London!

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Hello London! (24-31 Jan)

There is heaps to see in London, so we spent our few days here seeing the sights and checking out all the stuff that you see on TV all the time. Using the Underground is like a huge monopoly game (Victoria, Whitehall, etc.) and everythings real iconic - red telephone boxes, double decker buses, english pubs...

So we've checked out the main stuff - Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, we went up the London Eye, up the Tower bridge, and we checked out the Tower of London and had a look at the Crown Jewels.

We also went and had a look at Westminster, which is their House of Parlliament. We wanted to have a look inside so we followed the visitor signs in, and we ended up going through security, got passes, and ended up in the public gallery of the House of Commons and a parliamentary debate... which ended up being pretty boring so we only stayed for about 2 mins. We did get to stand on the spot that King Charles I got condemned to death, and William Wallace (Braveheart) as well. Later on we checked out the Banqueting Hall, which is one of the remaining parts of Whitehall Palace built by King Henry VIII, and coincidentally where the sentence of beheading Charles I got carried out.

So after a few days in London we made our way to Heathrow for our flight to Cairo - we had a 10 day tour and Nile cruise booked. So we were sitting at the gate, about 5 mins before boarding, and... the flight got cancelled due to the rioting over there. Bummer! However, it was at the stage when the protests were just starting so they said we might get to Egypt the day after. By bad luck, Renton had taken his tranquilisers (cos he's scared of flying) about 2 mins before they made the announcement.

So after 3 postponed flights, and 2 nights in a 5 star hotel (courtesy of British Airways) and free meals in the hotel (it was a really hard time, not!), we decided to give up on Egypt as the protests were out of control and the pyramids and museums were shut. So our travel agent recommended that we went to Dubai instead. More about that in the next blog!

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Photos

Tower of London
Me by the spot where Anne Boleyn (the 2nd wife of Henry the Eighth, he's the dude that had 6 wives and beheaded three of them) got beheaded by a French swordsman.

Buckingham Palace
The changing of the guard.

London Eye
Us on the London Eye. Matt's still smiling cos we aren't very high yet (he's afraid of heights).

London Eye
The London Eye in the nicest weather we've had here so far.

London Eye
At the top of hte London Eye.

Comments

[maree]

fab looking couple. Must of been warm in the eye no jackets

[christine]

Nice blog and pics
These are really nice pics and specially the one offering an overview of the city from London Eye.

[Harold Gordon]

Lodnon
You look very nice on the photos. You obviously had a great time in London. It is a pity you did not manage to get to Egypt, though. I bet you had a nice time in the hotel, while waiting for the riots to stop. Last year my flight was also canceled when I was on a trip, and British airways paid a full time service in one of the best London hotels . It was fantastic, although I did not reach my final destination.