Katsu curry and old cheshire cheese

On one of our final nights in London, we caught up with David, a football mate of mine from Brisbane. David and I played together for a few glorious seasons at Windsor Road Warriors, a club that he founded a few years before I joined in 2018.

David had kindly arranged accommodation for us in Hammersmith for our first few nights in London through a friend of his and we were glad to have warm bed to rest our heads after a 26hr flight. David and his family also generously received our mail and packages we sent ourselves from Australia, which contained all our warmest and bulkiest clothes (which we were really grateful to have ASAP!).

On top of this on our 3rd night we were treated to an amazing home cooked meal at their family home - vegetarian curries which were sensational. We felt so spoilt and were really grateful for how much David and his family had done for us.

Despite all the busyness of organising the purchase of a motorhome, we took the time to visit London one last time, see the stage production of Wicked, and see David for a drink.

David recommended two awesome bars which we think anyone visiting London should make time for. The first was Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, a rabbit warren of a bar that was rebuilt in 1667 after the Great London Fire and was visited by authors such as Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. There has clearly been a lot of effort put into keeping it authentic to its age - it has a 1600's grimy vibe about it. But each room is up and down stairs and through other areas; it's an ageing maze that serves alcohol!

The second bar we visited was Mr Fogg's Society of Exploration, an eclectic bar masterfully themed around the novel 80 Days Around The World. Each bottle area had a geographical region it was connected to, as you can see in the photo below. There was a miniature train set whizzing above our heads, a mechanical mixologist making cocktails, and other weird and wonderful items spread out.

We are really grateful to David and his family for making our move to the UK just a bit easier! We look forward to future catch ups and reminiscing about Warriors when we head back to London.