London Eye

As I mentioned in a much earlier post, the London Eye 4D movie, was just fantastic. I still think it's one of the best promotional movies out there and the some of the best 4 minutes you can spend in London. I found a copy of it on youtube, now it's a bit fuzzy because you're not wearing the sexy glamorous glasses but still, you get the idea.

And here is a picture of us on the London Eye and a picture Sophie took and photoshopped...

Bath and Stonehenge

It was our final day of road tripping around England and I was so happy it would be the last day in that car. The thought of it makes me sick still. After 8 months of hardly any driving this was becoming all too much and the Navi wasn't helping. It is strange that with some people, my mother for example, when there is a navi telling you what to do all roadsigns disappear. The navi must be right and those roadsigns don't matter any more. So the good old sign that is red with a white bar through it that mean NO ENTRY doesn't count either! Oh ha ha ha. Navi said to turn right so she did. We just had turned onto a busy street with cars flying towards us. After almost dying with mum doing a u-turn and getting out of there we met Michelle at the train station and continued our tour of Bath on a bus. We got off to see what was Jane Austins house for a few months and then hopped back on the bus to finish the tour. We went then into the old Roman Baths which was okay then we left to visit some random places on our way back to London.
The first stop I cant remember the name of but it was another Harry Potter filming site. Basically it was a very old Abbey and Sophie and I got to dress up like old English people. Fun!

I found a dead owl, and this is the Hedwig Soph bought at Alnwick and sat at the front of our car. Dead owl, fake owl.
After this town we saw the white horse on the hill, some giant rocks and then Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was very cool. It was a pity that you could really go near it though. Here is a clip that shows how it works.

There's a small fence that you walk around and then you walk out. Simple as. I still believe it was put there by aliens even though the audio guide said differently but its more exciting to think it was aliens. In the car park we brought some really nice ice cream too which, if you go here, need to try.
Once finished with the stones we drove ourselves to Gatwick airport where we said goodbye to Michelle and checked into our Hilton room for the night and our last night in England. And now I am so happy I don't have to write about England anymore :D

Chester and Stratford

We woke up to a rainy morning in Lancaster and we left straight after a quick stop at Waterstones as I was determined to find a book in English before we left to go to Italy. I ended up finding my book in the next town we visited which was Chester. Chester was a cute place near Wales. Here we just went on the classic red hop on hop off sightseeing bus after we watched the old Chester Bell ringer make some jokes and greet everyone around him.
After Chester we went to another castle this was was quite cool because you could go around the wall up top and into the towers.
It was beginning to get dark to we continued to drive to our next B&B which was in Stratford upon Avon. We could have never have guessed that we were about to meet possibly the best B&B host ever, Pascal! He was an old man with a very excited voice and who really just wanted the best for his guests. We arrived and he basically told us that we were going to the Shakespeare play that would start in 30 minutes. He told mum where to put the car while he went crazy pointing out on a map where the theatre and places to were. All I wanted was the wifi password. We quickly walked to the theatre and got standing tickets for Cleopatra and Antony. It was one of the better Shakespeare performances I've seen and much better than that Macbeth one.

The next day the old man talked to us all while having breakfast and we all introduced him to Twilight. Afterwards we walked through a field and some weird back trials to Anne Hathaway's house. It was really nice actually and you could tell the ladies who worked there were true Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare fans.
We then walked around the town. Sophie and I trailed after mum who was walking extremly fast on this day to see everything included shake spears grave. We saw so many graves on this trip. We left the town to go Bath which was where we spent the last night of our road trip. From my window I could see the sunset and a small part of the town which looked so nice with the lights and all. The next day we would meet Michelle again and end our trip.

Hadrian's Evil Wall

Once we finished in Edinburgh we retraced the road and went back to Alnwick Castle which we had intended to visit before Edinburgh but it was closed. We were the first ones in and though we only went here because the exterior was used in Harry Potter movies 1 and 2, we were incredibly impressed by the inside. It was gorgeous and still is a family home to the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland along with their children in the winter months. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside which ended up being the case in alot of places. Once outside we started recognising some areas like the place they used in the first film for the flying lesson.

Alot of the areas you knew but had later on been digitally remastered as well. After Alnwick we drove to pretty much the middle of nowhere England in search of Hadrian's Wall. This was just an old stone wall that use to cut through the centre of England kinda. Eventually it popped up but mum kept driving even though I'd tell her to stop. Finally she listened to me and we got out, climbed over a fence/gate mechanism and took a few photos. Hooray.
In hindsight this was the biggest waste of time because it then had taken us a few hours and a stop in a severely weird town, with a giant bear made of hay, to get to the main road. Our next stop was to be Beatrix Potter's house, the author of Peter Rabbit and so on. The area around us while driving, the Lake District, was gorgeous but had us feeling so sick.
With a bit of help we found Potter's house which we had to use a ferry to get to. Clever lady put her house literally on a hill far away from everything. We arrived and were about an hour too late to buy tickets. Thanks to Hadrian's Wall. We did however get to poke our heads into the old cottage and have a look around the outside and the garden. And it was special when there were rabbits in the garden. Everything around this house you had seen before in her pictures it was so surreal at times.
After the house we just made our way to Lancaster to stay the night it wasn't anything special and in a way was a bit weird.

Punting in Cambridge

Cambridge was next on the list. We caught the Heathrow Express from Paddington (you all know Paddington Bear right?) to Heathrow and waited FOREVER to get our car from the rental pick up. They gave us a grey BMW series 1. Here it is here:
We named it Yughio.
After we figured out that the Brits travel in miles and not kilometres and mum got use to manual driving everything was A-ok. For the whole drive to Cambridge we were driving on a highway and thought that the main aim of the road trip was lost. Were we ever going to see the stone fences and small quaint English towns? Finally we reached Cambridge, a huge university town, and had lunch in a pub before the Germany vs England game began. We had no intentions of watching it with the crazy Brits. So we just wandered around and were approached by this guy who asked if we wanted to do some punting. We agreed and were told to wait under a tree with some other people. Once we actually took the time to look around us we realised that there were about 100 other students or locals advertising punting.

We made our way down to the dock with the group and were introduced to our boat person. Forget his name but I most certainly do remember his story.

Let me retell: He was born in Canada and was a very smart young boy in his early teens. One day he was offered to go to this prestigious school in Canada but his parents didn't want him being a social outcast for going to this school. So, what do you do when this happens? Well, you move your family to England of course. This guy got his parents jobs through the Internet, found a house and practically moved his family over to England so he could then eventually go to Cambridge University. Sadly the rules changed one year before he was destined to start there and the school wouldn't except his British citizenship and he would have to pay international student rates. With this news he packed himself up and moved back to Canada, did university there, then moved back to Cambridge to be with his family and friends. Now he punts.

After our punting experience we decided it was time to move onto York which was where we'd be staying the night. Germany beat England as we fixed up our Navi and headed out back onto the English roads and drove in miles.

London pictures

So I'm home for another three days until I leave for Denmark. Life's so demanding. No, I'm loving every minute of it. The trip with mum and soph went fantastic and I have so much to tell I just don't know where to start. Since I've already written about London I'm just going to put up the pics and then blog about the next places as usual. Not sure how long it'll take but I can't wait to show you all!



Changing of the Queens Guards. We sat forever watching this thing and the only good part was the finale. Weirdly enough they played songs like 'somewhere over the rainbow'. How manly....
This policeman also had heaps of fun on the day. Blew his whistle at so many people for sitting on the rails on the steps we were on. Or for being or leaning on a statue. Was amusing to watch when the guards got boring.


This is Westminster Abbey. Lots of dead people basically but was still quite interesting, besides the prayer that was said every hour.

Platform 9 3/4. Well this was a bit of a disappointment. It want even between platforms 9 and 10. It was near platform 6 or something and in an archway hidden from everything.
Peter Pan at Hyde Park. Coldplay were playing here as well when we walked through.

St Paul's Cathedral.

Inside the London Eye. Before we went on this we got to watch a 4D preview movie thing and it was so amazing. It was mainly just a promotion kind of thing but it really struck me. If you do the Eye make sure you see the movie part too.

And here it is. My wonderful video of Prince Charles...

Did you see him? Sadly my paparazzi skills aren't up to scratch but I do not joke. Prince Charles was in that car.

London

Well, what can I say? London is AMAZING!!! It's my final night here and I've finally found time to write up a blog but unfortunately I can't post any pictures right now. I don't know where to start so much has happened...

To begin with I was almost denied entry into the country. Fantastic start, I know. I had no address at which I was staying at nor did I have Michelles number to ask. Didn't go down so well. Got even better when I didn't have a ticket out of the country as mum had it. I was shaking like a leaf, so sure I was going to be taken to the 'small room'. The lady made sure I felt horrible but let me in and I soon met up with Michelle. Made it to the pub, so cute, then sometime in the early morning fell asleep.

Woke up just a few hours later to pick mum and soph up from heathrow. Things looked so different in the morning and the sun was shining (like it has the whole time here). We got to the airport a bit late but I still managed to sneak up on Mum to surprise her. It's great to be with them again. We found the hotel then after a quick brekkie we travelled underground to Westminster. I must say, Big Ben is smaller than I imagined, though it still makes an impression. We continued walking around, saw the Change of Guards at Buckingham Palace. The next part was luck on all levels. We kept walking up this street near the palace and some policemen were halting pedestrians from crossing a drive way. We were told it was a member of the royal family but they couldn't say who. It was Charles. Could not believe it! In London and saw a member of the royal family, not the best but still! Trafalgar square was next followed by Piccadilly Circus which was a disappointment because most was covered in Scaffolding. After this HUGE day it was time to head back to the hotel after we stopped at the pub to pick up my luggage. To get to the hotel we walked through Hyde Park where we saw the Peter Pan statue (out of Winning London for those who might know). Sophie and Mum crashed while I explored the neighbourhood a bit more.

The next day we were on our own without Michelle. Together we perfected the Underground and saw Westminster Abbey which was so great as well. Seeing the burial sites of the royals and all. After this we took a ride on the London Eye which was fantastic, including the 4D film beforehand. It was also perfect because we pre-brought tickets so we didn't have to wait long. It was back on the train after this to go into the city and see Saint Paul's Cathedral, where Lady Di was married. We were even able to go up into the dome. Then we mad out way across the Millennium Bridge, saw The Globe Theatre and found Kings Cross. Kate, I gotta say it, I was disappointed. Platform 9 3/4 wasn't even between platforms 9 and 10!! It's kind of off to the side near platforms 1 to 8. We got the photo anyway. We decided it was then time to go back to the hotel and prepare for Priscilla Queen of the Desert down at Piccadilly. This too was good and we got to take a typical London cab home. Magical Cabbie!

Today Michelle joined us again and we fast tracked our way through the line to Madame Tussuad's. The wax models were so life like! I never relised how small some people were. After we made our way from Bakers Street (Sherlock Holmes) to the city to see Tower Bridge. Once again luck struck and we got to see the bridge open. After lunch we went back across the Thames to The London Tower where Anne Boleyn was murdered. AND for all those who studied Richard 3rd last year, I saw the tower and room where the princes were murdered. I really liked it actually. Finally it was time to shop so we went to Harrods and only brought from the gift shop even though it was Sale time. The whole store was packed out and had everything, unbelievable.

Now I'm here. I realise it's probably not a good a post as previous but just a quick run down of events is all I can offer at the moment, sorry. Tomorrow we leave London and head to York stopping at Cambridge along the way. I'm glad to get out of expensive London and see the countryside but I'm so glad about the time we've had and the weather being so hot and sunny. We've had luck every single day and I could not have asked for more.