Return to London


My first view of London after emerging from the train ride through the chunnel and finding my way through some back streets was really quite something. The London Eye, the Houses of Parliment, the River Thames, the dome of St Paul's Cathredral. A little dull and grey granted, but for a first visit back since being born here and moving to New Zealand aged two, not bad at all.

I stayed with friend Vanessa and Andrew and had a fantastic time exploring the sights and visiting the wonderful museums, mostly in search of historic aircraft. This meant that RAF Hendon, the Science Museum and the Imperial War Museum all got a good portion of my time. I also managed to catch an airshow down near Brighton with a good range of spitfires and a display from the BBMF Lancaster bomber. I worked on a Lancaster bomber restoration project in Auckland and so had a particular interest in catching one flying.

I guess second reflections on London would be that it was more dense than expected, a little more crowded than I guessed and certainly a lot further from the 'great outdoors' than my taste would allow for too long. There certainly are a lot of places and things to visit and so I look forward to returning and perhaps even venturing out further from London and up to the Lakes District, and perhaps Scotland.

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