Blue water and green which – fondly known as the adventures of Charlie and his angels

Blue water and green which – fondly known as the adventures of Charlie and his angels

A busy weekend for us kiwi girls here in England, Saturday we headed to bluewater which we had been told was the biggest mall in Britain. – Its not that big. We got told you can’t see the whole thing in one day. You can. You can see it all in two hours.
What they didn’t tell us was that there is an artificial lake outside with swans and a kind of amusement parks! We may have bigger malls in NZ but they do not have features like that. Nor do we have H&M my favourite UK shop, I went a bit crazy…….
Sunday myself lili and Victoria headed to greenwhich to meet Dervin , getting only “slightly” confused by the trains and being a little bit illegal and not paying .. Not our fault I swear we intended too but lili felt guilty all day I'm sure.
So we arrived in greenwhich and were hit with super freezing winds, most unexpected considering we have had a good spell of weather and so I was wearing my new H&M summer dress and a light jacket, we were all unprepared without our gloves scarves or hats and spent most of the day complaining about the cold and alternately buying hot food and drinks to try warm ourselves up. Nonetheless we had a fantastic day, I decided the day’s theme song was, “I went for a walk, on a winter’s day….all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey…….” Dervin (Charlie) our “tour guide” used to live in greenwhich so he showed us the ins and outs starting with the indoor (but just as cold) markets which have everything from “ye olde drinks” –cider, egg nog and many more, food stalls – we got yummy Danishes almond croissants sushi couscous salad and more! Lots of up and coming designer stores, (Dervin managed to sweet talk me and him some work experience from a local label) and all kinds of other market stuff. We visited a beautiful café called “George of England” which had a really cool interior lots of paintings from the Victorian era all crammed into the walls. Next we headed to the port where unfortunately the famous cutty sark burnt down earlier this year and so could not be seen, we had a little adventure in a tunnel that runs under the Thames joining greenwhich to central London. Climbing up those stairs gives exercise a new meaning! From the port we hiked up to the meridian line museum thingy visiting various fabulous vintage and quirky stores on the way. The meridian centre is located atop a hill in a beautiful park, we did the typical touristy standing in each hemisphere photos before roaming around the park for a bit being stupid , vic kept wanting to play hide and seek , something in the air this weekend has had us all wanting to revisit our childhood. From the park we headed to the queens house, I don’t know which queen lived there but she sure lived in style, gorgeous neoclassical architecture in the surrounding buildings. we created quite a stir posing for photos atop the columns as Charlie’s angels or climbing the ornate fences, a random Italian tourist openly stopped and laughed at our escapades. From this point in the day onwards we lost a little faith in our tour guide as he seemed set on killing us all, screaming instructions like, when I say cross, cross, cross!!!!!!!!!! And then we would all put our lives in peril, greenwhich may be a village but village roads it has not! And the roads are wider and scarier here than in central London -they make New Zealand’s roads look like the footpath. We headed back through the shops to more markets to get MORE food, I’m surprised we are all not huge the amount we are eating. After a lot more food and a lot more shopping at the outdoor markets (I’m still defrosting) we headed to starbux for crème Brule lattes which I feel start the Christmas season. Then we attempted to head home braving the complicated rail system. At least we paid this time but karma seemed to be taking its revenge and we had a few hiccups but arrived home safe and sound ready and waiting for our next adventure.