London

Day 1
Matt and I arrived in London on Wednesday morning.  The flight was alright - long, especially with the stopover in Edmonton, but it did give us a chance to stretch our legs on the plane.  Once we got to Gatwick Airport, we purchased a cell phone at the airport to use while in Europe and then boarded our train to London Victoria Train Station.  Once we arrive at that train station, we purchased an Oyster Travel Card to use for the week and loaded it with £20.  We switched trains and headed to Glouchester Station and then walked about 15 minutes with our backpacks to our hostel. 

Our hostel is quite nice.  People are super friendly which I expected and there are many Canadians abound.  It works out great because all of us Vancouverites keep checking in to see how our Canucks are doing.

When we got to our hostel, the check in time was 2pm and we arrived at 12pm.  So we dropped off our luggage and went to Waitrose grocery store and purchased lunch - a whole roast chicken, salad and some fruit.  We then proceeded to Hyde Park and set out a blanket (the fleece blanket from the plane that Matt took!!!) and ate our lunch and had a nap under the sun.  It was about 20C and I got my first tan of the trip!

After our lunch and nap, we walked around Hyde Park. Saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, Royal Albert Statute, Serpentine River and Bridge, Kensington Park and more.  We also called home to let them know that we arrived safely and bragged about the sunny weather!

That night I had a chance to Skype with my best friend Deanna for over 30 minutes. It was as though I was skyping her from home. I shared a few photos including how tanned I was, what the hostel looked like and what my bed looked it!

Day 2
Matt and I woke up early to take advantage of the day. Unfortunately our beautiful sun had turned into overcast weather and rain.  Despite this, we still went out and embraced the day fully.  We decided to be typical tourists and pay £27 for the hop-on, hop-off tour around London (http://www.bigbustours.com/). Being true Canadians, we sat on the top deck in the cold and light rain - just to get the best view and pictures.

Sights we saw included:
- Piccadilly Circus
- Haymarket
- Trafalgar's Square
- Craig's Court
- Westminster Bridge
- London Eye
- St. Paul's Cathedral
- Covent Garden
- London Bridge (I don't understand why this is sooo popular???)
- Tower of London
- Parliament Buildings (beautiful)
- Oxford Street
- Downing Street
- Chinatown
- Leicester Square
- Big Ben
- Millenium Bridge
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace
- Royal Mews
- Marble Arch
- Hyde Park Corner

We saw all these sites first via the tour bus and then we spent the rest of the day walking back to the sites we wanted to spend more time at (ie. Buckingham Palace, Parliament Buildings, Westminster Abbey etc).

At about 4pm we boarded a river boat cruise over to Greenwich.  We booted it up to the Royal Observatory which involved ascending up a hill worthy of San Francisco just to see where exactly Greenwich Mean Time is - very cool!! Stunning views from the Observatory inclduing the University of Greenwich and the O2 arena.

We then paid £5 to take a fast ferry back to Embankment/Westminster area where we then proceeded to look for a place to eat.  We decided to check out Rose & Crown pub. I had the roast chicken dinner complete with mashed potatoes, veggies and yorkshire pudding for £8.65 and Matt settled on bangers and mash for £7.65.

Before we knew it, it was about 9pm and we were spent.  We took the bus back to our hostel and then got ready for sleep. I had a Skype call with my brother Joel and he panned the camera over to Erin & then Mila Jane who was have floor playtime (I missed Ariel though as she was napping).  I crashed at about midnight and Matt stayed up a bit later mingling with other hostel guests. 

Now we're heading out for today.  We are going to Chelsea to see the football stadium and get a backstage tour.  We're also going to book a day tour for Stonehenge and Bath for tomorrow and book our train/bus tickets to Nantwich for Sunday.

Sorry no pics yet! This computer doesn't have a USB connection that is visible. It's behind lock & key!
Until next time :)