London - 2006

I've been told many times how beautiful London is, but this weekend with the weather warm with not a single cloud in the sky (I kid you not), this city is sensational! The only way to describe London to those who haven't yet been here (and you absolutely must!) - This place is like Melbourne on steroids. I can't believe we left it this long to get here.

Anyway, after just over 30 hours of travelling we finally arrived on Saturday morning, with some clever trick lighting by British Airways, managed to sleep a fair bit(and thanks to my Nans sleeping tablets she gave us) so was pretty perky by the time we got to our accommodation in West Kensington. The suburb we are staying in is very quiet and upmarket, 3 storey terrace houses line both sides of the streets with BMWs & Mercs parked on the side of the road (no space for garaging around here!). We set off to Notting Hill and walked through Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace. From the maps it was pretty clear Hyde Park was large, but it is HUGE. Girls riding their ponies around, squirrels running through the grass, deck chairs out on the lawns, people rowing boats on the lake, even apple trees...its like a forest in the centre of town, just fabulous! Well Lizzy mustn't have got my text as apparently the royals are on holiday at the moment..was really looking forward to my cup of tea and cucumber sandwich..but what she did do was open up 19 of her 660 rooms in the palace for all and sundry to enjoy. 6 weeks of the year this happens, the rooms are opened up, so it was great timing for us, so we bought tickets and checked it out. It was amazing, there's nothing you could possibly compare it to, just dripping with art and gold, very pretty. I loved the ballroom, and another room called the White Drawing Room which had a massive mirror and wall unit attached and this was a hidden door where the Queen enters into the room (not sure why, maybe just to freak the guests out?)

We have used the underground train system the whole weekend (the Tube), and it is a great system, we have found our way here & there & everywhere so easily, so between that, walking, and a 3 hour Hop on Hop off Bus Tour have seen most of the sites. Westminster Abbey, Parliament House - which was amazing to view from the Westminster bridge - we had no idea how massive this building was, Big Ben - how wonderful to see it first hand (pardon the pun...its getting late), Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus (it was a bit of a circus actually - so many tourists!), Regent Street - loved just walking this street, London Tower - worth the money plus we managed a get on a free tower - tour guide was very dramatic & funny..we saw the crown jewels including the 550 carat orb which were just gorgeous, Tower Bridge - it is very pretty close up, Leicester Square - so many places to eat!, had a warm beer at the Three Greyhounds in Soho and enjoyed walking around Soho, South Bank - with all the buskers, St Pauls - the biggest church we've ever laid our eyes on, Millenium Eye (which was Kevs highlight)- a massive ferris wheel on the River Thames, if you haven't seen it you must google it, it was great, and walked back via the Jubilee Bridge! Feeling a little weary now though!

Millenium Eye

Tower Bridge