Notting Hill, Hyde Park and Knightsbridge

An early start for our final day in London took us to Notting Hill and the famous Portobello Markets. While not as busy and full as normal, there was a wide range of shops and stands stretched for miles; with each section having a different speciality. Without many people around we are able to have a really good look an picked up several souvenirs.

This lead us into the St James area where we came across St James Palace. Surround by amazing gardens and parkland it is a grand stately manor. The pond outside the palace is full of duck and swans that took a lot of effort to avoid. 

The park merges into Hyde Park, and between both there are a number if sites and monuments to view; of which we explored only a handful. The park is part designed and part as nature would have intended, giving a really serene feel.

Exiting the park at the South end, where the Prince Albert memorial dominates the landscape we came to Royal Albert Hall. Outside it is a splendid building and really stands out.

We were now in Museum land and briefly looked at the Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and finally the indescribably overwhelming Natural History museum. The building alone is a worthwhile attraction but we went through some of the exhibits, Dinosaurs in particular, that were outstanding. 

By this stage we hand walked a very long way so onto our final stop at Harrods. Now this is an old fashioned, opulent department store that was heaving with people. We looked at a few floors, took some photographs and made our way back to the tube.

After a brief stop at our apartment we headed out to one of the local pins for dinner. Two things stood out: the size of the peas and a local cat that made the pub his home; including patrons giving h a seat at the bar.

Off to Paris tomorrow, but will definitely be back to London in the future.

Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge

I'm writing this on a long bus ride back through the English countryside to London. We've been on an exceptional day trip to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge.

First site we arrived at was Windsor Castle, one of the Queen's official residences. While the town and castle are impressive from the outside, the State Apartments inside are stunning. The level of opulence and extravagant decoration are dazzling. These rooms combined with the grounds made this a very worthwhile stop. 

Back on the bus for a long journey to Bath. More than just ancient Roman baths based around Britain's only hot spring, this is a delightful town that unfortunately we didn't have time to explore more.

Final stop on the tour was Stonehenge. It is a very mystical place to visit and an excellent place to end our tour.

Tomorrow is our last day in London and we're going to the West side of town to round out or brief bit amazing time here.

The city: Old and New

Misty start to today but it didn't impact our first stop too much: the Great Fire monument. At one stage the tallest structure in the city, it is 311 step climb up a spiral staircase to some sensational views over London.

From here we made our away to Tower Hill and began a long walk through the city. It was intriguing to see the mix of new and old buildings throughout the area, culminating with the sublime St Paul's cathedral.

We continued on to the overwhelming Museum of London. An exceptional collection of items detailing the history of London, it requires a whole day to truly see everything.

It is also here where we saw the old London city wall. Following the route of the old wall took us through the Smithfield Markets, back to the tube and a rest at our accommodation to let our feet recover.

Rest over we took off once again to Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street. Both very busy and quite magical as night rolled in.

Tomorrow we head off to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge - a very long day.

 

Tower of London and South Bank

We were greeted by a thick fog this morning, that gave everything a more dramatic feel. Our first stop, after waiting 45 minutes for our breakfast, was the Tower of London.

Being early we are able to have a really good look at the Crown Jewels and some of the grounds before the masses descended. Such an amazing history and fascinating to learn a lot more about the Royal past. We spent a good 3 to 4 hours exploring every tower, wall and display we could and still didn't feel we had seen it all.

A short walk brought us to Tower Bridge. One of the most exquisite bridges either of us had ever seen, we walked across the very top of the bridge for some sensational views over London. The story of the bridge itself was intriguing and being able to walk through the engine rooms a bonus.

The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering along the Thames South Bank, past a number of sites including the Shard, City Hall, Globe Theatre and Tate Modern.

Our lunch stop was Borough Market where the pop up vendors had some gobsmacking delicious food that we highly recommend anyone coming to London should try.

 

After the long day of walking we headed back to our apartment for a rest before taking our first bus ride to Marble Arch and Oxford Street for some shopping.

Fortunately we didn't go too far down Oxford Street, saving our feet, and stopped for dinner at Roti Chai. Great Indian food (just as described in one of those SBS cooking shows we saw it on) which was a perfect end to the day. 

 

Westminster and St James

An early start, as we haven't quite switched time zones yet, turned out to be  ideal as we covered a huge amount of ground today.

Taking the Tube to Waterloo station in peak hour was a very hot experience. Every time we've been on the Tube the train temperatures are a boiling point.

First stop from Waterloo was the London Eye. It was about an hour before opening time which gave us a great opportunity to  look around, watch it start up, and take some photos across the Thames river without any competition.

Crossing the Thames brought us to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. This is one of the most spectacular buildings either of us had seen, and the level of detail is astonishing.

The sites along Whitehall continued in quick succession: Westminster Abbey, Churchill War Rooms, 10 Downing Street along with a number of monuments and historical buildings of note.

Last in this line was the Horse Guards Parade; where we were lucky enough to catch the Changing of the Guards.

Onwards from here to Trafalgar Square. Not as busy, people or pigeons, as expected which allowed us to get up close to the monuments. I especially enjoyed the temporary blue cockerel.

We explored both the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery on Trafalgar Square, that also became our lunch spot.  One thing that is in vogue here is serve your own cake.

We wound our way down the Mall, through Admiralty Arch, past the Duke of York memorial, down Jermyn St full of tailors still today, under The Ritz to Green Park. A nice walk through the park finally brought us to Buckingham Palace.

The Queen wasn't in but it was still fantastic so see both the palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial. 

From here we wound our way back through the delightful St James park an for the first time all day the overcast sky had way to sunshine! This is also the time where we spotted a wedding, which has become something of a coincidence on every trip we take.

Back on the tube from here to our last stop for the day: the British Library. There is only a small exhibition here but it is filled with some of the most important and interesting items in history. There is a copy of the Magna Carta and a really good explanation about it; but other highlights include the oldest surviving piece of English writing, the original rules for Football (Soccer) and some of the Beatles original handwritten lyrics.

While we are exhausted there is still too much to see so another 3 big days coming up.

Arrived in Bloomsbury

After 20 odd hours in the air we have finally arrived in London! Flying often has it's advantages as I was able to secure seat 71D that has the seat in front removed leaving an endless amount of leg room.

The bad part about this flight is arriving in London at 5:30am on a Sunday. By the time we had made our way into the city it was still only 7:30am and we couldn't access our room until 2pm.

So we started walking around Bloomsbury, the area we're staying in. The walk took is past some homes of historical figures and through some beautiful squares before we reached the British Museum.

We arrived at opening time and it was already a mad house. Being sleep deprived doesn't help, but there is just so much to take in it can be overwhelming. The big see items are always crowded, like the Rosetta Stone, they are hard to see in detail. Yet we pushed on and really enjoyed seeing some of history's most important artefacts.

With good intentions to keep going on, we walked back to our hotel and checked in. When there is a bed and your sleep deprived it proved too much so we cut out day 1 stop short and get ready to see some of London's most famous sites tomorrow.

Bon Voyage Again

That's right, we're back in the air for the third part of or 2013 World Tour. With under 24 hours to go before take off, this time we're heading to London and Paris for a whistle stop 2 weeks. It's my second trip to both cities, but for Tamie its even more exciting as it is her first trip to Europe.

We'll attempt to update the blog every day from Monday with a few photos and stories. Also I'll post some other discoveries on twitter via @lukedbeeby. If you're really keen, you can track our flights and how far I've travelled by air this year here.