Must say was nice to crash.....very comfy bed....and I suspect I was pretty tired because I did sleep pretty good....but can't waste the day so...started the routine...hosed off....grabbed some breakfast and tried to formulate a plan on how to see all the cool things of London in a day.

Sadly I quickly realized there is no freakin way you can...so got to pick n choose...first choice is that I am walking because I am so close to things...second is...I always wanted to go to the Imperial war museum so....that is me first stop and play it by ear from there.

Using the most handiest thing I ever bought for travel...a backpack that folds up into a little pouch..I tossed in me essentials... hat n cameras....a quick stop with the concierge he told me to try the tube from Piccadilly...great plan. Only a block away. Off I went.

Found it super easy...but there are tones of lines so to save me self some grief just went to the people wicket and really nice gal asked me if I had an Oyster card...sure enough they have a cash card here you just use to swipe and get on things easily...just like Hong Kong and the Octopus card....wonder what is up with the sea food names though. Either way after a few quid I was with a ticket good for zone 1 and 2 with a sense of direction off I went...after a lot of stars I was in the bowels of London. Felt a pang of history as this is also exactly where everyone took shelter during the Blitz bombings during the war. It definitely showed some age....bit dank...but not busy at all....literally a minute later the train pulled up and I was off......4 stops later....I was where I was suppose to get off. Trundled up the stairs...and this is where the iPhone excels....using the map app....you can tell which way you are looking....cause none of the roads go north or south it seems...quick orientation and I was off for a quick three block trot...

The Museum....is right across the street from Capt Bligh's house...and Charlie Chaplin s place...kinda cool...seems that everywhere you look there is historical significance. The Museum was pretty amazing however it was actually smaller than I thought it would be. They had a some cool tanks, a spitfire...a P51 and an FW190 and a bunch of tanks...a few german ones with the holes in em, way cool. They had a major display going on about the Holocaust that was a real sobering display of man's inhumanity to his fellow man. Always good to be reminded of what can happen when good people do nothing.

So I was there for a few hours....where next.....I figured Westminster abbey....seemed close and near a lot of stuff....so being the efficient tourist I was...I checked and found a double decker bus that would get me there....found the stop...actually Google maps did. If you have never used the directions part of the map you need to just once to be impressed. Select bus and it shows the nearest bus stop and what time the next bus arrives and how long to walk there. I had 3 minutes...and the bus arrived in 5...sooo off I went. It worked perfect...except for one lil thing....no one tells you when you are in a no cash zone. Sop I go to get on the cool double decker....and they don't take cash only the oyster card...crap..... he politely told me to piss off.... I sulked a bit and hopped off....lil disgruntled I was doing so well.

Then of course a London Taxi pulled up...gotta do that..so hopped in and off we went...6 quid ... big deal worth it. Meant to try a London Taxi..they look cool. Anyhoo the driver was awesome..he was fillin me in on history the whole time...granted it was only 10 minutes....also found out how much he hated the french not a fan of Richard the Lion Heart because of it and thought the euro was crap..the Olympics was a phreaking joke and ..I could go on....come to think about it he didn't shut up the whole ride....either way ...he dumped me right at Westminster abbey....tres cool

So I wandered around...tones of tourist...not like me of course....great looking stuff...just didn't feel like spending 20 quid to go in it...after all the cathedrals in Spain that were mostly free...seemed wrong. So I just wandered around outside and then over to the Parliament...again tourists all over the place..annoying tourists.....not like me.........lots of security and lots of Bobbies. Remember the Queens Jubilee was the weekend before. Very glad I wasn't there as the place was grid lock apparently. Found Big Ben...it does stick out...so wandered over and sat under it for a while and looked at it...was very cool as the way the clouds were moving and sun was on it it looked very impressive...I need a beer....Pub time....

Go figure...a pub is sort of across the road...off I went for a pint...found a place Churchill used to haunt. Kinda neat I thought. It was a good pint...and off I went.....frig I am at White hall....how cool is that. Then I spot a sign Churchill's War room....so off I went.   That I wanted to see.

255 yards later...cause that's what the sign said....I was walking into his WWII bunker that was command central for the Allied activities of WWII...how cool is that???? Paid for that one....seems when the war ended they literally turned off the lights and left and locked the door...well a while later they figured that they needed to do something so they literally dusted it off and put some plexiglass up with a few manikins behind em and you can wander through it with a an audio guide. Learned a lot....pretty rough to be there during the blitz...staff were there for months at a time with no sunlight at all. It was tres cool to see that..me being the history buff that I is.

Popped into the sunlight and wandered off again....poof....10 Downing street...neat...tonnes of Bobbies again....and I eventually found Trafalgar again and China town so I was getting close to the hotel. Quick check of the watch and crap I had ta go to get the bike back.

So I managed to find the bike in the parkade I used hopped on, sparked err up and was able to squeeze past the arm so got a free night....felt 35 quid for a night was robbery and also the locals were tellin me to not pay....as bikes should be free who was I to argue......once the GPS saw the light of day...5.1 miles to nav and off I went....man it is a b**** driving in that part of town. b****in betty is my goddess...I would by her a pint if I ever met her...she has such a sultry aussie accent mmmmmm.

What really doesn't help however is when a thousand nude guys with their tally whackers hangin out decide to all ride about on their bicycles in celebration of gay pride week....I sooooo did not need to see that.....ackkkk...what a traffic jam...gals gawking and laughing getting their picture taken with them and guys looking the other way hitting cars n people to avoid the bouncing tally whackers....I was one of emmm almost hit a double decker bus...and they are big....and red....sheesh.....

So right about here trying to make me escape filtering.....after so many miles of no mishaps....my pannier scrapes a bumper....I was soooooo close and crap.....couldn't stop to see if any damage but frig....off I went and after a lot of speed cameras...roundabouts and lineups....and more filtering I made it...annnnnnddddd no one was there...frig. So....me being prepared...I had Mikes number so go to call him...crap...card ran outta minutes...frig...so plug in the other one...its out too....friggin elllllllllll!!!!! So as I stared at me predicament....guy walks by and sees all me simm cards strewn about and with a "Whats up mate...need a telly?'...he offers his up.... awesome....so I make a quick call and Mike was on his way...about 10 minutes..I totally thanked the guy and even offered to give a few quid he would have none of it and off he walked. Nice.......

Well of course 10 minutes turned into 50 but I got the GPS dismounted and looked at the scrapes and it didn't look too bad. Just scuffed....sure enough Mike, who is awesome by the way...got there looked over the bike ... made sure I didn't bend it .... saw it as normal wear n tear with a quick shake and a refund of the deposit on the card I was good to go. Great..... he called me a taxi and I was off....the guy took the back way into Piccadilly as he knew it was a zoo...and that sadly was the end of the bike riding portion of the tour.... :((

The RT is an amazing bike to do this kinda thing...I was warm n dry and with ABS, traction control....even when leaning hard on the wet bridges the bike did its best to prevent me from getting into too much trouble. Hydroplanning isn't a huge issue in the monsoon downpours and the brakes are a dream....did some massive runs on the TT kicked some serious sport bike ass with it also. Those Germans make good s***......I will hug mine when I get home...

I ultimately ended up wandering around Trafalgar and the pedways....found a lil Italian joint and parked it for a while...first time I had Italian beer...not bad. Wandered off eventually and ended up in the pub across the street from the hotel and just chatted with the locals and sipped a few pints...till...time to hit the hay I thought.

Nice day....am very impressed with London....might need to come back....as so much more to see and such a great vibe.... but.....tomorrow...is time to catch a plane day sighhhhh but....I am actually a bit tired...sooooo not so bad...not looking forward to the end result of the inevitable jet lag I am going to get nailed with I suspect.