Day 21

We started off the day by heading into reception again in a vain attempt to see if the man with the internets had appeared but unfortunately no such luck. The dour reception from yesterday was there again and about as cheery as she had been yesterday... We decided to give up for a while and head into London central to do some sightseeing.

Our apartment was conveniently just around the corner from the subway so we wandered over, swiped our Oyster cards and were off! Or so we thought.... We wanted to catch the Circle line to Tower Hill and as we walked into the station, the right platform said "Tower Hill" so we walked down and settled in for the train. We watched the electronic board and our train wasn't coming yet so we sat and watched a few trains go by. After about 10 minutes we thought it was a bit strange that the train hadn't arrived yet so I went up to ask one of the subway people.

As I started walking up I noticed that a Circle line train had pulled in so I rushed back down to where Steve and the folks were calmly sitting. I asked them why they hadn't gotten on to the train (other than me not being there) and it turned out that the train hadn't been displayed on the electronic board. Sick of waiting, we got on the next Circle line train that arrived... Turns out that although it says it's the Circle line, it really isn't. The line took us up to Edgware Road - the last stop on the Circle line before you have to transfer onto another train. Great. Thanks London subway... We found out later that the Circle line had been having timing troubles (hence the no display) and that we had waited on the wrong platform - yes, it said Tower Hill but it was Tower Hill via Edgware. We used the left platform for later trips.

We finally arrived at Tower Hill after taking the scenic route (as scenic as the London underground can be) and wandered over to the Tower of London. We had thought about going in but the admission prices were a bit steep, especially coming from Edinburgh, so we gave it a miss. We walked along the waterfront towards London Bridge and went up. There was an exhibition on bridges and the history of London bridge in the walkways between the towers so we had a sticky beak at that as we went through.

It was about here when Stevo called me and got me into trouble with one of the London Bridge staff. Turns out that you're not allowed to use mobile phones in the bridge. I hadn't seen the sign on the way up but Steve conveniently told me where it was afterwards. After the towers of London Bridge, we went to the engine room to see how the bridge used to be opened. That was pretty cool.

We walked along the south bank towards the city. There were a couple of cool courtyards along the way with no shortage of pigeons. For a bit of culture, we came across Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. However, there was a show on so we couldn't go inside and had to make do with what we could see from outside. I gave Row a call and organised for us to meet her and Stevo at their new apartment. Steve's dad also made the shortest phone call in the world to Holland - apparently it's very expensive to call the Netherlands from Shakespeare's Globe.

We continued walking along the south bank until we got to the Millennium Bridge (they must have rebuilt it after it was destroyed in Harry Potter....) and then crossed over towards London CBD. We made our way up to the subway station near St Paul's Cathedral, stopping by to admire the church from the outside as once again the entrance fees were a bit steep. Worshippers were free but we didn't think it would be appropriate... 

We caught the tube to Piccadilly Circus which put us right in... Piccadilly! Unfortunately we couldn't purchase it from the bank for $280 but on the upside we didn't have to pay $22 rent either. Although I think there were hotels on the street (eep!). From there we picked up a Chance card and advanced to Trafalgar Square. We got slightly lost on our way there (wrong direction initially) so we missed Go and didn't pick up our $200.

Cool robots

Trafalgar Square was cool. When we arrived they were setting up robot arms in the middle of the square - random but cool. We had no idea what was going on and there was nobody there to ask so we figured we'd find out later. We all went into the National Gallery where Steve and I ditched the folks and then did a good job of getting lost before gradually making our way out. We then headed down to the tube again for a ride down to Clapham North to visit Stevo and Row.

Hanging out with Stevo and Row

Stevo was still at work but Row had given us awesome directions to their new place. We didn't even get lost once! Although once we arrived my phone had a bit of a moment and we thought we wouldn't be able to call her but it all worked out ok. Their apartment was pretty cool. Slightly bare but that was understandable given that they had only moved in at 6 pm in the previous night, most of their furniture was still in boxes from IKEA and Stevo had bought a wardrobe instead of a bed.

We hung out and ate delicious cheese and drank wine with Row until Stevo came home around 6 where he joined us. They showed us their photos of Iceland which were very cool. Around an hour later we decided to go out and get some grub so we walked down to Clapham on a quest for Indian so that Steve could satisfy his vindaloo craving.

After walking the entire strip and not finding a beef vindaloo, we finally went back to the one Indian restaurant that we found that did chicken vindaloo. My dinner was delicious but unfortunately Steve's vindaloo turned out to be a bit disappointing which resulted in him eating half of mine...hrm... We finished up and Stevo and Row walked us to the closest station before heading off to the pub to meet one of Row's friends who was currently in the country.

It took us about 45 minutes to get back to the apartment so we were pretty sleepy by the time we crawled into bed. I miss Hobart's 15 minute drives, even the 30 minute one from Taroona.