London in the Spring (?!?) 2013

The London winter, reported our daughter, had been ‘Interminable’ and there appeared to be no end in sight. Accordingly we had packed for winter weather, being thankful for the lovley fine merino garments available these days. Sure enough, it was cold - but not wet and by brisk walking to a local turkish cafe for a very nice meal without feeling too much, the effects of the cold. Our only full day in London was spent visiting Rays Jazz Music Shop inside the well-worth-a-visit Foyles bookshop in the Charing Cross Area. Then it was off t to the Kiwi owned ‘Ozone’ - the best place in London for a great cup of coffee “but don’t go on Sundays” we were warned “unless you like an hour long wait to get in.” Our caffiene levels topped up, we then travelled underground to

 the Shard glass building. Opened in 2012, The Shard is London’s tallest building - and newest attraction and well worth a visit. Rising like a huge shard or glass pinching into London’s clouds, the Shard comprises of office space below the famous Shangrila Hotel, topped by several stories of apartments - some still available, and then on the 72nd floor a 360 degree viewing platform. It was cruisey, riding up in a new (and warm) elevator, trotting up new smelling wide wooden stairs instead of narrow ones in church towers, and walking into a spacious viewing room full of glass. The whole experience, enhanced by some modern sci-fi music playing in the background felt rather surreal and there was no feeling of being so high up,unless one looked down out of the windows! The views were fantastic!

 Not like the following day when the cloud descended..... But we noted that judging from the ‘cloud’ displays it appeared that visitors were in for a different experience on days of poor visibility.

Our NZ to London adventure April 2013

Most travelers who fly to London or simlar distances expect to have a stopover somewhere along the way. As Quantas and Emrites now share similar fiights, ours was to be Dubai. What does Dubai really look like? An oasis in the desert - a feast to the parched eye? I was not to receive an answer this trip, becuase not only was it to be dark when we touched down, but the question was, would we land there at all? Apparently there had been a significant rain and sand storm over the city for quite some time and we were only made aware if this when we were asked to prepare for landing, two hours out. Rather strange..... Soon after we were infomed that we would not be landing at Dubai becuase of the storm but would be travellng on to Bahrain to refuel and weather permitting, go back to Dubai. So here we sat, at the end of a long row or refueling aircraft, waiting, waiting waiting... Finally we departed to Dubai, touched down, swapped passengers, boarded and took off in a yellowish foggy dawn and arrived in London around 5 hours late - a total of 29 hours on aircrafts, plus airport time - yikes! no wonder I was so tired......