016 - tue 16/05/2006 - london

today we were determined to head into central london, but we decided to catch a ferry from canary wharf rather than take the tube. it definitely helped us to get our bearings a little, and i think i realised that a lot of the sights in london are actually much closer together than i expected.

we did the british airways london eye, which is basically a giant ferris wheel where you get excellent views of the entire city. i think the structure itself was as interesting as the view, it kind of seems so alien to have this monstrous modern ferris wheel sitting opposite the houses of parliament and big ben. when we descended we crossed the thames to have a look at the houses of parliament, which are some incredible looking buildings. at the moment there is a protester who has set up camp outside the front of parliament to protest against the war. people give him signs and placards to add to his collection so that now with all of his anti-this-and-that signage he is kind of a tourist attraction in his own right. sarah was telling us that they are currently trying to rush a new bill through parliament specifically to force him out of his little spot.

just behind parliament is westminster abbey, which is an imposing sight. unfortunately it was closed for some rehearsal, the queen was coming the following day so it was not open to the public. we moved on through nearby st james park, ate some sandwiches and fed some ducks. at the other end of st james park we found buckingham palace.

everything is squares and circuses. before long we'd walked through trafalgar square and leicester square. we started wandering around trying to decide what west end show we might see, when the rain came. we ducked into a little italian cafe for coffee.

back at sarah's place in limehouse, she cooked us pasta for dinner. we then headed out, sarah took us via the tube to a part of north london where she knew of a few good bars. we ended up drinking cocktails at a pretty laidback converted warehouse called cantaloupe, before coming home to finish off the rest of the chocolate pudding that suz cooked the previous night.

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