I was incredible excited about since I had brought the book on cocktails a few weekends ago and that was a cocktail making set! Iv got no way out of it now and il have to start collecting alcohol iv never even heard of so I can do it properly! Lew and I weren't very hungry since we ate late at the pub and we decided to go out for a quick run around Clapham Common before settling in to book a trip to Luxembourg for a weekend and another to Munich in Germany! However, it is back to work tomorrow for another week before we can plan some exciting weekend adventures again with our Kiwi comrades. Night xo

ShannenJune 18, 2018Minnow, Sky Garden, Tower of London, London Bridge, St Pauls Cathedral, Dreamgirls, Savoy Theatre, Mayfield Lavender Farm, Greyhound pub