London

So we made it alive...barely but we did! Our flight was great and we got a few little perks...it was long but good! Not surprisingly, we met a nurse on the flight who sat with us!!! We had an "interesting experience" at customs. Apparantly they don't like when Canadians show up with no visa or prospect of working and don't have a return flight...oops!!! The lady also asked me (Meghan) if Heather was my partner or just my friend...we had a good chuckle. We made it through though and we off to see England. We took our first train from Gatwick to Victoria stn in central London loaded down and already regretting packing those extras. We got into London with no clue where we were going but knowing our hostel was an 8 minute walk from the station and the address. Apparantly its not a well known street and our maps cut off the street. We circled around for like 90mins hating life with sore backs. Finally we found out that the street names change and we walked right by it. We made it and were definately ready for a brew...conveniently, the pub is the hostel. We instantly met up with some Aussies (one of whom works there) and had a "quiet" night in...we did however, squeeze in a trip to Battersea Park (gorgeous)!! The boys grabbed some brews and had a little "roadie" in the park.

930am Thursday we were up at on the town. The heather and meghan walking tour of London. Our Aussie friends Ben and Jake came along and we discovered that our navigation skills need some fine tuning but we accomplished a lot. We saw Oxford circus, trafalger square, covent gardern, and finally St. Paul's cathedral. St. Paul's was so amazing and we climbed the 500+ stairs to the look out and definately didn't regret it (thanks for the tip Bran). We also walked over the millenium bridge and hung out on the Thames. After St. Paul's it was time to take the tube across London to the cricket match!! hehe. The aussies know their cricket and were stoked! The best part about the brits is that you can bring a bottle of wine in the stadium with you!! BONUS! So we learned the game of cricket and enjoyed some vino...next stop...aussie bar!! lol. We finished the night singing and dancing with new friends that we met at the match (also aussies).
Friday the 18th...
Nice little sleep in this morning. We made it for the changing of the guards at buckingham palace...pretty cool!! It was crazy busy but neat to see...good thing we are tall :)!! The queen was home so we were hoping to see her little head "pokin out" but no such luck! She must not have known we were in town otherwise we would have been there heads out the window...we do hear she is coming to Wloo to meet Basili and Lazaradus. Must catch her back home. Next stop as per Heather's only request...THE LONDON EYE...what a view, however the best part was the free 4D video in the beginning. Following the eye, we hit up big ben...or rather we walked over Westminster bridge and waved to Benny!! I then had to hit up Abbey Rd. The tourist maps don't actually show it so we went on an "adventure"!!! We took the tube...which I should mention that we can now do without our lame tourist maps. So we didn't know where we were...other than Abbey Rd...we definately went the complete opposite was of Abbey rd studios when we were maybe 200ft to the left of it...majorly disappointing when we walked for 40 mins in the opposite direction. Oh well...next time in london!! Lol. It's apparantly a big disappointment. Anyhow, we made our way back after another few hours being completely lost. The people are very helpful and friendly and really know their tube system. So we came home and saw the big game tonight...London was a bit crazy and the brits are PASSIONATE about their footy.
Anyhow, we are just finishin up for the night and we are heading to Manchester for the night tomorrow. Having a blast and meeting great people. Will keep you updated as we go and sorry for such a delayed post.
p.s. I should mention the angry brits who were less than impressed when we blew the circuit with our laptop that was also connected to the screen half hour before the game started...hehe...I thought we were going to be departed...all is well...we just tripped the breaker and all is good.
Hope all is well at home and we'll catch up soon!!
Love,

H&M