Day 16- Piccadilly Backpackers

MONDAY 26TH JANUARY 2009
-LONDON, 7+

Most exciting thing ever- I'm in LONDON!! Took the train this morning from Arras to Lille, then Lille to London. Was very cool, the first thing I saw as I came out of the station was a token English red-double-decker-bus!! And not just one, but sooo many of them :) London is totally everthing I expected and more! Absolutely gorgeous accents everywhere, and so great to speak English again, although I have said 'oui' and 'pardon' several times LOL. Walked through the streets for about 20mins and we arrived at Piccadilly Backpackers- a hostel we're staying at for 3 nights. Me, Aria, Gem and Amma are sharing a room- 2 bunk beds and a cupboard. Sooo minimal, and the showers are v.gross- the shower curtins leave a little gap where someone could see in, so we have 'shower buddies' who stand at the door and guard the room, and hand you your towel when you're done HAHA.
After dumping our bags we took a walk down Regent St and Oxford St which was sooo exciting!! Saw like every single shop that I've ever wanted to go to- Topshop, H & M, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and so many more- it was very exciting, I was probably the happiest I've ever been!! Gem and I were just about ready to pee our pants LOL :) Also walked through Trafalgar Square and then down to the London Eye (we crossed the river Thames which looks exactly like Melbourne Southbank!) and on the street where the London Eye is, we saw some buskers. One was one of those guys who paint themselves silver and pretend to be statues, another was a guy who dressed as an English policeman in a tutu- scared me a fair bit actually, and then there was this young British guy who played guitar and OMG it was so perfect- the sun was setting and we got him to play some of the Kooks, and then he played one of his songs that he'd written and we chatted and socialised and it was beautiful..
AND THEN, we went on the London Eye YAY! Was about a 30min trip, with the sun setting and then it turned dark, we picked the perfect time! After the Eye we went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet which was not bad, and then we walked to Trafalgar Square and took some gorgeous photos at the fountain. Sat on top of some pyramid statue-type thing with all the Aussies singing the National Anthem and chanting "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! OI OI OI!" it was so good! We walked back to Picadilly Circus where out hostel is, and went into the supermarket and bought a big box of cookies and twix thickshakes mmm yum :) We all gathered in our room drinking and eating food which was fun, then Lisa and I went to have showers- it was a difficult task, and gross also. Just before showers the fire alarm went off and we all had to bail outside, it was sooo funny, cos half of us were in pyjamas and thongs and some with bare feet!!
Bonnuit!
ps- will upload photos when I get back to Melb sorry.