What's next (as of mid-June 2013)

So I thought it might be a good idea to keep people updated of where I'm off to next. I'm in Le Mans train station at the moment, having just returned from the Le Mans 24hr race (the blog about this is coming).

Paris
I'm catching the train back to Paris where I'll be for one night. This is purely to split up the travelling that I have to do.

Nice
From Paris, I catch the TGV down to Nice where I'll spend 6 nights. The train trip is about 6 hours and the first class tickets were cheaper than second class so I'll be high roller-ing it in first class. I'll be having a look at what Nice has to offer, making a day trip to Monaco and hopefully having a chance to relax in some sunshine and maybe have a swim if the water is warm.

Barcelona
I think every person I've spoken to has either been to Barcelona or is going so I have to go to see what all the fuss is about. I'm flying (with Veuling) from Nice to Barcelona and I'll be there for 5 nights. I've had lots of thing recommended to me plus my favourite free walking tour company operates in this city so I'll have lots to do.

Madrid
I catch the Renfe train to Madrid where I'll be spending 4 nights. I picked it because it was big enough to show up on Google Maps but I'm sure there'll be plenty to keep me busy there.

London
I catch an EasyJet flight back to London (Gatwick) where I'll stay with my cousin for a night.

Goodwood Festival of Speed
The next day I grab my Wicked Camper from London city, it's going to be an interesting drive getting out of there, and drive down to Goodwood in the south of England. I'll be there for the weekend then I drop the campervan back in London town before spending another night with my cousin.

Sifnos
It's back to the airport where I'll catch an overnight flight with British Airways to Athens, then bus it to Pireaus and catch the ferry out to Sifnos island. I'll be staying with Dutch family out here and no doubt there'll be eating, drinking, swimming and siestas. I haven't booked anything after this but I'll probably be here for just over a week then head back to Athens for a look.

If you have any suggestions of things to do in any of these places, let me know because I don't want to miss out on the good bits.

London Day 9 - 13

13 - 17 June 2013

Day 9: Madame Tussaud's
I caught up with the Californian chick again and she worked her magic to get us into Madame Tussaud's for free (she had free tickets). It was fairly busy but the whole thing is very structured (there's a path to follow rather than aimlessly wandering like a museum) so it's easy to get photos of everyone. It's creepy how real some of them look and a bit disappointing about how short everyone is; I guess celebrities are normal people too.

Natural History Museum
A short tube ride later and we were at the Natural History Museum where we checked out dinosaurs, fish, shells and other sea thingos, mammals and the human biology area. The human biology area pretty much covered everything and definitely didn't hold back on the details; all my questions are answered.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
This is an old style English pub that has been there since it was rebuilt after the Great Fire. It is also the pub where Samuel Johnson wrote the first dictionary. We decided to go in for a beer, an organic wheat beer actually, just so we could say we'd been there.

Picadilly Circus
Funny name, I know! We went for a wander to see what we could see and it turns out there's lots of cinemas and buskers. We also found dinner here; I had what was effectively a yiros but in a bread roll. It was even harder to eat than a "normal" yiros!

Trafalgar Square
You have to pay to use the toilets in London (50p) but I found that the ones at Trafalgar Square are free! We were also going to try and get a few photos but that wasn't going to happen when we saw that the Square had been transformed into a free outdoor cinema with a live stream of the ballet (dunno which one). So we followed the crowd and watched a bit of ballet; who said I'm not cultured!

Day 10: Picnic
After a lazy start, I caught up with the Californian chick again where we gathered some picnic supplies and headed into Kensington Park to enjoy the lovely day (with sun!).

London Dungeon
We skipped the tube and walked from the Park to the Eye to enjoy the weather. My Californian friend had free tickets (yay) to the London Dungeon so that was what we did. I expected a museum type thing with displays of what life used to be like.... I was sooo wrong. It's weird right from the start where the first thing you do is take a photo with an axe and wooden stocks. Then you wander through dimly lit, cobblestone alleys, where you meet a crazy bum and a rat handler, before you finally get to the line/entrance.

The whole thing is a cross between a history lesson, a theme park ride and a spooky tour. I thought it was really good fun but the only thing that sucks is you get wet at the start on a boat ride but I can't complain because before you get on, the guy chants "You will get wet! You will get wet! You will get wet! What will you get?" and you naturally reply with "WET!!!". I expected a spray of water but I scored a soaked ass and shoes but the guy did warn me. If you do this thing, take anything that's not waterproof out of your pocket before the boat ride.

Dinner
We headed back to the street where Tuktuk was and decided on an Indian place only two doors away. The food was great, which more than offset one of the waiters who was a bit of a pompous wanker, but it wasn't any better than what I've had in Australia. I still think we're really lucky in Australia to have access to so many different cuisines that are as good as what I've tried so far on my travels.

Day 11: Booking day
I'm sick! Yep, I managed to get a cold during "summer". So I spent the day starting to book the next few weeks of my trip. We also went to see the "Man Of Steel" movie in the afternoon.

Day 12: More booking
More booking. That's about all.

Day 13: Got my swag-ger on
I've got a few camping type things coming up; Le Mans, Goodwood Festival of Speed and Sifnos, Greece, so I needed something to sleep in. I love my swag at home, more so than any tent, so I looked for something similar here except smaller and lighter (and cheaper). The answer was a Czech Army bedroll. We also went to Nandos for lunch where I burned some of the evil out with peri peri sauce.

Patrick Stewart

Tom and Tom

Sean Connery

Nicole Kidman

Hugh Jackman (looks better as Wolverine IMO)

Johnny Depp

Bruce Willis

Sherlock

Terminator

Marilyn Monroe

Daniel Craig... Bond!

Charlie Chaplin (I failed on copying his expression) 

Shrek

Alfred Hitchcock

Muhammad Ali

Hanging out with my mate, Di

Einstein. He was rocking a beer belly (that I copied) but it doesn't show in the photo.

Isaac Newton

Steven Hawking (not very PC, I know)

Some weiner

Kylie (the photo made her look weird)

Christina Aguilera. She is super tiny (wearing heels here)

Madonna

My sister's hero

Borat! Or maybe Freddie Mercury

Elvis

Dalai Lama

Lady Gaga

Hitler. I'm surprised he hasn't been smashed yet

Nick Fury

Hulk getting a bit grabby

Spiderman (he's also small)

Grab (Jessica Alba)

Wolverine (these blades were super festy)

Iron Man (I'm almost as tall)

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (after the beer)

The Californian chick (and me looking dopey)

Boring sponge! It's not awesome but that's a bit rough

Pansy

Funny looking dudes

Fun with funny mirrors

All my questions... answered!

No, they aren't trapped inside. It's hollow and basically a bunch of bench seats (in Kensington Park)

London Day 6 - 8

10 - 12 June 2013

Day 6: Science Museum
I said earlier that everything in London is expensive but I should revise that statement to say that everything EXCEPT the national museums, which are free! There's a lot of museums to choose from but being the nerd that I am, I decided upon the Science Museum. I didn't get to see everything but I covered the Alan Turing section, the James Watt section, the space area and the Google Web Lab. The first 3 sections were all really good but the Web Lab was a let down because it has 5 experiments but 2 of them were down (for people in the lab but still accessible via internet) and the last was just a "see what you've done" PC. It was a cool idea but poorly executed (link to their site).

Old London walking tour
I now know that London city has another city inside it; Old London City. A fun fact is that the Queen has no jurisdiction here and the mayor must meet her at the border if she ever wishes to enter. This walking tour took us past the Opera Theatre in Covent Garden, the RAF church that still has shrapnel damage, temple church (where the Knights Templar started), the original stock exchange, the Bank of England, the embankment (with a view of HMS Belfast, the Shard, the wobbly millenium bridge, the Eye, the Globe Theatre and Tower Bridge), St Pauls Cathedral, the monument (to the great fire), London Tower and finally to the remains of the city wall from the Roman era.

Coffee
After the walking tour I went for a wander with two girls I met on the tour, an Adelaidean and a Californian, until we found a coffee shop to relax in.

Headphone fail
I bought some cheap headphones to replace the ones I killed but it was a terrible mistake because they SUCKED!

Day 7: Car Shopping
The boys were after a car so I tagged along for a morning of car shopping. We didn't find anything :(

Trafalgar Square
I made my way into town again after the car shopping to see some more sights. I wandered around lots of streets and alleyways, where I recognised a lot from Monopoly, and eventually ended up in Trafalgar Square. I expected it to be full of pigeons but it wasn't, just full of people.

Day 8: London Eye
The Californian chick was kind enough to share her free passes for the London Eye so up we went. Unfortunately the weather was a bit rubbish and one side of the capsule was covered in rain drops so photos weren't going to happen (we still tried). The view is great though because you can see a full 360 degrees and the top is easily taller than anything else that's close.

Dinner
We went to a Thai restaurant called Tutuk for dinner where I ordered, and I bet you can't guess, nasi goreng! It was both great tasting and plentiful and I'd definitely eat there again.

Scenic way home
I hadn't done much walking today so I decided to walk back to Victoria station rather than taking the tube. The two things I noticed; I was walking through a pretty rich area and London doesn't have any straight streets.

I'm a bit slow
So at this point I'd already caught the tube a bunch of times but I only just realised that the handle bars are colour coded to the line that you're catching, duh!

More thoughts (dangerous, I know)
-The long days mess me up because it doesn't get dark until almost 10 so you end up going to bed really late
-The sun is still a rare sight

The Eye from Hungerford Bridge

Shrapnel damage from WW2 bombings on the RAF church

St Pauls Cathedral

London Tower

I'm touching a 2000 year old wall (well, the foundations are anyway)

Trafalgar Square

More Trafalgar Square

Pfft, these aren't balls!

Tower Bridge

In the Eye capsule. From left to right: Me, Adelaide and California

As we reached the top

I do actually. There were heaps of these banners, all with a different conversation starter.