Day 6: Stonehenge, Bath and some Drinkies

Stonehenge is something I always wanted to cross off on my To-Do list. Whilst I had heard bad reviews, it didn't deter me. What on earth do people expect? It's a bunch of stones!! They're not going to do anything fancy! I, for one took great enjoyment listening to the audio tour and I understand it's not everyones' cup of tea. Munabuna also joined us after his recent arrival in London.

My photo of Stonehenge, not a textbooks'!

The hoard of tourists.

Despite being called a clown, I have no regrets taking this photo, because....

.... I also have a boring shot.

Spuey on the audio tour.

Me on the audio tour.

Our next destination on the bus tour was the town of Bath, where Roman hot spring bath ruins remain to this day. Very pretty, quaint place where Jane Austen used to live and the perfect place to have high tea.

The main Bath




Hot water flowing through the spring.

Harry Potter in Latin.

The day is not complete without a photo like this one.

Mmmmmm food. We had lunch at The Pumphouse.

Mmmmmmm close up of food.

The river that flows through Bath. Very majestic when you see it on the bus ride into town.

Well, after a tiring bus tour, it seems most appropriate to brighten oneself up with drinkies! We met up with fellow drinking friends at some bar in Soho.

New drinking buddies.

Me, MShee and J.


Spuey and his other sister, Baoey.

We're all here except for a some notable exceptions!!!!!! Oi Baoey, watch your hand.

The crowd.

Kt and Bao are going through a terrible divorce at the moment. They can't bear to look at each other.

Lil Miss J proves how tiny she is by being buttoned up, torso and arms in Baoey's jacket.

Day 5: Greenwich Mean Time, Tower of London, Dirty Beefeater and an English Dinner

When living near Greenwich, one must go and see 'The Line'. Huh? What you say?

I'm talking about the Prime Meridian of the World, where longitude is 0º00'00", thereby the only place in the world where you can stand on the western and eastern hemisphere simultaneously. I still hear everyone saying 'huh?' except for all you mapping freaks. You know who you are. ;-)

On route to the Greenwich Observatory, we passed a Viet restaurant - Spuey's first! Such a relevant photo.

Whilst there was a museum there - nothing too fascinating unless you like clocks - I could not find a speckling of information to tell me why this particular spot was chosen as THE reference point for mapping. It was getting on my nerves. Surely, other people think the same? Anyway, as I suspected, it was chosen arbitrarily as the result of the need to fix a common meridian. Too bad I had to Wiki it to find out. Why couldn't they just tell me in the museum?

Enough geek griping, here's a shot of Spuey trying to start a conga dance over the line.

And here's me, err, splitting myself into western and eastern hemisphere happiness.

Ma and Pa this one's for you. No, not Bombay but Saigon.

In it's full glory.

Next was a visit to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. I'd been wanting to visit the Tower of London for AGES!!! It is mighty impressive to see it for the first time. Steeped in history, it is my idea of nerdy heaven. Previous British monarch dwellings, executions, suspicious disappearances, crown jewels, ghostly apparitions - yippee! Fun-filled, I dare say. Shuddup - I'm a geek and proud of it too.

The Tower of London from the bridge.

Tower Bridge. Been there, done that. I'm so blase now.

My Beefeater tourguide. I didn't know that they resided within the walls.

The site of Anne Boleyn and other's beheading.

Spuey at the White Tower.

Traitor's Gate.

The icky black ravens.

Oh look, me and a beefeater bear.

Spuey too.

We insisted on having a photo with a real-life beefeater. Something that I will thankfully never do again.

Oh look, the beefeater didn't touch Spuey. Meanwhile my experience went like this:

Me: Excuse me, do you mind if I have a photograph?
Beefeater: You can do anything you like to me, young lady. *puts arm tightly around waist*
*cringe and internal vomit*
BE: So where are you from?
Me: Australia
BE: Is that your boyfriend?
Me: Errr NO!!!!!!! That's my brother.
BF: Are you ticklish?
Me: No

Photo finally taken. Eeeeew!!!! I'm so glad that I'm not ticklish. Who's knows what would've happened next. Dirty ol' Beefeater.

We met up with Smee afterwards in Aldgate for dinner and Spuey managed to tick another thing off his list - a traditional English dinner - curry.

Day 4: The British Museum, National Gallery, Portrait Gallery and Trafalgar Square

For those who do religiously read my blog (all one of you - hai moo) you will already know that I've been here. There was no point in re-hashing everything I've seen but I will say that I saw the bog man this time! Yippee!! He was a little smaller and more shrivelled than I expected but alas, he is more than 2000 years old.

Spuey looking up at the ceiling.


My mummy and I.

Blending in quite nicely there.

No photography is allowed at the National Gallery but photo-posing opportunities there are slim anyway. Plenty of opportunities outside at Trafalgar Square though!

Spuey's head stuck in a lion.


The square from the gallery's steps.

Yes, my feet were sore again.

Day 3: Changing of the Guard, Westminster (take 2) and Natural History Museum

After a quick visit to Harrods (another thing to tick off the list), we trotted down to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard. Now, I didn't really know what was involved but there was much pomp and circumstance with horsies, marching band and the tip-top bread men. No one else would understand (except for my siblings) but I could not shed the 'Good on you Mum, Tip Top's the one' tune from my head. Just a shred of evidence that TV played too much of a role in my upbringing.

Can someone enlighten me? I have forgotten what these guys are called.

Spuey right at the gate. Good viewing spot, I do say.

This is the balding head that impeded my view. Having a view like this is an effective way to make the experience a boring one.

We returned to Westminster Abbey to visit the crypts as it was closed yesterday. Wow there are some really old tombs in there, Queen Elizabeth I being one of them. And some other monarchs too.

Here's a sneaky photo of the green inside the Abbey. I can understand if I was accused of photographing the Melb Uni Law Lawn though.

Next was the Natural History Museum, which of course comes guaranteed with stupid posing.

Me and a Dinosaur.

Spuey and the giant foetus.

Spuey and his triceratops blood brother.

Spuey the Chimp.

Needless to say, I went home with tired feet.