Day 23 - London

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Arrived in London after a terrible flight with plenty of turbulence and no sleep. With the time difference we arrived just after 7am, luckily it was very quick to collect our bags and get through customs so before we knew it we were on the tube and heading to the hotel. We hadn't given it much thought however quickly realised that we were on the tube going towards the city at 8am, in peak hour! We weren't the most popular people on the train with four bags of luggage taking up so much room.

We arrived at the hotel at about 9am and luckily we were able to check in straight away, we also received another upgrade. This was perfect as it was getting close to 24 hours with no sleep so to grab a couple of hours was much appreciated.

We woke at about 1pm and didn't want to waste a whole day, with the soccer on later at night we decided to stay close to home and knock off a few sights that were within walking distance. Kensington Palace and the gardens were about a 10 minute walk away so that was our first stop.

The palace where Diana lived is actually under renovation as it is becoming a tourist attraction soon however you could still see what an impressive building it is. The gardens are also very nice, similar to Central Park in that they are so clean but also much more quiet with far less foot traffic going through. There is a Princess Diana memorial park that we went to go and see however we were stopped at the gate, apparently you cannot enter unless you have a child under 12 with you which we thought was a little strange. Obviously it is a children's park.

As we were walking, you could quickly tell how cold it must have been recently as half of the lake in the gardens was frozen. The weather today was actually quite mild for this time of year, about 8 degrees and due to stay that way for the whole week which is good news.

After Kensington Palace we headed towards the Royal Albert Hall where we were going to take a tour. As we got there, it was amazing to see the whole music and arts precinct that surrounded the hall with buildings that have been there for more than 100 years.

Having seen the Royal Albert Hall host many different concerts over the years, I had always believed that it could seat at least 10-15,000 people therefore I was surprised to find out just over 5,000 people could fit in. It is shaped like the Colisseum with the amphitheatre effect so you are right on top of the action. Similar to our tour of Radio City Hall in New York, we both really enjoyed seeing how such an old building has maintained its appearance and remained the main entertainment venue in London. It can literally host any event imaginable, from tennis to a concert to cirque du soleil.

The other main aspect of the Hall is that there is usually a strong royal presence at any event as they have their own box. We were also taken to the room where the Queen stays before and after the shows and were shown many different portraits and memorabilia items that belong to the royal family. Many people were amazed at what they were seeing, including Lauren who was pulling my arm to get my attention. As I turned to her, I realised it wasn't to show me something about the Queen but to point out a Mr Whippy van that had parked in the street outside. As soon as she showed me that with an excited look on her face, I said that is going in the blog!

The tour was great and probably the most fascinating part was how they raised the last bit on money needed to build it and that was through selling private boxes to wealthy people back in the mid 1800's. The interesting part was that the term that buyers were given for the box was not 1, 5 or 10 years but 999 years. So if you purchased a box when it was built, you made a once off payment and would keep the box to pass down to future generations for the next 999 years, of which there are still 840 years left on all of those leases.

We walked back to the hotel, had a freshen up and caught the train into the business district on our way to the football. With no premier league on this week, we picked a game between West Ham United and Southampton who are clearly the two top teams in the league below and both are due back in the main comp next season.

I was excited about the football but just as excited about catching up with our good friends Rick and Mahla who moved over to London in January last year. Rick had organised the tickets and once we met them at the station we headed to Upton Park with hundreds of crazy fans. After a pre-game drink in one of the local pubs we walked to the ground found our seats and were amazed at what we saw. Right from the start, the chants deafened the stadium which seated about 35,000 at capacity and tonight it was full. There is a small section allocated for away team supporters and that is it, for their own safety they cannot sit anywhere else. It was even written on our ticket that only West Ham supporters could sit in our area.

I agree with most people who say soccer can be boring at times and Lauren was definitely in the same boat however we both loved the atmosphere. Not a minute goes by without a chant either singing the club song, abusing the opposition team or abusing the referee, a little bit more intimidating than umpiring a game of footy at Epping.

The game itself also had a bit of everything, a penalty in the first 15 minutes to West Ham which resulted in a goal and also a West Ham player being red carded in the same act of play. Southampton levelled the scores with about 10 minutes to go and that's where the score stayed, everyone seemed happy, no riots and the referee was able to walk to his car without being shot at.

It really was a great experience for both of us, I know the other night I said the Celtics and Lakers put the AFL supporters to shame, but these supporters would kill for their club and probably have done so in the past, it's a whole new level.

A great day to kick off our time in London and so much to do over the coming days, we're looking forward to it all!

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