We finally made it to London!! It took us ages to get through customs. Paul got through really quickly because he travelled on his Dutch passport, but I had to wait in such a long line. Laille and Jan were waiting for us on the other side of the gate. Gave Laille the biggest hug. I was so happy to see her. I've really missed her. It was nice to finally meet Jan too. We bought an oyster card for the underground and loaded enough money for the week. You scan them when you go in and out of the stations. The underground trains are so confusing! You often have to change trains and they don't wait for very long. There is always a real mixed bunch of people on them too. It was an interesting experience! Once we got off the train we then caught a bus which stopped a couple of streets away from Laille and Jan's house. I really did feel like I had walked into Coronation Street. All the houses are the same and most of them have small cottage looking gardens at the front of the property. Laille's flat mates are all really friendly and chatty. One of the guys is away for three weeks and said we could have his room, which was really nice. I can't wait to sleep in a bed again. Sleeping on the plane really isn't that comfortable. My feet are still swollen. We went upstairs to get settled in. Then I had a shower, brushed my teeth and got ready to go on my first London adventure. First we went to Oxford Street. The most amazing shops! Most of the shops seem to have two or three levels. You could easily get lost in a shop. There were people everywhere. We went into H&M, Topshop and a couple of others. Laille bought a couple of things and I bought some new sunglasses. I'm trying to not buy too much too early on in the trip because I know I'm going to have to carry it for the next eight weeks. I was still pretty surprised that I could go to Oxford Street and only spend £15 though. The guys got sick of waiting for us outside of the shops so we met them at McDonalds when we were finished. The McDonalds in the UK is different from ours back home. I didn't have a burger, but I was told that a lot of them aren't as good as back home. I bought a large coke, chips and a strawberry sundae. There are no chocolate sundaes here. Only strawberry and what they call 'toffee' instead of caramel. Even the strawberry flavouring isn't the same. It was still yummy though! Laille said she hardly ever has McDonalds anymore because it's so out of the way. It's funny that one of the most convenient places to get food in NZ is one of the most inconvenient in London. I guess it would depend on where you worked too. After Oxford Street we walked down to the park to feed the squirrels. I was so excited because I've never seen a squirrel and have wanted to feed one ever since Laille moved to London. We stopped at a small store on the way to buy a couple of bags of peanuts. The park is really beautiful. You walk across a bridge and from the middle of the bridge you can see Buckingham Palace on one side. On the other side of the bridge you can see the Eye Of London in the distance. The gardens are beautiful. There are lots of pigeons, ducks and another type of bird that looks similar to a pukeko, but has really weird feet. We saw at least five squirrels running around in the park. Most of them seem to be between the river and the fence (where you aren't allowed to go). Although we did see a couple of them running around on the other side. I held a peanut through the fence. Eventually the squirrel scampered towards the fence and climbed up to snatch his nut. They're remind me of the squirrel off Ice Age because they 're so curious, but quite wary too. A couple of them even climbed onto us. Most of the squirrels would run away to eat their nut, but some would choose to bury them in the dirt instead. The crows were very quick to try to dig up the peanuts once the squirrel had disappeared. I watched another squirrel who hid his nut, but then obviously couldn't remember where he had his it so was scratching everywhere trying to find it! I loved the squirrels. I'm hoping that we will have time to go and visit them again before we leave. After I finally got dragged away from feeding the squirrels we went to Trafalgar Square. Because it was Canada Day there was a big concert and celebration down at Trafalgar Square. One of Laille's flatmates, Dan who had come with us is Canadian. We bought some Canadian beer (which to be honest tasted a lot like Double Brown) and some poutine. Then sat down to listen to the live music. The guy up on stage was dressed up in a furry brown costume. We were all trying to guess whether he was a chipmunk or a bear! On the way home we stopped at a little supermarket to buy some ingredients to make pizzas for dinner. I guess it was kind of similar to a Four Square. I also bought one of those orange chocolates that are shaped like an actual orange, as well as orange flavored. They were less than £2, which seems so cheap compared to NZ. You only really see them in NZ around special occasions like Christmas or Easter. I think jet lag had set in because on the train when we were traveling from Trafalgar Square to the supermarket I fell asleep. Laille couldn't even wake me up at first! I watched the second half of the Euro Football Cup final while I ate my pizza. Spain won 4-0 against Italy. Then after doing the dishes and working out the underground trains for tomorrow I went to bed. Tomorrow we are going to have a lazy morning and then in the afternoon are doing our London vintage bus tour xx