Weekend by the Seaside 20th-22nd June

As Liz's Mum was in Cornwell for a week, we decided to go there to keep her company just for the weekend and then bring her back to London where she is staying for the next 3 weeks. So on Friday night we bundled up our mini backpacks and headed off to Victoria Station to catch the 11:45pm train to Truro. Not the best nights sleep we've ever had but we were so buggered from staying awake just to catch it that we were snoozing within 10mins of the train departing. Next thing you know, it's 7am and we've arrived! First order of the day, coffee and a full enlish breakfast at the B & B Mrs Jucha had booked for us all. We were staying in a little village called Falmouth which was a half hour drive from where the train dropped us. So picturesque, our view from our window overlooked the harbour, but we were mostly excited about the mattresses that didn't have springs poking into your back unlike our bed back in London!! So after our hearty breakfast we hopped in the car and headed to a place call The Eden Project which have these massive bioms (look like giant golf balls from the road) that have had forests built into them. All of the plants, trees and flowers are native from many different countries. In the sub tropic biom it felt just like being at home and I never thought I would get so excited to see a bottle brush flower!! The whole place though was about sustainablilty and there were other things that were interesting but I won't bore you with it all :)

Next stop was a fishing village called Looe, we even had to catch a barge across this inlet to get to it. It had cobbled streets and tiny shops, it was just so damn cute! Plus we had a conrish pasty which is a must down in that area. Not bad for potato, meat and pastry.

On the Sunday we went to a beach near where we were staying to see if the water feels different in the Atlantic Ocean...so it looks the same but my god it was freakin' cold!! Anyone watching us would have been able to tell we were tourist as we were jumping up and down laughing trying to make our toes warm again! After that we drove to St Ives which was really beautiful but as it was so busy and there is really no where to park we just looked and then headed into the next village called Hayles where we were able to have a huge white sandy beach practically to ourselves. After a bit there it was time to head back towards our train at Bodmin. But by this time we were pretty hungry and needed a decent meal to tye us over for the 4 long boring hours back to London. So we went to the only place that served food all day on a Sunday which was the Bodmin Jail. Had a roast dinner which was bloody huge but delicious then on to the train it was.

Yes, that's right, we've waved to The Queen!

What a massive weekend! Started off with drinks at the pub which ultimately left us leaving around midnight. Now normally this wouldn't really be an issue, except for the small fact that we decided to surprise Liz's Mum at the airport. Her flight arrived in Heathrow at 6.10am which had us getting out of bed at 4.30am. Hmmm. Was totally worth it. She got the biggest surprise!!

Now onto Her Royal Majesty. Saturday was her celebration of her birthday (which by the way is in April!) and she does this every year with a parade called Trooping the Colour. There is some history about it but I didn't really pay that much attention to that part! This all takes place around Buckingham Palace and down The Mall and into Whitehall. You can actually by tickets to this event but you have to apply in writing and it goes into a ballot and this all needs to be done by February/March. If you get tickets you get to see the salute by all her guards and soldiers which happens in Whitehall. However since we were not that organised we joined the masses on The Mall to wait for the Queen to come past. First off you get to see all the guards and soldiers come past on horses and the army bands in all their glory. So handsome! Then in a carriage came Prince William and Harry with Camilla Parker Bowles (no Charles). I actually saw them in the flesh. Oh my gosh they are both as good looking at the magazines tell you! A few carriages later came the Queen with Prince Phillip. We saw the freakin' Queen!!!

After they came past we hiked it down to Buckingham Palace to try and get a good spot so we could see the Queen wave from her balcony, which we did, but we ended up jumping the fence with everyone else once the police guards had left and got closer! Not that this helped us too much as there were so many people that it was hard to see the balcony clearly but never the less we got snatches of her and the entire Royal Family between shoulders and heads. And the best bit....the Queen waved and we waved back.

After this we were buggered as even though we were totally excited to see the Queen it was actually ALOT of waiting around. I think in total we waited 3 hours to get a look at the Royal Family. What a bloody British thing to do!!

We eventually got home for a short nap and then had to head out again as we had bought tickets to N.E.R.D!!! After an hours journey we ended up in the suburb of Brixton, a.k.a 'The Hood'. As we turned the corner of the venue to line up with all the other fans we realised that we would fairly much stick out like a sore thumb. The line consisted of first of all mainly people under the age of 20 and then second, majority of the people were of ethnic decent. Hmmm but hey, we were totally pumped to see them and we were behind some rather lovely boys from the hood who continued to talk about their skills in womanising, very insightful! Downside to the line was A. that the whole street smelt like vomit and B. there was a delay as there was a late soundcheck so we stood out there for about 1.5 hours. However when we eventually got in and listen to the support act and when N.E.R.D came bursting out and it all seemed worthwhile. This concert absolutely ROCKED! I'd have to say one of the best concerts I've been too. We didn't stop jumping and dancing for the whole time they were on. The vibe in the venue was just mad and went even crazier when Pharrell took his shirt off......OH MY GOD! And they were shooting a music video for their new song 'Spaz' so the whole band were just going mad with energy. So look out we might be in their clip!! (not unless they had super zoom as we were up on the balcony! haha)

The trip home was soooo long and we stumbled in around midnight absolutely exhausted and basically passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. But, what a day. Mother arrives, Royalty birthday shin dig and music superstars. What a freakin' day.

Columbia Road Flower Markets - 7th June

I made Liz and Amanda (Liz's sister Katie's friend who just arrived over here) trek all the way out the these flower markets - we had to walk through some rather dodgy streets to get to them but it was totally worth it. Everything was so colourful and bright. I could have walked away with 10 bunches but instead I just chose 1 tiny bunch of minature pink roses....such a lovely morning.

After these delightful markets we ventrued off to find the existing ones around the same area...these however were not so beautiful and consisted mainly of junk and cheap clothes, homewares, tools and our favourite, the car stereo stall....now I wonder where they all came from...hmmm

After these wonderful stalls we did eventually find a more civilised section of the markets and these were similar to the Valley ones but with extra tasty food!

The Natural History Museum - Saturday 31st May

We had such a great time here! It was so interesting and our favourite section was the Dinosours. Yes I know we sound like geeks, but we don't care. Geeks are cool!

There were 4 different sections to the Museum -

Dinosaurs - Earth - Mammals

There was also an insect and bird section but that wasn't so interesting so we didn't take photos.

As you can probably tell we also really liked the Mammals section...mainly because everything was so huge and life-like!