Asia/Europe Travels 2008: Kuala Lumpur Thailand Laos Vietnam Germany Austria Prague (Czech Republic)
Poland Vilnius (Lithuania) Riga (Latvia) Berlin London (UK) Amsterdam (Holland) Dublin (Ireland) Hamburg

London (UK)

London

Friday 14th Nov - London

Today I had a quiet day indoors doing washing, organising things, writing emails and postcards. We made a small trip to the store to get some groceries and then I headed across town to meet up with Aaron Vi and Mariza, my old work mates from Australia. The plan for the night was to head out to a 80's 90's night. It started at about 10.30 and went through until about 3am. We had pre drinks and then caught the metro to the station Angel where a lot of the nightlife is centred around. It was a great night, and we danced for hours to old classics. The club wasn't too bad either with two rooms to choose from.

Sat 15th Nov - London

Today I woke about mid morning feeling surprisingly good. It was a beautiful day in London! I helped Mariza and her friends with their moving house mission for a little while and then headed into central London for a look around. I stopped off at London Bridge metro stop and walked across the commonly confused London Bridge, which had a nice view of tower bridge, commonly confused for London Bridge. I had a distant view of the top of the Gherkin so decided to check it out. The uniquely shaped building looms over the surrounding streets. I walked a short distance to St Paul's cathedral where they were setting up some sort of projector out the front. I think it was an art display depicting how St Paul's cathedral transcends into the modern world. I decided to go and have some food and wait for a while for it to get dark. The fast food pasta place was just next door to the cathedral and had surprisingly well priced pasta and to my suprise they served it in a paper cup. Quite a handy way to eat on the move in fact, although I took my time and enjoyed the cafe.

The way back was an interesting journey. I squeezed ambitiously onto an overcrowded train, forced to bend in the shape of the closing door. It was absolutely packed with people, shoulder to shoulder. I didn't mind too much however as it was only one stop to my train change. Unfortunately when I turned to get out of the door however, I was face to face with a brick wall, and I realised at that point that I was trapped behind a wall of people unable to get to the open door on the other side of the train. Now everyone had said you just squeeze through in this situation, but trust me, there was no way that I could get through that deadlock without some sheer hip and shouldering, so I stayed on the train for another stop. Luckily the second time I managed to squeeze past as a few people got out, and I caught the rather empty train back to the missed station for my second line home.

Back at Aaron and Vi's there was tasty vegetarian lasagne on the menu, which despite being quite full I had to sample, and ended up with a whole slice as it was so good. We watched a bit of a movie and then I was lucky enough to be invited along to Mariza's brothers' friends party down the road with those guys. Eager to make the most of the weekend nightlife and meet some new people we headed off. It was quite a cool place and I met lots of Aussies there. I even met a guy who said I could stay with him in Dublin which was pretty awesome. Well Marz and Mark went home, but the hosts were great and encouraged me to stay. The night went well into the wee hours of the morning as we danced, talked and shared travel stories. It was certainly a party hard crew. I ended up crashing there and wandered back to Aaron and Vi's the next day.

Sun 16th Nov - London

We headed over to see Marz and her housemates who were doing the final moving out and said our farewells. Aaron and I headed off shortly after to see the Natural History Museum and were surprised to find ice skating outside. It was a massive place with similar displays to the Natural History Museum in Berlin. It was interesting seeing the differences in the presentations and nice to have everything in English too. Vi came past to see the museum too after a couple of hours and I said my farewells and headed up to the Science Museum. This place was truly amazing with 5 floors and thousands of displays. I think I only saw about a third of it by the time I moved on. Flukishly I bumped into Dain there and he mentioned plans to meet at Trafalgar Square to meet up with Mel and Steve. I decided to try and make it back to the Science museum as there was just so much there to see, that I felt I needed more time. We all met up as planned and headed off to a vegan/vegetarian restaurant where I had perhaps one of the most interesting plates of salad ever. It was a great little restaurant and not too expensive.

Mon 17th Nov - London

My last day in London and so much to see still. Since the weather was still reasonably good I thought I would try and watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I got off the tube at Green Park station and meandered through the large park which made a nice change from the bleakness of other parts of London. The changing of the guards was quite interesting. Lots of people gathered round holding cameras over their heads to catch a photo of the guards. I stayed for a while as the band piped up with classic big band numbers. The whole light heartedness of the playing was a bit destroyed by the policemen repeatedly asking everyone to move along in front of the main gate. After the horses and band trotted off I walked up the main road leading to the palace past a large memorial, and hoped on the train back to South Kensington station. Having spent all my pounds I needed to find an atm, so ended up at the same place I had lunch yesterday, drew some money and had another pasta meal for under 3 pounds.

having only briefly seen the Science Museum, I decided to revisit. There were still 3 or so levels I had not been so I was really glad I managed to see it all this time. There was even a whole Scitech type section up the top with all sorts of interactive displays and demonstrations for kids. I also had a really good look at the section on energy working through the puzzles and simulations. They even let you type in your email on a number of displays and then send the requested info to your inbox.

Finally I wanted to look in St Paul's as the entrance fee is waived after about 4pm. I only really had a brief look inside, but it was amazing. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos inside but I would recommend having a look at some stage. It was stunning. I had a quick bite to eat and headed back to meet up with the crew at home. Tonight we were going to see Avenue Q, which is an original Broadway musical based loosely on the Muppets. I'll tell you what, this was one of the funniest most amazing shows I have seen in a long time, and don't be fooled, this was no typical musical. After the most inspiring (and at the same time slightly disheartening) show we had a drink at the cafe opposite and then headed back to pack for the early morning rise the next day.

Tues 18th Nov - London to Amsterdam

Our travel group split at this stage for a few days as Siobhan, Geoffrey and Dain wanted more time in London over Amsterdam. Sally and I headed to the bus station where we met up with Steve and Mel and the four of us sat on the bus to the border ferry at Dover. They checked our passports and then the entire bus drove onto the ferry. It was a calm one and a half hour journey across the channel and I had a front row view in the cafe. The rest of the bus trip went by slowly and we eventually made it to the arrival station. We then caught a train to the main station in Amsterdam and walked throught the red light district to our hotel Heart Of Amsterdam which was right in the middle of it all. For dinner we walked through town and eventually decided on a japanese resteraunt which served reasonably priced meals. By the time we finished it was about midnight so headed to bed ready to explore the city of Amsterdam the next day.