A Week of June-ness 2018: A Mulie week in London (part 1)

Hello again everyone!

First of all, happy July!! Half of the year done already, where has the time gone?!

Apologies for the (huge) delay in writing to you all, June was a very busy month so far for me. As you can tell from the title, these next few blogs will no doubt have a distinct whiff of deja-vu about them. This is no coincidence. I thought what would be the best way to wave goodbye to June and greet July like an old pal? That's it, 'A Week of June-ness' is back for 2018! This year Mulie spent most of the month in London seeing various tourist attractions, gig, shows, as well as sampling some of London's....best accommodation...

I had to tickle him but I'd do anything for that smile

I thought I would start where most stories do- at the beginning. So without further ado here's part one of 'A Week of June-ness: A Mulie week in London'

Monday 11th
Today was a travelling day for me and Matthew. I also managed to get free tickets to have a nosey around the Houses of Parliament from my MP, so we had to be in London for a certain time too. Mum was also going to meet us in London to share our Houses of Parliament experience so Monday morning went like a military operation making sure we had every single ticket, pass, charger, voucher, clothing item and bag we needed for our week in the Capital. We also had to make sure we packed light; our time slot was before we had time to check in to our accommodation, and due to the security checks at the Houses of Parliament, we couldn't take in any big chunky bags, so a week's worth of supplies had to go in rucksacks then we'd get the rest as and when.

We were soon in London and heading to Westminster on the district line. This line was to become our regular throughout the week but on that Monday we were just glad of the air conditioning and the extra room on the carriage. We came out of the station at Westminster and headed straight to the entrance of the Houses of Parliament. I discovered soon after rising to ground level that mum had already checked us all in on Facebook, so I assumed she would be there already. She wasn't. After waiting for a few minutes, we thought that she maybe already waiting inside for us and for the tour to begin. After ticket checks and an airport style-no-turning-back-now bag search, we then discovered she wasn't inside waiting either. Oh and I had the tickets. I was soon on the phone to mum to find out where she was. It turned out she wasn't far, and after checking with security, she would be fine to come in if she mentioned we were waiting for her. Crisis averted.

So with the whole group together, it was time to tour. We started in Westminster Hall. You can still see the old original beams if you look up. This place was also where some of the most powerful and significant historical figures lay in state including Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 and The Queen Mother in 2002. It was a strange feeling for me to be stood in the same place as those people once were. Ok, they were no longer alive but still, there's a 'woah' moment.

We were soon taken around the Houses of Parliament, exploring the very same corridors and looking at all the same paintings as those who had walked these halls in the hundreds of years before. We also got to see the throne that the current Queen- and once Queen Victoria- sat in on their visits to Parliament. You can still see the Victorian influences in the artwork and the structure of the building which, when you find out how old the Parliament building is, is hardly surprising as it was built during Victoria's reign. No wonder the building is under construction now! Parliament has been through so much in it's hundreds of years of history and in fact isn't a stranger to a face lift. Whether it was a gunpowder plot, massive fires or bombing during the World War, this place of politics has seen its fair share of drama- and that's not counting the MP's!

We all got a tour around both of the Houses too; the Commons and Lords. After a long tour, to be stood at a seat and be denied the chance to sit down was hard, but after all none of us had the legal right to take a seat in either of the Houses so I guess this one could slide.

Soon our tour was over and it was time to grab some lunch at the McDonald's on the South Bank using our vouchers from the Metro paper and then get over to our accommodation for the week. The tour was definitely worth doing if you're into history and politics (obviously) and if you are more flexible with your time then contacting your MP is probably the best way to get tickets. Just find out who your MP is, give them an email requesting a tour of Parliament and they will get back to you with free tickets! As I said you would need to be flexible as the free tickets are only for weekdays and times/days are subject to availability so, like anything, plan ahead to avoid disappointment.

The journey to find our accommodation was a little trickier than we had anticipated. The postcode that was given was vague at best so we had no choice but to head in that direction and ring up for further directions. We soon found the office where we were greeted and signed the paperwork before being told we had to go back the way we came to find the apartment we would be staying in. As it was starting to feel quite tropical outside, you can imagine our dismay when we found out we had another 20 minute walk to do! Once we'd found the apartment we had more waiting for the person renting out the apartment to actually let us in!

Our apartment was the 1st of 3. It was a pretty basic set up. When I say basic, I'm not just being critical. 2 spoons, 2 knives, 2 forks, 2 plates, 2 cups. Accommodation for 2, supplies for 2. Reasonable, but god forbid we had 2 meals in the same day at the apartment without washing up. Once we'd unpacked and had a poke about, it was time to head out for supplies. Our apartment was on a busy commercial road but while there was an abundance of small traders, market stalls and restaurants, there wasn't much in the way of shops. A Tesco Express and an Iceland. Obviously, due to the sheer heat, Iceland was our port of call. Icecream was on our shopping list, among other run-of-the-mill products of course. We walked back with our supplies and settled down for the evening.

A sharing platter for 2 at Efe's

We watched some Monday evening crap on the TV and decided to pay a visit to a nice looking Turkish restaurant down the road for dinner. A sharing platter for 2 promised all the lamb and chicken you could possibly want and in pretty much every form. Needless to say we didn't get through it all and we ended up doggy bagging the rest for later but the food we did eat was very nice. If you're ever around Aldgate East, go to Efe's for a nice Turkish meal.

Tuesday 12th
Tuesday was to be a touristy day for Matthew and I. A trip to the Sealife Aquarium first, the a cruise on the river second before finishing off the day taking a spin on the London Eye. All half price courtesy of Matthew and his British Gas rewards vouchers. The aquarium was a nice experience and one I'd not done for a while. The London aquarium was bigger than I remember it being. Unfortunately, a few school groups were also doing the rounds at the same time as us which meant being deafened by their noise and also being pushed out of the way of all the interesting fish tanks and enclosures. I don't mind kids, don't get me wrong, but I don't remember being that noisy or rude on my school trips. I know, I'm one step away from the whole "back in my day" speech. Once we'd broken away from the crowds/waited for them to bugger off before moving on ourselves, we enjoyed what we saw.

Wooooaaahhhh duuuuuuuuude. The pooping turtle.

The highlight was in one of those iconic aquarium 'tunnels' where we saw a huge turtle let out a poo with great force, right in the path of oncoming fish! Seeing those fish then swim directly into the poo and even looking like they were eating it was funny. One minute you're swimming around having a great day looking for little morsels of food in the surrounding water, the next you're hit with a cloudy wall of turtle poo! The sharks were also a highlight for me- as they often are with most visitors. I wonder what they're all thinking in that water. Sharks have such a tough-guy reputation but I wonder if they ever get shy or anxious about anything. Everyone worries about the small fish, but how often do sharks get asked if they're alright? Bruce was a sensitive shark after all.

Mulie on their river cruise. Annoyingly the weather perked up after we got off the boat!

Next up was our river cruise. This time unlike our last cruise, we were going on a boat operated by the same company as those running the London Eye- Coca-Cola. The experience was noticeably different. We got some of the same information as we cruised down the river but a few new bits of knowledge too. As with anything aimed at the tourist market, you get the local area touristy puns and anecdotes. This boat also did a shorter route too so we were left thinking that CityCruises was the slightly better option for cruising the Thames. The tour guide on this Coca-Cola boat tour however did give us a great joke. A joke that I proceeded to post to Facebook. I'll write it here so you can also read it and laugh out loud. I will warn you now though that you may need to seek medical attention after reading this joke as your sides may split.

In Egypt, a pharaoh was found in his sarcophagus covered in chocolate and nuts. Despite extensive research, no one knew why this was.

They later discovered the pharaoh's name. His name was called Pharaoh Rocher.

Hopefully you're all still with me after that joke. In my defense, it wasn't my joke so don't shoot the messenger!



Up next was our spin on the London Eye. We'd both been on the Eye several times before but with the vouchers it was worth doing again. The whole experience was meant to take 30 minutes on average but this round took a while as it was stopping periodically for some reason. This stopping didn't do wonders for my nerves. While I had been on the Eye many times before, I always have the fear of falling in the back of my mind. We had vouchers for free digital photos and thought we would make the most of this with our on board picture. So there we both were, stood in the photo zone smiling as we slowly circled round towards the camera spot. Almost there.......keep smiling......flash! Picture taken. We went to inspect our photo after we disembarked and were a little deflated by what we saw. Two others right in our shot! Ok, so each pod is filled with on average 20 people so the likelihood of this happening was big, but still it doesn't take away from that 'Oh...' moment you have as you see 2 complete strangers have photo-bombed your nice romantic couple shot.

Soon it was time to head back to Whitechapel to our apartment. First though, we went into Tesco near the Westminster tube station. All I will say is that I've never been in a more pointlessly small shop in my life. A single aisle. 1. Single. Aisle. And even that was just sandwiches. To dignify that place by categorising it as a shop was outrageous. 1 fucking aisle. Travel tip, unless you're looking for anything other than a meal deal, don't bother going to the Tesco by Westminster station. You'll leave feeling disappointed and saying in an outraged huff " is this it?!"

Back at our apartment, we put on some evening TV and went to bed looking forward to our show the next day.

That's all for part one! Stay tuned for part 2 where you can read all about The Book of Mormon, the Sky Garden and it's questionable food and the remainder of Mulie's week in London.