London

Yesterday, Monday 5 July, we took a one hour flight from Amsterdam to London Heathrow.
It was great to be back in London, and predictably little had changed since the time we lived here for several months in 2002. Nevertheless, the familiarity of the place is fantastic, and even though we've loved Dubai, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy and Holland, it's also nice to be back in an English-speaking

country (well, sort of English if you count Eastender slang). At the start of our trip when we were bursting with energy, the challenge of ordering a meal using only French was a lot of fun, but now that we're tired it's also nice to again get what we need quickly.

We were going to take a train from Heathrow to the city, but instead opted for a cab to manage our 70kgs of luggage (which British Airways made us redistribute across an additional bag because they're British and like their odd little rules).

The hotel we're staying in was advertised as being 5 mins from the London Eye. As a true skeptic, I interpretted that as being several suburbs away and if you caught a train for 5 mins you'd be able to see it on the horizon. Well, occasionally skeptics are proven wrong as I was this time as we're maybe 100 metres away. The building we're in is right behind the imposing structure. So, with such an attraction on our doorstep, it wasn't long before we were onboard the ol' Eye and checking out London from above.

As Johanna and Sandra have been on it twice before (just once previously for me), Lachlan was the only one really bursting with excitement as the rest of us just peacefully took in the familar surrounds. We need to keep reminding ourselves that while we've seen a lot of London while we lived here, Lach's seeing it all for the first time. Johanna says she remembers bits, but she was just two when here last.

The others were keen to return back to the hotel for a rest, but I was equally keen to get out and pound the streets to reorientate. Over about two hours I walked the touristy route past Big Ben, past White Hall, over to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and back to Waterloo where we're staying.

We then grabbed some noodles from an Asian store across the road for a late dinner, and then settled in for the night. It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be back at work, no doubt freezing away in Melbourne (London is having a heat-wave ... it was a massive 25 degrees today!).