The last weekend in London, part one

So, when I last left, I had had a great time in London all by myself, but on Saturday morning, after my epic trip to the post office, I missioned it to Euston Station to meet Tom who had caught a 5am train from Aberystwyth to London to come hang out for the weekend, wooo!

We first went out to sort out tickets to a show for that day, we were kinda planning on going to The Lion King that evening, but we ended up getting cheaper tickets for the afternoon performance. After sorting that out, we headed down to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. I didn't think it would be as popular as it was! I also had no idea what it entailed so I just got really excited when the horses came around haha. We eventually managed to head over to the gate and squizz through and see the guards strutting their stuff, to Star Wars music, I sware! That was fun anyways. Especially when the horse took a big ass poo on the ground right where everyone was crossing the road. It was funny watching people try to avoid it, and it stank really bad!

It was the first time I had ventured down the Mall to Buckingham Palace and it was maaaaagical! Couldn't believe I was seeing it! Tom didn't quite get the amazingness of the moment....lol

FANCY HORSES AND RIDERS

Ze Guards

Tall Black Hat

Magical Moment

Some random who sucks at photo taking

Nawwwwww

After that finished, we were meant to head to the Royal Mews, but we got kinda lost, so instead headed to a pub for lunch.Yummmm, epic Lamb pie! Then we caught a cab to Covent Garden and had a poke around the markets there again, but managed to pick up a few more presents for people which was good.

And then.....LION KING!! WOWZA, what an amazing show!!! The costumes were stunning and the singing was coool, I was totally singing along. I had to wake up Tom a few times during the show, I think it was more due to his 5am train than boredem, well, I hope so anyway!We were sitting in the front row of the balcony, so we either had to lean forward to see over the barrier or lean back and look under it. That was slightly annoying, but we managed. We could see the stage moving from  up so high so that was a good angle to watch from. The cast are so good at playing to the whole theatre, no matter how high up they sit!

Tom's excited theatre going face

I was totes excited

After the Lion King, we were meant to go back to the hotel to drop off some stuff and get changed for dinner etc, but we got sidetracked and headed towards Big Ben and  stuff to have a poke around. It was quite fun. We took some fun pictures around the place, so here we go! We spent a while walking around the Thames trying to take photos of us in  front of the London Eye and even spied another random tourist to take our photo in front of it, another crap photo taker.

The only decent photo we got in front of the eye

I asked Tom to take a photo of me in front of Westminster Abbey, and this is what I got

BIG BEN

The eye from across the bridge

Token London shot

Tom and Me on the  Bridgey thing

THE EYE WATCHES

We headed out to possibly the worst place we could find for dinner, which we didn't realise at the time, it took about 15 minutes for them to take our drinks and entrée orders, and then another 20 minutes for the entrées to arrive, and then 10 minutes for our mains to arrive, by which time Tom had to go and ask where our drinks were, man, it was a nightmare (turns out, I totally got  food poisoning from the restaurant too, but more on THAT one later).

We wanted to go on the London Eye at night so had purposely waited until it was dark enough to do so,  only to turn up and find that it had JUST closed, at 8.30pm. LAME! Seems ridiculously early for such a big tourist attraction to close so early on  a Saturday night. So we headed back to the hotel.

Eventually, once we got back and had a nice cup of tea, we decided that we might go out again for a drink. I was feeling like total crap, really bad pain in my side, but decided to walk it off. Anyway, most of the bars were full and didn't look very inviting so we decided to head back home, only to have me pretty much collapse on the street and throw up in the gutter. Thanks for that, shitty restaurant. Some cops pulled by and asked if I was ok, so Tom left me with them and ran off to get some water to wash it all down the drain (I was lucky not to get anything on me!) , they assumed that I had been drinking and was throwing up from that, guh, stereotypes! We were hoping on a ride back but that failed. Sleep was well needed that night!!

After that.....

So after the monument and the Tower Bridge exhibit, I headed back to St Pauls to go and meet up with Jodi from camp which was cool. She took me along The Strand and to Covent Garden where I managed to pick up my London Disney Top which was awesome!

After that, Jodi had to go get her hair cut and the weather turned, so I started to do things inside. I headed to the Wellington Monument thingy, which was kinda cool. I poked around there and inside the Duke of Wellington's house which was interesting. Kinda boring, but fun and there was heaps of old stuff to look at. Sooo much history!!

Random protest outside a really pretty building

The Duke of Wellington Sculpture thing

View from the top of the monument thingy

RAUGH HORSES

The random Monument thing

So after all that excitement, I decided I needed more excitement, and so went to Harrods. It made me feel woefully inadequate But it was amazing, so glad I managed to get there! I had a good poke around and got a few things, including a pink princess duck for Tom and a nice Christmas decoration for me which was funky. I loved the store, man, I wish I had wayyy more money to be able to spend in there!

Dodi and Diana memorial

Ze Harrods bears

Someone really needs to get me these

ITS HARRY POTTER

Princess!!!

I had wanted to go to Regent Street and Oxford Street that afternoon too, but ended up spending wayy too much time and money in Harrods, and I was damn exhausted! So headed back to the hotel to sort out what I would have to send home in the post the next day haha.

More Londonness

So, its been a month since I left London, so I thought that now was a good time for me to update more!

When I last leftm I had just been to Phantom and Les Mis in one day, epic.

So, on the Thursday, I got up nice and early and headed to the Royal Albert Hall for the first tour of the day at 10.30. It was such a cool place, although I must admit, the whole time I was going around I was remembering  scenes from the Spice Girls Movie, that is what I was thinking the whole time.We had an awesome tour guide who told us that the way that they managed to fund the building of the theatre was selling seats for 1000 years, so some families have seats that their ancestors bought.  So cool. And they can sell them back to the theatre for a show if they don't want to see it, dadaaa. But still, I want one of those, so if you ever hear of one up for sale, let me know, cos there are so many things worth going to there. So jealous of those people, everything from Adele, to 25th Anniversary Phantom, to Cirque du Solei,  ahhh so cool.

HOLD ONTO YOUR KNICKERS GIRLS

The gold Albert statue that had to be covered when Queen Viccy passed it so she didn't have to look at him

Then, I headed to Westminster Abbey! Ahhh, amazeballs. It took me a while to find it cos I got so lost, but I managed to find a random information guy who pointed me in the right direction. It was sooo cool! I managed to get in on my London Pass which meant I didn't have to pay cash so that was cool. That place is just breathtaking. I didn't realise so many people were buried there. Let alone super duper famous people! Walking the route Kate walked on her wedding day was MAGICAL! I tried my hardest to have a gawk inside that little bit that Wills, Kate, Harry, Pippa and the parentals went into during the ceremony, but it was blocked off to the public cos its so old and fragile. Bummer dude! But still, really cool place. Its so odd to me that its so old and made of brick!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe

THERE IT ISSSS

From there, I obviously took the route down to Big Ben and the parliament bulidings. That was fun. Man, its such a touristy area, I'd hate to work around there or have to pass through there on a daily basis, it would just always be busy and hard to get anywhere in a hurry! But still, obligatory photos!

The Queen Elizabeth II Tower

Mmmm, how appealing is that water

The Eye of London is watching

Hey look, its me!

 I then headed out to St Pauls, but something was happening in there, so didn't get time to go in, and instead headed for the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels!

I decided to hang around and go on a tour with one of the Beefeater's which was well  worth it. He was a really funny guide and even took is into the church where Mary Magdalene is buried which not everyone gets to do. He was a really good guide and told some cool stories. The main one that sticks in my head was how the British came to build round towers. Back in the day, all the buildings were square/rectangle/whatever kinda shape you want to call it. So all they would have to do to would pull out the bottom corner stone and the whole building would fall  down, so eventually the Greeks came up with building circular buildings so that no matter which stone anyone pulled out, the building wouldn't fall down. It took the British a while to figure this out, and then more time for them to figure out how to build circular buildings themselves. Interesting.

Mr Guide Man. They actually live at the Tower too, coool!

Where some famous person was beheaded

The residential area

Sparkly stuff inside

Super excited about said sparkly stuff

Can he see me?

One of the kings that lived there was given a Polar Bear, as you would expect

Tower Bridge!

So that was a pretty epic day really. I went back to my hotel and passed out, not surprisingly!

The next day was another epic one! I started it off by going back to St Pauls and getting a look around that majestic place! WOW, it is truly breathtaking! Its sooo big and pretty and just, wow. Had a good look around there with my audio guide, which was cool. Again, a lot more graves, but they are so ornate and pretty. Kinda weird to think people are inside there! Wooo, ghosty! They don't like people taking photos inside these places, cos of the religious reasons, which is understandable, but man, I wish I could, but then my photos wouldn't do the place justice! But here are my attempts at the outside....

Oh, to be here in 1981!

The double decker bus just makes it for me

The DOME

Massssive building

After St Pauls, I tubed/walked down to the Tower Bridge and went to the Tower Bridge Exhibit, which was pretty fun. It was full of Olympic themed exhibitions which was fun. It was cool to walk along the top (inside) and see how the bridge came about.You even got to go down to the Engine Room and see it all in action...miniature version haha.

The frontage?

The Thames, dirrrrty

ENGINE. BRRUM BRRRRUM

ME and FRONTAGE

The world famous crack

Yep.

Oh yeah, but in the middle of that, I went to THE Monument.  I walked up a big round staircase and got really dizzy but got some sweet views from the top.

See.

Snail Stairs!

Oh oh oh See St Pauls, that where I was!

Ze Monument!

So that was a day and a half, hopefully I'll finish this off tomorrow night!


I'll post again, soon, hopefully tomorrow night!