As the Wind Blows

London to do list: Climb the dome at St Pauls – tick; visit Madame Tussaud’s – tick; watch a show in the West End – tick. And that was only one day.

The week started off by waiting for over three hours in line for tickets to Wimbledon and we only managed to get grounds tickets. It was well worth it. Watching players battle it out to attempt to live their dream of becoming  champion, with months and months of training and hard work either paying off or providing experience and lessons for future matches. My favourite match was Matosovic and Chela because the Aussie fought hard not to lose in straight sets and would have probably won if the match hadn’t rained out at the end of the day. Love the Aussie spirit!

Believe it or not, I don’t consciously believe that I’d heard of St Paul’s until I came to London. Quite a number of people had mentioned it so I plodded along to find out what all the fuss was about. Maybe it’s because I’d seen such magnificent churches in Prague the previous week or I’m biased towards Catholic churches, but St Paul’s didn’t strike me as being anything grand. (NB: Now I’ve been to Tuscany, St Paul’s is quite grand by way of churches). Either way, St Paul’s is a much nicer church to be married in than Westminster Abbey where the Dutchess of Cambridge had to walk over people’s graves. At least the graves in St Pauls are in the crypt, so you’re more than six feet away from the skeletons.

My vainty was in full force at Madame Tussaud’s and I had to have my photo taken with quite a few of the wax figurines. I’ve justified this in my mind as - reaching the pinnacle of my youth so may as well make the most of it before the wrinkles become noticeable and the weight doesn’t go away as easily.  My vanity and the wax figurines aside, Madame Tussaud’s has a really fun ride which goes through the history of England and the best 4D experience ever with the Marvel Superheros!! After St Paul’s and Madame Tussaud’s I want a giant room (preferably with a dome ceiling) and a huge projector to watch movies in. And I want the movie to play on all the walls of the room. That’s where cinema should be heading, not the path of the 3D headache.  

Touristing in London this week also included seeing Pricilla Queen of the Desert in the West End (I miss Aussie accents and colloquialisms!!!), visiting a 121b Baker’s Street (I knocked on the door but Sherlock Holmes wasn’t in), and visiting Dulwich, a suburb in London which has made me feel slightly less antagonistic towards this gigantic city. It had a school with an oval instead of the usual grey buildings I’ve seen in this city and East Dulwich village had a sweet shop that sold sweets from 5 pence, so I really can’t complain. Despite the rain, 'twas a good week in London.