London Wetland Spenders

Arriving from his Scottish hostel The Thistle, (a brilliantly evocative, Scottish name, in my opinion) Kiwi Steve and I have spent the past two days sightseeing around London.

What's that? But you wanted to come with us? Awesome bro, but bring yer gumboots!

Let's go:

Day 1 of 2:

As you can see from the number of umbrellas, the weather from day one was really against us.

Nelson and Steve, neither of whom are wearing a coat. They're definitely not from round here.

Steve ducks inside out of the rain. If only he'd read that sign first.

Another Nelson ill-prepared for the weather. Mind you, with London's pigeons, maybe he was depending on it.

Taken after we'd sheltered in St Paul's for half an hour of Evensong while London dried out.

'The Power Of Creative Thinking' - different sized Coke bottles!

Above: The Odeon - Leicester Square.
Below: Grosvenor Square.

Day 2 of 2!

Another wet morning, however today we were smart enough to keep dry by getting on a sightseeing bus. Just one snag with that plan:

Yes, even the guide is wearing a hood. Mind you, although we went around some of the same places as yesterday, it turned out that there's a whole 'nother London up there above head height:

Royal Beasts by Kendra Haste, Tower of London.

As you can see, by this point I had put on a neck scarf, while Steve was now modelling a coat and hood.

And so onto a boat trip along the River Thames.

Inside the Dome: Steve's one and only objection this week was why on Earth I had brought him here. He was after seeing London's history. I decided not to explain that this place had been built for £789 million principally in the belief that it would attract tourists from overseas.

Plane taking off from London City Airport and definitely not expecting to encounter a... cable car? In LONDON???

Again Steve seemed a bit mystified at my interest in riding on this. Again, I probably decided not to explain that this too had been built principally for tourists from overseas. By this point you will observe that I had also put on a polythene poncho.

Having spent so much of the day above London, it was time to check out the Underground.

And so, the end of a great two days. Why if only there were an Underground train that we could have both caught through the planet direct to New Zealand's West Coast...

... Result!