Saturday we caught the bus into London again. The bus has a recorded message at each sstoop saying the destination of the bus and the name of each stop, so by the time we got to London, we really knew we were heading for Tottnham Court road! The buses are intensively used, and we enjoyed sitting on the top level of the trditional big red london bus. At the end of the line we got off and made our way to a shop called Primark. Back in Australia Hanna-Lee had researched the London shops. This particular shop is particularly cheap -selling latest fashion clothes for ridiculously low prices. Em and Han and I enjoyed sniffing around and the girls picked some clothes, then Dad and Steven came as well and found some interesting things to buy. Emily would go to London just for the shopping she reckons!!
We took the tube to Harrods and stood amazed at the size of the shop, the lavish decorations, the high prices, the variety of items, expensive looking toilets - with several choices of perfume and body spray! The sweet section was amazing, and we bought a harrod labelled sweet tin. At lunch time we sat on a kerb in an expensive looking area - the park we selected was for the residents of the area only and locked for others! We saw a plaque which told us Jane Austen had stayed in that house once upon a time, with her brother. Of course our cameras were put to good use everywhere.
We caught a bus with our trusty Oyster card, and found ourselves at Hyde Park corner, from where we wondered down to Buckingham palace and photographed the guard standing outside his booth! and ourselves in front of the gates. Amazing how many people are standing around, taking photos and sight seeing. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We saw Wellington's Arch and walked through. There are lots of war memorials in the area, and everything shows the richness of the history of Europe. That day was a special remembrance day for the armed forces and there were many officials around and people in uniforms; also demonstrators against the war efforts.
We walked through St James Park and along the Churchill museum, passed Downing street where some young men in uniform were standing to attention and alowing the public to take photographs.
Next we admired the Westminster Abbey, the houses of Parliament and the Big Ben - which always feature on the news from GB. The London Eye was doing its faithful turning stunt, ripping people of their pounds and giving them a beautiful view (we're told) of London.
Our legs were dropping off by now so we held our noses on our way down and into the underground - such a pissy smell! that's what comes of making people pay for every toilet stop; some obviously don't have the money - and we made our way to King's Cross station. We remembered there was a Maccas there to try to get on the internet. We bought drinks and ice creams and sat and rested our weary legs.
At station 9 and 3/4 we tried to force a shopping trolley through the wall and Em Han and Steve had photos made as they made their efforts!
At 221 Baker Street we visited the home of Sherlock Holmes and his trusty friend Watson but unfortunately they were unavailable so we just made some photos outside their home!
This completed our sightseeing for the day, and we made our way home on the maze of the underground and the faithful red bus heading for Penge.
On Sunday morning (30th June) we woke up at about 7-7:30, showered, dressed, ate breakfast, packed the backpack for the day and went out the door to the bus. We were going to London Presbyterian church which started at 11am. Dad and Mum have been there before so they sort of knew where to go. We did a little bit of walking to get to the actual church and saw a few more interesting things such as St. Paul's Cathedral. It was very big and detailed. The bells sounded very nice too as we walked past. Despite the fact that it was Sunday, there were still plenty of people around. I guess the fact that there was beautiful sunny weather was extra inviting for people to be out and about in the city.
The church ended up being tucked away between some business buildings and right next to Postman's Park which was very cosy. The church service was not very formal, and quite different and similar at the same time to our own church in Armadale. The congregation was very small and there were no elders, deacons or organist. Instead of an organist to lead the singing, there was a lady from the congregation who sang in front of the microphone the whole time. There were collections, singing from a psalm book, bible reading and a sermon about the consequences of the Fall into Sin from Genesis 3.
After church we went to the remaining parts of London Wall which was just down the road. We found some benches by a bit of a lake and fountain with beautiful green shady trees and sat down to eat some lunch - sandwiches which we had prepared that morning. Then we walked to the millennium bridge which was relatively close by. It was quite nice to walk over the Thames River and take pictures. The Tower Bridge was further down the river but we still walked all the way there along the side of the Thames, taking many pictures as we went along. The Tower Bridge was quite a sight too where we also took plenty of photos.
We had to walk a little further to the underground station which would take us closer to London Bridge, since we wanted to get some good photos there.
Sitting down again in the train was good so that we could rest our legs and feet a bit. We arrived at Angel Station, sat there for a while and then moved on towards London Bridge itself. When we got there, our legs were quite tired and our feet sore, so we decided just to let Emily run and take some photos of the typical London features (the Thames, London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament House) which were nicely close enough for good photos As we waited for Emily to come back, we saw our bus drive past that would take us home. So we walked to the bus stop which we could see in the distance, which happened to be on the other side of the London Bridge, which we weren't planning to cross before. We had to wait at least 10 minutes before the next bus came since we couldn't catch up to the bus we saw drive past. We were all quite tired and happy to go home a bit earlier than previous days.
The beautiful sunny weather added to the fact that it was a very nice day of sightseeing and admiring London.
While we were sitting in the bus, there was a man who seemed either drunk or simply loopy. When someone came up the stairs of the bus he would try to shake their hand or say hello.When someone went down the stairs to leave, he would say 'take care' or 'have a good weekend' or 'behave yourself'. While there was no one going up or down, he would just talk out loud saying things... 'there's a nice pub out that way' 'i love that man' 'beryl...Beryl!' 'Bye mum!' It was quite humorous and made quite a few of us in the bus chuckle a bit.
When we got home, we just lazed around a bit at home, Mum got some rice in a pan and began to boil it and then we had a cup of tea. For dinner we had rice and sausages, a little similar to the night before but was still very yummy :)
Tomorrow we will have to clean up the apartment, pack our suitcases, and then make sure we are at the airport on time for our flight to. . . Rome, Italy! :) We're so excited... :)
We are thankful to God for the many things we have been able to see and do since we left and for His safekeeping. We're also thinking of our family back at home and hope you don't miss us too much ;)
Love Dad, Mum, Em, Steve and me :)
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