Well it has been a few days since we have had a chance to get something on here. Sorry to the parents who may have been getting worried :)
Wednesday (15th) we headed out to see what London had to offer. We decided the best option for us was to buy a ticket for the “Big Bus” tour, which basically has about 12 buses that weave their way around the streets of London & Westminster. The full loop takes about two hours but you can hop on and off at about 75 different locations around the city.
There are two different types of buses – one with audio tour and one with English speaking guides. We had a really good guide on our main bus. He had been working as a guide for 30+ years so had loads of miscellaneous information to share.
Hopped off at Buckingham Palace and had a walk around and also had a cruise up the Thames and walked around the outside of the Tower of London.
The next morning we decided to use our bus pass one more time (they were valid for 24 hours) to take a trip back to Marble Arch and then walk back to the hotel. The walk was great, back through Hyde Park (where we saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain) but took a little longer than expected and we were running late for our next leg. So we had to get a Taxi to the train station. Tick off another item on the “To Do” list.
Next we were off to visit Ian & his family in Caerphilly (Wales). The train ride out took about 2.5 hours but time flew by. Ian & the boys picked us up from the train station and over the next 20 hours we spent time getting to know their home town & the family. The area is truly beautiful and we wish we had more time to spend there.
From there we said goodbye to Ian and Max and headed off to York (with a quick stop at Raglan Castle – amazing). Got to York around 8pm and checked into our first “Youth” Hostel. Today was another example of how weird the sunset times make your days – heading out at 9pm to find some dinner the sun was only just setting.
Today we took a walk around York and of the many things we had planned we ended up only doing one J. The York Minster was just too impressive to rush & we didn’t end up leaving there until 2pm and even then we didn’t get to do everything (unfortunately we missed out on the Tower climb).
Finding it a little hard to keep track of days over here so hopefully I’m getting this right.
Wednesday (15th) we headed out to see what London had to offer. We decided the best option for us was to buy a ticket for the “Big Bus” tour, which basically has about 12 buses that weave their way around the streets of London & Westminster. The full loop takes about two hours but you can hop on and off at about 75 different locations around the city. 
There are two different types of buses – one with audio tour and one with English speaking guides. We had a really good guide on our main bus. He had been working as a guide for 30+ years so had loads of miscellaneous information to share.
Hopped off at Buckingham Palace and had a walk around and also had a cruise up the Thames and walked around the outside of the Tower of London.We have been in total awe of the history and architecture of the city. Funny to think that most of the city was built centuries before Australia was even discovered.
Took about 500 photos during the day so we guess we will have about 20,000 by the time we get home :)
The end of our day was made interesting by a bus driver who told us to get off at the wrong stop and we had to try and find our way back to the hotel in the pouring rain. We had a nice 5km walk through the back streets of Chelsea, which at the time was a little testing but looking back was a good additional to our trip.
The next morning we decided to use our bus pass one more time (they were valid for 24 hours) to take a trip back to Marble Arch and then walk back to the hotel. The walk was great, back through Hyde Park (where we saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain) but took a little longer than expected and we were running late for our next leg. So we had to get a Taxi to the train station. Tick off another item on the “To Do” list.
Next we were off to visit Ian & his family in Caerphilly (Wales). The train ride out took about 2.5 hours but time flew by. Ian & the boys picked us up from the train station and over the next 20 hours we spent time getting to know their home town & the family. The area is truly beautiful and we wish we had more time to spend there.We picked up our hire car from Cardiff and headed out with Ian & Max to see the Roman ruins – the only Roman ruins in the UK and they are just around the corner from Ian’s place.
From there we said goodbye to Ian and Max and headed off to York (with a quick stop at Raglan Castle – amazing). Got to York around 8pm and checked into our first “Youth” Hostel. Today was another example of how weird the sunset times make your days – heading out at 9pm to find some dinner the sun was only just setting.
Today we took a walk around York and of the many things we had planned we ended up only doing one J. The York Minster was just too impressive to rush & we didn’t end up leaving there until 2pm and even then we didn’t get to do everything (unfortunately we missed out on the Tower climb).Next stop for us was Glasgow – which is where we are now! Sitting in a university dorm room where we are staying for the next two nights. It is very wet in Glasgow– and a little cold but the drive here was beautiful and the weather report says tomorrow should be clearing so we can go and do a trip to Edinburgh.
Photo count is climbing – over 1000 total now.
And seeing as it is now almost midnight here I guess we should sign off and get some sleep.
Love to all and we will be back on line again tomorrow (we think)
Cheers
Phil & Nic
Phil & Nic
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