Last weekend before starting work

On Saturday we met up with Scott to do some sightseeing. He's going back to NZ soon so he wants to get a few ticks on his list.

First thing we headed to was the London Eye. Out of the tube station and over the bridge and onto a promenade. There where more performing busker's here than I've seen in one place before. People doing tricks with hula hoops to tribal drumming, those guys that dress as various things and stand perfectly still until you put some coins in their hat, a chameleon guy on a multicoloured bike, someone playing the guitar behind his back while flaring his legs in the air, Cap'n Jack Sparrow, some guy painted all gray and being such a convincing statue that a pigeon landed on his head and sat there for a while (poor guy) and much much more. Cool place, crawling with people, entertainment, statues and shops.. all with a view across the Thames of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
The line the the Eye was very long, but we got through it in good time. Once on board, we noticed that the compartments move very slowly. Its quite enjoyable to be up there, in the sky, looking down on a vast cityscape. The people down on the promenade all looked like ants swarming around various scraps of food. I took some pics too, check 'em out.

After the Eye, we went over a bridge to get a closer look at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. It was cool seeing the tall clock tower I'd heard so much about. All the buildings around there were quite impressive. The most impressive being the Westminster Abbey. Wicked building with holy scenes carved out in the archways. I would like to go back and actually go inside, I can imagine its quite spectacular.

After a walk around that area we headed to Hyde Park. A long walk in a nice park brought us to some paddling boats docked on the side of the Serpentine River. Giving in to this temptation was almost instant. Nicola, Scott, his friend Arran and I paid and jumped into a paddling boat. We spend half an hour terrorising ducks and other boaters. We also managed to save a boatload of girls who'd lost their oar.

Back on land we walked on to Regents park, where we enjoyed more walking through the park :)

I'm not sure where, but somewhere along the way we looked at the monuments to New Zealand and Australia. They where creative and it was nice to see homage to NZ.

From the parks, we walked on to Buckingham Palace. The palace itself wasn't all that impressive, but all the posts and fences around it were. They all had a lot of gold trimming and a royal look to them. Nice flower gardens and a big statue with a water fountain in the middle. While we were standing at the front gates having a look, the changing of the guards started... what timing! The changing included a little show from the actual guards swapping out for fresh guards, a horse regiment went by and an infantry regiment went for a march. It was great to have just happened upon this at just the right time.

Happy with our site-seeing we set out for the pub, had a pub meal and a few rounds of drinks.
Feeling a little boozed, we went on to various other drinking venues till late in the evening.

What a day!

Today we woke up with hangovers and headed out to Johns brothers house a little bit into the country, just a little past Epsom. At Johns I caught up with him, his brother and two other guys I went to school with. What a trip down memory lane! It was very good to see them again! I'm very happy that I have John and Alex over here, it really makes things feel positive.
Through the day we had a great Braai and with boereworse, chicken, potato bake, salads, potato salad, sausages, breads and beer. We then worked if off by playing cricket in the garden and a quick game of darts.

Work tomorrow which starts a new chapter!