Adrian Presents: London at last!

Adrian here for my last appearance on this blog, with Ylana due to fly in tomorrow morning, so I'd better finish up my pics from London.

We arrived on the Eurostar train through the tunnel from Paris, and said a tearful farewell to our tour group before spending the night at Aussie hangout Earl's Court.
The next morning we set off on a whirlwind tour of London before my evening flight back to Sydney.

Big Ben

We started our tour with Big Ben and the houses of Parliament, before running off to Westminster Abbey, which was huge and holds the remains of the Kings and Queens of England.

Westminster Abbey

We couldn't take photos in here, so you'll just have to go see for yourself (and pay about twenty bucks to go inside) but it was really beautiful, those Kings sure knew how to get buried in style.
We had just enough time for a detour to meet up with some old school friends of mine, Joanne and Calum. They have both been living and working over in London for some time, and I was amazed how skinny they've gotten, until I realised how much food costs in London ;-)

Adrian Ylana Calum and Joanne

While having lunch in this park, we also made another little friend.

Cute Squirrel

These little squirrels were everywhere in the parks of London, and we saw loads of them eating out of people's hands on the way to the palace.
We stopped off at the Tower of London to see the Tower Bridge, and I regretted not having brought a hairbrush with me.

Tower Bridge and my messy hair

We stopped off at Buckingham Palace, but we didn't see the Queen. Maybe she was watching TV that day.

Buckingham Palace

On the way back to the hotel, Ylana said she had a surprise and made me jump off the train with my eyes closed. She led me up some stairs, and I realised we had arrived at the famous Harrods department store.
Owner Mohamed Al-Fayed takes his duties very seriously, and stands at the entrance to greet them as they come in.

Mohamed Al-Fayed

Ok, it's just a waxwork, but he looks very real.
Harrods is absolutely huge, and sells everything you could need, as well as loads of stuff you really couldn't need but might want anyway.
There was one thing we both really wanted, and that was icecream, from the fancy icecream shop on the lower level.

Mmmm, icecream...

We had some delicious sundaes, then went off to the airport, where I flew back to Sydney, and Ylana continued her tour of England. I'm sure she'll have lots of stories to tell when she gets back, but that, as they say, is another story.

Living the London Life

Back in London again. My journey around this little island has come full circle and I once again find myself in the crazy, busy, culture loving London!! It is currently not raining but the day is still young...
I left Penzance in Cornwall after a few more Cornish pasties and another attempt at trying to learn some local Cornish words. They have their own language down there and although it's technically a ''dead'' language they still have street signs with the English and Cornish. Also the Cornish people are a little odd... But a fun filled place even though it seems that the rumour of Pirates in Penzance turned out the be false or else a very old legend!!
After Penzance came a little town called Salisbury, I have been looking forward to this part of England for some time now. I'm sure few of you have really have any idea what Salisbury is famous for and can't see the obvious reason why I would want to go there. Well it's not exactly Salisbury the town itself that I wanted to see but something more spectacular located not to far from Salisbury.....
....
STONEHENGE!!
Yes I saw the giant, mystical rocks!! It was actually quite amazing, this was something that has me fascinated for quite some time and it was quite an extrodinary experience to see them first hand. Yes the rock do look exactly like they do in all of the photos but there was just something almost magical about seeing them for real. I spent some time just staring at Stonehenge, well there really isn't much else to do out there, and then set off for a walk through the English countryside to try to find some more of the ancient sites there are around Stonehenge. There was quite a few ancient Barrows which were burial sites for ancient peoples and some ruins but mainly just a lot of cows, sheep and country pancakes :) While staying in Salisbury I also saw the cathedral, Old Sarum Castle, Amesbury (which is not to be confused with Avebury which was where I was trying to get to...) Woodhenge and lots of green English countryside.
Back in London now and yesterday I managed to catch up with Jayne and Michelle, our iteneraries managed to match up for enough time for us to get milkshakes and a hot chocolate in London!!! And you said we wouldn't so it Claire!!! It was nice to see someone from back home and exchange travel stories. I will be home soon and be able to share all my travel stories with you all!!