I've been to cities, that never close down

From New York, to Rio, and old London Town...

Ok, I haven't been to Rio, but apart from that it works, dammit.

Well, it's been an interesting few days. I seem to have lost a day flying from New York to London - we boarded the plane at 6:30pm, sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half, flew for 6 hours or so, arrived at 7:30am the next day due to time difference, stumbled zombie-like onto the underground, got off the underground due to track work, piled onto a bus with a horde of other tourists, fell off that, crawled into Earl's Court, was dragged into a dodgy hotel and collapsed onto a bed. Slept most of the day and the night.

The first actual day of being alive in London was good. As I said, I went to the Belfast, Tower Bridge and other stuff. The Belfast was very interesting. For those of you unaware, the ship is a cruiser, built in World War 2. It was equipped with twelve 6 inch guns, weighed about 10000 tons and could do 32 knots at top speed. It has been preserved as a reminder of England's naval heritage.

Here's some photos of the grand old lady. It's main claim to fame was that it took part in the Battle of North Cape, when the British Navy sunk the German Battlecruiser Scharnhorst, on December 26 1943. The battle was fought off the north coast of Norway, in Winter, in permanent darkness due to the proximity to the pole. Belfast's radar was instrumental in tracking the German ship until the British battleship Duke of York intercepted and blasted her to the bottom.


HMS Belfast, taken from London Bridge. I'd show you a photo of London Bridge, but just think of a really boring, grey version of Victoria Bridge in Brisbane, with graffiti and rubbish on it. Seriously.


The business end of the Belfast. The guns are elevated to a point where if they were fired, they would hit a spot some 12 miles distant, with 6 shells, each weighing approximately 110 pounds.


The Belfast from the shore. You can sort of see London Bridge in the distance.


Me on board the Belfast, in the holding cells. The crime? Drunk and Disorderly...duh.


A much more interesting bridge. I don't think I need to let anyone know what this is. We were fortunate enough to see it opening twice - once when we were about to go onboard the Belfast, and once when we were leaving.


Another view of the bridge. Apparently sometime last year the lowering mechanism on the bridge failed, and it remained open for 3 days, causing traffic chaos.

After leaving the Belfast and the Bridge, we had a small meal of Pasta and headed back via Westminster. We didn't look at it in great detail as time was short, but I plan to go there sometime over the next ten months or so I'm here. At this stage I'm trying to see as much as I can outside of London, while the family is here as well - I figure anything within range of a tube station I can easily see on weekends. I did snap a few photos however.


Monty - the snivelling little git.


The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. They're currently renovating Westminster Bridge, hence all the billboards and crap front and centre.


The London Eye. Somehow, this looks really out of place in London, as only a 80 metre high Ferris Wheel on the bank of the Thames can. It seems more American. Compared to New York, this place is SUBTLE. Mind you, most place are subtle compared to New York.


I'm not sure if Tony was home or not, but they certainly had a lot of security out the front. Whereas the Americans were more covert about their security at the White House (hidden agents, that sort of thing) the Poms just had 4 guys out the front packing MP5 sub-machine guns.

Today I spent a bit of time looking at the British Museum and the various relics therein - it makes you feel very insignificant to walk around and see artifacts from Egypt for example, which are over 4000 years old. So, I left, and returned to the Courtfield Hotel to watch Australia vs Japan. I must confess, that for 82 minutes I was somewhat despondent about Australia's chances. But, just like Kokoda, when we seemed on the ropes we turned around and gave the Japs a damn good hiding. Great game, and great atmosphere - the Courtfield is right in the middle of Earl's Court, which is the mecca for all Aussies overseas, which essentially means that the pub was packed with green and gold, and people were dancing in the street outside after the game. Bring on Brazil...well, maybe not, but one can always hope.

So far I'm enjoying England. It's an amazing place - I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot more once I have some pounds in an account, rather than relying on Aussie Dollars. At this stage I'm just trying to avoid spending any money I don't have to. One thing that struck me as odd though - the Thames is bloody filthy. I mean really filthy. I saw dead pigeons, clothes, food wrappers, plastic and human excrement floating in it yesterday from Tower Bridge. It is one thing that surprised me - compared to the US, which is incredibly tidy, England is a bit of a dump in that respect.

Still, I'd take Pommyland over Uncle Sam anyday.

Cheers all.