Date: 2008-01-30
To: Belfast
Miles today: 0.0

Had a nice nights sleep, and it was time to get up and tackle this town. Decided to walk to Madame Tassauds to catch one of those big red busses where you sit out on the top deck and plug in a set of headphones and listen to the commentary whilst viewing all of the historic buildings. There was so much to see, it was a feast for the eyes, and it was really hard to take it all in at once. There is just so much to see, and before long we were at Trafalgar Square, then 10 Downing Street, Big Ben, and on and on it went. I did not get onto the bus until 11am, and by 12 pm we were down on the Thames, the traffic is pretty slow. I got off the bus and went and had a look at a small war museum, it was rather interesting. Then I decided to go have a look at the Belfast, it is a cruiser, built as a flagship just before WW2. It is the last of its kind in Europe that you can see, it is a huge floating exhibit, and it was one of the best days of my life. If Peter was with me, he would have been wetting his pants with excitement like a teenage girl. It really was something special. This ship has seen so much action in WW2 and the Korean War. It was bombed by a mine in WW2 and it broke its back and was almost lost, took them 3 years to finish the repairs. This ship played a crucial role in blowing up some of Germanies biggest ships of the line, and was mainly involved as a ship protecting the merchant ships going back and forwards to Russia. It also had a big involvement with the D-Day landings as shore battery. Before long they were saying the exhibit was closing, it was 5pm, the time just flew when I was there, I walked every inch of the ship, they had some great wax dummies reinacting different scenarios on the ship. After that I headed over to the bridge that many of you would mistake as London bridge, but is actually known as tower bridge. Meet up with a lovely Australian girl on the bridge, she is from Ballarat, and she was so pleased to meet an Australain and be able to have a decent chat. The English are not friendly like us, we just are a unique peoples. We went for a walk around the tower of London and took many pictures, the city looks even more amasing at night wiht everything lite up and I got some great shots.It was about 7am and it was time to walk home, and went home via the monument and St Patricks Cathedral, that building is beyond beleif, all I can say is that you have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate the shear size and grandeur of it. There is so much to see and I am not sure if I am going to beable to fit it all in. I tend to take a long time at each place, reading it all and taking it all in, these things just can't be rushed. I walked home, everything is in such close proximity, and wandering along the streets of London at night with all of the historic buildings is just fabulous. I am having the time of my life thus far, and tomorrow I am going to go back and do the tower of London, it is a huge complex. Many of the things I have seen on TV like most people, or read about it as a backdrop in some books, always did enjoy reading about English history, To be able to see all of these places is really amasing. The weather is pretty cold, down in the single didgets, but it does not feel that cold. It is jsut similar to one of our really cold winter days. I think the English tend to overstate things, and pretend that it is worse than it is.