Hi to everybody...well, we couldn't have wished for a better weekend...the weather was glorious, the hotel was excellent, the breakfast in it was one of the best we've had, the coach journey there was a trifle chilly because we left Bournemouth in clouds and we had to have a different one from the normal very comfortable one because some darling mother had stuffed her baby's dirty nappy down the coach's toilet!! Apart from that, once hubby had lent me his jacket I was fine...it was a quick journey there and the sun was out in London and we could see everybody walking around with not a coat in sight so knew it was hot...:) Lovely...I love hot weather...We made it to our hotel by five and registered and the room was very pleasant and very clean...then went off to find a meal because the blog meet was at seven...
I came across Gourmet Burghers and stopped outside and read the menu and that was it...chicken, camembert and cranberry sauce...and very reasonable...it was absolutely delicious...neither of us could fault anything about it...it beat me for the last four mouthfuls...LOL...but hubby finished it off...it came with lettuce, beefsteak tomatoes, onion rings, and tomato relish and all held together with a skewer because so large...
We'd already found the Gypsy Moth pub just round the corner so by the time we'd finished our meal it was time to stroll round to it...Greenwich was a lovely area and absolutely packed with people but nobody was rude or shoved you...we got into the pub at 6.45 and strolled through its extensive interior and out into the garden but couldn't see anybody we knew yet so I had a ciggy in the garden then hubby went off to get us a drink and to see whether there was any sighting of Kelly (Meno) at around 7.05 and found her :) Hugs all round and Chyna was there too and then all of a sudden we had a mini blog meet going...hubby was managing to stay awake on three hours sleep in the morning and a short nap on the coach, but he did very well...the only prob with the pub was it was incredibly noisy so conversation was limited and then there was a disco at 9 as well, which all but finished any chance of chatting...but it was clear everybody was having a good time, and it was so nice to put faces to blogs...we left at ten because hubby was flagging by then and walked back to the hotel about five minutes away and made it up to our room...he got into bed and was asleep within a few minutes...me, I wasn't...never can sleep well first night anywhere else, but did manage to drop off in the end...came down in the morning to the lovely restaurant, had breakfast then packed our bags and went off to meet up with our son, originally at Greenwich tube station...
There was a change of plan because he discovered the tubes were disrupted for repairs and the buses were really difficult to get from Dulwich to Greenwich even though, as the crow flies, quite close....so we decided to meet him at the London Eye instead, which we did only a quarter of an hour later than planned at 11.15...
It was a beautiful day and we decided to go to Tate Modern and see the Duchamp, Picadia and Man Ray exhibition, which he had already seen but thought it was so good he had no worries about going round again...
If anybody is in London, I cannot recommend this exhibition sufficiently...there were thirteen rooms filled with marvellous art, humorous art, witty art and was one of the best I've ever been to...wonderful...
Our son had stocked up on some chibatta and parmeson at the Tate restaurant but neither of us were hungry after a big breakfast so decided to just stroll round London after that and set off...we ended up walking about six miles!! to end up at Covent Garden where we went round the stalls and hubby found a pig and me a night light holder in the form of the Ying Yang symbol for the living room when I have a ciggy...:) After that, it was heading for 4 and we had walked ourselves into the ground so we decided to try to catch the 4.30 coach instead of the 6.30 and our son was tired too and he was in need of food by then so we parted after a beautiful day together. We made it to the coach with five minutes to spare!! And pulled into Bournemouth 2 hours five minutes later, which was excellent...a straight through journey and a lovely evening too...picked up a taxi and decided rather than cook when we got home, we'd go to our local Beefeater pub...we knew the food wasn't that great but it wasn't bad..also very expensive but there we go..we ordered our dinner of Atlantic scollops wrapped in Parma ham with basmati and wild rice and green beans...the only light meal available...sadly the chef had burned the Parma ham to a black crisp in parts and that detracted from the overall taste and also acquired a marauding fly at the same time who insisted in sitting on our arms, face, our meal, the table and wherever he could land without being squashed...most annoying, but this was the only bum thing all weekend so we just accepted that this was the way it was...had a lovely dessert though so paid the bill, and walked home and we're indoors by about 8.10....
I watched Doctor Who, discovered I'd accidentally only got half of The Tin Man, which looks to be very good, and is being shown again on Friday night, and saw Lost...then we went to bed...
And, that, my lovely friends, was our weekend...sorry if some of you thought I'd disappeared and was down...on the contrary I was having one of the best weekends we've had for a very long time with everything working out perfectly...
I hope you're all enjoying this great weather and hubby's got the rest of the week off now and is back to work next Tuesday so let's hope we'll make up for all the bad weather we've had recently...great big hugs to one and all in the meantime....