Two full days in London and it was nice to finally be in an English speaking country. The weather is very cold (sort of expected) and still don’t know which way to look when crossing the road.
Joined a free walking tour around London on Thursday morning with our guide Andrew, we started from Wellingtons Arch next to Hyde Park then headed off to see the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace (unfortunately the Queen wasn’t home so no tea and scones), then off to Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abby, Big Ben and Parliament House and ending at a Pub for some Lunch – fish and chips and some mushy peas!
The morning tour was great so paid up to do another walking tour of the Old London City in the afternoon. Had Andrew leading our party of 7 for the afternoon, very informative with plenty of quirky facts. Starting from Covent Gardens (we continued at a pace that would have impressed a Nepalise porter on a down hill run) we trekked through Old London City past the Templer Church, the Bank of England and the London Law Courts ending up outside the Tower of London.
Friday we started with a change of Hostels from Palmers Lodge in Willesden Green to Journeys at Kings Cross. Then off again via the wrong tube train to Westminster to take up an offer by Jennifer (who we had met at Canakkale) to show us around Parliament. Parliament was closed to tourists due to prepartions for the opening of Parliment in a weeks time, but we were very lucky to have Jennifer show us the Westminster Hall and St Stephens Chapel – an amazing building with some incredible art and history. A pity we couldn’t have seen a bit more of the place. As they say timing is everything!!
In the afternoon we strolled along the south bank and took in the London Eye, cloudy and a bit of drizzle but still a great view.
Saturday morning was taken up with organising a parcel of excess gear and souvenirs to send to James. Then at midday it was time to catch the train to Gatwick for our Easy Jet flight to Agadir in Morrocco and some sunshine.
