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Published: September 1st 2006
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us on the london eye
pretty self explainatory really, but i serious do recommend going, its great Hi all,
Well, its been 5 days since we left, and what a packed 5 days it has been!
We got on the plane from Canberra and flew to Sydney, and then rushed over to the international terminal. After locating the check in desk (the furthest one away from where we entered of course) we checked in to the tokyo flight, and we asked to be in the bubble, but we got the exit row instead! It was fantastic, about 1.5 ms of leg room in front, so lots of space. We definitely got the best seats on the plane after first and business class. I highly recommend you ask for them if ever flying long distance. After our 9 hr flight, we got off the plane in Japan to a very hot nite, about 25 degrees C, which was a bit of a shock after canberra!
We got on the shuttle bus to the hotel, and checked in (with a whole lot of other people), and went up to our room, which was quite nice. We then caught a shuttle bus to the local shopping mall for some dinner. Finding Japanese food in the mall was interesting. And all the restaurants had their food displayed out the front in plastic versions. Very strange. But kinda cool. Had dinner, bought Em some socks, as requested, and then caught the bus back the hotel. We hit the sack about 11pm.
We got up the next morning and checked in to our london flight. Cos the hotel is owned by the airline, we could check in at the hotel. They had a check in station, including being able to leave all your checked luggage for them to transport over. We didn't have any as it was checked all the way to london, but really good none the less. We again asked for the exit row seats, but there was only one (the girl behind us from Brisbane ended up getting it!), but our seats were great none the less.
We had breakfast, which was a buffee, very interesting. Lots of pork, and normal breakfast things, and a few extras including pork meat balls, fries, fried rice, tofu, grilled and steamed and battered fish, and a few other typical japanese food types. Not much fruit though, but we ate what was there and then took a banana for the plane each.
Plane flight was uneventful, played lots of games of shanghai, tetris and watched a tonne of movies, just like the previous flight. It was really good to be so well rested, and it avoided jet lag, which was a huge bonus.
We arrived at heathrow about 4pm local time, which was about midnight our time. The immigration officer had some problem with the fact that I didn't have a permanent job at home (even though I do, I just had to resign to make the company happy), and she at one stage threatened not to let me in, but it all turned out ok, although it gave me a bit of a scare at the time. On the total other end of the spectrum to the bitchy immigration lady was the layback customs guy, who just waved us through after making a joke about their tea time. We picked up our bags, and then met Alex, who nearly bowled us over when she ran down the ramp to give us a hug. It was awesome to see her after 18months! We were all very excited!
She showed us how to get home on the tube, explained about tube snot (we are being very vigilant about keeping our noses clean from the snot i can tell you! ;p), gave us our oyster cards, which make life on london transport really awesome. You can just add fares to it, in either money or a weekly pass etc, and then just swipe it over the yellow tab everytime you get on and off the tube, or on a bus. Really really good, and highly recommend it.
It took us 2.5hrs to get back to her house, as the heathrow tube station was in for repairs, but it was fine, gave us a good chance to catch up. We got to her place, ate some takeaway thai for dinner, and then crashed and burned around 9pm local time, which for us was about 5am. I can't imagine what it would have been like to not have had that sleep in tokyo.
We got up the next morning, walked down to the shepherds bush station, got both of us english sims for our phones, and caught the tube to Marble Arch, where we got on a hop-on-hop-off bus, which took us around a tour of london to see the main sights. It was great, and lasts all day, so we went around once, got off, had some lunch and then got back on and went to the Tower of London, which was fantastic. Saw the crown Jewels, mock sword play etc. Part of our bus tickets included a ferry ride on the thames from the tower of london back to westminster, so we did that (very entertaining commentary), and walked up to Trafalgar Sq. We met alex, walked around to find a barclays bank (for Chez), a Chemist for me (I now have a cold, stupid plane), and looked for tix to Les Mis and Billy Elliot. We decided to get tix for both shows later, and walked back down to the National Gallery, which is in Traf Sq. Walked around there, and then walked up to Soho for dinner. After wandering around for about an hour, we finally had dinner at Wagamamas, very cool Japanese place. After dinner we went to visit alex's work (also in Soho), saw the view from the roof (very nice), and then caught the tube back home. Another late night 11pm. And the total steps for the day was over 25000.
Yesterday we caught the tube in to the london eye, very cool, and highly recommended. Great views, and we had prepurchased tix, so no queue, altho there was noone there, and our pod had only us and another australian couple. It was really great, got some great footage on my camera to show when I get home. Then we caught the tube (again, I kno) up the Leicester Sq to buy tix for billy elliot, but we ended up having to go to the actual theatre, and we got tix for next monday, so Laura, Chez, Alex and I are all going. We had a quick lunch, and then headed for Westminster Abbey, which was breathtaking, particularly up close. Inside you can't take photos, but we bought some postcards. Really quite breaktaking. Then it was off to St Pauls, which was also totally amazing. Its huge, and we walked all the way up to the top (some 500+ stairs up and then that down again, I can tell you now, jelly legs all the way). Great views, and the inside is just beautiful. We bought some more postcards as again, no photos (altho I took some on my phone, and chez snuck her camera out in the whispering gallery). Nicola came a met us at st pauls, and then later Alex (I had the feed the birds song from Mary Poppins in my head the entire time) and we walked across the millenium bridge to the Tate Modern, which is interesting, but not really my thing. We then walked back, and ended up having dinner at a pub near bank station. Chez and I were totally wrecked, and by the time we ended up getting back and into bed it was just before 10pm. Grandma's, I kno, but worth it, we felt really good this morning. Total steps for the day was 22000.
We had another relaxed morning today, and again, came to Leister Sq for tix. We got seats for tonights show of Les Mis, so I'm just a little bit excited, being my fav musical. We are just about to head off to the British Museum for the afternoon, and then meeting laura at Kings Cross Station at 5pm.
We have had great weather, always starts off in the morning a little overcast, and then clears up. Always have an umbrella on hand, but haven't had to use it yet. Outside its nice, but in the tube its stinking hot and stuffy, so even if its a little cold outside its a nice comparison to being underground.
Other than getting over a mild cold, not much else to report.
Will try to keep updated, and will add photos when I can.
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Kara
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Woohoo!
Sounds like you are having a great time! It all sounds very familiar and i wish i was there!! Canberra is warming up, i only needed 1 blanket last night! Granted i was off my tree wasted, but still... spring is here! You guys are going to have the longest summer ever! So envious! Anyway, hope your cold subsides Bec and have a great time at the theatre! I am eagerly waiting the next installment!