Wednesday 2 March 2011

London . . . Leeds . . . in 5 days . .

Arrived at Stansted Airport London and took a train and underground to Waterloo, to stay one night with my friend Donna and her husband before heading off the next day to Leeds to see my daughter....

I nearly fell over when the British Rail man at Stansted Airport said £80 please - that's the return fair from the airport to Waterloo underground station for two people.... it's a half hour journey...gulp....ca-ching went my credit card.... Had a wonderful evening out at the Crazy Bear Club (am still getting over the train fare).


I haven't been back to London in years......LOVE LOVE LOVE the place... I grew up there, it was like going home.... I stood on Westminster Bridge looking at Big Ben and took in a great big lung full of polluted London air.... nothing quite like the smell of home.... Mr Hollywood and I had a fabulous time with my bestest friend Donna...


Just us being tourists...well, jus' ad to be done din'it......

A little stroll through St James Park - yes people feed the squirrels... and then Buckingham Palace... where the statues are gettin' a right royal spruce up for the Royal Wedding....how exciting....


 The city gents have swapped their bowler hats and brollies for cycle helmets and rent a cycle....just lovin it...
Traffic stop please, Royal Guards coming through......

LEEDS

Busy busy busy....

First night in Leeds we went to the Jamie Oliver restaurant, the staff were lovely, very friendly... the food in a word "crap"... I ordered spaghetti bolognaise  it was raw, when I told the waiter this he said "No madame, it's al dente" Mr Hollywood had 12 hour slow spit cooked beef with a small heap of rocket salad.... (12 hours of cooking and well - Monsieur Hollywood said um...iz ok...nozing special) Rebecca had raw bolognaise, same as me  - oh sorry "Al (raw f...king) dente" (Sorry my London charm coming out there)....and lovely Boyfriend aka Duckling 2 had a burger.... all washed down with a very nice bottle of wine....and a bargain, at £73.... ca-ching...... won't be going there again.......


Fortunately next day we went to the Angel Inn, proper northern pub....three pints and three Steak an' ale pies with chips and peas later......lovely jubbly...all for just under £20...that's more like it...Mr Hollywood, he love it.... Proper man portion of food too.... ohhh and hot and cooked not a "Al Dente" in sight.....

Had to get a picture of this shop......Sewing machine heaven....... I drooooooolllllllled ......

Leeds was sooooooooooooooooo cold I bought a hat to keep my little ears from freezing off....
And yes that is a boat in the middle of town...and yes it's a bar...what else....

The arcades are lovely and Mr Hollywood and I don't look half bad in this photo.....

We had to drive up to Leeds and back again to London.... coz the train fare was ridiculous  £175 return per person.... but OMG the traffic in England is AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.......


We had a lovely time....am now of course completely broke....I think the bank manager is going to say
 "O la la"  "is a little over cooked" "Non non Al Dente
Am back home now... in France where Mr Hollywood can have bread with this meal and life is just a lot slower... I've got used to it... and I like it....

7 comments:

Tracy said...

Oh how fun,
My husband grew up in Englad also and the sites are so familiar from his photos...be safe and ahave fun!

Helen said...

Glad you had a nice time. Good ole London eh! I work and live in London so know it very well....think I will give Jamies a miss though!

Dara Marlynne said...

I love all your photos! Looks like yall had a marvelous time! I've never been to England, or Europe at all for that matter. Maybe one day I'll get to visit!

Wanda said...

What a wonderful tour...You and Mr. Hollywood are most charming.

Glad you had a good time (minus some food) and back safe and sound.

Pip said...

Oh, I'm feeling homesick! Glad you had a great time. Tell my lovely almost beau-frere that we do food so much better down here in Aus - he'll love it. Talk soon, hugs xxx

MarieElizabeth said...

What fun you all had! Hope to get back there later this year as well. Glad you had such a nice trip.

Morph Waffle said...

Looks like you had a wonderful time. I want to go now! You bedtime illustration is so cute and so is the illustration in the post before that!