Greetings from Oxford St, London

Greetings from Oxford St, London
Wow, it's great to sit down at last...my feet are really aching from all the walking! We have been really busy since my last update. On Sunday night we went to a pub near Bond St for dinner and a drink (Gary has not converted to Guinness though some other guys on the trip did) - Gary insisted on having fish & chips 'cause he thought you should do that in England, but he was a little disappointed. We then walked back to the hotel and crashed (after I did my washing, washed my hair etc etc). Gary has been refusing to do his washing (or let me do it) as he was sure there would be easy laundry facilities in London. I personally just find it easier to wash out a couple of things a night and find they are usually dry by morning. Anyway, Gary went in search of a laundrette yesterday morning and found one but it was self-service so he had to stay and do the deed himself...he was not amused! He did find it was a good pick up joint though and made friends with a number of females - he assured me they were all older than him...yeah sure!! After his laundry adventure, we set off for our real London adventure. We got a ticket on the "hop on hop off" bus and did the full loop, only stopping a couple of times. I had seen it all before, but Big Ben, St Pauls, Westminster Abbey etc never fail to impress. Gary really enjoyed it too, though it was a bit cool atop the bus! We have been blessed with wonderful weather the last few days and actually had two whole days where it didn't rain at all! There was a shower yesterday and today but nothing to really worry about - it is pretty cold outside though it is like a sauna inside - why do these people overheat their buildings???? I am sitting here in t-shirt and jeans and it's the hottest I've been since Vegas!!! In the midst of our bus tour yesterday we also stopped and went in search of the famous Abbey Rd crossing which we found (after a trip on the Underground) and then held up the traffic while we walked back & forth trying to get good photos. I thought the cars were very patient with us - Gary thought they were bloody selfish to be using Abbey Rd and should have had the decency to use a different route, knowing that tourists would need it as a photo opportunity. I must admit we weren't the only ones there - I took a photo for an aussie bloke who was there by himself and there were other groups of people who were trying to walk 4 people across a la the album cover. We also made a pilgrimage to Harrods where I hadn't been before but felt that in homage to my female genes I should visit at least once before I die. I'm not known as a shopper...and I'm afraid nothing has changed - I walked in, said "yep, this is a big shop", grabbed a couple of souvenirs, and left. Anyway, I can say I've been there... With all this running around we didn't stop for lunch until 4pm (more like dunch I called it...or linner) which we had at a pub near Green Park - I had a yummy steak & ale pie with vegies...real pub food. My chardonnay, however, was really weird - it tasted like watery cordial - it was an Aussie wine but I'm sure they must have watered it down - Gary wanted to take it back but I was too exhausted to face the hoo haa and actually thought it tasted OK. Maybe I'll start watering down my wine at home! After such a late meal, we just had some fruit in our room last night and Gary watched TV while I read a book. I'm reading a book set in Edinburgh & it is amazingly descriptive and mentions all the places we were only a week or so ago - very surreal. We headed off this morning to finish our bus tour as the tickets last for 24 hours. Included in the price is a walking tour from Trafalgar to Buckingham Palace so we took that. Unfortunately they did not do a changing of the guard today as they only do it every second day in September, but we did see the changing of the horse guard which was pretty special. Also had our photos taken with grenadier guards (as you do), walked through St James Park etc etc. We had pre-purchased tickets to go through Buckingham Palace which was just as well as there was a long line and I doubt Gary would have waited. His Irish heritage is coming out and he generally "despises the obscene excesses of the oppressive British aristocracy". Well, I liked it! The palace is only open to the public while Queen Lizzie is on holiday at Balmoral in Scotland (Aug & Sep) so I think it was worth it to take the opportunity to see how the other half live...and wow, how do they live!!!??? We saw 19 state rooms which were absolutely magnificent and the ballroom was set up for a State Banquet - an amazing sight. We finished with a stroll through the gardens and then it was back to the real world of the commoners! We are now quite accomplished tube travellers and we hot footed it to Leicester Square where we had some lunch and then bought tickets for a show tonight - Joseph & His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - this show fights it out with Sound of Music as my all time favourite and Sound of Music is also on here...decisions, decisions...Gary was happy to make the decision - he has been dragged to Sound of Music with me on too many occasions to recall and was looking for a change! So we've got tickets for Joseph tonight and I can't wait! We jumped back on the tube and I have left Gary there to make his own way back as I got off here at Bond St to do my internet thing. I hope he makes it back OK! We are heading for Hong Kong tomorrow night and have to check out of the hotel at 12 noon so we're not sure what to do tomorrow arvo. At the moment it's a toss up between Tower of London and veging out seeing a movie in Leicester Sq - the state of our feet and the weather may be the deciding factors. Well that's about it for now - I need to go back and wash my one and only pair of jeans. I dropped some pasta on my leg at lunchtime and thought I'd get the stain out quickly before it dried so dipped the corner of a napkin in water and rubbed. Penny's Tip of the Day: "Do not use red paper napkins in this fashion as the red dye runs and creates a stain much larger and more unsightly than the one you are trying to erase." Love to everyone and thanks again for the emails. P&G