Jason (and Kirsten) in the UK

This weekend just gone saw Jess and Raoul visit London at the end of the European leg of their holiday/honeymoon, having gotten married in Dubrovnik on the way. Very privileged, I was the first family member to see Jess as a Gabriel! Although they were here for a couple of days at the start of their trip, this was their main chance to see London and hang out with us.

On the day of their arrival, I had booked us in for a session of dinner and bowling at All Star Lanes in Holborn. I didn’t know if it would be quite the marriage celebration that they hoped for, but it turns out that they were dying for some ‘normal’ food after having spent time in Marrakech, and ribs were on the menu for us all. The place itself was done in a really nice 50’s American diner fashion, and bowling was fun even though we were all pretty bad.

The next day we started by visiting the local laundromat, our washing machine having picked a pretty inconvenient time to die just when Jess and Raoul had weeks of washing to do, before heading to breakfast at the Spanish restaurant next door. We headed out to the ubiquitous Borough markets in some brilliant weather, before making our way over to Spitalfields and onwards to White Hart Lane for the Spurs vs Burnley game.

Although they had just been to see Barcelona at home to Athletico Madrid a couple of weeks ago, they were both pleased with the atmosphere at White Hart Lane and were lucky enough to see a 5-0 Spurs win, which is a real rarity. After the game we headed into Hoxton for drinks and chats and then on to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Cay Tre, for dinner before heading home.

Sunday continued the good weather, after breakfast at the old favourite Breads etc we walked through Regent’s park and followed Raoul to the famous Abbey Road crossing in north west London to recreate the famous Beatles cover shot. There was a lot of competition for photo opportunities (including from a woman shooting some promo shots for her yoga centre) but we got a few decent snaps of him in the end.

We bussed over to Camden markets, which were heaving and a lot more extensive than I remembered. After a little wandering around we took shelter in a quiet bar before Jess and Raoul headed off to do the Jack the Ripper Tour while we went home to relax.

It was great seeing my little sister and her new husband again, and I’m really glad they got the opportunity to visit with us before we leave for Australia. For them, its off to New York, LA, Melbourne and then back to Perth. For us, it a few more days till Kirsten’s mum and sister arrive as the last batch of guests we’ll have over here, and then looking ahead to the big trip to Burma at the end of October.

You can see more photos of Jess and Raoul in London here ».