London

Well we arrived in London and to our surprise it was Sunny and 21 degrees. We didn't expect that we would find our first sunshine in London.

Mum and Dad met us at the airport, once we had dropped our bikes off at left luggage we caught the tube into Picadilly Circus to our hotel - the Regent Palace Hotel.

We had some dinner at Harry Ramsden - famous for fish and chips. I didn't think they were that good. After dinner Mum and Dad left and Cam and I went for walk around town as it was still light.

We stumbled on Buckingham Palace, trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the London Eye, 10 Downing Street and the Victory Arch.

~~Friday~~

We met Mum and Dad at the hotel and then walked back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard - every other tourist in London had the same idea.

From Buckingham Palace we walked through St James Park to Westminister Abbey. The lines were ridiculous to enter so we moved on. We crossed the road to the Parliament Buildings and caught the Original Tour Bus. The bus took us across Lambeth Bridge and through London city - which I might add is the smallest city in the world being on 1 square mile. We stopped on St Paul's Cathedral - 530 steps later we were at the top of the dome looking out over greater London.

From there we hoped back onto the bus and headed to the Tower of London. We crossed over London Bridge - which is really plain compared to Tower Bridge. The original bridge was sold to an American from Arizona for £2 million. They thought they were buying Tower Bridge - a common misunderstanding among tourists.

Tower of London is amazing. The original building was built in 1066 AD and was added to many times over the years. The Tower of London is where the crown jewels are on display. Amazing, the 2 largest diamonds in the world are owned by the Monachy. From the Tower of London we caught a boat down the Thames River. This was fun - the guide kept us very amused as he told us tales about the many sights we went passed - Shakespears Globe, HMS Belfast, Sir Francis Drake's ships - the Golden Hind, the London Eye, Cleopatra's Needle, under London Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Millienium Bridge and Waterloo Bridge - so many bridges.

Once we got off the boat we walked through Trafalgar Square towards the hotel. We had a quite drink with Mum and Dad before heading off to have dinner with Ngaira. After dinner Ngaira took us on a walk around London. We walked up Regent Street, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street and back through Liecester Square to the hotel. We bid Ngaira farewell and gratefully hit the sack.

What a long day!

~~Saturday~~

We met up with Natalie at 9am and headed down to the Mall (a street) to watch a dress rehersal of the Queen's Regala which is taking place on June 11 for the Queen's birthday. From the Mall we walked through Hyde Oark and Kensington Gardens to Notting Hill where we visited the Portabello Street Markets. We didn't hang around for long as there were people everywhere. From the markets we made our way back to Kensington Gardens and bid Nat a farewell.

We walked through the gardens to the Princess Diana memorial fountain and then down Picadilly Road to the hotel. We then caught the train out to Broxbourne to met up with Mum and Dad. Alan and Ryanna met us at the train station and we walked back to Alan's house. Alan and Janet are my dad's second cousins. At the house we also met their son Neil, his wife Angela and their 3 kids - Ryanna, Ryan and Mollie.

After chatting for a while and having a look at our photos from the wedding and the trip so ar we then sat down to a gourmet feast followed by merangue, profiteroles andchocolate and fresh strawberrys. PS British Strawberry's rock.

Tommorrow Cam and I head to Paris and the beginning of our cycle adventure. Our first obstacle to overcome is how to get luggage and bikes from Paris Airport to our campsite - 2km's from the Eiffel Tower.

~~Sunday~~

We started the day with a quick walk through a very empty Leicester Square and then down to Cleopatra's Needle. From there we headed back to the hotel via Covent Street Markets. We met up with Nick at Picadilly Circus. Nick came down from Oxford to have brunch with us. We headed over towards Harrods with the intentions of grabbing something to eat there or close by.

However, to my dismay - Harrods does not open on Sundays.

So we headed back towards the Hotel - we took the scenic route past Marble Arch - oops we got back to our room to find we had been locked out. Checkout time is 12 noon and it was 12.05pm. We had to trudge back down 5 flights of stairs to explain to the reception desk why we were late.

We grabbed our luggage and went to eat our very late brunch. After lunch we bid Nick a farewell and caught the train out to Heathrow Airport.

The one thing I have noticed and really hated about London - The People. They are just plain RUDE! They never smile or greet you in a friendly manner. They never appologise for bulldozing you over on the street.

Okay - so not al Londoners were rude but a bloody hight percent were.

Overall we had great weather and throughly enjoyed London. We definately needed more time to explore and definetely more money. The pound killed us......