So after feeling like we wasted a day yesterday, checking into our hostel which has run out of toilet paper in one of the bathrooms, we decided today we were going to pack in as much as possible.
Sam was up super early sussing out the bus situation. Getting to New Cross from London was one thing, getting from New Cross to Westminster another. So he was up and about and I had my first shower in the hostel. Hmmm. Cold, cold and cold. Oh and the shower head was one of those hand held contraptions that in theory should have stayed in it's holder on the wall but in practice managed to fall out with the water pressure and land on your toe. So washing yourself in icy cold water, while trying to wash your hair with one hand so you could hold the shower head with the other for fear of leaving it on the floor of the shower where tinea and all sorts of grossness was breeding, was tricky.
Feeling much refreshed and a little bit nippy, we headed downstairs for our "complimentary breakast" in the pub underneath our accommodation. We walked in and on the bar was a tub of margarine, a jar of jam, sliced white bread, cornflakes, milk, coffee and tea. Glad I brought my own vegemite.
So we filled up on not a lot and headed out the door by 9.30 ready to start the day. I might mention here that I am totally over carrying a backpack all day. My shoulders are going to be more knotted than a kindergarten's shoelaces by the time this trip is over.
So I dumped the laptop for the day in our storage locker and headed out with minimum weight - much better!
Sam had sorted the bus situation so we walked to our stop about 200m away and the bus pulled up as we did so the timing couldn't have been better.
A pleasant 20 minute bus ride later and we hopped off at Westminster Bridge. We didn't realise how lucky we were to get here at this time until later in the morning. The bridge spans the Thames, on the banks of which sat the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. We had unobstructed views of both and not many people to fight to get some clear shots off. Promising myself I won't buy any cheap souvenirs - yet - we set off across the bridge for Westminster Abbey, our first stop for the day.
We expected queues, delays, something. We walked straight in, paid our 15 pound each, picked up our audio guides and spent the next two hours exploring this amazing piece of history. This isn't about religion at all, but architecture and history and culture. We explored every inlet and chapel of that beast of worship. I saw the tombs of Lawrence Olivier, a truckload of kings and queens long dead, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton and memorials to Shakespeare, Tennyson, Robert Browning (actually I think that was his grave), Lord Byron, Keats, Shelley and even Jane Austen got a look in. I think the Poets Corner excited me more than Sam however, I resisted the temptation to get down on all fours and kiss the ground.
For those curious, there are hundreds of people buried at Westminster within the vicinity of the church. These are mostly marked by slabs of marble or something on the floor, walls or monuments. So you are quite literally walking on people's graves every couple of metres. I'm surprised the floors of the Abbey don't shake with the vibration of dead poets turning in their graves.
We even dropped in on a couple of Sam's old relatives, Lord and Lady Norris who are buried in the first chapel on your left as you walk in, and paid our respects.
So after a jaw dropping walk through the many alcoves of the abbey we headed back out into the sunshine. Yes, Australians, sunshine. It's hot and sunny and lovely to be in warm weather again. Hope you're all freezing at home hehe.
We hopped on another bus opposite the abbey (we're getting really good at this bus thing) and took a very slow trip up to Trafalger Square. Slow because the traffic was so bad and it probably would have been quicker to walk but nice that we didn't have to. We drove past the Horses Guard Museum and a big crowd was hanging out at Downing Street, in the hope of what I don't know. Who on earth wants to see the Prime Minister while visiting another country, added to which you couldn't even see THE door and isn't that what Downing Street is all about. The whole street is cordoned off with a big iron fence and plenty of bored looking cops who occasionally posed for pics with tourists. Probably American.
Sorry, American tourists shat me today. You can't take photos in Westminster and yet you could bet your arse people did and when I saw them, and then heard them speak - American. I rest my case.
So, we hadn't meant to get off at Trafalger but when we were headed past them anyway on the way to the British Museum, we decided to just hop off there. And guess what, it's a square and yeah it has fountains and the National Gallery is right there but apart from the thousands of people eating lunch on the steps and the thousands of pigeons eating their scraps, there wasn't much to it.
Still it was an excuse to have lunch and we found a nice organic sandwich place (funny coming from me, I know) but everything was fresh and homemade, like it actually was, and it was doing a thriving trade and it was nice.
We sat and ate on the steps of somewhere opposite Trafalger before walking up to the British Museum. We must have been in the theatre district. For you Sophie I took a pic of the theatre playing Priscilla.
We found the museum without too much trouble and join a fast moving crowd of people heading toward the entrance. Entry is free so you pretty much just walk in. It's just about avoiding the tour groups and old ladies with bumbags and hats.
Once inside we didn't really know where to start. It has more than 70 galleries and they are all on different levels and rooms just lead off each other all over the place so it's very easy to get lost. We did manage to find the Egypt collection. Spent some time with my homegirl Cleopatra, saw some shrivelled up thousand-year-old mummies before taking some time to schmooze with busts of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Tiberius in the Roman Empire room.
There was no way we were ever going to have enough time to see it all. No way we could have if we wanted to at that point. Both our feet were busted and sit down breaks were getting more and more frequent. Finally we called it a day after about two hours in the museum.
We were still hopeful of getting to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe before closing time. In reality this was never going to happen. It was already about 4pm and most stuff closes at 5 or 5.30pm.
We gave it a shot anyway and found ourselves on the Southbank walk with thousands of other tourists. It was a nice enough walk but like I said, our feet were giving us hell and for some reason mine in their thongs were blacker than the teeth of the locals and I was feeling somewhat self conscious.
We soldiered on, slower now, much more sedate. Sam's backpack, still loaded up, was cutting into his shoulders and getting uncomfortable. It was soon apparent we were not going to make it in time. We arrived at the Tate about 5.20pm. We didn't even try to go in though we probably could have. We still wanted to hit the Globe and swing by London Bridge.
London Bridge became our goal and Sam was determined despite his swollen hurting feet that we would make it.
Well, when we made the Globe it was closed for rehearsals. Damn actors. We saw it from the outside but nothing worthy of a pic. Most of it was obscured by neighbouring buildings and a big fence.
London Bridge it was then. Very slow now. Entire legs are sore from two days of walking up 64,000 stairs in our hostel and all the walking from the day.
We ploughed on and on and all the signs kept saying "five mins to London Bridge", just "three mins to London Bridge". It was closer to 20 at the pace we were going.
And then, as you can expect, we missed it. We walked right past it, this rather boring and ordinary looking bridge. We thought the London Bridge was actually what was the Tower Bridge. So we had walked past the actual London Bridge and when Sam's feet could take it no longer and we stopped and looked at the map, we realised our mistake. Disppointed yes. No wonder London Bridge fell down. It's damn ordinary.
Defeated we call it hometime and made our way to the bus stop. One hour later, the bus that was supposed to arrive didn't (and yes we had the right bus at the right stop), so we walked to another stop and caught a different bus which turned up within a minute of us getting there. You have to hand it to the British, they have a kick-arse transport system.
On the bus and headed home and the only thing of interest to report was the woman who got on to our now crowded bus with a pram - that had a dog in it (Mexican rat actually). And this woman proceeded to make a big deal about having enough room for her dog pram and was rude to those around her.
Off the bus and stopped to get some pasta and sauce to make dinner. Cooked, eaten and now drinking, we are in the hostel common room, talking to our fellow residents about travel and the differences between Aussies and Kiwis - how about everything?
- Alysia 12.03am local time
Sam was up super early sussing out the bus situation. Getting to New Cross from London was one thing, getting from New Cross to Westminster another. So he was up and about and I had my first shower in the hostel. Hmmm. Cold, cold and cold. Oh and the shower head was one of those hand held contraptions that in theory should have stayed in it's holder on the wall but in practice managed to fall out with the water pressure and land on your toe. So washing yourself in icy cold water, while trying to wash your hair with one hand so you could hold the shower head with the other for fear of leaving it on the floor of the shower where tinea and all sorts of grossness was breeding, was tricky.
Feeling much refreshed and a little bit nippy, we headed downstairs for our "complimentary breakast" in the pub underneath our accommodation. We walked in and on the bar was a tub of margarine, a jar of jam, sliced white bread, cornflakes, milk, coffee and tea. Glad I brought my own vegemite.
So we filled up on not a lot and headed out the door by 9.30 ready to start the day. I might mention here that I am totally over carrying a backpack all day. My shoulders are going to be more knotted than a kindergarten's shoelaces by the time this trip is over.
So I dumped the laptop for the day in our storage locker and headed out with minimum weight - much better!
Sam had sorted the bus situation so we walked to our stop about 200m away and the bus pulled up as we did so the timing couldn't have been better.
A pleasant 20 minute bus ride later and we hopped off at Westminster Bridge. We didn't realise how lucky we were to get here at this time until later in the morning. The bridge spans the Thames, on the banks of which sat the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. We had unobstructed views of both and not many people to fight to get some clear shots off. Promising myself I won't buy any cheap souvenirs - yet - we set off across the bridge for Westminster Abbey, our first stop for the day.
We expected queues, delays, something. We walked straight in, paid our 15 pound each, picked up our audio guides and spent the next two hours exploring this amazing piece of history. This isn't about religion at all, but architecture and history and culture. We explored every inlet and chapel of that beast of worship. I saw the tombs of Lawrence Olivier, a truckload of kings and queens long dead, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton and memorials to Shakespeare, Tennyson, Robert Browning (actually I think that was his grave), Lord Byron, Keats, Shelley and even Jane Austen got a look in. I think the Poets Corner excited me more than Sam however, I resisted the temptation to get down on all fours and kiss the ground.
For those curious, there are hundreds of people buried at Westminster within the vicinity of the church. These are mostly marked by slabs of marble or something on the floor, walls or monuments. So you are quite literally walking on people's graves every couple of metres. I'm surprised the floors of the Abbey don't shake with the vibration of dead poets turning in their graves.
We even dropped in on a couple of Sam's old relatives, Lord and Lady Norris who are buried in the first chapel on your left as you walk in, and paid our respects.
So after a jaw dropping walk through the many alcoves of the abbey we headed back out into the sunshine. Yes, Australians, sunshine. It's hot and sunny and lovely to be in warm weather again. Hope you're all freezing at home hehe.
We hopped on another bus opposite the abbey (we're getting really good at this bus thing) and took a very slow trip up to Trafalger Square. Slow because the traffic was so bad and it probably would have been quicker to walk but nice that we didn't have to. We drove past the Horses Guard Museum and a big crowd was hanging out at Downing Street, in the hope of what I don't know. Who on earth wants to see the Prime Minister while visiting another country, added to which you couldn't even see THE door and isn't that what Downing Street is all about. The whole street is cordoned off with a big iron fence and plenty of bored looking cops who occasionally posed for pics with tourists. Probably American.
Sorry, American tourists shat me today. You can't take photos in Westminster and yet you could bet your arse people did and when I saw them, and then heard them speak - American. I rest my case.
So, we hadn't meant to get off at Trafalger but when we were headed past them anyway on the way to the British Museum, we decided to just hop off there. And guess what, it's a square and yeah it has fountains and the National Gallery is right there but apart from the thousands of people eating lunch on the steps and the thousands of pigeons eating their scraps, there wasn't much to it.
Still it was an excuse to have lunch and we found a nice organic sandwich place (funny coming from me, I know) but everything was fresh and homemade, like it actually was, and it was doing a thriving trade and it was nice.
We sat and ate on the steps of somewhere opposite Trafalger before walking up to the British Museum. We must have been in the theatre district. For you Sophie I took a pic of the theatre playing Priscilla.
We found the museum without too much trouble and join a fast moving crowd of people heading toward the entrance. Entry is free so you pretty much just walk in. It's just about avoiding the tour groups and old ladies with bumbags and hats.
Once inside we didn't really know where to start. It has more than 70 galleries and they are all on different levels and rooms just lead off each other all over the place so it's very easy to get lost. We did manage to find the Egypt collection. Spent some time with my homegirl Cleopatra, saw some shrivelled up thousand-year-old mummies before taking some time to schmooze with busts of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Tiberius in the Roman Empire room.
There was no way we were ever going to have enough time to see it all. No way we could have if we wanted to at that point. Both our feet were busted and sit down breaks were getting more and more frequent. Finally we called it a day after about two hours in the museum.
We were still hopeful of getting to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe before closing time. In reality this was never going to happen. It was already about 4pm and most stuff closes at 5 or 5.30pm.
We gave it a shot anyway and found ourselves on the Southbank walk with thousands of other tourists. It was a nice enough walk but like I said, our feet were giving us hell and for some reason mine in their thongs were blacker than the teeth of the locals and I was feeling somewhat self conscious.
We soldiered on, slower now, much more sedate. Sam's backpack, still loaded up, was cutting into his shoulders and getting uncomfortable. It was soon apparent we were not going to make it in time. We arrived at the Tate about 5.20pm. We didn't even try to go in though we probably could have. We still wanted to hit the Globe and swing by London Bridge.
London Bridge became our goal and Sam was determined despite his swollen hurting feet that we would make it.
Well, when we made the Globe it was closed for rehearsals. Damn actors. We saw it from the outside but nothing worthy of a pic. Most of it was obscured by neighbouring buildings and a big fence.
London Bridge it was then. Very slow now. Entire legs are sore from two days of walking up 64,000 stairs in our hostel and all the walking from the day.
We ploughed on and on and all the signs kept saying "five mins to London Bridge", just "three mins to London Bridge". It was closer to 20 at the pace we were going.
And then, as you can expect, we missed it. We walked right past it, this rather boring and ordinary looking bridge. We thought the London Bridge was actually what was the Tower Bridge. So we had walked past the actual London Bridge and when Sam's feet could take it no longer and we stopped and looked at the map, we realised our mistake. Disppointed yes. No wonder London Bridge fell down. It's damn ordinary.
Defeated we call it hometime and made our way to the bus stop. One hour later, the bus that was supposed to arrive didn't (and yes we had the right bus at the right stop), so we walked to another stop and caught a different bus which turned up within a minute of us getting there. You have to hand it to the British, they have a kick-arse transport system.
On the bus and headed home and the only thing of interest to report was the woman who got on to our now crowded bus with a pram - that had a dog in it (Mexican rat actually). And this woman proceeded to make a big deal about having enough room for her dog pram and was rude to those around her.
Off the bus and stopped to get some pasta and sauce to make dinner. Cooked, eaten and now drinking, we are in the hostel common room, talking to our fellow residents about travel and the differences between Aussies and Kiwis - how about everything?
- Alysia 12.03am local time
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