A London-licious weekend

This Bank holiday weekend was great! It's been nearly three years since I've been down London. Thanks Oni for having me. She's been Xtra great, we both did so much together this weekend. We've talked almost about every thing!! (talked until our mouths went dry)...

I got into LDN on Friday and had a quick wander in the national gallery (absorbed some arts and culture) I hadn't been in here since with school. I don't understand why ppl don't make good use of this amazing place - it's free entry and U learn so much, those paintings are eye-openers!! On the way to the gallery, I got chatted up by a LDN bus driver - strange but nice man. He told me to smile and said 'Cheer up!' then asked if I was here as a tourist, for my name and if I wanted to go on the London tourist buses 2mw for free...usually of course I don't chat to strangers (what kinda girl do U take me for?) but he was just being friendly, plus I was Trafalgar SQ so it wasn't as if I was in the middle of nowhere with just him. I told him I was down for the weekend then just smiled as he did the talking, a few minutes later he went off back to his bus.
I had lunch in the Nat'Gallery...Goat's cheese Salad with 'proper' English tea - yum! Soon 5pm came round, 5pm was the time I arranged to meet Oni at Waterloo Station. The last time I saw Oni was in Dec' 2005 at Becky's house for Xmas, so we both defin' needed a proper catch up! and like usual she's looking great and is the same old Oni :)
Waiting at Waterloo Station reminded me of the latest Bourne film I went to see last week. Matt Damon dashing across the station to avoid the sniper, I can't believe how one of the scenes were filmed here, it's such a busy station with hundreds of commuters entering and leaving...Oni took me to her flat which is just a 25mins tube ride, we had a quick break before heading to Leicester SQ to meet Baz for dinner. The last time I saw Baz before tonight was maybe, two years ago? although it doesn't feel that long and like usual, he still possesses that cheeky grin (and gave us a good update on how things were)...we had a chinese in ChinaTown. We fired 101 questions to each other. Baz is thinking of moving in with Oni later this year and both of them encouraged me to move down here too - one day mateys, just be patient...heheehee!!

Uhmmmm, today was great. I've smiled so much and bcos Oni's flatmate was away on a camping trip, we had the whole flat to ourselves which made my stay even better.

***SATURDAY 25th AUG***
Saturday morning was an early start for us, we both didn't sleep till 1am. Our breakfast consisted of lovely cream cakes (we're girls that eat and love our sweets UC) bought from the Chinese bakery last night. It was around 10.30am when we left the flat to get the tube to LDN's South Bank, we thought we'd go for a morning stroll. The sun came out esp' for us this weekend too, it was boiling today!
The South Bank is a beautiful stretch of riverside London which faces the Houses of Parliament and is only minutes from Covent Garden. Flanked by the iconic London Eye and Oxo Tower Wharf (see the pictures!). Oni showed me her work place too (very near waterloo station)...

We had planned to see this art exhibition featuring Andy Warhol and Banksy at this gallery in Cov'Gardens but I realised I'd forgotten my tickets for Madame Tussaud's! (I'm clumsy or what!!???) so we had to rush back to the flat to pick them up and be back in time to meet Mike for lunch in Leicester SQ at 1pm!!!...(obviously we were late meeting him, don't worry, I did text him to let him know).
Awwwwwwww, it was so nice to finally meet up with Mike today. After all these years we still had lots in common and things to say. Thanks so much for a fabulous day Mike :), it was really and truly great to see you again. Please can we not make it another 6yrs till we meet again? Actually, I'll make sure this doesn't happen :)
After lunch it was around 3pm when we made our way to Madame Tussuad's (MT). If you're thinking of going, please take this tip - BOOK YOUR TICKETS ONLINE, not only do you save £7 but also a mammoth queue! (the queues for tickets on the day, are like the queues for the Oblivion at Alton Towers...)

MT was massive and very busy. MT is definitely worth going (despite what anyone says and the entry price), it is a lot bigger than I thought and the number of famous celeb waxworks inside are amazing (esp' Kylie, Beyonce and David Beckham. Jenifer Aniston is so tiny, Pen'Cruz and Davina looks nothing like them, Will Smith isn't as big as I thought he'd be too and you'd be surprised with how tall Prince William and Harry both are, they're both well over 6ft!)..the day at MT ended with a huge drink at Coffee Nero...we were shattered and in aches and pains. A quick summary, or else I will end up typing up another essay...Saturday evening. After a quick MacDs, Baz, me and Oni ended up going to see a musical too (yes, we managed to squeeze that one in too), AvenueQ. I wasn't sure on this at first but it's like Sesame ST and The Muppets...very entertaining, rude and funny!! The puppets are adorable...I Love Princeton :)..haha.


***SUNDAY 26th AUG***
A quick summary: A trip to Carnaby ST, shopping, shopping. For some reason, Oni had something in her bag that were triggering off the security alarm in the stores, so each time as we entered a shop, the buzzers would go off...awwww, bless Oni, she looked embarrassed.
We were both very much like tourists today snapping away with the camera and pulling cheesy smiles. Oni took me to Brick Lane, where we picked up their famous bagels with cream cheese (far too much cheese for my likening though). The culture and fashion down here is amazing, full of colours and the ppl down here just don't care what ppl think or say...they're great and so collective/calm!! very chatty and open too...Had lunch at Giraffe, then made our way back to the flat around 4pm. We got home just in time to watch Dine with me on C4 :)...feet up, made drinks and lazed on the couch till it was time to head off to the station for my train back up North.

I hope to return to London again soon (I can't bear to be away from you guys for too long:). Big thanks to everyone I met there and for Oni for inviting me over for the trip and letting me stay retreat at hers.
Good luck with your work and stay in touch you three..... it's back to the grind 2mw....(sigh)