UK and Japan 2010

UK and Japan 2010 http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/ Returning to the Northern Hemisphere for a brief visit to Japan and a month in the UK en Copyright 2013 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:06:35 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Day 26 - Wednesday 22 September - Cornwall

Had a bit of a slow start, then headed into town to do our washing. While the washing was on we went for a walk down to the beach, and while the drying was on we went for a coffee. Well the sweetie did, I had an OJ :)

Tourist train in Newquay

Newquay

Beach at Newquay

Cool house on top of rocks in Newquay

Beach at Newquay

Bridge to the isolated house at Newquay

Fountain at Newquay

Having lots of weather here on holiday - yeah, story of our holiday!

Came back to the hotel and repacked our suitcases then headed out.

First stop was Padstow because Stu was interested in Rick Stein's restaurants. We had trouble with parking. The first car park was full, which mean a drive through pedestrian-infested streets trying to get out. Then the second car park was also full, with about ten cars in front of us trying to find parking. So tried for the top car park. Got a park there but the machine wouldn't take money (for me or the people in front of me). A city car park person came by and had a look and said yep, machine is broken (often happens in the rain) (did I mention it was raining?). So we got free parking! Do you have any idea how exciting that is in this country?? Anyways, so wandered down the hill in the rain. Had a bit of a wander around. Found Rick Stein's "The Seafood Restaurant" but they didn't have any tables. So went and found his cafe which is a bit more casual. Had some lovely seafood there. Our most expensive meal so far, but that was the point of going there.

Port at Padstow

The Seafood Restaurant at Padstow

Port at Padstow

Cornwall

So then headed south west and went out to the tourist trap known as Land's End. We got there at 5pm, but paid a pound too much for parking (£3 instead of £2 if we'd just waited two minutes for 5pm). Went down to the cliff edge and thought well that's lovely. Took photos of ourselves with the "overnight" Land's End sign that they put up after 5pm and don't charge £9.95 to stand in front of.

Stu at the entrance to Land's End

Lighthouse at Land's End

Rocks at Land's End

Signpost at Land's End

Stu at Land's End

Karen and Cutie at Land's End

Then headed back past Penzance (and the pirates thereof?) to St Michael's Mount to attempt to photograph it in the horizontally blowing rain (horizontally blowing *into* the direction of my camera, not away from it :( ).

St Michael's Mount

At least the parachute wind surfers were having fun

Then back to the B&B.

It's raining here. Severe weather warnings and everything.

Have I mentioned the rain?

Geotagging - Day 26

Photos on the Canon: 168

Photos on the Sony: 27

Photos on the iPhone: 1

Photos on the Blackberry: 1

Photos on the Video: 3

Videos on the Video: 11

Steps walked: 8479

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-26-wednesday-22-september.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-26-wednesday-22-september.html Attractions Beaches Castles Driving Food Laundry Parking Restaurants Walking Weather Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:26:43 +0100 Day 27 - Thursday 23 September - Newquay to Bognor Regis

First stop was the Headland Hotel, which is is just south-west of Newquay, and was used in the 1990 movie of Roald Dahl's The Witches.

Newquay

Headland Hotel, Newquay, used in the 1990 movie "The Witches"

Then we headed east.

Tiny little roads

First stop on the south coast was Polperro. Because my parents went there last year and raved about it and said it was one of the nicest places they went to. Because obviously they had a good day for it. For us, it rained. Of course it rained. The rain was fairly short lasting and was mostly gone by the time we'd stopped for a drink. But the tide was all the way out, so the little harbour was just a bit pile of mud. So didn't leap out for us as a nice place. Got ourselves a Cornish pastie cause we still hadn't had one, then headed off again. Had intended to see if we could find somewhere to get some photos of Looe (the next town along), but it was bigger and more crowded and the parking lot looked full to overflowing. So even though it was now sunny, we ended up just driving through and I didn't get a single photo :( But the tide was out so I suppose it wouldn't have been that great anyway.

Horse-drawn wagon in Polperro

Polperro

Cornish Piskies!

Muddy harbour in Polperro

Harbour in Polperro

Polperro

Cornish Pasties

So then had a big long drive, and stopped again at Lyme Regis. Walked down to the beach, but couldn't get very far along because the tide had come in and was blocking access. Don't know if there were other access points. So really just took some photos of the cliffs then headed off before them impending thunderstorm dumped on us (just made it back to the car in time!)

Seagull at Lyme Regis

Cliffs at Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis

Stu at Lyme Regis - hey look! Sunshine!

Stu at Lyme Regis

This is as far as we got before we couldn't go any further

Cliffs at Lyme Regis

Lots more driving. Ended up in Portsmouth around 7pm. We thought we'd be able to have a wander around the Historic Dockyard. Except it closes at like 6pm and there's no access at all, just a super high brick wall blocking the view of everything :( We should have known - the two nearby carparks were closed and we thought we scored by getting a free on-street park. I thought the place would be somewhat like Darling Harbour where you just wander around. Instead the place was almost completely dead. Just a couple of shops open, a couple of restaurants and a night club. We had expensive pizza and beer for dinner. Took some photos of the Spinnaker Tower then headed off again.

Cute cloud

Entrance to Portsmouth

HMS Warrior, Portsmouth

HMS Warrior

Spinnaker Tower

The only things open in Portsmouth after 6pm

Spinnaker Tower

Arrived in Bognor Regis and found our hotel (Best Western Beachcroft). Probably one of the nicer hotels we've stayed in this trip. Or maybe it's just the view out to the English Channel with the moon rise over the water.. super awesome :) And lots of space too. Although the poor sweetie had to drag our bags up to the second floor.. sorry sweetie!

View from our hotel in Bognor Regis

Geotagging - Day 27

Photos on the Canon: 219

Photos on the Sony: 11

Photos on the Video: 3

Videos on the Video: 10

Steps walked: 10361

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-27-thursday-23-september-n.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-27-thursday-23-september-n.html Beaches Driving Hotels Parking Towns Weather Thu, 23 Sep 2010 22:02:06 +0100 Day 28 - Friday 24 September - Bognor Regis to Folkestone

I went for a walk down to the beach while Stu was getting ready. Not a terribly nice beach, and separated every twenty metres or so with walls to stop erosion. Walked west to get a better look at the circus tent looking thing. Didn't find out what it was until I looked it up just then - it's a Butlins Holiday Park.

Beach at Bognor Regis

Bathing Boxes at Bognor Regis

So we headed off. First stop was Brighton to have a look at the pier and the Royal Pavilion. Was quite surprised that Brighton actually has no sand beach at all - it's all small rocks!! Bizarre. Found the place very noisy (from traffic) and not very pedestrian friendly. Was quite happy to get out of there before our first hour of parking was used up.

Grand Hotel, Brighton

Brighton Pier

West Pier at Brighton, finally destroyed by fire in 2003

Brighton Pier

Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Brighton Clock Tower

Next headed for a view of the Seven Sisters at Beachy Head. As we pulled up there was sun on the cliffs. So jumped out with just my camera and headed off down the path to get a better view. Well of course, that was my first problem. Five or ten minutes later, just before I got to the cliff, it decided to start raining. Rather a lot. So I ran for the cover of a tree (which was actually quite successful I have to admit - an Australian native would offer no such protection from rain). Waited waited waited. Finally it stopped so went down a bit closer to take some photos. As I was heading back, the sun started to come out on the cliffs. But this was of course after I'd left the best position to document them. It was just fail on so many levels.

Seven Sisters at Beachy Head

Decided to skip another view of the cliffs and a drive through Eastbourne in favour of getting to Dover at a reasonable hour. Actually went past the Long Man of Wilmington which I'd not listed in the day's activities thinking we'd be going around the coast.

Long Man of Wilmington

Drove drove drove. Stopped at a Scottish Restaurant for lunch.

Getting stuck behind flocks of sheep is a minor hazard travelling in England

Saw France on the way into Dover :)

And finally made it to Dover Castle just after 4pm. The place closes at 6pm. And it was raining. Have I mentioned how much it rains here? Decided to go in anyway. £13.90 each. We definitely should have gotten English Heritage membership :/ They asked us if we wanted to go on the 5pm secret war tunnels tour and we said yes. But that was way at the bottom of the castle, and the tower etc were way up the top. Which meant we had a grand total of half an hour to explore the castle :(:(:( Which was a shame because it was a very cool castle to explore. Rather than directing you in one way and out another, you can go in and just explore little nooks and crannies and rooms and stairways and corridors. It was a lot of fun, but we just didn't have the time to do it justice :( In fact I actually managed to lose the sweetie which was quite stressful because we had to get down to the tunnels.

Dover Castle

Entrance gate at Dover Castle

Dover Castle

Interior of Dover Castle

Corridor in Dover Castle

View of Dover from the top of the castle

Top of Dover Castle

English Channel from Dover Castle

Dover Castle

Dover from Dover Castle

St Mary in the Castle church

Dover Castle

Interior of Dover Castle

Dover Castle

After much stress, we both made it to the tunnels by 5pm. But of course you can't take photos :(:(:( So was really stressed out and then grumpy as well. Blah!! But it was pretty cool to see the tunnels anyway.

Entrance to the tunnels

So left when the tour was done and headed for the hotel.

Stopped at the Battle of Britain Memorial. It was raining. A lot. And windy. Which was bad for my camera but in one way it was good because there was noone else there. Had the place to myself. Managed a couple of photos, with and without rain on the lens.

Battle of Britain Memorial

Supermarine Spitfire Mark I replica at the Battle of Britain Memorial

Battle of Britain Memorial sign

Got to the hotel. Internet access is a pain cause you really need a wifi username and password for each device. And the fire alarm has gone off for ten seconds tonight. Yay. But the nicest thing about this hotel is its location, with an outlook to the English Channel. Can see France! :) The moon over the water was amazing before.

Went out to get a pizza for dinner. At the local Pizza Hut. Most expensive pizza I've ever eaten. £11.99 - which is $25AUD for a standard size pizza!! Gah!!!! Just a plain old pepperoni pizza. Insane, totally insane :( Still, it was actually quite nice.

Hoping for five minutes of sunlight tomorrow morning to see the cliffs, that's all I'm asking. It can rain the rest of the day, but some sun on the cliffs would be nice... kthxbai!

Photos on the Canon: 242

Photos on the Sony: 7

Photos on the Video: 6

Videos on the Video: 10

Steps walked: 15414

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-28-friday-24-september-bog.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-28-friday-24-september-bog.html Attractions Beaches Buildings Castles Cliffs Food Hotels Monuments Tunnels Weather Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:16:08 +0100 Day 29 - Saturday 25 September - Folkestone to London

Sunrise over the English Channel

Headed off around 8:20 and went up to St Margarets Bay. On the way the clouds started rolling in from the west. I did the only appropriate thing - burst into tears. Because I was so completely sick of cloudy and rainy weather. But the clouds passed a little way north of us, and when we got there it was still a bit sunny on the cliffs. The view wasn't hugely great - you really need to get out on a boat for the best views. But hopefully got some ok photos.

Dover Castle

Entrance to the tunnels at Dover Castle

Buildings under the White Cliffs in Dover

White Cliffs of Dover

These clouds made me cry

Channel ferry

White Cliffs of Dover at St Margaret's Bay

Second stop was at Samphire Hoe, which is an area of reclaimed land they created by using the diggings from the Channel Tunnel. The view wasn't great there either - all the cliffs were covered with plants around there.

Heading down to the tunnel to the Chunnel landfill

Going through the tunnel

White Cliffs of Dover from the Chunnel landfill

Chunnel landfill

Dog Poop bin!

Heading back out

Reminding Europeans to drive on the left

So then we drove on to London, hoping we'd see a roadside Maccas where we could have breakfast. Except we didn't find any. We found a Burger King but bypassed that in hopes of a Maccas. So suddenly we were in London and we hadn't had breakfast :( Note to self: don't try to attack driving through crazy busy big city streets on no breakfast. It makes for unhappy campers :( Stoopid traffic jams too which added to the stress levels. We'd allowed heaps of time to return the car, but in the end only *just* made it back in time :/

Naughty person on board!

Battersea Power Station

So jumped on a train (15 min wait) to Earl's Court to stay at the *other* Earl's Court Best Western - on the north side this time. The room wasn't ready so left all the bags with the sweetie and headed into town to see Buckingham Palace.

It was about a half hour queue to get tickets, then the entry was 45 minutes after that, so wandered around Green Park for a while. They've also resurfaced the road in front of the palace in the past two weeks. This spot I've been to three times in three weeks, which is all a little odd. So went back at 2:45 and accidently ended up in the 2:30 queue .. oops.. didn't mean to.. oh well ..

Gates open at Buckingham Palace

Canadian War Memorial in Green Park

Queen Victoria statue from Green Park

The palace state rooms tour was actually pretty good. Of course you can't take photos :( But the audio guide was pretty decent. Lots of very beautiful rooms and only one thing that was too crowded (too much commentary for such a small space). Quite enjoyed it overall. Took around an hour and a half to do the whole thing. Then headed back to the hotel.

Rear of Buckingham Palace

Pond in Buckingham Palace grounds

Security at the back of Buckingham Palace

Went for a wander and had a pint at the Kings Head (one of about a billion Kings Head pubs in England - either that or Red Lions) and then across the road to a French restaurant for a very yummy three course meal for £9.95 each.

Geotagging - Day 29

Photos on the Canon: 142

Photos on the Sony: 27

Photos on the iPhone: 1

Photos on the Video: 1

Videos on the Video: 7

Steps walked: 10086

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-29-saturday-25-september-f.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-29-saturday-25-september-f.html Cliffs Driving Food Hotels Palaces Weather Sat, 25 Sep 2010 21:07:49 +0100 Day 30 - Sunday 26 September - London

So got up fairly late.

Had breakfast at the local Scottish Restaurant (for £5 for the two of us instead of £30 the hotel would have charged).

Then hopped on a tube train then a regular train out to Charlton to walk up to the Thames Flood Barrier (past a half marathon in progress which closed off the road we walked up). The flood barrier stuff was pretty cool. Interesting to see how they built it and how it works. Had a toasted sandwich in the cafe there for lunch.

Security cameras at Charing Cross station

Rows of houses outside Waterloo station

Marathon runners on Woolwich Road, Charlton

Thames Flood Barrier

Model of the flood control system

Stu ponders the denting caused by stress-testing the scale model

Scale model of the flood control system used for testing the design

Thames Flood Barrier

Instead of walking back to the station and training it two stops, we decided to walk for a while back along the Thames. You can actually walk all the way along it, but we cut across the Greenwich peninsula (and cut across the end of the half marathon, and even saw the exact same girl wearing an Elmo on her back that we saw the first time two hours ago!).

Thames Path National Trail tunnel

This wall showed the length and height of the Thames as it comes down from its headwaters

Thames heights near Runnymede

Looking towards London and the North Greenwich Arena

Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park

Elmo girl!

Buzz Lightyear was also running

So headed into the park at Greenwich and up to the observatory. Joined the hordes trying to get their photo taken on the prime meridian. Also had a look at the old telescope buildings. And got filled with rage at people taking photos of the telescopes when it says all over the place that photography is forbidden :(:( Epic grunt. Should have taken some myself :/ The GPS doesn't actually line up with this, as the meridian for GPS is actually about 102m east of the prime meridian. Go figure. Headed back to the station and found another marked location of the prime meridian, with (hurrah) no tourists! Win! :)

Sundial in Greenwich Park

Greenwich Observatory

National Maritime Museum

North Greenwich Arena

Greenwich Observatory

Shepherd 24-hour Gate Clock and Public Standards of Length

Greenwich Observatory

Stu on the Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian

Greenwich Observatory

Prime Meridian on Park Vista just north of the gardens

Trained it back to the hotel. Got our washing together and went and put it on, and had Thai for dinner next door. Two mains, two desserts and a bottle of wine, and suddenly we have a $100AUD bill :( This country is so expensive it's more than just a little ridiculous. Put on the drying and had a McFlurry then back to the hotel to research tomorrow..

Oh I forgot to mention.. I got THE BEST value for money deal possible in this country tonight - sixteen 500mg paracetamol caplets for 16p!! Yes, that's 1 pence per tablet!! At that rate I considered buying a whole bunch to stock us up for the next few years .. altho customs might have had something to say about that!!

Geotagging - Day 30

Photos on the Canon: 163

Photos on the Sony: 24

Photos on the iPhone: 6

Photos on the Olympus: 9

Photos on the Blackberry: 6

Photos on the Video: 21

Videos on the Video: 11

Steps walked: 18641

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-30-sunday-26-september-lon.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-30-sunday-26-september-lon.html Attractions Buildings Food Heat Hotels Laundry Restaurants Sleep Trains Walking Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:07:28 +0100 Day 31 - Monday 27 September - Oxford

So was awake for two and a half hours in the middle of the night cause it hurt *sigh*

Got up around 7:20 and convinced the sweetie to get up too.

Had a repeat of Maccas breakfast and then headed for Paddington. Discovered the different ticket machines give different priced tickets - go figure. Found one that did a return for the same price as a single (again, go figure) and booked it. 9:21 to Oxford.

Had a pretty good day in Oxford.

It rained nearly all day.

First headed for the Bodleian Library to get on a tour of the Divinity School and the Duke Humfrey's Library. Had twenty minutes to spare so wandered around and got the sweetie a coffee.

Sheldonian Theatre

Bridge of Sighs

The Bodleian Library tour went for an hour and was quite interesting. I would have enjoyed it even if it wasn't a Harry Potter location ;)

Divinity School

Convocation House, next to the Divinity School

The Tower of the Five Orders

Silence Please!

Went and climbed the University Church tower for some nice views

Radcliffe Camera from the University Church

Looking into All Souls College

Looking into Brasenose College

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin

Next went to find some lunch. As we were both low on energy levels it took us a little while to find something suitable.

The Saxon tower of St Michael at the North Gate

After lunch wandered back up to where we'd seen a walking tour advertised.

The walking tour turned out to be really good. The dude took us into four colleges (Jesus, Exeter, Lincoln and New), and we saw quadrangles and dining halls and chapels for most of them. It was just nice cause he took us behind doors and down paths we probably would not have thought to have gone down if we were doing things by ourselves. Even came across a couple of Australian Rhodes Scholars (a girl from Brisbane doing law, and a guy (who looked about 16) from Adelaide doing inorganic chemistry). They'd only been in the country a few days. The tour finished in the cloisters of New College, where Goblet of Fire was filmed :)

Entrance to Jesus College

Jesus College dining hall

Jesus College quadrangle

Jesus College chapel

Exeter College quadrangle

Exeter College chapel

I love the detail on the organ of Exeter College chapel

Exeter College chapel

Exeter College quadrangle

South side of the Divinity School

Radcliffe Camera

Lincoln College quadrangle

Lincoln College dining hall

New College quadrangle

New College grounds including the old Oxford city wall

New College chapel

Beautiful stained glass in New College chapel

Crook of the crozier of William of Wykeham

New College chapel

Cloister of New College featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

New College quadrangle

New College quadrangle featured in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Draco gets turned into a ferret under this tree

After talking to Cedric, Harry walks through this gate

So next headed down to Christ Church to go in and see the hall and cathedral. The hall being the inspiration for the great hall in Harry Potter, and they used the entrance staircase in Philosopher's Stone. So that was pretty squee.

Christ Church college

Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church quadrangle

There's a shot of Ron and Hermione at the top of these steps at the end of Chamber of Secrets

Entrance to Hogwarts!

Steps used in the first two Harry Potter movies

McGonnagal stood at the top of these stairs to welcome the first years

The kids all walk up here

The real entrance to the Great Hall

Christ Church dining room

Christ Church ceiling - does it look anything like Hogwarts?

Christ Church dining room

The fireplace with the "long necks" that inspired Lewis Carroll

Christ Church Cathedral

Another Christ Church quadrangle

Feet were dead by this point and we were hungry so we headed back to London.

Bicycle parking at Oxford Station

UK trains with built-in GPS and airline style entertainment system (that you had to pay for)

Stopped at a Chinese restaurant near the hotel for dinner - had some very nice szechuan twice fried pork and bok choi in oyster sauce.

Got back to the hotel and my world fell apart...

Geotagging - Day 31

Photos on the Canon: 294

Photos on the Sony: 158

Photos on the Video: 1

Videos on the Video: 10

Steps walked: 15637

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-31-monday-27-september-oxf.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-31-monday-27-september-oxf.html Attractions Buildings Cathedrals Colleges Harry Potter Oxford Rain Restaurants Trains Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:42:26 +0100 Day 32 - Tuesday 28 September - London Actually a single sad face doesn't even begin to cover my devastation :(

So we slept in late.

Maccas for breakfast - but only just - got there at 10:40 and had the last of their hash browns and two of the last four sausage and egg McMuffins.

Then trained it into Leicester Square. Stu went and got a haircut and I went to get photos of a couple of Monopoly streets I somehow missed last time.

Kate Winslet's handprints at Leicester Square

Stu outside the barber shop he got his hair cut at

Then we went to a couple of book stores - Orbital and Forbidden Planet - the latter being more interesting (for me) and bigger, but Stu bought a couple of books from the former.

Jareth and Hoggle

Carried on walking. Arrived at Temple Church just before 2pm, which is when it was opening for the day, then had a look around inside.

Telephone boxes

Australia House - Gringotts!

Foyer of Australia House

Bus on Fleet Street

Temple Church

Angry looking pegasus

Temple Church in stained glass

Up to St Pauls to get a few more photos of the exterior (because it was raining last time which made it quite difficult to get photos).

St Paul's Cathedral

Queen Anne statue outside St Paul's Cathedral

Then headed for St Mary-Le-Bow church, to find the vegetarian cafe (Cafe Below) which Stu had read about in his Secret London book. Had a bit of lunch there (it was about 3:30pm by now).

Royal Exchange, Bank

Then Stu found a Starbucks to have a coffee in while I went and climbed the 311 steps of the Monument. Kicking myself I didn't get the chance to go up it when it cost me £1, so I had to pay an additional £3 today - doh! Was a crap day for a view, but did get to see Tower Bridge open up for a cruise liner to go through it.

Monument

Looking up the stairs of Monument

London from Monument

Tower Bridge from Monument

The Shard under construction

London Eye and Tate Modern

Golden Hinde and Pickfords Wharf

Strata SE1 (aka Isengard)

Tower Bride opening

Alexander von Humbolt going through Tower Bridge

The Gherkin

St Paul's Cathedral

Gold top of Monument

Top of Monument

Finally headed up past Liverpool St station to meet Campbell for dinner in a restaurant called Ping Pong hehee. Was a pretty good yum cha sort of a meal, and it was super awesome to catch up with Campbell.

The Gherkin

Then headed back to the hotel to try and sort out our finances (we seem to have gone over our travel card limit by £13 so not sure what's going to happen there) and sort out paperwork.

Geotagging - Day 32

Photos on the Canon: 194

Photos on the Sony: 103

Photos on the iPhone: 27

Photos on the Olympus: 3

Photos on the Blackberry: 9

Photos on the Video: 9

Videos on the Video: 9

Steps walked: 16521

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-32-tuesday-28-september-lo.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-32-tuesday-28-september-lo.html Churches Fail Food Friends London Monuments Restaurants Trains Walking Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:21:32 +0100 Day 33 - Wednesday 29 September - London

Maccas for breakfast, rinse and repeat.

Stu and the Tardis at Earl's Court Station

Then tubed it out to Camden Town to have a look at the markets. Didn't actually make it as far as the stables markets, just as far as the lock.

Camden Market

Plane on the side of a building

Camden Market

Vespa seats

Stu and the Camden Lion

Camden Lock

Camden

White chocolate and dark chocolate fountains

Mind the Gap

Then wandered back to Leicester Square for lunch. Went to this Mexican place Stu thought looked interesting the last time (actually the first time, this was our third time to Leicester Square) we were there. So we sat down outside but noone came. Started at the windows hoping someone would pay attention to us. Finally the woman on the door came out and said oh we're not serving outside today. Fail. You could have told us that before instead of letting us sit there. Had some margaritas and some nice nachos, but my caesar salad was probably the worst caesar salad I've ever had - just a bunch of lettuce and a few croutons with a bit of sauce. There were a couple of token bits of parmesan cheese but no bacon. Fail fail fail.

So I was grumpy and a bit stressed, because my next destination I was going to by myself and didn't know exactly where it was.

The next destination being the Adelphi theatre for a production of "Love Never Dies" - a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. It had mixed reviews and I didn't know any of the songs, so I was trying to not to expect too much of it. In the end I really enjoyed it, even though when I recounted the story to Stu it actually sounded really lame (and I suppose it was). An encore performance with the whole ensemble at the end would have been nice, as the ending was quite sad and quiet.

Then back to the hotel at peak hour. In the rain. Have I ever mentioned how much it rains here?

After resting for a bit, we went back to No 10 Chinese again for dinner (spicy chicken this time, which wasn't too spicy unless you had the dried chilies.

And then repacked our suitcases and tried to mentally prepare for the next 48 hours...

Geotagging - Day 33

Photos on the Canon: 13

Photos on the Sony: 55

Photos on the iPhone: 6

Photos on the Blackberry: 5

Steps walked: 8053

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-33-wednesday-29-september.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/09/day-33-wednesday-29-september.html Food Rain Restaurants Shopping Theatre Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:43:47 +0100 Day 34-36 - Thursday to Saturday 30/9-2/10 - London to Canberra via Japan

So woke up in the hotel in London at 6am and got ready. Tried to get a takeaway breakfast at Maccas but there were like six people in front of me and only one dude serving, so gave up on that idea and just hopped on a train to the airport. Still have like £10 left on our Oyster cards - doh!

It was pretty foggy, and when we arrived at the airport they had to try and fit us onto an earlier flight, as our scheduled flight was delayed, and we'd miss our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Narita. So they sorted that, but we both had middle seats :( Turns out the earlier flight they put us on was also delayed, so it left only just before our other one was meant to.

Yay going home!

Got to see a little of London from the middle seat, and stuck random camera out to get a few photos. Didn't see much else after landfall in France, as the continent was clouded over.

City of London from the plane

Passing through Frankfurt was pretty painless. Had to do the long walk between the terminals in reverse to what we did on the way in the first time.

Air traffic control tower at Frankfurt airport

Same seat in the A380, so facing south this time instead of north. If I travel again on an A380 will see if can get an upper deck seat and see if they're any closer to the windows than the lower deck.

Our A380 - the first one Lufthansa purchased

I watched a few movies. Firstly The Spy Next Door, which was a kids movie so a little silly, but had Jackie Chan in it so was kinda fun. Then Young Victoria which I really enjoyed. This was filmed around Blenheim Palace which we might have gone and seen on our Oxford day except that we didn't have the time. Then Prince of Persia, which was utterly ridiculuous (but it was a Bruckheimer film, so you go in with an expectation that it will be thus) but still quite fun. I also started to watch The Karate Kid, but it made me grunty because they'd cut heaps and heaps out of it - shortening scenes all over the place. So skipped through to the bit they filmed in the mountains and just watched the second half of it.

Clouds over Europe

A380 wingtip in the sunset

So arrived in Narita about 11:30pm London time. It was 7:30am in Narita (Friday 1st), and our next flight wasn't til 8:30. PM. So a stoopid thirteen hour layover. So caught the yellow inter terminal bus around to T2 to see about checking in but nothing was open for Qantas, so we dumped our bags in some lockers (conveniently located right there in the check in terminal) and hopped on a train into Narita. Took the Keisei line cause we found the machines for that line first. It having been nineteen hours since our last shower we both felt a little disgusting. Stopped in maccas first for some breakfast, then got the zombie that was the sweetie moving. Headed slowly up to the temples/shrines in Narita. Found a nice spot under a bit of wisteria to just sit for a while, but I couldn't sit still because of restless legs, so paced until my feet hurt from standing. Stu was having a lie down (there was actually *seating* all around this park, which is unusual for Japan!) but eventually we kept walking slowly. I was starting to fade at this point too. Got down to the lake and looked at the fishies and tortoises. Then kept wandering, even more slowly now. We were hot again too which didn't help.

Narita!

Cleaner robots at Narita airport

Welcome to Narita sign

Stone animals in Narita

Walking down to the temples in Narita

Temple area in Narita

Tortoises!

Temple area in Narita

Incense burning

Temple area in Narita

Gardens in Narita

Temple area in Narita

The wisteria we rested under

Gardens in Narita

Tortoise

Koi feeding frenzy

Gardens in Narita

Temple area in Narita

So hopped on another train back to the airport and arrived around 2:15pm.

Except the Qantas terminal (we asked) didn't open til 5pm. Doh!

So went downstairs and used a shower room each. Best inventions ever those things, and only 500 yen for half an hour. Felt a lot more human after that. Then proceeded to find somewhere to have a beer. Was quite taken by a place called "Beer and Takoyaki" so headed for that. Nom! :) But pretty expensive of course. Wandered round some more and found somewhere to sit looking at the planes and dozed on the chairs (very uncomfortable tho!)

Beer and Takoyaki!

5pm came round and we went down to check in (and there was a massive queue! What the??) Presumably lots of other people like us in similar layover situations. So checked in and went through security and into the Qantas Club. Found some computers with interwebs and had some snacks and some Moet and Chandon while looking at the planes and using the internet. Was the best I'd felt all day heh. We were right next to our departure gate, so could see our plane being brought in and made ready for our flight.

Our plane, seen from the Qantas lounge

Dozed on the plane before take off and could barely keep my eyes open to watch the take off. Forced myself to eat dinner even though I didn't really feel like it. Then brushed my teeth and attempted to sleep. Was only moderately successful. Probably got a couple of hours sleep. Got to see the moon around the equator, which looked like a big smiling mouth, and horizontal to the horizon too. And Orion was there too on his side. As the night progressed the moon returned to its correct orientation (the moon in the northern hemisphere is upside down - a little freaky!). Got a little bit more sleep but not much. Breakfast was around 4:30am Narita time, and landed around 6:30 (7:30 Sydney time, Saturday 2nd). Got the best view of my house I'd ever seen from a plane coming into Sydney airport (in from the north, then out over the National Park and round to the left to land from the south on 34L).

Sunrise over Australia

Middle Harbour, Sydney

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney CBD

Pyrmont

Rockdale shops on West Botany Street

Look mum I can see my house from here!

Caringbah

Immigration and customs were really painful. The ePassport system wasn't working at all and the other queues were going really slowly. I of course got the slowest lane in the room and ended up switching when the room was just about empty. Lame. Customs was also pretty painful - really long queues and seemingly not very organised (people wandering about all over the place trying to figure out where to be :/ ).

Finally escaped for a short break in the Qantas Club for a drink and an apple, then onto our Dash 8 (a teeny 300 series one - only 12 rows!). Surprisingly we took off on 34L as well, rather than the third runway.

Canal, Mascot

Sydney

Arrival in Canberra ten minutes late, and then a lift home.

Kevin Rudd at the airport

Souvenirs and gifts picked up along the way

Geotagging - Day 34

Photos on the Canon: 237

Photos on the Sony: 343

Videos on the Sony: 2

Photos on the iPhone: 1

Steps walked: 4268 + 14373

Pounds Spent: ?

]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/10/day-3436-wednesday-to-saturday.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2010/10/day-3436-wednesday-to-saturday.html Airports Food Narita Planes Temples Trains Walking Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:40:03 +0100 Panoramas - Japan

Kyoto Tower 360 view

Arashiyama, Kyoto

View of Kyoto from the top of Iwatayama

View from our hotel

Bridges in Akihabara

Akihabarah buildings

Kebab vans in Akihabara

Tokyo National Museum
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-japan.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-japan.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:30:44 +0100 Panoramas - London (Part 1)

Best Weston Hotel, Earl's Court

River Thames from Lambeth Bridge

Westminster Palace

River Thames

River Thames including St Paul's and Millennium Bridge

River Thames from Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Kings Cross Station

Kings Cross Station with the old location of Platform 9 3/4

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria statue 360

Queen Victoria statue and Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Ministry of Magic Visitor's Entrance

Hyde Park Corner

Hyde Park

River Thames with Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern

View from a balcony in the Tate Modern

Kensington Palace gardens

Whale skeletons in the Museum of Natural History

British Museum

British Museum great hall

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria statue

View from the London Eye

River Thames, including city of London, Tower of London and Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge view

Tower Bridge

Leadenhall Markets
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-london-part-1.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-london-part-1.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:42:25 +0100 Panoramas - England (Part 1)

Street in Leavesden where Harry catches the Knight Bus

Warwick Castle

Sherwood Forest and Major Oak

View from York Minster

River Ouse, York

Hogwarts Express at the National Railway Museum

York station from the York city wall

Recreated set of All Creatures Great and Small in Thirsk, York

North York Moors

Goathland (aka Hogsmeade) station

Housteads Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick Castle
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-england-part-1.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-england-part-1.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:47:56 +0100 Panoramas - Scotland

Firth of Forth bridges

Tim the Enchanter's quarry

Scottish Highlands

Loch Lochy

Loch Ness

Eilean Donan Castle

Glenfinnan Viaduct

Loch Eilt, featured in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Glen Nevis

Hill behind Clachaig Inn where Hagrid's Hut was built

Hill behind Clachaig Inn used in Prizoner of Azkaban

Hillside used in Prizoner of Azkaban

Glencoe

Waterfall in Glencoe

Glencoe 360

Glencoe

Ballachulish Bridge

Ballachulish Bridge
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-scotland.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-scotland.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:51:48 +0100 Panoramas - England (Part 2)

Hills off B5289 near Crummock Water

Crummock Water

Cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral

Stonehenge

Longleat Maze

Warming House, Lacock Abbey

The Circus, Bath

Royal Crescent, Bath

Newquay

Padstow

Polperro

Lyme Regis

Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Seven Sisters

Dover Castle

View from Dover Castle

Dover Castle

Battle of Britain Memorial

White Cliffs of Dover at St Margaret's Bay

White Cliffs of Dover

White Cliffs of Dover
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-england-part-2.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-england-part-2.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:58:23 +0100 Panoramas - London (Part 2)

Buckingham Palace Gardens

Thames Flood Barrier

Maritime Museum, Greenwich

London from Greenwich Observatory

View of Oxford from the university church

Jesus College quadrangle

Exeter College quadrangle

New College and Oxford city wall

New College cloisters used in Goblet of Fire

Christ Church College

Christ Church quadrangle

Christ Church dining hall

Christ Church small quadrangle

St Paul's Cathedral

View from Monument

View from Monument 360

View from Monument

A380 at Frankfurt airport
]]> http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-london-part-2.html http://kazza.id.au/uk_2010/2012/10/panoramas-london-part-2.html Panoramas Mon, 01 Oct 2012 09:06:35 +0100