Week one in London - Days 1-3

After a flight that seemed to go on for ever and eternity, I finally landed in London at 6.30 am and journeyed out to the hostel in Greenwich. It is an old building set above a pub right next to the train station and about 10 min walk from the Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory. Having an interest in all things nautical, this is a perfect spot for me to be.

Having arrived early (4hours early) I dumped the bags in the foyer and went for the first sight seeing at the museums. The highlight being the Royal Observatory where the clocks built by John Harrison are housed. After standing over the meridian line it was back to the hostel to check in properly. My room is an 8 bed dorm. Before long, myself and 3 others were back up to London for a hopefully nice Indian meal in Soho before getting back to the hotel at about 11.00 for that long awaited rest. The showers at this Hostel would have to be the worst I have ever been in. That includes the well known Cottage showers at Gilroy College, now a thing of the past with the 1950's building having been demolished recently. It is hard enough to get wet in these water efficient examples of British engineering, but unfortunately, the chances of keeping dry once you get out are slim. Once that was safely put behind, a test if the iphone capabilities was in order, and I was pleased with the results.

Fellow back packer, Zillah used the GPS system to find the location of her conference class. This journey took us into the old naval hospital, which is now a college campus. Being an hour early we decided to work out a story each in the event that we were asked what we were doing, and casually strolled through the buildings pretending to be students looking for our course lecture. These poms are easily fooled. Back at the hostel and a quick scan of the guide books and off to the Victoria and Albert museum.

A very interesting place with one of almost everything. The jewellery displays have examples of styles from the early Celtic period up to the present.

In the foyer, a modern glass art piece serves as the central lighting made of thousands of individual blown coloured glass. After a quick lunch, some more wandering around the streets of London and phoning a couple of people from the past. The evening jazz festival back at the old naval hospital ended the night along with new friends from Amsterdam, New Zealand and Ireland.

Sadly, Optus have not been very helpful with their phone services and much of the third and fourth days of the "Excellent European Adventure" have been taken up in a seemingly useless attempt to have them perform a seemingly simple task. Provide phone access. Yes, I to made the error of thinking that a phone company could do this, but, no.

The following few days should be interesting with a few reunions taking place with some old friends.