London- Days 4 and 5

Day four and five.

Moving day so we had to pack up and in doing so lost track of time and were five minutes late for breakfast and missed out-things can only get better but unfortunately they didn’t.

We left our things in a room and went out for the day. We have mastered the underground tube and are getting ourselves all over the place. The Brits complain about it but we think they should spend some time trying to get around Sydney. Think they would have second thoughts. 

First visit for the day was Westminster Abbey were we paid 3 pound extra to tour the Abbey with a guide- well worth doing if you ever decide to visit the Abbey. It is a magnificent building with tonnes of history attached, a very interesting place. It is truly amazing how many people throughout history are buried here.

Westminister Abbey one of the many beautiful buildings throughout London

Big Ben right next to the Abbey

One of the many great pubs in London

View of the Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the London Eye

After that a trip across town to Harrods famous department store. What an impressive store and the Xmas section was beautiful. Spent time roaming around and being amazed at the cost of things. Came across two Xmas bon bons for the small price of well over 1000 pounds(about $1600)- they must have been lined in gold. Had to buy something but on a much much smaller scale.

Mez eyeing off very expensive bon bons in a locked case

one of the many beautiful displays in the Xmas department of Harrods

Back to the hotel where the fun begins. We moved into a room much bigger than the previous, room 604. This room had three windows but only one opened and the blinds were so thin that you could see straight through them just as well as they didn’t pull up or down- not going to be good in the morning as the room faced the east and the early morning sunrise. No internet access up here so decided to start a word doc for the blog. Next minute the only opening window fell out just missing my head and hand but clipped the corner of the laptop and it instantly went off and the only thing that stopped it from shattering into thousands of pieces was it landed on my bag and the table I was at.

Well that was the last straw, the one that broke the camel – in this case Mez’s and my back.

Mez went down stairs to get the manager as I was in a state of shock and was very upset over the laptop. The owner came up and inspected the mess and we again packed up our things and were going to leave. I sat down in the foyer on the computer trying to find accommodation(yes it started to work again but has a crack in the blue case-very lucky)while Mez ran around Earls Court looking for alternate accommodation and we even had the girl on the desk looking as well. We couldn’t find any unless we wanted to pay thousands for the remaining five days. There was another exhibition on in the area and therefore no accommodation anywhere. We really didn’t want to stay here we were over it.

What did we do?

We had no choice- no rooms anywhere- but to stay in the last remaining room-503 that they had until they fixed the windows and blinds in 604. The owner bought us a bottle of wine and was very apologetic and ordered us cooked breakfasts for the next day as breakfast is cereal and toast-very sufficient. But we did have an incident with that as well when Mez had a boiled egg that was off.

We did have a bit of a laugh at the end of a very upsetting day when the owner bought the wine up to the room and the handyman, who helped us move to 503, was trying to fix the window in this room as it was a push out variety and it would not stay open. I fixed it with a coat hanger when they left. We stayed the night and again moved rooms back to 604 with fixed windows and new blackout blinds. We have noticed things around the hotel have been on the improve so maybe it was all meant to be to get the place into a liveable state.

Next day was another big one as well. Caught the tube to the London Eye- London’s massive ferris wheel that gives you a view over most of London. The weather was great with very clear skies so viewing was perfect. It is a must if you visit London. Next again across town to Madame Tussauds, also a fun place to visit.

A view of the London Eye from Westminister Bridge

A rare occurrence Westminister Bridge with no traffic

Spot the Aussie at Madame Tussauds

Thought you might like this one Sim

Back to the hotel to get ready to see a live English soccer match. We acquired tickets to see Chelsea play a German team at Chelsea’s home ground at Fulham. Just the ride in the tube to the ground was an experience with thousands of fans crammed into the carriages literally like sardines. The pie and mash before the game, the English and German fans chanting and the skilful play from both teams gave us another memorable experience.