They do things differently here...

Okay, so I've been in London for four days now, and I'm absolutely LOVING it. Well, I'm loving everything except their crazy keyboards - the backslash button is where the shift is at home, the at sign's been replaced with quotation marks, and there's a hash sign usurping half of my beloved backspace button's spot. As a result, I'm typing at Mum Speed in order to keep it accurate ; )

We went up in the London Eye today, and did the Big Bus Tour around London. Ended up at Harrods, where we utilised their very swish bathrooms (would you like to freshen up with your fave perfume? Sure! They're all sitting there, ready to spritz. Insane, I tell you.) and did a very smal amount of shopping. No, I didn't buy the Harrods bag - ridiculously expensive they were, at a starting price of £12.95. Please.

Tonight we're heading over to the West End to see Chicago, with Kelly Osbourne in the role of Mama (miscasting, much?) with two of our fellow Contiki-ers, Christine (who hails from NYC), and Chad (from Ottowa, home of everyone's favourite Charter, LOL). Then it's back to the hotel to pack, because we're leaving for Paris (cue Rufus Wainwright) at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

So, what have we been doing so far? Well, prior to Rach arriving on Friday, I headed up to the British Museum and checked out the Egyptian and Mesopotamian artefacts - the age of them continues to be a bit beyond my comprehension. I would have loved to poke around further, but I was still pretty jet-lagged, so I left it at that for the day. I plan to head back next week to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibition.

When Rach arrived, we headed down to the shops (the new Brunswick complex, opposite Russell Square station - very handy tothe hotel, and similar in layout to the Italian Forum in Leichhardt). Grabbed dinner from Waitrose (a more upmarket supermarket than Tesco) and began walking back to the hotel. However, we got caught up in the (Hindu?) lights festival parade, which was part of the Bloomsbury Festival running last weekend. Lots of fun, and I got plenty of good pics : )

On Saturday we took a stroll down to South Walk, checked out the street performers, ate lunch, wandered up over Westminister Bridge to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, then (after finding out that a single journey home on the tube would be £4) decided to stroll back to the hotel via St Clements, Australia House and Holborn. Ate in again on Saturday night while watching Le Coup de Monde on the telly.

Yesterday started with a puke-worthy brekkie in the hotel dining room (buffet food at its worst - a bain marie with scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans, etc.), cold toast, unidentifiable fruit, and the usual array of cereals. Then we had to bolt downstairs to catch the bus - first stop Stonehenge.

There was something surreal about seeing the hanging rocks up close and in person. I took 16 photos, only to find out later that Rach had beaten me with 17. We hopped back on the bus and headed to Bath, only to double back five minutes later when we realised Charissa had been left behind. So we gathered up our lost sheep and spent another two hours on the road (thankyou, Steve Jobs, for inventing the iPod!).

Bath is gorgeous, and full of historic sites that we didn't have time to visit, sadly. We took a tour of the baths, and I had a Jane Austen moment by poking my head into the Pump Room (Northanger Abbey! Persuasion! Such bliss...). Then a quick lunch (or a frozen yoghurt, in my case), and a poke around the town, then back on the bus for the three hour drive back to London.

Went out for a pub dinner with some fellow Contiki-ers last night - all North Americans, mostlyfrom the States. We ended up at the Essex Serpent near Leicester Square, and were served by some strange Polish women... More on that when I have more time. We planned on going to the Ice Bar afterwards, but pub time dragged on and Rach and I took oursleves home to bed.

No piccies for now - I'm on a tight schedule - but hopefully I can upload some when I get to Paris. Hoping everything is well back in Oz, and you're all enjoying the exciting election campaigning! Hee.

LCC