We went to London.

A few months ago my dad very generously offered us some money to go on a little holiday somewhere, his reasoning being that we couldn’t possibly spend nearly a year in Europe without seeing at least one major city. We chose London because it was the only place we both really wanted to visit and the thought of an English speaking country was very appealing. London won over the closer and probably cheaper option of Venice because our friend Imogen is in England at the moment and we wanted to see her. So, off to London we went!

How did we get there?

It snowed in Bulgaria the week were supposed to leave so to be cautious we bussed to Sofia the day before and stayed the night in a rather charming hostel in the centre of the city. We went out for dinner at a place called The Ale House which was a brewery and each table had beer on tap which you helped yourself to. It transpired that Stu couldn’t pull a beer and I could (to be fair, I did once work in a pub).

The next day we caught a 1 lev bus to the airport (gotta love finding cheap airport transport in Europe!) and spent a few hours in arguably the most BORING airport in the world. Yes, worse than Launceston.

We flew with a budget airline called easyJet and they did the job – sort of like Jetstar. Arriving and clearing customs was easy peasy  and we were soon on the 50p shuttle to London-town, playing ‘Zitch [insert spotted London/British cliche]!’ For example: ‘Zitch red double decker bus!’ ‘Zitch Marks and Spencer!’ etc. Kept us entertained us for at least two days!

Where did we stay?

We stayed on the 6th floor (no lifts and yes, it was painful) of a dirt cheap hostel called Astor Quest (huh, I did NOT see a pool table). I say ‘dirt’ cheap because dirt was certainly present. It was the kind of place that makes you pay a deposit for just about everything and talks you into bringing your sheets and towels down when you check out so they don’t have to leave the comfort of the first floor. The showers worked sporadically and the toilets were filthy (and the toilet brushes had DUST on them!) They did supply you with breakfast and it was cheap so we can’t complain too much. It wasn’t too bad considering how little time we spent there.

What did we eat?

We were probably more excited about the diversity of food that would be available to us in London than anything else. Bulgarian food is nice, but we’re spoilt little Australians and wanted some of that diversity back! We enjoyed Thai, Indian, something that can only be best described as Tapas, focaccias, French flans, Cornish pasties… and of course English pub food. It was gastronomically very exciting.

Oh, and coffee! Stu did some research and we visited some cafes that served us some very awesome coffee. Stu’s favourite was Milk Bar in the Soho district but I still remember fondly the rich and creamy taste of the coffee made for us by the funny vague humming girl in Wild & Wood.

Actually, Stu made a Coffee Map of London which you can keep for reference.

What did we do?

Ooh, lots of things!  Most importantly we were joined by Imogen for most of the weekend. With the combined forces of Stu and I not being too big on the touristy scene and Imogen having recently seen most of the major sights, we ended up doing things that appear a little further down on the ‘What you should do in London’ list. Like visiting the Portobello Road market in Notting Hill and Imogen’s idea of a tour around London: walk in a random direction, pick a landmark (eg. the Gherkin), then find the least straight path to it. Was tiring and fun. We also saw Avatar in 3D (and I still haven’t lived down falling asleep in it) and had dinner with all the London Wegmans we could cram together in one apartment (ie Imogen and her brother Alex and his wife Emma and their baby Sophie).

Oh but of course, we did go and gaze at Big Ben (and the surrounding parliamenty things), Downing Street, Hyde Park, the British Museum, Oxford Street, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Harrods, Tower Bridge. We had a go at looking at Buckingham Palace but caught up in crowds waiting for the changing of the guard ceremony and since we were supposed to be actually meeting Imo in Notting Hill we left without seeing either.

Best fun: The London Eye. It was actually good value really and a nice way to see all of London at once and remain sitting. We entertained a nearby elderly couple by taking dozens of photos of Imogen and I jumping in the air – to make it look like we were ‘jumping over London.’ We discovered that anything that claims to be a ’4D Experience’ is actually 3D with bubbles blown at you.

What did we think?

We loved London! Even though it was only a very small taste, we’re so glad we got the opportunity to go see it and a massive THANKS to dad for making it possible.

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So now we’re back home in Haskovo and having a go at making a start at packing (yep, procrastination at it’s finest). So far we’ve made a number of piles around our living room that are looking promising. We’re trying to reduce our lives again to two 20kg packs and an up to 20kg box to post – not that we want it to be that heavy!

Only 2 weeks left in the country!

See you all very soon!

Today’s is an entirely visual blog entry!

Sometimes I get jealous of Aydin colouring-in, so here’s what I came up with. Elly calls it The Game of Life: mission in Bulgaria edition. It’s a decidedly tongue-in-cheek journey through our time in Bulgaria.

(Click to enlarge – I don’t want you all to sue me for damage to your retinas!)

Here be Elly taking up where Stu left off on what we are most looking forward to at home.

8. Ninja! (That’s our cat, by the way.)

Ninja, Ninja, Ninja. Where to start?

We miss cuddling him, conversing with him, chasing him and his skinks out of the house, laughing at him as he sits forlornly outside in the rain he insisted going out in, watching friends’ expressions of bewilderment when he uses his door knocker to announce that he’d like to be let in, blowing his fur off our faces during moulting season, snuggling with him in bed in winter, teasing him, feeding him scraps as we prepare dinner, watching him stalk insects and puddles of water, laughing at him choking down a worming tablet…and more!

Mum took this photo of him at their front gate, calling it the ‘When will they be home?’ photo. Aww.

We hope he’ll greet us with his little ‘hello’ meow when he sees us again… (sounds something like ‘re! re!’ …or does writing that confirm my status as a crazy cat lady?)

9. EFTPOS.

Who wouldn’t miss this glorious piece of technology that allows you to drain your bank account without giving you a statement so you can keep an eye on your spending? Uhh… good point. But it’s convenient, yes? And we love convenience, don’t we? We’ll feel much safer as we walk the streets without pocketfuls of cash.

Relatives of EFTPOS: Direct Debit and Online Banking. Who wouldn’t like to pay phone and internet bills from the comfort of your home and have the leisure to think of more important things instead of wondering when the rent is due? Welcome to the 21st century, may Bulgaria catch up soon!

10. Our Bed.

We’ve heard reports that our huge Queen sized ensemble bed with a sprung base and pillow-top is already waiting for us in our new room at Sam and Dani’s house. We hope so, because we are looking forward to finally sleeping in comfort.

We gave up on our Communist-issue bed here months ago. I say bed; it’s better described as two hammocks side by side with a futon mattress flopped on top. Communist generosity at its finest! Not very good for the back or a full night’s sleep. We’re now on the floor on a foam mattress loaned to us by the Richards, which is slightly better!

This guy knows what we’re talking about. Great blog of his; you should check it out!

11. Quality control.

All the things I hated about working at Target I’ve grown to appreciate here. Smile at the customers! Always offer them assistance! If something has slightly damaged packaging, mark it down! If a customer returns something that’s proven to be faulty, give them their money back! No questions asked!

This doesn’t even include the rigmarole products go through before being allowed to leave the factories. Anyone who has caught themselves staring mesmerised at one of those boring in-store Rivers videos will know what I’m talking about.

I’m not saying that everything in Bulgaria is dodgy, but the following examples certainly were! Humf bought a ski jacket when he was here and it started to fall apart the first time he wore it in snow. We’ve bought more than 20 biros since being here and threw most of them out in disgust after a very short while. Even my big brown sleeping-bag style jacket from Romania has seen early retirement after the zip broke.

12. Cooking for a party.

We developed quite a reputation back home for cooking for large numbers of people. Birthday parties, quiz nights, Synod, Christmas Eve party, ‘just because a bunch of people have rocked up from Hobart’ nights… just say the words and we’ll create a feast and a lot of fun.

We are so looking forward to doing this again, that I’ve already volunteered our services to a friend for her 21st birthday party. When I broke this news to Stu, instead of giving me the withering look he usually awards me when I volunteer him without asking first, he instead expressed great disappointment that the birthday isn’t until late October and he’d have to wait.

If anyone has need of caterers for an earlier time slot (say anyone born on or around April 29th for example) then send us a message and we’ll see what we can do!

13. The Australian Accent.

This kind of sums up Sal’s comment from the last post.

It’s not quite enough that we miss being surrounded by English speakers, because when we talk with the Koreans or the Americans, it’s nice but not the same. It’s the way Aussies talk (ie: lazily). I read a very Australian book to Aydin today – Gala Koala of La Scala by someone named Cheryl. Gala the Koala is accused of telling, among other things, a ‘whopper’, ‘bluey’, ‘tall tale’ and something ‘hard to swallow.’ Australianisms at their finest! Reading this story out in any accent other than Australian would be a crime!

No more laughing at the pitiful Australian accents delivered by American actors on the tv. We want the real thing!

Oh, and ‘skitties’ – we still derive great entertainment from that story! Thanks Sal!

14. Being with good friends.

Road trips, camping trips, post-work coffee, swimming at the Gorge, tennis, coffee after church, tv nights, movie nights, coffee before any organised activity, playing the Wii, competing on Singstar, morning or afternoon tea coffee, barbies, fish and chips, ‘most coffees made in a day’ tally, Monday Night Group, boardgames, ‘introducing someone to coffee’ coffee:  things we did with our friends.

Of course, when with a group of people there’s always that time when the conversation stops and everyone stares around the room awkwardly.

Some could argue that with our group of friends, we should never worry about awkward silences, but when they do happen we don’t care because we’re comfortable with our friends no matter the awkwardness.

And there’s a good lot of awkwardness to be had. We’re looking forward to being back with you guys!

Sorry loyal readers for being absent on the blogging front recently. My blog ideas drought is now over and I am back! I even have lots of ideas stored up in the drafts so I’ll be stealing the limelight from Stu for a little while, mwah haha.

Cheers

Elly xx

ps Read Imogen’s blog. We were racing and she won. I say ‘racing’, what I mean was ‘I was encouraging her using friendly competition.’ You all have something to read now so everyone’s a winner!