Over the next couple of days Cass and Luke joined in with us on most of our excursions though sometimes, as with Stomp, Gwendols and I would leave them to it and go off on our own. One of those times was a day I really wanted to visit the British Museum as I hadn’t been there last time I was in London. I really wanted to see the Elgin Marbles, so cruelly destroyed when ripped from the Parthenon, even though I feel somewhat conflicted about seeing them there given Britain really should return them to Greece! Liane generally isn’t as enthused about Museums and Galleries as I am, and GJ was happy to tag along with me so we split up from the gang and off we went. We first stumbled across the National Gallery so popped in there for a quick look…..which turned into a good hour or so as we both couldn’t drag ourselves away….. I just LOVE seeing truly great art in the flesh, especially the large pieces which just can not be appreciated any other way and it turns out Gwendols is just
the same….we oohed and aahed our way around the place and had a fabulously crazy encounter with a totally bonkers eccentric Englishman who was exclaiming (incorrect) facts very loudly to us about a painting we were admiring…..funny and very hard to keep a straight face…. I dissolved into giggles once he left us! We then made our way to the Museum to see the Marbles which were amazing to see and INCREDIBLY you are allowed to take photos of them which just blows my mind!! We looked around briefly at other things and it was good in general though the mummies turned Gwendols stomach somewhat and we were both pretty tired and ready to go home by that stage too. On another “solo” side trip GJ and I also visited Harrods as it was something on her list of “things to do” but it was just SO incredibly huge and crowded that neither of us enjoyed it all that much….. we did manage to buy 4 little individual
chocolates, mainly to get the green Harrods bag of course, which we enjoyed with a coffee on our way home after Stomp…. They were delicious but something incredibly ridiculous like $2 each one!!! I had been corresponding via email with a very distant cousin from Mum’s father’s
family tree line, Brian, for the last couple of years. Way back in the day our ancestors were brother and sister….. so yes quite the distant relationship but we have enjoyed chatting via email trying out theories and ideas on each other as we tried to piece information about the
family line together. This branch of the family were originally French Huguenots Silk Weavers, and then married amongst the group and over time their occupations became Cordwainers and Tin Plater Workers etc. They all lived and worked in the Spitalfields region of London from the early 1600’s, at least that’s as far back as we have uncovered records of so far. Brian no longer lives in London but was brought up in the City itself and his son lives there in Southwark now so he arranged to be staying with him the weekend we were there. Liane and Gwendols came too and Brian kindly picked us up from the hotel in his car and drove us around, pointing out things to us whilst trying to find his way about the place. I think things may have changed a bit since he was there last and no doubt it was difficult to be commentating, navigating and
driving all at once but a few turns and twists about notwithstanding he did manage it in the end! We made our way to Spitalfields and the girls enjoyed some time at the Markets there whilst Brian and I strolled around “visiting” the family homes of yore. The area is still very much
the area of migrants, now Bangladeshi I believe, so completely changed obviously in the intervening 400 years or so but it was still incredibly special to see how close they all lived to each other and amazingly the buildings are still in existence! I really enjoyed also seeing that just around the corner from them Christ Church where so many of the marriages and baptisms I’ve been tracking down took place…. There was a service going on so we couldn’t enter the Church but Brian and I sat whispering in the foyer about family history facts etc only to have a
church warden come and ask us nicely to be quiet as with the acoustics they could even hear our whispering inside……whoops! Back out into the wind but still yes a most enjoyable side trip that one…..And after all that, and of course the Tower, Buck Palace, the London Eye and all the rest, it was time to go home…… yet again I feel like I need to go back to London, I always seem to want to revisit the places I’ve been before as there just isn’t enough time to really see and do everything you want….. but hey that’s the joy of travelling I guess and it certainly keeps the travel bug alive and well!!!

(L) We had 2 full days in London and the 3rd day had to catch a taxi to the airport at 5.30pm so basically another days sightseeing there too. The first day was overcast as we set off from the hotel, the plan was to hop on the tube at Paddington and meet Cass and Luke at Westminster station to see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben etc. Just before we left the hotel I got a text from Cass to say Luke had left something at the hostel so they may be late (long story, they had been there 7 days and the rule is you can only stay that long so they had to pack their bags, check out and check back in when they got back later in the day) anyway we didn't think they'd be too long so no problem, we headed to Paddington. Deb and GJ breezed through the turnstiles but when I swiped my Oyster card it wouldn't let me through and said "seek assistance".. oh great, flashbacks of NYC here and I'm trying not to panic as the masses gather impatiently behind me and I frantically continued to try swiping the card... finally what seemed like 5 mins later but was probably only a minute a very nice lady in uniform came and told me I had no credit.. "what.. no credit?? that's not possible, my friends and I only just arrived yesterday and we've been on all the same trips and they got through ok", she told me to line up at the window to ask for help but while I'm talking to her the same thing happened to another lady but she was quite rude and abrupt with the official lady so was told in no uncertain terms "you need to buy more credit"!! As I was waiting in line the lovely lady came and took my card, told me to stay in line while she checked it for me... a few minutes later she came back saying I hadn't swiped out properly at Leicester Square last night but she'd fixed it for me.. Phew ... finally through the barrier and on our way. We hopped on the train and 2 stations later as the doors close behind embarking passengers Debra nudges me and says "that's Cassie and Luke"!!! I called out across all the heads and they made their way over to us... but really... of the thousands? of people that ride these trains daily and all the trains that go they had jumped on not only the same train as us but the same carriage.... what are the odds??? Anyway some time during the trip we decided to go to the Tower of London and by the time we got there it was pouring. Deb, GJ and I had umbrellas but Cassies had seen better days so she was getting a bit wet and Luke had none so he can't have been too comfortable. The Tower entrance is included in our London Pass and C & L weren't looking at spending the money yet and said as they will be living and working in London in the next 2 years they'll do all the touristy things then so we parted ways, Cassies boots had also given their best effort and were due for retirement so they headed off to find some shops while we went to the tower. Entry into the tower is usually 21 pounds so almost half the value of our passes already, it was absolutely worth going but I must admit we did a whistlestop tour... darted around and saw a few things but the most impressive was the Crown Jewels, oh my goodness they are stunning!! If you do anything in London it should be to see the Crown Jewels! When we left here I was pretty miserable, I'd worn my joggers today and my feet were sodden and frozen solid, we wandered up the Strand again and Deb and GJ bought their tickets for Stomp the next night while I stood around feeling sorry for myself so when Deb and GJ said they wanted to go to the museum to see the Elgin Marbles, which I would have loved to see, I chose to go back to the hotel to dry off and warm up and also I organised for C & L to come over. We sat and had a few (bottles) of wine and chatted which was so lovely and were just heading out to buy more wine as Deb and GJ came home so we popped out and grabbed some wine and came back to have a few glasses with them. When we were all feeling hungry we walked up to Edgeware Road and found an Indian restaurant for dinner, the waiter made a point of telling us that they don't serve alcohol before he gave us the menu.... we had already figured they wouldn't serve alcohol as this area is very much a muslim community... the men all sit outside smoking their hooka pipes..... dinner was fantastic, great food, great company... and so ends our first full day in London. Our 2nd full day in London is bright and sunny and we had booked the London Eye for 2pm as we trusted in Gwendolines iPhone weather forecast!! We were being picked up at 9am by Brian so were up and in the breakfast room bright and early, breakfast here is good but not as good as in Greece. We have a choice of boxed cereals, yoghurt ( that doesn't come close to the Greek variety ), bread rolls and pastries, tinned grapefruit and prunes and also a hot full english breakfast... not bad.. but not as nice as in Greece either! The morning with Brian was interesting, I'm very glad we had the opportunity to see London through his eyes... Gwendols and I however are not as deeply interested in the family history as Deb, well that's probably not really true, we're interested but not as well versed in it, so when we saw Spitalfields Markets we ever so politely made our excuses and parted ways for an hour or so. We had a great time wandering through the market, it's awesome and I'd definitely recommend a visit there. Gwendols bought a fantastic ring made of a silver teaspoon from an oh so eccentric bloke.... at one point there was an announcement that there was to be a 2 minute silence for remembrance day, although it wasn't actually the 11th in the UK they have their services, marches etc on the Sunday before, it was so surreal looking around the marketplace and seeing so many people just frozen in place..... it was like a scene from a movie where someone had just frozen everyone....well except a few disrespectful souls ( and I say this at the risk of great condemnation ) but from what I observed the only people still moving around and talking were Japanese ( well Asian in appearance ) and Germans ( and I know this because I heard them talking ).... it is what it is.. I'm just telling you what happened as I saw it!! From here we met up with Brian and Deb and Brian drove us as close to the London Eye as he could as we were meeting Cass and Luke for our 2pm ride. When we arrived the place was teeming and we pushed our way through the crowds to the long long line waiting for the eye... thank goodness Debra had insisted we prebook our tickets and not only that but booked fast pass tickets, what with the sun shining for one day Deb had correctly predicted that every man and his dog would be down here today... yay for the witch in her.. haha. Cost pp was AUD $50. The line in the ticket office would have been an hour long but as we had our internet booking code we sailed up to a machine, punched in our code and yay..... it spat out our tickets!! Cass and Luke were a little while away and we had nearly an hour before our assigned time so we went off to find some lunch... we ended up at a mexican restaurant, great margaritas....I can't remember the name of the place but it was something like Il Iguana?? 3 margaritas and 3 meals 40 pounds. While we were eating C & L arrived, so they went off to find a cheaper alternative for lunch... which they did and it sounded every bit as yummy as ours but alas no margaritas!!! My mobile was.. of course... running low on battery.. oh and Deb had forgotten to bring her camera today and I had the spare battery for the Nikon (but had only brought the Canon) and the Canon was almost flat too!!! ARGHHHHH...... anywho..... we had told C & L if my phone was flat we'd meet them in the fast track line just before 2 and that's exactly where we found them... once again... thank goodness for the fast track line cos I reckon the regular line went on for at least 2 hours!!! We however were in line and in a pod in about 5 minutes.... and wow what a great view.. GJ however was feeling her wariness of heights and spent most of the time sitting ( with I'm sure eyes closed ) in the middle of the pod poor thing... the rest of us enjoyed the view immensely! Would I recommend it??? Meh.... yeah I suppose so, I mean you're on holiday but tomorrow.... my opinion may change!!! Once down off the eye, which I guess took around 25 minutes we fought our way through the crowds along the river bank and across Westminster bridge to Parliment House and Big Ben but OMG... the people.. sheesh...can you not learn how to walk on a crowded public footpath...geez bloody tourists!!! This was not helped at all by the men every few feet on the bridge playing that game... you know the pea under the cup.. move the cup.. there's 3 cups which one is it under??? ugggghhhh so frustrating trying to work our way past them all and the crowds of stupid tourists that thought they might just win!! Anyway........... trying to keep 5 people together through all this was a tad stressful.. I don't do crowds..... but we finally made it to the other side.We took lots of pics of Big Ben.. well actually the clock tower, you do know Big Ben is actually only the bell... right??? Then on to Westminster Abbey which I might say is a tad underwhelming after seeing it on tele looking so grand. From here we made our way up Birdcage Walk to Buckingham Palace... Wow... I was impressed to see "the balcony" and also wow everything there, the gates, the fountain it was all just well wow!!! Luke was just about the only one with a working camera by now so... it's all on to you Luke!! From here we walked through Green park to Green Park Station where Deb and GJ realised they didn't really have time to go back to the hotel before the Stomp show as they needed to have some dinner first.. their show started at 6pm and it was almost 4 already so we arranged to meet them at 8.30 to 8.45 at the Westminster station to see Big Ben etc by night. Cass, Luke and I jumped on the tube and they went off to their place to get changed to go out to dinner. Originally I was going to meet them at their place but they ended up coming to the hotel before we went out so they could plug all their electrical devices in ( it's a bit hard in the hostel with only one powerpoint for 15 people!!). We decided to go up to Bond or Oxford Streets to find a nice steakhouse for dinner and ended up at Garfunkels... it was ok but I kind of wish we'd gone to the first place we'd seen.. an Angus Steakhouse cos their steaks looked awesome and I think Cass and Luke needed a good solid meal after doing the backpacker $1.70 tesco salad dinners for the last few months!! Anyway that aside we had a fantastic time over dinner, it was so lovely to sit and chat with them both, I greatly envy and admire them for what they're doing and look forward to following their adventures over the next few years. We were a little late leaving dinner for our rendevous with Deb and GJ but I wasn't overly concerned, maybe it was the wine thinking for me but this trip has somewhat been the waiting for GJ trip ( and Deb with her ipad conversations with Greg) so I didn't think it would matter if I was, for the only time this trip, a few minutes late. As it was we arrived at 8.47 and yes... they were there waiting... GJ had a HUGE suitcase in tow.. which was funny cos before we went out for dinner Cass, Luke and I had a few drinks at the hotel and I remembered that we needed to be packed up tonight so I left them and raced up the road to buy a suitcase, I really didn't think GJ would have remembered it.... anyway Cass and Luke had already seen all this by night light so they excused themselves and offered to take GJs suitcase home as they had to go by our hotel to pick up all their electrical devices anyway.... they later told me they got some weird looks and comments on the tube about the size of that suitcase!! So a quick night time whip around the sights for photo opps and home to bed... we were all weary travelers. Tomorrow we have one last day in London then home..... all good things must come to an end.