Full on day today, plenty to tell. After a sleep in we formulated a plan. That plan was to live out (almost) one of my boyhood dreams, we were going to Lords! We got our new weekly train tickets and headed off to see the holy of holies, and arrived just in time to jaw a look around the museum, wow, and jump into a guided tour. This tour took us everywhere but onto the playing field. We saw the committee room, the famous long room (which is so full of wonderful history, but I won't get started), the visitors (where the Aussies are) and home change rooms which have the famous boards with all the century makers and five-for bowlers at the ground in test matches, the media centre and the grandstands. The coup de grace was seeing the Ashes urn though, the actual real live one. Priceless. What made out tour even more special was the fact we had a former West Indian test fast bowler on it with us who had played at Lords, Colin Croft. He had a lot of extra insight about the workings of the ground for a player and commentator. He also loved being the centre of attention, which wasn't hard as he is a big man and always talks. We finished that tour (AMAZING!) and then thought we would grab some lunch and do something more subdued, so we hopped on the tube and went to St Pauls Cathedral. The place is phenomenal, so big and ornate with plenty of history. We also could climb to three different levels of the dome, I went to the first one (the whispering gallery) which resulted in me (and Sally) climbing 257 steps. Sally then went onto the stone gallery (376 steps) and the golden gallery (528 steps) which ended up having her 85 metres off the ground with supposed amazing views, her photos will tell that story I guess. We also went into the crypt which has the bodies of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson who defeated the French and Napoleon at the Battle of Copenhagen which saved England from invasion, Wellington who is a famous general and Sir Christoper Wren who designed the cathedral as well as many other building around London. He was also the first man to see the building of one of his designed cathedrals be finished. We then went and saw some iconic sights like Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, Her Majestys Theatre, Parliament House, Big Ben, the outside of Westminster Abbey (we will go inside another time) and the Nelson Column. All these sights are in 10 minutes walk of each other which makes it easy. We are now lying in our hotel room exhausted and deciding what to do for dinner so until tomorrow (Buckingham Palace) cheerio then.

Alex

Oh yeah, by the way, I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask a Bobbie (cop) to say "what's all this then" in a cockney accent, will let you know how I get on.