Back in London...

the end is nigh.

We only spent one night in Tintern (at a great little B&B, Tintern Old Rectory).

Back on the road, we left Wales & headed for Oxford to return our car and just on a train back to London. Quick note here to anyone planning to drive around the UK. Traffic into Oxford on the A420 is shit. It took nearly 40 minutes to drive a stretch of road no longer than the Perth CBD. Urgh!

Our new London hotel is on Fleet Street, a very pretty but commercial focused part of town. First night back we headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see A Midsummer Night's Dream (my favourite). Very good production (as one would expect), and although I'm not a fan of the overtly angry/aggressive version of Oberon they chose to portray, it was brilliant.

Unfortunately standing on the cold concrete for 3 hours killed both my achilles. : ( Much pain followed and my walking around the city was hampered somewhat for the next few days.

Camden

We headed to the Camden Markets for a spot of shopping. The highlight (for me at least) was Cyberdog. I've been wearing their clothing Alice brought some back for me several years ago, but this was my chance to see everything they had to offer. Very cool store with many awesome clothes. If only there was more going on in Perth that we could justify spending that much money on them.

We also checked a number of small dark-alt/goth clothing stores. Nothing inspiring found unfortunately. Apparently all the stores have become very "same-y" and let's not get start on the lack of decent size variety.

Final Days

We made our best efforts to pack in some more sightseeing in our last two days in London. We spent over 2 hours on a bus tour of the city with a cool young guide (Harry), marvelling at the city and its history while chatting about comparisons to our own "home town". It was a great way to see areas we hadn't had time and helped us start a list of the things we'll prioritise to see next time.

Bus Tour photos here

The last day was a weird mix of final walking sightseeing opportunities, starting to miss London already and being quite keen to be at home (with friends & cats & our own bed). Walked along the embankment in the morning all the way down to the House of Parliament. Beautiful walk, more photos taken (including the obligatory Big Ben selfie).

We split up for the afternoon. Alice did some more wandering while I finalised our bags for the evenings travel plans. But once everything else was done we walked across Fleet St to the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub for a final toast to an incredible trip. This pub was rebuilt in 1667 and has been running as a pub ever since. It's tucked away in a little alley and seems as traditional as traditional can get. I mean, sawdust on the floor and everything. Although the aussie boy from Melbourne* behind the bar may have detracted from the traditional feel a little. ; )

Final Day Wanderings

* We had to check where he was from. It was our last chance to get "Perth'd" in the UK.

Home

Well we're home now. Recovering from long flights and settling back in to the idea of not having to search for things in suitcases.

It was an amazing trip. We're planning on doing another once Alice finishes her PhD. Anyone want to come & explore more castles with us?

Last of all, so that it's out there on the Internet, a very big thank you to our various housesitters; Liz, Ellora & Marissa. It was great to come home to a place looking so good and to cats who seemed content with their minders. Maybe even preferred them, in some cases. Bloody Oberon.

Here's to the next trip.