Walkabout in London

Today was the ideal way to end the UK leg of our trip - Amelia, Mike, Simon and ourselves have had a great time sight seeing, shopping and eating (guided by Simon who's very kindly taken a few days off work to show us around).

We started with a walk through the Tower Bridge and were lucky enough to be there when it was scheduled to open for a large sailing barge (so we got to see it in action). Next was a quick walk through the Tate art gallery (and I really mean quick) - the type of exhibition where bricks are stacked in a heap and called 'art' didn't do much for any of us. Oh well, at least we had a look.

After this, we felt that we'd earned a beer so stopped off at one of the many English pubs for a pint and then it was on past the London Eye and the Globe theatre to Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately we didn't go on a tour but it's certainly very impressive just looking at it from the outside (anyway, we need to leave something for when we come back next time)!

Of course, there was some shopping to be done as well so we made a final dash through the stores before stopping off in another English pub (they seem to be everywhere) for a traditional pub meal in Covent Garden with Narissa (Simon's partner who has unfortunately had to keep working while we swan around London with Simon). Even though we've been to a couple of pubs today , I've been very good - I learned my lesson from Barcelona so it was just one beer for me (whether the lesson sticks will remain to be seen).

Tomorrow we're scheduled to go on a cruise down the river and then fly out to Hong Kong for the final leg of our trip. It's been fantastic to catch up with friends over this last week as we had become a bit tired of talking to just guides, concierges and waiters. Not only have we seen and some experienced amazing things, we've been able to spend time with friends who've made us feel at home. Today we could have been in a New Zealand pub as all but one of us were Kiwis.

We're looking forward to being home and catching up with everyone and boring you silly with our travel stories - prepare yourself, the slide shows are coming!