Day 10: Edinburgh - Aberdeen

Left the Crapola Hostel and trained up to Stirling. Very cute town - looks a lot smaller than 40,000. Another castle town, so more hills. Stirling Castle is much the same as Edinburgh, with less crowds and better views. Wanted to go to the William Wallace Monument, but the camera had died and it looked kind of far.
Took the train to Aberdeen, I think the lady overcharged me - 34.90 is a bit ridiculous!
Hostel in Aberdeen is quite a trek away, but nice. Creepy guy sleeping below me. Hope he doesn't stab me or eat my skin...

Day 9: Edinburgh

Got to Edinburgh early in the morning and made a bee-line to a hostel highly recommended in the LP. Turned out to be a real dive, but oh well. Walked past Holyrood - another of Lizzie's palaces - and around the Salisbury Crags for some lovely views. Did a spectacular face-plant, witnessed by a lady walking behind me who said "oh, I'm so sorry" a lot.
Walked to the castle. These castle towns are certainly hilly. Swarms of tourists and shops selling kilts and whiskey. The castle is pretty amazing - a lot more history than I have any grasp on, as usual. The Scottish Crown Jewels exhibition was silly - twenty minutes of dioramas and models, crawling along too bloody slowly, to see a crown and a sceptre in a box. Everything else was grand, though.
Went to the art gallery but was too tired to really appreciate it, as well as the dumbest museum ever - a museum dedicated to the Bank of Scotland. Why I do not know.
Wandered through Edinburgh a bit more. There's an awful lot here for a city the size of Woolongong. Combination of compactness, history, national capital, tourism, and culturedness. Woolongong has none of the above.
Also, there's an awful lot of punks here. I quite like the extreme-mullet haircut in particular; shaven head plus ponytail.

Day 8: London

Got an extra day in London 'cause of a late-night bus to Edinburgh. Spent it wandering through giant bookshops on Charing Cross Road, people-watching on Trafalgar Square, taking a peek at the National Portrait Gallery, and continuing to be dumbfounded by this enormous city.
Had quite an adventure trying to get to my bus. Once on the bus, the poor driver was confronted by two drunken Poles demanding to be let on. They were refused due to obvious drunkenness. After a lot of "fucking 30 quid" and "fuck this country," I was off to Scotland.

Day 7: London

All but a few lines of the Tube were off thanks to a strike, so it took some careful planning and lots of walking to get to the Natural History Museum. It was very fun, of course, all animal parts and skeletons and such. The case of various bird's feet was oddly amusing. Too many children to really enjoy the dinosaurs. One precocious four year-old accurately noted that "this looks like an ankylosaur."
Afterwards, we went to Harrod's. Most of the shop is just obscenely expensive and poncey, but in the foodhalls that becomes a wonderful thing. $150 for a kilo of venison, anyone? I should've bought a single prawn cocktail for 99p, just because. It's all a bit silly, really.
Walked through Hyde Park - with squirrels! - and Soho before having dinner at Covent Garden. London is unbelieveably huge and complicated. It's like the world's biggest onion, with layer after layer. And yes, I did steal the onion analogy from Shrek.

Day 6: London

Started at the Houses of Parliament - didn't actually go in - then begrudgingly shelled out 10 quid for Westminster Abbey. Was hoping to not have to pay for any sightseeing in London. Was glad I did. Westminster is gobsmackingly huge and ornate, full of smaller tombs and chapels and the like. Exploring each room, it feels as if a pinnacle of elaborateness and beauty is reached, only to be exceeded in the next room. Saw the tombs of Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and lots of IIIs, IVs, Vs etc I can't remember. There's a Poet's Corner, including a bust of Adam Lindsay Gordon, which was pretty awesome. Also the memorials to Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace side by side - it's all just flabbergasting.
Walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern, which is gloriously weird. There's a program where various trendy bands are asked to choose an artwork and write a song inspired by it, which is then played on a listening post alongside said artwork. Would make a great CD, but alas, it has not been done.
Wandered back over the Millennium Bridge, through a curious park with lots of tombstones of people who died in acts of heroism, the remains of London's Roman wall, and finally to the massive Gherkin. Whatever the hell that thing is.

Day 5: London

First, went to the Camden market, which is equal parts trendies, hippies, punks and tourists. Wonderfully rambling, and more permanent than one expects a "market" to be. Pricey, but the Moroccan tajine I had for lunch was fabulous.
Next, the British Museum, which is as remarkable, astounding and whatever else as one could expect. Completely bloody amazing, the stuff they have in there. Alas, it's much too big to see in one go, and we missed a lot of Europe, Asia and the Americas, and all of Africa. Had a Thai dinner, bookended by tasty wheat beers in tiny pubs. Remarkably, London may actually have more pubs than Adelaide. Shocking, I know.

Day 4: London

LONDON!! was so wondrous and full of brilliance that I didn't have time to write about it at the time. There's certainly more to it than any other city besides possibly New York and Paris, I reckon. It's brilliant.
I had a couple of hours to spend upon arrival before meeting Chris, so I had a good wander about. Crossing the Jubilee Bridge, seeing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and the Eye on the other, I couldn't help grinning to myself like an idiot.
Met Chris, wandered through St James Park, Buckingham Palace (kinda grey and underwhelming), Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, St Paul's, Tower Bridge, and along the South Bank.
Went back to Chris's in Seven Kings, which is a very diverse neighbourhood. I think white folks are in the minority there.
Also, the Tube is great and has comfy seats, everything is bloody expensive and big mobs of tourists suck.