hot in hoxton

London really turned it on for our arrival - we arrived to a 28 degree sunny day on Monday and the following two days were filled with gorgeous clear skies and summer temps.  This did however mean that all the clothes i buried at the bottom of my bag in preparation for Spain's hot weather had to be retrieved a little earlier than planned! I may have also had some help from Zara and Top Shop in kitting myself out for the balmy days that ensued.

We arrived at our hotel - The Hoxton, located in the awesomely edgy area of Shoreditch, at about 5pm on Monday afternoon.  A walk around the surrounding streets revealed some great bars, pubs and restaurants, with people literally spilling out onto the streets enjoying the extra hours of sunshine.  I was impressed with the form of Londoners for a Monday night! On recommendation of our hotel, we stopped into a nearby restaurant, Yard, for delicious pizza (served by the yard, half yard or quarter yard) before jetlag got the better of us and we had to call it a night.

Tuesday saw us waking up refreshed and ready to explore some of London's wonderful offerings, but not before Dave had satisfied a bacon sandwich urge at the Hoxton Grill downstairs. After a very warm tube ride to Hyde Park, we decided to take in some museums.  We basked in the sunshine of the inner courtyard area of the Victoria and Albert museum before moving onto the National History museum. Despite my reservations, I decided to accompany Dave to the latter and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The Cocoon area which allows visitors view the scientists' laboratories and observe them at work and the Butterfly Garden exhibition were two highlights for me.  Dave was just happy to have met his idol, Charles Darwin (albeit in marble form).

Sightseeing was followed by some retail therapy, in which Dave and I both indulged and have been trotting out our new threads ever since. There is definitely no retail crisis here! Clothes are cheap, good quality and available by the truckload. Australian outlets might need to look over here for answers before blaming the online shopping craze...

We caught up with some friends from home on Tuesday night, Shasta and Angus. We enjoyed a jug of Pimms (the quintessential London summer beverage) at Electricity Showrooms in Hoxton Square Garden, followed by dinner at a local vietnamese restaurant.  It was lovely to spend time with some familiar faces after feeling very much like a tourist for the few days prior.

Maybe it was the £4 cocktails Dave and I indulged in after dinner or maybe jetlag was setting in, but we woke up a little dusty on Wednesday morning! I was determined not to let a little hangover get in the way of another gorgeously sunny day in London so we made our way to the Albion Cafe, part of the Boundary Hotel complex, in Shoreditch - its other features are a French restaurant and rooftop bar which sadly we did not get time to enjoy this time around.  The tried and true remedy of bacon and egg roll and some caffeine did the trick (temporarily at least) and so we made our way onto the tube again and travelled into the Tate Modern.  It truly is one of my favourite spots in London with its riverside setting and view of the millennium bridge and city centre.  After taking in a few hours at the Tate, we made our way across the bridge into Covent Garden in preparation for the matinee of Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre.  It was a wonderful production with some spine tingling moments, though it's hard for a sequel to live up to the enormity of an original like Phantom.

We were treated to another night out with familiar faces - some of my friends from Duchesne - Kate McFadden, Alannah Barry and Siobhan Doherty.  We did what most Londoners seem to do after work and dropped into a pub and then went out for a deliciously modern Indian tapas dinner in Soho. It was fantastic to catch up with some more Brisbanites and see how much they are loving life over here

The holiday is off to a cracking start and we feel pretty lucky to have experienced the buzz of London summer over these past few days.  While we could easily spend another week here (particularly at this hotel and checking out all the nooks and crannies of shoreditch) the weather has returned to its normal self, dreary and rainy, so it seems a fitting time to be moving on to our next stop. We are off to pick up the hire car and will make our way to Worcester, the Lakes District and then Scotland to see Dave's family.