Djapana: Day 9: Cycling and cruising

Wake up, croissant on the go (of course) and off to partake in a 'Tally Ho cycle tour' of London. Met near to Waterloo, and got these classic old English bikes (sorry bike enthusiasts... I can't remember the brand! But they all had brooks' saddles) that he has scavenged together a collection of. Real beauties, with a bell that rings like a door bell! - ding, dong -

It was me, a Japanese girl and a kiwi family of 6, in Europe on a 3 week sporting trip (le tour, Wimbledon, ashes, golf champs in Scotland). The guide was the owner of the company and was a real gem. We cycled quite a bit of the Thames, saw parliament and the abbey, some old streets and other quirky things, as well as stopping at the 'best pub in London', for a brew. Not remembering the name doesnt help, but it has been on top for years now due to its wide selection of local and foreign brews and smashing hotdogs.

Old war bunker

Westminster Abbey

The Palace

Oh there it is.... The Harp!

Following the bicycle tour (which ran over an hour late), it was time to redeem the free river crusie that I received with my bus tour yesterday. I decided to take it to Greenwich. Now the view from the boat was great - I really liked seeing all the old wharf buildings and housing on the eastern side of the Thames.... but! The boat itself, and the man on the mike were painful. It was blasted loud through a shitty speaker to the couple of hundred on board, and the talk was endless, not 2 mins silence. Yes, he convered some history, but it was exactly as i heard on the previous tour (run by the same company so thought they'd mix it up abit), yet with slightly varying facts. According to my three tours, I'm not sure if the great fire ruined 60, 70 or 80% of the city haha. The main reason this verged on unbearable is because of the 'surprise: fact' inflection this guy had... in every single sentence. No matter how dull the fact (i.e. here is the building which Prince Charles thinks is the most ugly in London. Thanks. And good idea to draw more attention buildings as such.) I wish i could mock him for you. But all in all, I don't at all regret doing it, saved my feet and got to see lots and learn a bit. But unfortunately on arriving in Greenwich (due to the other tour running late) I missed entry time into the observatory by just a few minutes. Still got to see the clock and the meridian line thiugh. And afterwards found some quite nice shops in the maritime town.

Hey Dad its the old OXO factory!! Made back in the day when advertising was prohibited on the river. So they cunningly build it in to the tower and it went unnoticed....

'The grapes' where Dickens wrote great expectations (I think). Now owned by actor Ian Mckellar, just so they didn't knock it down!

Apparently London's 'heat wave' is breaking all kinds of records. All I saw was legions of men shirtless in the middle of the city, every single one that SHOULDN'T have been that is... All the chubby pale ones (hence the tanning efforts). But still dudes - it's a city! And contrary to what you might think, it's not THAT hot, even if your not used to it. Not hot enough to shop in undies.

All the parks also full of sun tanners as you'd expect, just kinda weird cos all the parks are dry and scratchy grass (like in Aus), so didn't seem too appealing to lay on.

Finished up the evening meeting a dear old friend, Felice, in town for dinner. For those of you that don't know her, Felice is a close friend from highschool days with whom I ran amuck as a teenager. She has lived in the UK now for over 4 years, so I've only seen her once in that time. A well overdue catch up and great week ahead to be had together. She works at a publishing company in the city, so we met there then went for dinner along south bank, a lovely festive area of town with nice riverside cafes and restaurants, shops and some live shows.

"I bought you a delicious bass!" (But a bit overdone... Nice with my first glass of Pimms though!)