Well our time in London is up and we are about to leave for Paris on the Euro Star. I believe it to be a very fast train going under the Chanel all the way to Paris.
London was very cold and often windy, with a max temp of about 8, frosty but sunny in the afternoons. We had a few showers on our second day in London, but they were not heavy or lengthy. We stayed in Cromwell Road near Gloucester Station which made travel very easy, especially with their Oyster card, simple to use and a breeze to top up.
Kay inside one of the Underground trains. Everyone else is busy on their phones, they just can’t help themselves.
We did all the tourist places and were simply amazed at the numbers of tourists everywhere, the locals keeping well away from the main attractions. The museums and galleries didn’t charge admissions and the museum of natural history is amazing in its exhibitions and the queues were horrendous, with thousands of school groups, but it was good to see them make use of these facilities.
The much photographed and walked over Tower Bridge.The poms really think a lot of Nelson, seeing he gave the French such a thrashing otherwise we would all be speaking French3 favourites together, London Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Big BenThe new Globe theatre on the embankment near Tower BridgeThis was the nearest tavern to the Royal Observatory. I enjoyed a couple of ales here after the long and gruelling walk up the hill to see the Prime MeridianThis is a shot of one area of Harrods store in Knightsbridge. This is where everyone who is famous comes to do their shopping. Everyone else buys the cheapest item they can just to get the converted green Harrods shopping bag. Its very flash but very, very expensive. I saw one lass buy a leather handbag on her visa for 2399 quid.This is what Harrods store looks like from the outsideKay outside the Liberty store in Regent Street. Another one of those very expensive stores, but they do have some amazing prints, etc.London Eye, the original one that every city in the world has tried to copy, some with disastrous results. There are 32 capsules each holding about 10 people at 25 quid, or 50 bucks each and a new capsule is filled every couple of minutes. This goes on all day and half the night. As Arthur Daley would say “a nice little earner”Kay inside one of the glass capsulesOne of the capsules ahead of ours reaching the top of the ring about 140 metres highHere I am feeding some of the aquatic life on the lake in Hyde Park. I think they call it SerpentineHere is the Prime Meridian on top of the hill where the Royal Observatory in Greenwich is situatedSaw this parked in the street. Its a Renault Twizy. It costs about 6900 quid. Has a range of 88 km and can be recharged in about 3.5 hours. Has a top speed of about 80 km/hr and has an air bag. Could be a winner.
We found the prices to be somewhat expensive as we were getting a British pound for about A$2.10. The prices in the Harrods and Liberty stores were astronomical but they were swamped with customers buying items. Beer was very expensive a, 330 ml bottle cost me almost 6 quid but I managed to sample of few of their ales, which were quite tasty.
On the TV Australia was not mentioned once in all the new casts we watched. Isn’t anything worthwhile happening back home to make international headlines? We enjoy London and plan to visit again but only in the summer.
