06/05/2023

Yep, we were in London for the Coronation. It was bit of a tough call of whether to be in London when it was on given how crowded it would be, but it was a point in history so we decided to stay in town, and head to Hyde Park to soak up the atmosphere, given it was chaos at the procession route. We had seen people who had already been lined up for a day on Friday! Anyway, the rain didn’t really dampen things and most people were in high spirits.

 

 

 

 

That night we visited the mighty Royal Albert Hall for the Coronation Classical Prom. But most importantly, it was then to bed before our train trip to Liverpool and EUROVISION!

 

 

05/05/2023

Back in London for the next couple of days we thought about what to do. We didn’t have any major plans so rolled with it.

We did have plans the night we arrived back into London town… it was off to the theatre! We had picked up tickets to see the stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Aaron Sorkin and starring one Matthew Modine. It was a pretty stellar show.

 

 

 

 

 

First up it was off to Kensington Palace, where there was a fashion exhibition that Kate was interested in, along with just visiting the palace in general. The afternoon we split up and I headed off to chase some street art and records in the Shorditch area as well as visit THIRD MAN RECORDS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night the street art theme continued with a visit to the huge Beyond The Streets exhibition that covered street art from its hip hop roots through to current day, including our favourites DABSMYLA! The whole exhibition was pumping and we certainly felt like we were part of the in crowd 😛

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

03/05/2023 – 04/05/2023

Part of the reason for visiting England was to catch up with some family. So after exploring the morning Kate and I jumped on a train and headed up Oxford way to catch up with Kate’s aunt and uncle in the delightful Cotswolds area. So nice to see family again after a number of years and we spent a relaxed couple of days in small villages, the house of William Morris, and of course pubs 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

02/05/2023 – 03/05/2023

Yay! Back in London! After a few hours in Brussels, Kate and I jumped on the Eurostar to head to London. Our first time on the Eurostar and such a better way to travel. Even though there was still security rigmarole (and they took my tiny Swiss Army Knife I have had for over 20 years… boooo) it was more pleasant than airports and airplanes.

No sooner had we arrived and checked into our Hotel I was out the door to a gig. And I was incredibly excited as it was to see… OTOBOKE BEAVER!!! You might remember I saw them in Japan last year and I was super fortunate to cross paths here. They were on fire again… my favourite band on record and live at the moment.

Next morning we just headed out to see some familiar sites in London, to make us feel like we were back in our second home, before heading to the countryside to visit family…

1. Otoboke Beaver!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Those familiar London Sights