claim token and Notting Hill

I'm not sure if this is what I'm supposed to do, but I'm trying to get my blog rated by technorati, and I'm supposed to put my claim token (YRA64W3YCZB8) up on a post? So hopefully this works.

On other matters, Anni, Biheng and Courtney braved the awful London weather and went to Notting Hill Gate today. Despite the cold and wet the tourists turned out in their drones, trying to get a unique antique or piece of jewellery. And of course there was the incredible Hummingbird Bakery. Amazing Red Velvet cake... drool. Anni didn't have time to grab me before going because she ended up in the hospital again last night after falling on her sore wrist again. It's okay, she hasn't broken it, but she does have an appointment with the soft tissue injury clinic just to make sure that there's nothing too serious. But that won't stop us going to Paris!

Time and Longitude

Hello! Yesterday Anni, Maria, Indy, Anne and I stepped across time. We jumped from East to West. We crossed over the Greenwich Meridian Time Line.

Again, the weather was perfect for an outing, clear blue skies and crisp fresh winds. The Greenwich Information Centre is cool; lots of toys and games for you to learn about it's rich history. My tip; go during school hours when school is actually on. Then you don't have annoying children trying to play with the games when you are obviously trying to learn!

The walk up the hill to the Royal Observatory is decent, but so worth it. You can see right across London, complementing the view you get from Primrose Hill to allow you to appreciate the awesomness that is London.

So it's going to be a bit quiet for a week; Maria and Indy go home today, and Anni is off to Varese to see her bisnonna (I'm not allowed to come because she doesn't have enough room in her hand luggage). But then on Friday we go to PARIS!

Walking in Westminster

Finally, after living in London for 18 months, Anni and I went back to tourist basics and did the New Europe London walking tour, along with Maria, Indy and Anne.

It was the perfect winters day to go on a walking tour; fresh crisp wind, gorgeous blue skies, lovely lovely sunshine, and a tour guide with a fantastic Irish accent (yes, Anni was incredibly happy). We covered Hyde Park Corner, Buckingham Palace (where we got to see the changing of the guards), Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing St, St Stephens/Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament where we saw a fantastic rendition of the hung, strung and quartered.

There is still a lot of tourist places in London that I haven't been yet, but I think Anni has done a pretty good job of getting out there whilst keeping under a tight budget also. Next week we go on our last hoorah tour, including PARIS! Oooh la la. Am definitely looking forward to that.

ooops!

At the last update, Anni and I were supposed to go to Seville... Alas, we are back in London town instead! Just after Anni wrote that blog she went out partying and fell over, hurting her wrist and loosing her bankcard. So she booked a flight home and thus we are here. However, there are plenty of things we can do whilst here, so our adventures shall not finish. For example, Primrose Hill. And possibly a day trip over to Wales? Also, we are still going on tour at the end of the month, and Australia Day is coming up, so there are plenty of awkward photo opportunities ahead.

Just because Anni can, here is another pic from Gibraltar, this one you can see me pointing at Africa (Morocco). Also, if you have any suggestions for what Anni and I should do this weekend, let me know.

Granada

Hola from Granada! It is amazingly beautiful here in the Arab quarter of the city. We went up to see the La Alhambra today and Anni took over 300 photos of things... seriously! Tapas and Churros mixed with lots of Sangria is what is on the menu, so yummy. If you're ever wanting to come to Granada, you must stay at the Oasis backpackers... awesome.
As promised, the photos of the monkeys attacking me in Gibraltar. This hostel has a SD card drive on their computer, so here it is!
More adventures to come. Tomorrow we go to Seville.

update

Well we were supposed to go to Poland, but Anni got too cold whilst in Berlin we ended up back in London for New Years Eve and instead of returning to the negative temperatures, we headed to sunny sunny Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is a UK colony on the southern tip of Spain, separated by 27km of water from Morocco. Its 7 squared kilometres with 29,000 inhabitants who are both UK and EU citizens. And most of it is taken up by a giant rock.
The airport goes over the main road that goes into the country. Anni and I actually walked over the border into Spain today. Technically we haven't actually entered Spain because they didn't stamp her passport.... But we did get an awesome Gibraltar stamp!
The monkeys at the top of the rock are soooo tame, they actually climbed all over me and tried to bite my face! Anni promises to upload photos asap.
So the trip to Poland and Germany has been cancelled. Where to next we don't really know. At the moment we are in Malaga. Tomorrow we go to Granada. After that...