More of London

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Today is our last day in London (at least for sightseeing, we will come back later as a stopover to somewhere else). Can't believe it's been a week, the time has flown by and my feet are paying the price for all the things we've done. We've managed to fit in so much this week and we've hardly had a chance to be home except to sleep for a few hours before the next day begins... but it has been such an experience, London has blown us away and the weather could not have been better.

Monday 6th was a public holiday here, so we went with Astrid and Gareth to Tower of London - interesting history and the tour guide was kind enough to describe all the gory details of the executions that took place there.. The place is huge and my favourite part was the crown jewels, especially the 350 carat diamond!!! We later met up with Ron for a stroll in Hyde Park and visited the Albert Memorial which is pretty impressive and probably the only genuine love story in the royal family. Queen Victoria had erected the memorial and hall for her beloved husband after his death.

Tuesday was another busy day with a walk around James' Park - now that sun is out, pollen is in the air and the weather is just perfect, it seems like all Londoners go out to the park to do just about everything, sunbathe, read, eat, rollerskate, frisbee, etc.. the grass here is so welcoming, such a contrast to australia's drought affected lawns, I guess with so much rain most of the year, the English don't have to worry about water restrictions! We later visited the British Museum - one of many free ones here, the best part was checking out the mummies and how they were preserved, even down to their pets!

Lastly - I know this blog is getting a bit too long, so I'll wrap it up soon. We took a day trip on the ferry to Greenwich yesterday. I have to say this is one of my favourite places so far, it's just 1 hour outside London, but it's like a world away, quiet, peaceful and so gorgeous, not to mention its significance to the GMT time we use today. The observatory was pretty interesting, and so was the Painted Hall in the Naval Colleges... but by far the best part was the scenary from the top of the observatory and the lucious lawns surrounding all the buildings. I would recommend everyone going to London, to visit Greenwich and the Thames Barrier, especially when the spring weather was perfect like yesterday (although I'm pretty sure I got a massive tan on the ferry back home). Had Dinner with Astrid and Gareth last night at this really cosy place called Small and Beautiful, it really was nice and quite reasonably priced for London. Unlike everything else!

Anyway, I should wake Adrian up, it's 9.35am and today's probably the first day we're able to sleep in a bit because we don't intend on doing anything but pack and get ready to drive up to Durham later this afternoon. Hope everyone is fine back home, take care!

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Photos

Tower of London
Just inside the Tower of London - waiting for tour to begin

Tower of London
Our tour guide - check out his costume - i mean, uniform.

Tower of London
Where the crown Jewels are kept - very nice bling!!!!

Ravens
Apparently if these ravens ever fly away, the royal family will end in chaos... so they clipped the raven's wings to prevent them from flying away.. .

Tower Bridge
View from inside the Tower grounds

Hyde Park
Everyone was out on the green

Albert Memorial
A memorial built by his wife Queen Victoria

Westminster Abbey
This is a side view of the Abbey

10 Downing Street
It's like a hollywood movie set you can't get into, but we know the prime minister was there at the time

Buckingham Palace
Queen was not in residence that day

British Museum
Mummy exhibition

Brisih Museum
Adrian catching up on his buddhism knowledge

Parthenon
Part of the Parthenon reconstructed in the British Museum

Mummified Fish
For my cousin Minh