Today we got the Eurostar from Brussels to London, arriving in London at around 12:30. We got the tube to Old Street, where we met Sarah, a family friend who is living in London. She gave us the keys to her place, and we went back to drop our bags off. With our bags out of the way, we got the tube back in to Covent Garden, where we had drinks at the White Lion – the first pub we drank in when we arrived in London three months ago. After a few hours, we walked to West End, to The Queen’s Theater, where we saw Les Miserables, which was excellent.

October 8 – Day 86

Today we planned to meet a relative of mine and be shown some family history. We met Elaine at Euston Station, and got a train to Watford, where we met Alwin. They drove us to The Grove, which is now an exclusive hotel, but was once the home of an Earl. We then went and looked at the house where my relatives had lived, which was interesting. We looked around a bit more before coming to The Stables. It is now a restaurant, and we stopped for a delicious lunch. We drove on after lunch, and visited the church where the graves of some of the family are. After that, Alwin dropped us back at Watford, where we got a train back to Euston. We said goodbye to Elaine, and headed to Harrod’s for a look around. We didn’t stay long, but got some cupcakes for dessert :) We slowly headed back to Sarah’s place, stopping off along the way at Oxford St, and a pub or two. We had dinner with Sarah and her brother, Ken, which was really fun. It was nice to see people we know.

October 9 – Day 87

Today we planned to go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, but slept in, and didn’t think we’d make it. Once we woke up, we rushed to the train and went to Charing Cross. From there, we started walking to the palace, but stopped when we saw a police motorcade heading towards us. We soon saw most of The Royal Family, including The Queen, go past on their way to a church service – very exciting! We kept walking down The Mall, and saw the changing of the cavalry, which was also fun. We continued walking down to the palace, but found out that the changing of the guard wasn’t happening today. The guards must get tired on these days :) From the palace, we walked through Green park and had a pub lunch, before heading to Lord’s for a tour of the ground. The tour was good, but the guide was a bit annoying. We were still glad to see it. After the tour, we met Sarah and Ken to see Annie Get Your Gun. It was pretty different from Les Mis, but we had a good time.

October 10 – Day 88

Today we went to Portobello Road to see the markets. It was packed, but we looked around for a few hours. We were carrying enough by now that we didn’t want to buy anything more. We kept exploring for the rest of the day, but were pretty relaxed. After dinner we went to our friend’s place for a party.

October 11 – Day 89

After packing our bags, we went to Brick Lane, stopping at markets along the way. After a delicious lunch, we had a few drinks before heading back to Sarah’s to get our bags, and head to Heathrow. We flew to Bangkok and stayed for two nights, before continuing back to Sydney.

We Arrived into Heathrow, Navigated trains and the tube to our hostel, and dropped off our bags. We then got the tube into Central London to pick up our London Pass, and got breakfast (and a double espresso for me). After breakfast, we got on a tour bus, and saw a lot of the places we wanted to visit. We stayed on the bus for most of the day, before retiring to The White Lion in Covent Garden for dinner and a few Pints. The beer is incredible. So far, I have only been drinking real ale (also known as cask ale). This is ale brewed and served by traditional methods – it is not force carbonated in the keg, any carbonation comes as a result of the fermentation process. As it is not pressurised, the beer is hand pumped into the glass. Real Ale became a requirement for all future pubs we stopped at.

July 14 – Day 2

As we had a few hours left to use our bus passes, we took a different line and visited Kensington Palace. Next, we went back into central London and had a look at the houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Turns out, we took a lot of photos here. We then went to have a look at Westminster Abbey, which was very impresive. The huge scale of these buildings is amazing. On our way home, we went and had a walk around Notting Hill. It was a bit late in the day, and shops were mostly closed, We had a quick walk down Portobello Road – Rosie, you would love it here. I think we’ll go back when we are in London at the end of our trip.

July 15 – Day 3

We decided to get out of the city for a day, and got the train to Windsor. As we came out of the train station, we caught the end of the changing of the guard. We went to the Castle for a tour. The tower was very impressive, and it was amazing to see the entrance that The Queen uses when she is in residence. We both really enjoyed the castle. Simone thinks she likes castles now. After wandering around for a few hours we had sore feet and were getting thirsty. The Carpenter’s Arms came to the rescue with more ale (and a Pepsi). We stayed for lunch, then started walking down to Eton. On the way, it started pouring with rain. We were glad we had real rain coats. We went and did the tour of Eton College, which was very interesting. The original classroom, from over 500 years ago, is still used on occasions. I really liked the old graffiti, carved with pen knives into desks and walls and anything that could be carved into. Some of this graffiti was allowed – I think if you got into Cambridge, you were allowed to carve your name into a window shutter. They used to brew beer on site, as the water was undrinkable (the river was a sewer). I can’t imagine that beer brewed from sewer water would taste very good, but it must have been ok, as they did it for ages. The boys were also forced to smoke, to protect against TB. We were assured that this is no longer the case.

July 16 – Day 4

The Tower of London was our first stop for the day, and we did another tour here. Everywhere has self guided tours, and most of them were included in our London Pass. We looked at the Royal Jewels, which was amazing. The White Tower is a very imposing, very impressive structure. The amount of history within the walls was overwhelming. After The Tower, we went to St Paul’s Cathedral. I climbed the 528 steps to the top gallery, and got amazing panoramic views. On the way up, I stopped in the Whispering Gallery, where the acoustics are so good, you can whisper at the wall of the dome and be heard on the other side. Once I got back to the floor, the organ was played. It was very impressive, and sounded amazing. The only disappointment at St Paul’s was the cafe in the Crypt. It seems disrespectful to us. I was amazed that it was full – who wants to eat in a Crypt?

July 17 – Day 5

I am writing this on the train from London to Holyhead. There are rolling green hills and little towns dotted along the way. Very postcard. We are hoping for slightly better accommodation than we had in London. I tried to take a photo of our room, but I literally could not get far away enough from anything to take a photo. it was about 3×3 m. I do not fit on single bunk beds, I hope there are not too many more of them :) I am looking forward to my first Pint of Guinness in Dublin later today. Wendy, please let me know if the photo count is too low, and I will try to step it up. Many thanks to Abraham House (the hostel across the road in Dublin) for their unsecured wifi :)