Mon 14/09: Nice & Monaco

Today was a nice bludge day in Nice. Similar to Luzern, we were given a few suggestions as to things we should try out. Instead of trying to do lotsa stuff, I relaxed for a change.

Wandered down the main shopping strip, bought a pair of thongs for the beach.

Ran into a couple from the tour group and had lunch with them - fantastic food!!! I had an eggplant pannini (is that how you spell it???).

After lunch, I then sunbaked out on the beach, resting on a deck chair with a bottle of sparkling water... lazed on the beach enjoying the sun and sights (3 very liberated, topless women!). Mindful of getting sun-burnt, I slowly made my way back to the Hotel; along the way - bumping into out tour group friends. I made the effort to do something nice for the planned night at Monaco by buying a leather jacket (110 euros). This complemented well with my slacks and coffee-coloured shirt.

I ate at a cafe a very large tortellini pasta dish, no dessert!

We left as a group at 5pm from the hotel for Monaco. Our first stop was on the cliff-top for a group photo overlooking the amazing Mediterannean sights. The next stop was at Monaco itself the Rock district with the over-water aquarium/museum and the Royal Palace. They really have excess canon balls!!!

On the way to the casino areas (Monte Carlo, American and another one... Royal??) we saw the famous hair-pin bend of the GP circuit - our appointed meeting place. With a hour or so of free time I immediately ventured into the famous Monte Carlo Casino (passport & 10 euro entrance fee,). In stark contrast to the large-scale of Melbourne's Crown Casino, this casino was a series of 4 rooms, each imbued with the class and elegance - limited playing areas for craps, roulette and even the poker machines. After "studying" the 6 roulette tables, I joined one. From my limited experience, I knew to split the odds and placed a series of 10 euro bets on neighbouring numbers. This paid out 3/4 times, each time I siphoned away the nice green chips (yellow chips being the lowest denominator). Tipping 10 euros at the end, I walked away with 5 green chips - which ended up being 250 euro!!! (Basically I had made 200 euro from my initial 50 euro outlay)

Feeling generous, and a little bad that I seemed to be the main winner, I decided that I would share my winnings with the group who had spent most of their free time in a bar outside the casinos... after all, I had actually set aside some money (100 euros) with the intention of gambling it away - so I was actually 300 euros up for the day/budget...

I think that night, particularly my shouting a round of drinks at the bar definitely ensured that the TopDeck group would remember me, and our host did say that I was by the far the biggest winner ever that any of her tour groups had had...

Sunday 13/09: Mt Rigi > Nice

Another day of travel...

We again were warned of the early start - we all had to catch the first train service down Mt Rigit to the coach.

(1) arose at 6:45am for breakfast at 7am. We left the Hostellerie at 8:10am and caught the 8:20am train down the slopes.
(2) This train is one of the steepest trains around... the angle was ~45 degrees, and we took turns taking photos of people seeing how far they could lean towards the train cabin floor.
(3) back on the coach, we passed thru Italy to get to the French Rivieria, with one service stop within Italy.
(4) reaching the French Rivieria mid arvo was eagerly anticipated - we all crowded the seaboard side of the bus (left) snapping away at the picturesque scenery. This was my very first sighting of the Mediterranean!!!
(5) part of the tour was a stop at a Perfumery factory. For us guys, there was a Ferrari experience exhibit outside... I didn't have my camera on me, but a friend took a photo of me with this Ferrari... must remember to get a copy of this!!! Honestly, inside while the mandatory tour was provided, I struggled to differentiate the scents, although I did like the one which was supposedly more sensual and appealing to the guys...
(6) We briefly passed and saw Monacco; but Nice itself was like a beachside version of Paris. Kinda reminded me of Melbourne with the main tram line... We had free time between 4pm and 7:30pm when we were to meet for a group dinner at a local restaurant, so I ditched my bags in the hotel and went for a wander on my own. This paid off because the weather was perfect and warm - I got a lot of photos of the main downtown street - whereas the following day was more overcast. Nice on a sunday arvo is fairly quiet, but there were a few street entertainers.
(7) dinner was not very good - altho honestly, the waiter was quite uptight. At our table we did mistakenly use the salad dressing as a dip for breads, which may have rubbed the waiter up the wrong way, and we did ask for balsamic and oil for the breads... 2 of us on the table shared a whole bottle of red - drinking had started early!
(8) we walked across town to the bar - Chez Francis (Francis Bar) where I had my first ever tequila shot (and a 2nd!). Interestingly, I didn't really feel the punch or the effects of the alcohol... O_o. I had a beer as well... I did come to the realisation here that with the same amount of alcohol the others (anglo Aussies) were getting very stupid and started dancing on the tables to the live band - for me this amoutn of alcohol just wasn't going to get me that loose and stupid (not sure of the right way to describe this...)
(9) While at the bar, I happened to see on a tv screen the US Open final between Federer and del Potro. Returning to the hotel, I watched the entire 2nd set and the start of the 3rd. At this point, I decided to sleep. I later woke up at 4am-ish to see Federer on the way to losing the final 5th set...

[Addition to Sat 12/09 post: I had seen a bit of the US Open semi between Federer and Djokovic]

Sat 12/09: Mt Rigi / Luzern

(1) "sleeping in" to 7:30am we all left as a group for the gondola to go down to Weggis (pronounced ve-gis). From Weggis, we caught the ferry service across Luzern Lake to Luzern ~30min.
(2) a lot of us were told to stay on the main floor so we all went to the very back of the ferry and were taking photos there for ~10min until a guy came and kicked us out of the "1st class" area! whoops!
(3) in Luzern we were all taken on a walking tour thru the bridges right up to the obscure Lion's Gate memorial. This is known as the saddest memorial in the world. We had learnt back in Paris that the Swiss Guard were massacared at the start of the French Revolution, allegedly ordered to lay down their arms by King Louis XVI... (read Wikipedia on the Swiss Guard to learn more!) This Lion's Memorial was built by one of the Swiss Guard who had been absent on the day of the massacre and he had the memorial built, a lot of symbolism included within. Again, wikipedia has a link...
(4) From the Harry's shop of watches/swiss knifes I left the group and explored the old town, quickly locating the MacDonalds were my aunt works! She kindly got me a complimentary coffee and when I returned after exploring the old walls and a Red Cross area, I waited on one of the tables. While waiting for my aunt to finish her work shift, a local girl joined me! As it turned out she spoke 5 languages (the norm being 2-3: English, Swiss-German, Swiss-French) and worked as a primary school teacher.
(5) lunch was at a local cafe with my aunt - a pork schnitzel on tagliatelli (yes I still remember these details - even today 12 days after!). After lunch she drove me to her apartment in Emmen. We didn't have a lot of time as I needed to reconnect with the TopDeck group at the ferry terminal at 4pm. Fortunately we met up with my cousin at the ferry terminal so I finally got to meet both aunt and cousin for the first time in my life!!!
(6) there were 7 of us returning to Mt Rigi - we all had skipped the earlier ferry to visit the Mt Rigi summit - my excuse was obviously to meet family, but the weather was overcast and apparently too foggy for a view from the summit.
(7) we caught the gondola back up (apparently the train took an hour) with the intention of starting drinks early!
(8) I had been given Toblerone chocolate - 2 big and 2 small - by my aunt & cousin; I used one small one to "tip" the female waitress who got me a nice glass of red wine during dinner! She had also gone to the effort to dress up in the traditional swiss costume! She was later seen with her boyfriend who bought a large large bottle of whisky...
(9) dinner was unremarkable - thus I don't remember the details! however I remember the bar afterwards for the dart board games and the way the girls kept hitting on this cute 19yo local waiter. Apparently he was going to Perth later that week, so one of the girls offered him her bedroom. Part of the joke was that this waiter was very shy of girls, so these interactions kept him blushing all night... in one of the funny twists, he did pick up the half eaten large Toblerone I had put under my chair, AND his girlfriend apparently spoke 5 languages... sound familiar??? Although it probably wasn't true, we connected the dots anyway and had more fun that night...
(10) i didn't sleep until after 12am, whereas my room-mate had turned in earlier... so out of decency, I took the room nextdoor so that he wouldn't suffer from my snoring (apparently I snore, but not that loud...)

Friday 11/09: Paris > Mt Rigi

We had been warned prior to this day that we would be leaving super early in order to get to Mt Rigi on time for dinner.

Basically the day was spent on the coach, from like 7:30am thru to ~4:30pm, including the 3 service stops - 1 of which was a 30min lunch stop. The last one was within Switzerland.

To get to Mt Rigi, one can either take:
(1) the train, OR
(2) the gondola

We were taking the gondola up on Friday. This was a 20min journey, somewhat like a cable car ride. We all squeezed in to the cabin with all our bags, plus a handful of locals who were journeying up the mountain.

We were staying at the Mt Rigi Hostellerie, which was the best accommodation of the entire tour. Not the biggest room (Rome) but the most comfortable! The room adjoining ours was actually un-used so my room-mate took that on the first night and then I slept there the following night (since he had gone to bed first in our assigned room on the 2nd night).

Dinner at the Mt Rigi Hostellerie was 3- courses:
(1) cheese fondue, with unlimited bread: on my table of Asians we kept eating and eating the bread dipped in cheese. The waiter had joked that he wouldn't remove our cheese fondue pots until he could see the bottom...
(2) the main course (!!!) was turkey (although the style of cooking made me think it was chicken) and mash pototatos. Lotsa mash, so I didn't finish it.
(3) finally, we had dessert which was ice-cream cake with strawberry topping.

Afterwards there was a bar session, but not a huge one and with only one bar-tender the drinks were a little slow... went to bed at a respectable midnight...

Thurs 10/09: Paris Day 2

(1) brekky was at 7:30am (woke up 7am and was one of the first to arrive)

(2) coach ride was fairly slow (Paris morning traffic) considering the proximity of our drop-off point for the day - roundabout next to Seine/Louvre gardens.

(3) I dashed off to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa/Denon Wing (there are 3 wings - i only saw one) Weather-wise it was spitting rain, but not heavily... I exited the Louvre via the Lion Gate *Note: anyone going to the Louvre - avoid the queues and enter via the Lion Gate!!!

(4) walked along the garden/river side and finally got to the river cruise landing - about halfway beween the Louvre and Eiffel Tower... the cruise was great and fortunately the weather had cleared up - so I made up in terms of the no of pics taken...

(5) Lunch was at a place called Eiffel Tower Restaurant/Cafe - around the corner from the landmark. I walked in and the waiter immediately addressed me in English - "What table would I like?" - NOT happy with this as I wanted to practice my French... I ate a beef tartare - in a similar arrogant fashion the waiter said: "Are you sure? It's raw beef!" [I know waht beef tartare is... sigh]

(6) in between the cafe and the Eiffel Tower I saw this interesting building wall completely covered in vine/grass except for the windows...

(7) I mucked around at the base of the Eiffel Tower (ET for short from now on) before I decided that with under an hour, I would dash up the ET instead of waiting in queues for the elevator... (no queues for walking up the stairs!)

(8) on the first stage I ran into a work colleague who has been holidaying in the US as well as now in Europe! Small World!!!

(9) with time running out (bike tour meets at 3pm South Tower base) I had to take to the elevator to the second stage. views of Paris were awesome and totally worth the climb! Didn't have enough time to go to the final/third stage, so caught the elevator down...

(10) met 7 other TopDeck guys who with other tourists embarked on the bike tour. We waited for quite a while, and fitting out took another 15min due to the large size of the group - about 30 of us in total doing the bike tour. we would ride and stop, with the second last stop being a 30min cafe break in the Louvre gardens... saw more of the Armoury/Military Academy and Napoleon's tomb - similiar to the bus tour the night before... but this time in detail.

(11) TopDeck organised picnic dinner at 7pm. We all tried the escargot - one NZer really liked them! (but he also likes cows - part of his profession...)

(12) Cabaret at Paradis Latin. Basically - I picked ALL options that topDeck offered for Paris. was the only single guy here... plenty of single gals tho! on our table it was like a bottle of wine to 2 ppl... lotsa drinking!!! the performers were all very talented; the topless girls were very slim and muscular, some a little bony even... O_o the male performers were ok, not very buff, but ok... my favourite bit was this carousel of motorcycles ridden by hot hot girls in leather boots, the jacket and helmet. they first removed the helmets and did that hair wave thing... then they removed their jackets!?!

(13) after the Cabaret a group of us returned to the hotel via the Paris Metro - my main memory of this experience was that our TopDeck tour host kept yelling out "TopDeck" @ time we had to get off the train... (this would also be repeated for marshalling us all together thru-out the whole tour around Europe!!!

(14) got to the hotel ~12:30am so a really really long day. Apparently I slept almost immediately.

Wed 09/09: Paris Day 1

Early start this morning - woke at 5:45am!
We all met up at the reception area of the Umi Hotel.
Didn't really sleep well - kept waking periodically - is it time to leave yet???

We took a transfer coach to Dover where we caught the ferry over to Calais. While on the bus I slowly woke up (wan't the only one...) and got to know my fellow travellers - at least those I was sitting around - 2 couples, a couple of single girls and guy. In total there were ~35 of us, 6 more joining in Paris, 12 of us leaving in Rome but being "replaced" with 12 newbies in Rome...

the bus journey was ~3 hours to Dover. Dover cliffs are impressive (and famous for the movies they have featured in...) The Ferry was fun, kinda like a cruise ship in size and feel. Unfortunately we couldn't get access to the really fun areas with the best views... Sighting the European coastline was a great moment - we all turned to look out the window, a few of us attempting to capture the moment in photos...

From Calais, we were introduced to our coach driver who took us thru the rules... ~ boring ~
Travelling on coach essentially is in 2~2:30 hour legs, with a short 15min service stop each time. 15min service stops for a group of ~40 is actually quite a challenge... but as a whole we worked within the apportioned time...

We entered Paris in the mid to late arvo, the weather quite hazy - not sure if it's 'cos of the pollution... Arrived and checked into the hotel and then set-off on our TopDeck guided tours of Paris: walking and bus. The walking tour was a block of 1hr for us to explore and get dinner. A few of us had dinner together in a typical Parisian restaurant - sampling the crepes and red rose wine.

The bus tour was really crazy - we were driven round in the coach past all the key sights - Lourve, Arc de Triumphe, gardens, palaces, shops, and of course the Eiffel Tower. My camera ran out of juice from all the photos I kept taking - left, right and centre... at one point it was like - every angle had a great shot. I managed to get a single night shot of the Eiffel Tower - a pretty good shot of it with the night lights with my iPhone - and this is my new wallpaper!

A long day that set the pace of our tour...

Europe Uncovered (TopDeck tour)

This post focuses on the general tour and overall thoughts...

The tour is a discovery tour, TopDeck take care of the accommodation (2-3 star hotels) and the travelling via coach. The entire tour is split into two legs:
1: London to Rome (Western Europe)
2: Rome to Amsterdam (Eastern Europe)

I was 1 of 13 ppl who only did the first leg. Another 12-13 ppl were participating in the second leg only. The remaining 20+ ppl were going all the way from London to Amsterdam...

Quite a few (6) ppl joined us in Paris, not in London...

We covered the following main cities with day-trip visits:
a: Paris - 2 nights (passing thru Dover, Calais from London)
b: Mt Rigi, Switzerland - 2 nights (day trip to Luzern)
c: Nice - 2 nights (evening in Monacco)
d: Florence - 1 night (stopover in Pisa)
e: Rome - 2 nights

The age range was roughly between 21 - 30 with the majority of ppl being couples. A smattering of Aussie Asians, 2 Kiwis, 1 Canadian, 1 English girl. Quite a few ppl from Perth and NSW outside of Sydney...

Hotel rooms were small (altho maybe the 2 star rating was why). Some were quite cramp..

back to london (Tuesday 08/09)

this is a transition day - between Sutton-in-Ashfield and London.

i will quick mention the fact that for the past 2 nights in a row, i've had baths... proper baths, with the bubbles. (and playing with the rubber ducky...) hehe... a completely random, off-topic note!

(1) dropped by the sutton post office to send two parcels home - didn't want to bog myself down with stuff i wouldn't need (tour guides and one jacket) - not too pricey - just £30...
(2) caught coach back to London - 1 to 5pm.
(3) tubed to Bayswater / Umi Hotel - where i am now...
(4) shopped a bit - bought a new ultra-light weight water-proof jacket (Nike) & a new top - Jag.
(5) had dinner at a place called Bodean's BBQ - they're claim to fame is to be London's original original bbq smoke house... really great rump steak (main), sampled the ribs, and topped off with a most excellent ice-crean - love the flavour Dulce de Leche... something like toffee and coffee..

10pm currently - gonna sleep early tonight since i have a wake up call at 6am tmw - for start of tour.

Met the tour host - she's an Aussie from Cairns. some early insights - 35 of us will travel down to Rome, some of us depart but a total of 43 continue on to Amsterdam (complete europe tour). she helped me top understand how best to handle my tour departure next Thursday when i travel Rome to Rotterdam...

a quick stock take - plenty of £s left... 900+ photos taken (2.6gb) after culling ~100 of poor quality.
the tourist guidebooks weighed about 2kg - so mailed them home - don't need them bogging my suitcase down. everyone is really impressed at how little/light my suitcase/luggage is. however - i'm managing - and if i can make it this far successfully - i can make it to the end!

don't miss Chinese food in the slightest - closest i've had is some mee-hoon cooked today by my cousin, indian on monday night and some asian also home cooked by my cousin...

so looking forward to tmw and the tour - long day ahead - so night all!!!!

Suton/Mansfield Day #5

another retro post (from the Umi Hotel - evening of Wed 08/09)

Monday 06/09

day trip was to some obscure walking track areas - kinda in the region near Bakewell...
started off with lunch at a place called The Peacock. this restaurant had really nice food (lasagne) and was ?strategically? positioned near a giant roundabout - nothing else for miles...

the feature of today was lots n' lots of driving (thanks to my cousin-in-law)

as has been the trend, we had been starting later and later - today we left the house at 11:40am...

after driving around for a bit (some wrong turns and exploring) we ended up at the intended walking location - some rocks and a lookout known as Surprise View! great views, fantastic weather - great combo all round!

after the walk, we drove along the Snake Bend past two reservoirs heading up towards Manchester. This scenic tour featured... of all things... sheep and more sheep... kinda New Zealand-ish! by the time we got back to Sutton it was close to 8pm.

We had indian for dinner - at a great little place on the main road. we ended up being the only customers (others probably had dined earlier). my poor nephew was again confused and grumpy from the out of sync day...

Sutton/Mansfield Day #4

a retro post for Sunday 06/09/09
[note: on a linux PC and keyboard is dodgy... expect lowercase alot...]

today's day trip was to Chatsworth House. i won't explain it but look it up on wikipedia... =)

arrived ~12:30 and started off in the gardens... on the way back reading the guide book - we realised that we only covered about 1/3 of the grounds... soo much to see. @ 2:30ish we had lunch in the restaurant - food was fairly ordinary... the lateness started to affect my 1yo nephew and his eating times...

we ventured into the House ~4pm and stayed right to the end (5:30)

Briefly, the house is the residence of the Duke of Devonshire, even tho there is no locality of Devonshire and Devon is in another part of the country. past Dukes have been quite influential - one was the Lord Chamberlain to the King - and as a bonus - got to keep the King's bed chamber!!!

on the way back we picked up fish n' chips from the local t/w... that was totally worth it - giant piece of cod and chips. only £3.95 for the fish!!!

Sutton/Mansfield Day #3

Saturday 05/09 - day trip around Bakewell.

Today we covered a few places:

(1) Over Haddon

This peaceful village is set high up on the hill tops of central England. Arriving @ 12pm, we first had a sumptous lunch before going off on a 2 hour walk down hill towards the River Lathkill. The steep journey down to the river was across several pastures where sheep were grazing.

(2) Bakewell; A brief pause in Bakewell where we picked up some Bakewell Pudding which is what Bakewell is known for.

(3) From Bakewell we drove down through the grounds of Chatsworth House - a mansion which is home to the Duke of Devonshire. We only drove through and plan to visit properly on Monday.

(4) We headed for Crown Carveries, Nottingham. This place featured meat carvery with unlimited vegetables, all for 5 pounds!

Sutton/Mansfield Day #2

Friday 04/09 - daytrip to Lincoln (Lincolnshire)

Today we headed out mid-morning to Lincoln. The two main attractions here were:

(1) the Lincoln Cathedral [http://www.lincolncathedral.com/]

(2) the Lincoln Castle

This castle is one of the oldest in England - built in the 1000s.

Although we joined a tour group of the castle, we had to follow more slowly from the back as we had to lift the baby pram up the numerous flights of stairs. The entire tour was really informative and educational - we learnt about the West Gate entry, the Castle Walls, the hangings that took place on the top of Cobb Tower.

Lincoln Castle has a number of unique features:

(1) The entire structure was reduced by one storey/level to prevent the castle fortifications growing too strong for rebellion.

(2) This castle originally had prisioners hanged internally, and then from the top of the Cobb Tower for public viewing. The original method for hanging was later replaced with the more efficient trap-door method - first used at Lincoln Castle. The original method (long rope) normally meant that death by strangulation took 20-30 min whereas the trap-door method meant instant death.

(3) The prison separated male and female prisoners; and had a chapel - the only structure still in place today - where individual prisoners were locked into individual cells within the Chapel.

Dinner was again at home - delicious dishes prepared by my cousin.

London Day #4/Sutton Day #1

Today is the first transition day... from London to Mansfield/Sutton.

Took the Tube from Borough to Victoria and from there walked along Buckingham Palace Road to the Victoria Coach Station.

I planned my morning such that I had 40min for a Full English Breakfast, which I finally ate at a local cafe next door to the Victoria Coach Station.

The coach (450) to Mansfield was a straightforward 4 hour journey with 2-3 stops along the way (10:30am to 2:30pm). My cousin and her husband were at Mansfield awaiting my arrival along with their 1yo son.

That afternoon we had lunch - pizza from Domino's followed by a short drive around Sutton/Mansfield. Dinner that night was a simple home-cooked meal.

My little nephew was very cute and entertaining... he loves to babble and bounce. Doesn't really cry, but he makes this funny noise in between a laughter and cry when he wants attention.

London Day #3

(1) headed out later today... 9:30am instead of before 9am like Monday/Tuesday. Joined younger brother of my host on bus ride to Convent Gardens. My first ride on a red double decker bus!
(2) explored Convent Garden & Leicester Square, but not for long since it was raining lightly... Dropped by one of the Westend cheap theatre ticket stalls. Here I got a stall seat/ticket for the matinee show of Wicked (2:30pm)
(3) I then caught the Tube from Picadily Circus to Marylebone, where my friend met up with me and brought me back to her place.
(4) lunch was a relaxed affair; a most delicious home-cooked meal!
(5) after a few hours with my friend it was time to head to the Apollo Victoria theatre (Victoria tube station)
(6) Wicked took up 3 hrs from 2:30pm to 5:30pm. A most enjoyable show, talented actors and scripted storyline. Brilliant music although it's not the kind that's easily stuck in your head...
(7) tubed it back to Borough, had enough time to freshen up before we my host drove us out to Hemel Hamstead (my godmother's brother's home) for a home-cooked meal.

Thoughts for the day:
(1) the expected rain has finally hit! Not heavy but enough to restrict exploration efforts around Leicester Square...
(2) the bus ride is definitely better than the Tube, but you need to know the routes and connections...
(3) home cooked meals were a great change from all the eating out...
(4) took quite a bit of effort getting prepaid SIM up and running - finally got credit added...
(5) So glad I saw Wicked - I was disappointed before that I had missed out in Melbourne but this experience more than makes up!
(6) ended the day with speculation on whether my hosts' dad may have known my mum back in KL...

-- Post From My iPhone

London Day #2

Today's weather was not as hot as yesterday; it rained briefly in the afternoon.

Not quite as crazy as yesterday:
(1) walked down Great Dover St to the London Bridge Experience.
(2) London Bridge Experience took 1hr, met two Malaysian girls on the experience... Originally from Sabah, the older sister studies at the Uni of Nottingham while her younger sister was visiting the UK from Malaysia.
(3) together, the 3 of us walked to the Tower of London where we parted ways.
(4) Tower of London - from 12pm to about 2:30pm. Did an audio tour and saw the crown jewels.
(5) briefly saw the Tower Bridge and had lunch at The Brasserie - fish n chips!!!
(6) walked around Tower of London to Towerhill Tube, headed to Camden Town.
(7) met up with my cousin who took me around the markets - very impressive!!! Loved one shop and product that I bought it - a very cool shirt with LED patch that reacts to noise!!! Spent good 3 hours with cousin before leaving for 7pm appointment
(8) met up with a good church friend at 7pm at Canary Wharf. Went for dinner and then he drove me around the area to get photos of Canary Wharf skyline and the O2 stadium.
He also kindly dropped me off back at Borough, getting home at 11:30pm...
(9) met my host's younger brother who had also returned from outside of London. He has a really interesting part-time job... A blog-reviewer for an org that promotes theatre viewing by young ppl... Gets tickets to shows and reviews them!!!

Thoughts:
(1) Tower of London, particularly the Crown Jewels exhibit is way too crowded / popular... Kinda spoils the experience...
(2) I have visited most of the main attractions that the London Bus Tour includes... Should've bought the package thru them and would've saved ~£20...
(3) experienced light showers in the arvo while at Camden Town but nothing major...
(4) another day of lots of walking... Need to be less ambitious in things to see...
(5) started window shopping; prices are borderline reasonable for clothes....
(6) Camden Town is worth a second visit! A highly recommended destination for visitors to London!!!


-- Post From My iPhone