Coffee, coffee you're my heroine.

I think the Borough Markets deserve their own blog post.
Andrew had been prattling on about them for ages, and that's where we went for coffee, and then back for lunch on Tuesday.
Hardly anything was open, but when I went back on Friday I was amazed.

If you get the chance to go to London please, for me, visit these Markets. They're right near London Bridge and just incredible.
It's rows and rows of stalls serving pastries, pies, curry, paella, fish and chips - basically everything you can think of.
Then there's the flower stalls and piles of fresh fruit and veges.

In the corner, is Monmouth Coffee, which I think might be my new heaven.
There is usually a line, and it's a struggle to find a seat, but that just shows how good the coffee is.
The line of pastries don't look that bad either.

This is what I love about London, finding little gems like this.

Monmouth Coffee

She sells sea shells by the sea shore

It's been a busy week, hence the lack of posts. I've been told by Bri to lift my game, so I'll try!

Tuesday I took the train up to London and met up with Andrew.
We spent the day chilling, eating, drinking good coffee and just catching up.

From there I jumped on another train out to Southend-on-sea, Essex. It's an adorable little sea-side town where my darling friend from high school, Emma, lives so I went to keep her company.
We had a couple of days of eating too much, shopping too much, drinking no where near enough, drinking milkshakes at a 50's diner, watching The Goonies really slowly and a midnight trip to Tesco's - me in my pj's and Emma carrying a bottle of wine.
I didn't want to leave on Thursday, when I trained back to London and checked into a hostel for the night.

Bobby Jo's Diner

Spontaneity, however, delivered me a fantastic night.
The girls in my dorm were coming off a Contiki, so all they wanted to do was sleep, leaving me to head to Leicester Square hoping too see a movie.
I bought my ticket to 'Bridesmaids' and with an hour to kill went to a little Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.
I ended up having to share a table, but after a while we started up a conversation.
His name was Ata, a 28 year old half-lebanese, half-irish londoner living in Dubai.
We chatted for a while, and he even ended up paying for my meal and coming to the movie with me.
He was completely harmless, just wanted some company.

The next day I took a tour of the Tower of London - I saw the crown jewels, including the largest diamond in the world!
Later on in the day I met up with Emily, who had stumbled across Kendra and Matt and we went out for a big Italian meal, followed by a drink at a proper English Pub.

Now, im back in Kent heading off to a local music festival with the fam, to drink wine and eat picnic food.
If only the weather was better!

The Snozzberries taste like Snozzberries

So karma has returned.
Because of my bragging about the delicious rapberries, king karma has delivered a terrible punishment - I'm allergic to them.
Twice this week I have broken out in a crazy rash on my legs and arms, and by process of elimination we realised it was the raspberries. Yay :|

So apart from battling the rash, this week has been very chilled.
Allison and Emily went to see Take That on Tuesday night, so Max, Sean and I had dinner at the family fish and chip shop.
Wednesday was a day of movies and zumba on the Wii (by myself, because seriously - how embarrasing), Thursday I did a little shopping and made a pasta bake, and today I have had my hair cut and I'm just chilling at home. God I sound so boring, sorry!

It is also my baby brother's 19th birthday.
I think it's the first time I haven't spent this day with him, so it's a little weird.
But it does give Mum an excuse to spoil him, which she will love.
Happy Birthday Ali B, all my love and all that emotional crap.

When sunshine comes around

I can't get over how lovely the weather is.
There's nothing like an english sunny day, sitting out the back of the Stanley's house, drinking a latte and reading my book for a good hour.
That's what I got up to yesterday, after visiting the allotment to pick raspberries.
Even if it's only going to make Mum jealous, I'm going to brag anyway.
My family grows the freshest, tastiest fruit that is piled into the fridge and often turned into jam.
To have with cream and scones, like we did yesterday arvo at Darryl (another cousin of Mum's) and Rachel's house. We went round there for a BBQ and ended up playing classic 90's tunes and trying to remember the accompaning dances all afternoon.

Allison and Sean

The finished product (don't mind the shadow - I'm a terrible photographer)

Yesterday was as relaxing as today was full on.

I jumped on a train at 10 to head into London to fulfill my tour guide duties for Miss Rachel Amonini and Mr Luke Waterhouse. Oh, it was so good to see them - to have a little reminder of Perth and to hear some proper Aussie accents. Minus Luke calling Amo a duck, don't ask.

We packed a lot in - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben & Houses of Parliament, Leicester Square, Picadilly Square, Trafalgar Square and a little shopping on Oxford Street.

The best part of the day, though, was stumbling across the M&M Store.
It's 4 levels of M&M merchandise and colourful artificial deliciousness.

It's the story, of a lovely lady..

I think it's time to introduce the Stanleys.
Sean, is mum's cousin. He is a classic Stanley - loves his food, a cold beer and taking the piss.
His wife, Allison, is like another mum to me. She's so lovely and generous. Gosh, she spoils me rotton.
Ooh and she can make an amazing mohito, Alistair take tips!
Their son Max is a typical english boy. He loves cricket and 'football', but he's actually incredibly smart. If I ignore the occasional tantrum, he can be quite sweet.

Most of you know Emily, but for those who don't here we go:
Em's only a couple of years younger than me and we've always been close, despite living on different continents. She even came and lived with us for 6 months not too long ago.
She is bright, bubbly, loud and a lot of the time the complete oppostie of me. But god she makes me laugh.

I love this family, they make staying here feel like home by treating me like I'm part of their crazy household.
Allison took me to Canterbury on Thursday for shopping and eating and coffee.
Em took me to a pub last night and forced me into a much regretted Sambucca shot.
And now they are downstairs, about to prepare a mexican feast for dinner.
I might never leave..

Oh, almost forgot Jaz:

Mona Lisa, not sure about the smile

The Louvre, the most famous of museums. The big, glass pyramid attracts millions of tourists each year, and honestly I could have done without it.
Don't get me wrong, it is amazing. There are literally thousand of pieces of artwork, I was even looking at sculptures created in the 1600's.
But therein lies the problem - there's too much, it's too big.
By the time you have qued up for half an hour to get through security, made your way through the tourists to buy your ticket and started looking at the sculptures, you're exhausted.

I mean I can't really complain, I was in Paris, and I got to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Ramesses up close.
But after a couple of hours in there, I just wanted to get away from the tourists.

So I braved the heat and strolled back to the apartment.

An afternoon of reading, drinking cold water, letting my hair dry on the balcony and treating myself to a pastry from the Patisserie downstairs was just the kind of recovery I needed.

The next day was cooler, so I hopped on the metro to see the Arc De Triomphe, the Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower.
The first time I went to Paris, Ali and I agreed that it was over-rated. I still agree, but only for the touristy areas. I didn't come to Paris to be surrounded by loud, rude Americans. I much preferred walking around the streets near our apartment and having the biggest salad of my life at a restaurant where they couldn't speak english.

But, that's over now. I am in Kent, at a house that feels like home. I think I'll spend a couple of weeks here just chilling out and enjoying the company of my family, I'm in no hurry to leave.

I would add a photo of the day, but blogger isn't letting me upload them, damn him.

Paris is burning

...not quite, but it is rather warm.

So my last day in amsterdam was pretty chilled. It involved a flea market with elephant necklaces and hash lollipops, Katherine almost dying, more pancakes, and consequently severe stomach aches.
At 5pm, I jumped on a train to Brussels, and after a semi (extremeley) stressful trip to find my hostel I just unpacked and crashed.
I only really had one day in Brussels, but as a small city that was all I needed. I took in the sites and ate so so so much.
Breakfast: Croissant and praline macaroon
Lunch: Waffles with chocolate sauce
Dinner: Steak, salad and frites.

I also took a stroll to the Brussels Midi train station, thinking I would buy a ticket to London to make my way to Kent, but came back with a ticket to Paris.
Which is where I am now, in an apartment walking distance from the Lourve. I'm crashing with mum's good friends, the Hendons - an absolutely hilarious family.

Again, I don't have a lot of time, so I might just head over to the Lourve today and do some other touristy things, but I will keep you all informed.

Soz for the lack of photos I'm not on my laptop, so I will update as soon as I'm in Kent.

Toodles!