I had a dream.

As a young girl, way back in the 70s, London was a popular destination for those seeking adventure after leaving school. It seemed romantic on every level – the lure of the unknown, the adventure, the independence…

I never made it there.

Until now.

Winging our way towards Heathrow, my anticipation was growing. After all those years of imagining London, wondering what it would be like, I was finally about to see it for myself.

As we wander the streets of Mayfair, where our rather posh apartment is tucked away, I can’t help wondering where I might have ended up if I’d made it to London all those years ago.

Perhaps Mayfair. Perhaps somewhere completely different. I’ll never know.

What I do know is that Mayfair is perfect for us now.

The streets are lined with beautiful shops, crowded little pubs and restaurants offering just about every cuisine you could imagine. And then there are the cars.

Mayfair seems to have more than its fair share of them. There’s Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins, McLarens, Ferraris and Jaguars. Every now and then, the odd Asian car looks almost conspicuous in its status.

We absolutely love Mayfair.

Curzon Street Apartment

We’re on the third floor, and the novelty of using the old-fashioned lift hasn’t worn off yet.

Every time we step inside, we half expect the doors to quietly slide shut by themselves and whisk us upwards, just like something out of an old London film.

It’s the sort of detail that makes staying here feel rather special.

Our first night saw us heading to the local.

Jeff had a yearning for proper English fish and chips, complete with mushy peas and a pint. When in London….., apparently.

I opted for a salad, which arrived garnished not with the usual croutons, but with slices of toast.

Is that a local thing?

Whatever it was, we were off to a good start. Our first taste of London life was happening right on our doorstep.

Green Park

A quick walk across Green Park takes us from Mayfair towards Buckingham Palace.

It’s early spring, so the trees are still bare, but there’s already a promise of what’s to come with tiny bulbs pushing through and the first hints of blossom waiting for a little more warmth.

Even without the leaves, there’s something rather lovely about walking through a London park on the way to somewhere else. It feels old worldly.

Buckingham Palace

My first impression was… underwhelmed.

Although, to be fair, I have no idea what I was actually expecting. Tea and cucumber sandwiches with the Queen? A hearty welcome after travelling all this way from the colonies, perhaps?

I suppose it just looks so much bigger and grander on television.

I wrote to say I was coming, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone home……

Westminster Abbey

And… that’s enough touristy stuff for one day.

We head towards the Thames, passing Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. It’s 2019, and Brexit is the contentious issue of the day.

London, it seems, has plenty going on beyond the scenes of things to see and experience.

Harrods

Okay, this is opulence.

We walked quickly past the Prada and Gucci handbags, through the perfume section, dodging bored-looking shop assistants armed with perfume bottles, ready to spray unsuspecting shoppers.

Up and down escalators decorated with gold and finery we went, until we finally reached our destination.

Nirvana!

The Food Hall 🙂

And this, of course, is where things got interesting.

Lobster and Prawn Roll

And it was GOOD!

New Friends……

It’s a London habit, right, to start a night out with a cleansing ale at the local?

By our second night, we’d embraced the tradition with gusto.

From there, we moved on to an intimate Italian restaurant. It was crowded, full of Italians (always a good sign) and smelt divine.

We were clearly in the right place.

We were lucky to get the last table and were crammed in beside an American couple from Texas. Before long, we’d struck up a conversation.

They proudly told us they’d moved from California to Texas because, in their view, California had become unlivable, citing social reforms, taxes and personal restrictions as the reasons for the move.

Hmmm……

We chatted on.

At some point I let slip that our first choice for dinner had actually been the Iranian restaurant a few doors down, but unfortunately it was fully booked.

This was met with a long stare.

They were fascinated to hear about Australia, although one question we weren’t expecting was which parts of Australia were considered dangerous by Americans.

And no, they weren’t worried about snakes, spiders or crocodiles.

They were worried about dangerous people.

We happily reassured them that Australia has strict gun laws and told them about the changes to gun ownership that followed the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.

They left soon afterwards.

The people you meet. 🙂

Our first two days in the mother country have been everything we’d hoped for — a little sightseeing, lots of walking, interesting people, funny encounters and good food.

London was already proving to be exactly the sort of place we’d hoped it would be.

Catherine & Jeff