London part 2

Hello Hello,

Well I've had a very interesting day.

I decided to ride one of the hop on-hop off double-decker buses today. I bought a ticket that was valid for 24 hours and included a free river cruise.

I hopped onto the bus at Trafalgar Square and we headed east, going past St Paul's Cathedral, the Mansion House (famous as the residence of the Lord Mayor and for being the location of the Great British Menu Queen's Lunch from Season 1 - Mum, Dad and Lachy will understand!!), then past the Monument - which was covered in scaffolding - and across Tower Bridge and finally coming to a stop at the Tower of London. The bus continued on, but I decided to hop off as I wanted to catch my free river cruise from Tower Pier.

I got onto the ferry and we headed for Greenwich. I was really excited about seeing Greenwich and I wasn't disappointed. Greenwich is such a pretty little place and is very green. It's so much quieter than London. I decided to head up to the Royal Observatory. There was a lovely park that you have to walk through to get to the Observatory and all of the locals were out enjoying the sunshine on offer. Then I headed up the hill to the observatory. Now saying it's a hill might be underestimating it a little bit. In fact it's an extremely steep incline. My poor poor legs did not want to take me to the top, but we made it.

The observatory was fascinating and I had the opportunity to stand with one foot on either side of the international date line. A very exciting experience. It must be said that the line itself isn't very interesting. It could really do with a little pizazz. Something to spice it up a bit. But that's just my opinion. The view from the observatory was pretty stunning. You had a clear view over all of Greenwich and as far as Canary Wharf and right into Central London.

I headed back down into Greenwich and took the opportunity to visit the Royal Naval Academy. I saw the painted banquet hall which I would recommend to anyone and lovely music from the Trinity College of Music followed me as I wandered around.

I decided to head back to the pier and take the ferry back to the Tower of London. From the Tower of London I hopped back onto the bus and followed it for the rest of its route. We travelled along the river past the Millennium Bridge and then into Piccadilly Circus and then through Trafalgar Square (again), along Pall Mall until we got to the lower corner of Hyde Park, then up to Marble Arch, down through Belgravia (to see where all the stars live!), past Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben and finally ending up at Trafalgar Square where my trip had begun.

The double-decker buses provide such a great way to see London.

It was 5pm by the time I got back to Trafalgar Square and I was getting tired so I decided to head back to the hostel. I was so close to Leicester Square that I decided to detour that way and attempt to buy some cheap tickets to a play. As I approached Leicester Square there was quite a crowd hanging around and it wasn't until I attempted to turn into Leicester Square that I realised what was going on. The new Sex and the City movie was having it's London premiere in Leicester Square. Buying tickets was certainly no longer an option, so I decided to join the crowd and attempt to catch a glimpse of the stars. That turned out to be a lot easier said than done. The crowd was much too thick to see anything at all. I attempted to take some photos over the top of the crowd but still got nothing. My feet were completely aching by this point, my camera battery had died and there was no way I could see anything over the crowd. So I started to muscle my way out of Leicester Square and right when I was just about out I caught a sight of .... Sarah Jessica Parker. Oooooooo, exciting! Ok, so I was over 100m away and I could only see the back of her, but still I had a star sighting!

Anyway, by this point it was after 7pm and I just wanted to get back to the hostel and have some dinner. I caught the tube back to my station and promptly got lost-ish. I missed the turn I needed to take and then couldn't quite get myself where I needed to be. I was just about to turn around and head back to where I started from when who did I spot but...... Scott Wellstead!! I couldn't believe it. Such a shock. I think he was pretty surprised as well, because it took him a few seconds to recognise me. We chatted for about 2 seconds and then he asked what I was up to for the night, as he had 2 free tickets to the Opera to see Tosca and asked if I wanted to go with him. Of course I said yes and so we headed off. I didn't have time to go back and change as it started at 7:30pm so we just headed straight there. It was great fun, the opera was fantastic and the Royal Opera House is stunning.

So, I only got home about 11pm. I'm so ready for bed right now, I'd better sign off before I fall asleep on the keyboard.

More soon.