20,000 steps a day? Try 200,000!

Hello everyone! I just got back from doing two 3 hour walking tours of London.

Deanna and I got up abou 8:15 and had breakfast at the hostel. Let me tell you.... hostel breakfasts suck. I'm sure I'll never want to see another cornflake for the rest of my life! I guess all the hostels got together and decided cornflakes and toast would be the way to go. But being in the U.K. I've also made sure to include a cup of tea with my break-ee (as my new Australian friend Daniel tells me).

Anyways, after a quick chat with the reception staff we headed down to the TUBE. We bought an all day pass for areas 1 and 2 and we made our way to Hyde Park. We got there early so we enjoyed a banana while waiting for our tour to start at the Wellington Monument.

The first tour started at 11 am and was called Royal London. We saw the Wellington Monument, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, got our picture taken with a guard, James's Palace, Trafalgar Square, and Westminster Abbey. There were probably a few other places I've missed but will have to fill in the blanks later.

After that we made our way back to London Bridge station and I bought the most excellent lunch - pesto pasta salad with pine nuts, cherry tomatoes and spinach (so healthy!). Should counter-act the bag of fries I ate after the bar last night but not the Caramel Frappucino I just had ;) Anyways, then we rushed off across the Thames to do a tour of Old London. We saw the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge (not London bridge). We also saw St. Paul's Cathedral, the ghost bridge, the millenium bridge, the sight of the great fire and a few other things as well. (Again, that's what the brochure is for and pictures).

We took the long way home past the Savoy and all the fancy theatres... pretty cool area of town. We just got back and are sooo tired. Not sure where the rest of the group is, they did not leave us a note. Hope they didn't go see a show without us! I hope to go to the globe theatre tomorrow and see a Shakespearean play. Apparently it is only about £5! Still have yet to eat supper and it is 8:15pm so that is next on our agenda.

Back-tracking again... yesterday we got up nice and early to make our way to Dublin Airport and fly here. We were worried because they were having problems with their radar system and some flights were delayed or canceled. But we got on the right bus to the airport and got there really early. We waited around and sure enough our plane was delayed and they changed gates on us, not too far away though. We were about a half-hour late. We got off the plane and jumped right into a train which took an hour. Our hostel wasn't too far from the station.

So far this is the best hostel we've stayed in. We were all excited because there was a hot tub and sauna but the sauna didn't work and the hot tub only seats 6 max. It was luke warm but we went in and chatted with a few french guys which made my day. One guy, Anthony is my age and I really enjoyed talking to him.

After the hot tub we went to the bar that is attached to the hostel and I met a group of Australian boys and a group of guys from California. California guys were pretty good dancers, the Aussie's weren't into that very much though. We later went to the chill out room with a couple of the Aussie's and shared stories and looked through each other's photos on our cameras. They had rented bikes earlier that day and did their own tour. They were super hilarious. At 130 we said goodnight, went to grab a quick mid-night snack and hit the hay.

The street we are on is super busy and there is a bar underneath so it was hard getting to sleep but once asleep I didn't wake up ;)

I am quite enjoying London. I wish we had more time here. Definitely a place to come back to.

I hope everyone is doing well back in Canada! I miss you all! Mom and dad, I will try to call you soon... possibly tonight! And Redvers crew.... I hope you didn't blow away in the tornado! That's crazy!