The London Adventure

Roar!!!

After the mayhem of Christmas day, Maisa may have thought that it was time for a rest, but the week that was to come would ultimately be just as busy. While we did slow down for a few minutes, the next 7 days ended up turning into more family and friend encounters and a full London tour, all at the same time.The day after Christmas saw Maisa and I, along with my father head up to Alexandra Palace, which has great views over most of London. It was a place I always remember going to as a kid so it brought back good memories. On the way we passed one of England's most expensive roads - The Bishop's Avenue, which has some of the most expensive houses in the world. Some are so large, i'm sure they can be seen from space!!! Maisa's expression was certainly one of wonder. We saw more of my family across the week, including a reuniting with my cousins, but from my mother's side. It was great see them all after just over two years, and find out about all their adventures, which as it turned out had been taking place all over the world too.

We also met up with my good and oldest friend Michael, who was accompanied by his girlfriend Lauren. Before we met up I needed a new UK passport though, as mine had completely run out of visa pages. After all the trouble I had in getting even simple documents in Ecuador I just assumed that anything beaurocratic would now be a nightmare. It took me 10 minutes to submit my documents and four hours later I had a new passport. My faith in such matters has now been restored - well at least until I returned back to South America!!! When we met up with Michael and Lauren - we were ready for some sightseeing. We went to Picaddilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and along the famous Thames River. Obviously I had seen such sights an uncountable number of times in my life but for Maisa, it was a whole new experience. I think the thing that impressed her the most was the architecture and how old everything was. She would ask me as we walked down Regent Street questions like......"when did they have the time to build all this stuff???". I explained that London was a very old city and that there was plenty of time to get everything erected.....plus also that we have very quick trades-workers here..........yeah right!!! That night we met up with the rest of my friends for a birthday meal. It was Ricky's birthday and everyone was there for it - well everyone except Naddy, who was still hungover from Christmas drinking. Maisa got on particularly well with Michelle Ryan - my friend Chris's movie-star girlfriend. It was great to catch up with all the boys again and realise that they hadn't changed at all. In fact they never do, which is why I love them all.

The next day my parents went off to Europe for three nights, so Maisa and I had the house to ourselves. We were however, to be having guests to stay. Over the next four nights, Henry and Maisa's sister - Grace, were coming over. We met them that night and went to the famous Hard Rock cafe in central London. I can't remember the last time I went to a Hard Rock but it was nice to be a real tourist in my home town. The next day we all met up with my sister and Jody. We went into town to see some more London sights but also - to go on the London Eye, something that I hadn't done up until that point. It is incredible how little most people do in their own back yards - yet go off to another country and you end up seeing it all. I think I know New Zealand and Ecuador for better than I know England.....at least, I have certainly visited more places within those countries than I have in my home country!!!

After a 4D show and some queing, we got on the Eye. It took about 30 minutes to go around and the views over central London were amazing, even with the drizzly weather. We later headed down the river to see some more. We walked past the Globe Theatre and stopped in the Tate Modern Museum. Inside the huge building is a small bookshop, where Jody has published material. I think Maisa was temporarily star-struck when she realised she was standing next to a published author!!! Amy and Jody then left us - to continue work on their new house. It was great to go out with them both, to spend some time even sightseeing was nice for a good catch-up. We later had a pub lunch in the famous drinking house of The George, where Maisa had her first English fish 'n' chips meal. That evening we all met up with some old friends that I had met in Ecuador. Most lived in London, but others had come from Germany and even Sweden for this little reunion. It was good to catch up and talk about old stories from Quito and life in the Secret Garden Hostel. Most of them couldn't believe I still lived there.

When Saturday popped up - we were all knackered. It had been almost a week since Christmas day but, we had to keep going. It was the last day of the year, 2011 was coming to an end and we had some partying to do.................