London calling, yes, I was there, too...(The Clash)

Just over 2 hours on the train from Paris and we arrived at St Pancras international train station, London.  St Pancras station is everything you want...well laid out, well sign-posted, light and airy.  Our stop for the night was Hammersmith, but as we couldn't check in to the hotel until after 2pm, we headed to the info counter to peruse the brochures and see what we might do in London for the day.  We chose a hop on-hop off double-decker bus tour that would keep us busy for as long as we liked.  Paid for the tour, bought an Oyster card (London's Myki equivalent) and checked our bags at the Left Luggage counter.

Caught the connector bus to the start of the tour at Hyde Park and we were away...Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus & the Trocadero centre (thinking of Fi & Paul working there many moons ago!), St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace...and every other sight you associate with London.

Oh, my goodness, the noise, the traffic and the people!  Paris is a country hamlet in comparison!  On the bus, we were above the chaos, but the traffic made the trip very slow...the recorded commentary apologised for the delay as we sat stopped in traffic, but, as it was pre-recorded, it obviously happens regularly!  We got off at Picadilly Circus to have a wander (we had stopped because someone downstairs had been sick on the bus...good time to exit!) and had lunch in the courtyard at St Martin in the Fields church.

Back on the bus, the traffic hadn't improved and we were starting to get edgy because we had a half-hour train ride to Hammersmith and we needed to be at the venue for the Kate Bush concert by about 7pm to pick up our tickets.  We made it to the end of the tour but, rather than wait for the connector bus and lose time in the traffic, braved the Underground and headed back to collect our bags and commute from Kings Cross to Hammersmith.

All my hopes for a shower were dashed as we realised, after arriving at Hammersmith, we had headed on foot in the wrong direction, eventually checking in at the hotel about 6.45pm.  So it was a spray of perfume, change of clothes and off to the venue...fortunately only 5 minutes walk.  Picked up the tickets easily and in we went.

The Hammersmith Eventim (previously the Hammersmith Apollo) is a gorgeous art deco venue.  Kate Bush played her last concert in 1979 at this venue, so it's pretty special to see her perform here in 2014.  The concert was incredible...song, music, theatre, video, lighting, puppets.  The audience were avid fans...excited and appreciative.  Rumour has it that we shared the theatre that night with Sir Elton, Kylie, Jude Law, Peter Gabriel, Darren Hayes, Stella McCartney, Kate Moss, Toni Collette...we didn't spot a star, but we loved every minute of the concert...spellbinding.

Phew, a long day...