Day 26 - London

---

We woke up at about 8 this morning and it seems that we are finding it harder and harder to wake up every day. We're still getting long enough to sleep but we're doing so much during the day that it's starting to take its toll. I was thinking only yesterday that we're lucky that neither of us have been sick so far, and that made sure that one of us was going to be sick soon. Sure enough, I had jinxed Lauren and she woke up with a sore throat that started to get worse as the day went on. It's nothing serious but I think it's a combination of being tired and the change in weather all the time, especially from outside to inside which is always so hot.

Today had to be well planned in terms of catching the trains as we were covering a lot of ground and didn't want to fall behind as we had plenty to do. Our first stop was Wimbledon and it was everything I had imagined to be. One thing that we both laughed at is that on every tour we've done on the trip, the tour guide always tries to tell you that their place is the best in the world. Well at least for this guide, he was right as it makes Melbourne Park look like a poor cousin. There is so much prestige and history attached to it and the best thing is that it is purely used for tennis.

A couple of interesting things is that they only have 375 members and the only real way to gain membership is for one of the members to die as nobody once they become a member ever wants to give it up. As for the outside courts, they are just rectangles of grass at the moment, when looking at them you would never guess they were going to be tennis courts in a few months. There are no lines painted at the moment and no grandstands surrounding the courts. It was a great place and obviously plenty of Australian history attached there too. The guide kept talking about Britain's great white hope Andy Murray and whether he would win a grand slam, I just laughed.

Next stop after a couple of connecting trains was Lord's Cricket Ground. I was confident that Lauren would enjoy the tennis venue, but Cricket was a much bigger gamble. It's funny how with our major sporting venues they are in the centre of the city and you can't miss them however with Wimbledon and Lord's you are walking down suburban streets and then suddenly they just pop up.

Lord's was very good as it also had so much history. Our tour took us through to see the original Ashes earn and then through to the MCC Members' Longroom where the Members sit and they have a great view of everything. They are governed by strict rules and there were to be no photos taken while inside the pavilion and that included up the changerooms. Our tour group was seperated into two smaller groups and mostly English people went in one group to see the Home Team changerooms and the foreigners saw the Away rooms. So basically it was Lauren and I who were the only Aussies on the tour, and about 10 Indians who were diehards. Once we got to the change rooms the guide told us that during India's most recent tour this is where Sachin Tendulkar sat, well you should have seen them fight over sitting there and taking photos of a piece of leather.

We then went out into the stands and up into the very ugly media box that has been there for just over 10 years. We saw the famous Lord's slope which is where the ground runs on a slope from one side to the other. The drop is actually 2.5m which surprised me a little however you can easily notice it when you see it. I probably didn't like the tour as much as Wimbledon mainly because it was a lot of the guides talking and not as much walking around to see things although there probably isn't as much to see compared to Wimbledon which is a much bigger venue.

Next stop was Madame Tussaud's which is next to Baker Street where Sherlock Homes lived. We took a photo out the front of the house and then entered the Wax Museum. I didn't really know what to expect but I was surprised at how many they had, there were about 6 or 7 levels that were broken up into current celebrities, older movie stars, polititians, musicians and sportsmen. We had our photo taken with plenty of them and they are all so life like. The process to do one is very interesting as there is so much attention to detail. Of course I got one with David Cameron and I liked Lauren's one with Audrey Herburn's character from Breakfast at Tiffany's. The tour finished with a 4D show based on Superheroes which was really clever and similar to the Shrek one at Universal Studios where it shoots out water into the crowd and the seats shake however it left a couple of kids in the audience crying!

Our final stop after dinner was to see The Lion King. Obviously it was much different to the last Broadway show that we saw in New York as it wasn't a comedy however it was really good and we were both amazed at how it was all put together. The costumes and the performers were all excellent and we both knew the storyline so it was very easy to follow. At home I would never really think to go to the theatre however over the years I've really liked every show I've seen so maybe we should look at going more often.

Our flight to Paris on Saturday night is at about 8pm so we still have time tomorrow to fit something in however we are both so tired and might use the day to just go slow and have a stroll around and if Lauren is still not feeling 100%, she might suggest some retail therapy along the way. We've seen and done so much in the time we've been here and it will definitely be a place we come back to again for a longer period.

Finally just wanted to wish mum and dad a very happy wedding anniversary today, 34 years! Well done and you've given us something to aim towards. Hope you have a good night!

---