Hello All!

Writing from London, but firstly should note Cardiff (in Wales for those who don't know) and Oxford.

Kate and I visited a fabulous friend, Steve, and his brother, Richard, in Cardiff a few days ago. Cardiff was lovely, we saw a castle and a fabulous photographic display by a random british artist whose name i really don't remember, but who photographed Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn before they were famous. Steve took us on a walking tour to see the Bay and Penarth (with it's various strange pronunciations) and we had coffee. I like coffee. Mostly, Kate and I loved the quiet aparment with its widescreen plasma tv and the joys of television and the ability to bake scones!

Have to thank both Steve and Richard for letting us crash, it was a fabulous break! Much appreciated!

After Cardiff we went to Oxford. Now, this is a beautiful city. We really only investigated one college, Christchurch. Christchurch is the home of Tom a giant 13 tonne bell that lives in Tom Gate through which you can only pass if you are a student or have business with the college. But the walk through the park behind Christchurch was beautiful enough to forgive the extra travel (around the corner). In this particular college we say the entrance to the Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies, and have lots of photos of us standing on what I like to think of as the McGonagall stairs. We oohed and aahed at the dining Hall that the Hogwarts Great Hall is modelled on and i particularly loved the pictures of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I (eh Kat? I actually learnt something in that history course!). We also went into the Cathedral and took lots of pictures of the roof which was quite lovely (although not as lovely as the fan shaped roofing of the entrance hall/McGonagall Hall). Walked to the Bodleian Library, huge! We'll post photos when we have better internet access.

At the moment we're in London.

This city is fabulous. It feels a great deal like home, although we're still struggling with a language barrier. We started off the the Portobello Markets which turned out to be crap in comparison to the Camden Markets. We've spent way too much money as it is, but the shopping is irresistible. We went to Harrods today. That hurt. I actually cried as we walked through the shoe department. The beautiful YSL platforms and the Gucci patent leather and the beautiful bronze Jimmy Choos and the strange strange strange Marc Jacobs (through LV) and the strange yet lovely MiuMiu and Stella and Chloe. and then the Shoe Boudoir! So lovely!!!

anyway, we did a walking tour (with Gregg - another bloody Brisbaner) that covered all the important photo sites - Westminster Abby, Big Ben, Parliament Houses, the Old Lade (also known as the Bank of London) and the Royal Exchange, Covent Garden (another market), St Pauls Cathedral (which we'll further investigate tomorrow) and the Eye and the Millenium Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Leceister Square and Theatreland, the Thames and the Tate Modern. And more i'm sure. Very Efficient.

Best thing about yesterday was bumping into a friend from home - the wonderous Cath! Kate and i went to the theatre to see Wicked (good, but not great. Especially in comparison to the book, but had a happy ending so i'm all good) and i looked up at interval just as Cath walked past our row. Was great to see her, I miss my friends from home! We went out for drinkies. Made the day really.

This morning we saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckinham Palace, all very strange as the bands ( the army and the air force) had a battle of the bands, playing random movie theme songs - such as Star Wars (unbeatable I thought), Somewhere over the rainbow, Zorro and the Great Escape. Made it more funny than sombre militaryish. Lots of photos again though.

Tonight we went on a pub crawl. Sorry Gregg, Imogen is actually the best tour guide in the world! (which is no reflection on tour-guide-mum-Laura). Imogen brings us to funky camden pubs where travis and blur started out. We re-met a Ryan Phillipe lookalike and a Shane West boy (on our tour yesterday); of course there were lots of Aussies and lots of Oi Oi Oi and also the awesome free JagerBomb Domino Challenge. great tour all up. So it is very very late and I am very very tired and a lot worse for the wear, this has taken me well over an hour to write. Off to bed now. Keep in contact all!