And so the sun sets on our epic adventure... tomorrow morning we set off at 8am on our epic flight home. Nothing like an hour's drive to the airport to be there three hours before your flight when you're travelling with children. But Sophia and Cassie have a pretty good idea of how this flying business works now, so we are hopeful! We leave at midday London time and do the long 11 hour stretch then, have an hour in Singapore and then head for Perth, arriving around 2.15pm Perth time on Saturday.
We enjoyed a lovely final day in London. We took a walk along a small part of Hampstead Heath (which is about as big as Kings Park), admiring the forget-me-nots and lovely tall old trees. Then while I had a meeting in London, Manny and co set off for Camden Markets - one of the most famous and interesting places in London. Here you can stroll stalls of all shapes and sizes selling everything imaginable. You'll probably see punks, lots of tattoos and piercings, doc marten boots, as well as antiques, souvineers, pubs and fish and chip shops - a real mix. We all took the underground together (an experience in itself) and they got off way before me. I carried on to the Strand and then had one of the best macaroons on the planet (salted caramel) and a cup of tea with my Tourism WA colleague, Elen, in Covent Garden. No matter what you desire, you can find a shop that specialises in it in London! I then boarded the tube, worrying that I would be a little late. Quite amazingly, as we stopped in Camden, who should board my very carriage, but Manny and co! How serendipitous - with so many people and trains going every few minutes, what were the chances of that?? They'd had a marvellous time exploring and finished it off with fish and chips.
In the afternoon, Manny, Cassie and I went into Hampstead, stopping at all the quaint and expensive shops and admiring all the posh cars. It's one of the most moneyed parts of London - and every 2nd car seems to be a mercedes or porche - clearly the economic downturn is not affecting everyone. We got to Carluccio's restaurant and as I hadn't eaten, we decided to have a quick bite.. goodness, what a meal... I had home made penne with zuchini, fried spinach balls, chili and parmesan, while Manny just had to have the vongole. I also ordered the most divine pasta chips - home made pasta infused with rosemary and then deep fried and sprinkled with rock salt. There were 2 salads - one of goats cheese, sun dried tomatoes, roasted pine nuts, balsamic and lettuce, while Manny enjoyed rocket, parmesan and balsamic. The taste was sublime - and one of the best meals I've ever had! Afterwards we couldn't resist a scoop of homemade gelato infused with vanilla bean, an expresso coffee and a lemoncello liqueur (and poured a little over the icecream). Wow - a true gastronomic delight. Carluccio is featured in a new TV show with Genaro (Jamie Oliver's mentor) called Two Greedy Italians on BBC - they have a cook book out as well which we bought to savour the recipes.
This afternoon a long walk was in order so I pushed Sophia through the back laneways of Hampstead - so beautiful and so rich!!
Tomorrow we depart - I am looking forward to getting home, and looking back over the truly amazing holiday we've experienced - a real epic adventure. Can't wait to see you all again
Sue xx
No comments:
Post a Comment