Farewell Cuz

It's been three months since my cousin showed up on my doorstep and we shared fun times in London, Paris and Vienna. After backpacking for two and a half months, Lisa's finally coming home.

I took a day off to hang out with her for the last time in London. After I finished work, we met at a quaint pub in Tower Hill, The Minories. We had a grill dinner and headed over to the Tower Of London for the Ceremony Of The Keys.

This ritual has been practiced for over 700 years, whereby guards and a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) lock up the Tower. At 10pm every night without fail. We stood in the open to watch this procedure and it was freezing!

We went for a walk over Tower Bridge, which was my first time after nearly 3 years of living in London.

In front of a blurry bridge.

Now that's better!

For supper we took a cab to Brick Lane for a salt beef bagel. Lisa's packed her suitcases and we did'nt get to sleep till 2am.

The next morning we had a delicious lie in. We shopped at Bond St and had a late lunch at Tayyabs in Shoreditch. Their dishes and mango lassi is amazing! Glad Lisa got a last minute curry fix.

Then it's back to the West. We went to Knightsbridge for Harrods and had mulled wine at Winter Wonderland.

It was sad to see my cousin off but it won't be long before we meet again in Sydney. We parted ways in the tube as I had to go to Camden for a burlesque cabaret dinner.

It was at Proud Kitchen and I was going by myself. Because I could, although I brought a book. It was a bawdy night with the acts spread out over two hours.

What a crazy 24 hours that flew by. And 48 hours from now-Paris again.