Regency Apartments Westminster London

... visiting Big Ben and Parliament. Before lunch and before the line got too long we wanted to go up in the London Eye. It was a bit pricey but the views and the experience are well worth it. Before going up you can see a 4D presentation about the eye and its views. The wait wasn't too long luckily and we were in our pod in no time. I'm not sure how long the ride took to go around on the fancy ferris wheel but I would guess around 30 minutes. The views really are unbeatable ...

... close. Within an hour or so, I can fly to some exciting and newly opened up places where up until a few years ago i would've needed a passport full of visas and a bullet proof vest to get in. Yet all i seem to find myself doing is dreaming up more new places to see and the matching itineraries i'd take. Basically what i was doing in Perth. I should be grateful. I did go on a fun little jaunt for a few weeks back in ...

This was the day we explored London on our own, sort of.   We caught the metro fairly early and made our way to Tower Hill to explore the Tower of London.  We were early enough that the crowds were minimal.  We took a brief tour with a beefeater and had a look at the crown jewels.  Again, this is a place where you could spend many days and not see it all.  We saw the site where Anne Boleyn and others were executed, and the tower where so many were imprisoned ...

Today our whole school program went on a tour of Brick Lane, the Spitalfield area and a river boat tour down the Thames.

Spitalfield was a cool neighborhood area with eating and shops. There was also a street market today with lots of people selling clothes, jewelery, accessories. I got a necklace with a real flower in it. We ate lunch in this area at a place called Leon's. Then we walked through the street market looking at all of the goodies.

The ...

... few euros! Our last night on the boat is spent in Split, Croatia's stylish seafront city. The Diocletian Palace is a living part of the city, with the Roman ruins encircling cafes, shops, restaurants and even a hotel. The bell tower offers views over the city and the promenade with its chic cafes is the place to watch the world go by. All in all, a great trip. Enough time to chill out and enough time to sightsee. I'll think I'll be going again....

... be mine - but it will be an adjustment living on the road for an extended period. While exciting, I wonder if after several months such desires for home will enter into my mind. The other big part of leaving is the sadness at saying goodbye to all of my family and friends and to my beloved New York City. The last two weeks of September felt like the Cal Ripken Jr. farewell tour as I spent a weekend up in Martha's Vineyard with my Malabar family, some time home in ...

... of President Bush. In one of the squares a protest of the war was taking place. Watched that for a bit and then carried on over to Westminster Abby. It was closed because it was Sunday, but I'll try back again tomorrow. When I came back about and hour later, the mob has stormed the police barricades where the cops were violently beating them back with their billy clubs. The swat team was called in and then all hell broke loose. There had to been about 75 ...

... train station is just around the corner from our place so we jumped on and headed into Blackfriars. From there we walked across the Millennium Bridge and down along the Thames to Tower Bridge. It was great weather - cool but sunny and a great introduction to our new city. Our first grocery shop was a experience at Tesco in Elephant & Castle and we ...

... s printed. Ah well. Next weekend we are off to Great Yarmouth to visit one of May's friends. Apparently there is a maritime festival there so that should be lots of fun. Next step for us now is to find jobs and then get a house. So far im loving it here theres a few things which im having to get used to but I think im getting there slowly. Things like that you have to stand to the right on escalators as people pass on the left ( odd seeing they drive the ...

Hello all, Well after a big night out in Santorini on Friday night with Pete and Ari we had to leave the sunny and warm Santorini (always the way a beautiful day when you leave)!!! We caught a small flight to Athens (50 mins on a small plane) where we had to wait 5 hours for our flight to London. While waiting we finally gave in and ate Maccas (not much too choose from at the Airport though) and it was beautiful, heaps better than back in Oz ...