London

Thursday 7th August
Met up with James this morning and had a great walk around London. We saw the WWI centenary memorial being set up at the Tower of London (whwn it's finished there will be one poppy for each fallen soldier from the Commonwealth. From there we walked across Tower Bridge and up along the Thames, then back into the city and went up oto Primrose Hill for a great view across London. After we parted ways I visited the Tower of London and ended up spending all afternoon there.

Friday 8th August
Took an easy day today and explored the Borough Markets and just chilled out for the afternoon before catching up with Chanelle, Amy and Annaleise from my Spain tour who are all livng in London. Had a great night catching up with them.

Saturday 9th August
Spent some time this morning exploring the Camden Markets and then met up with Barbara and walked along the canals. It's a lovely area and nice to see a more chilled side of London. I tagged along with Barbara to a dinner with her friends which was lots of fun. It has been really nice spending a few days 'living', just doing normal social things (rather than being the eternal tourist), and catching up with friends. It is really reminding me how long I am away for and making me miss home though.

Sunday 10th August
Today Barbara took me exploring around her side of London (East). We started with an awesome brunch (breakfast is the 1 meal I haven't been eating out for, I do miss a good cooked brekky!). Then we walked through Brick Lane, the flower and food markets and around the area. We saw this cool art exhibition where this lady has set up a little corner store where absolutely everything is made of felt. In the afternoon we were invited (through a friend of Barbara's) to a birthday celebration for the owner of a small local restaurant. It was a fun evening with great food and even some dancing with a lovely community atmosphere!

Monday 11th August
Off to Edinburgh today... 9hrs on the bus... so not much to write!