Surrounded by a gang of chickens!

Final day in London! It was a quiet day, except for the Underground ride to the London Zoo.. The train was held up because of an unattended suitcase.. British Transport frowns upon any personal belongings left behind.. No terrorists today though..

It was a beauty day to see giraffes, zebras, gorillas, komodo dragons, lions, tigers oh my! Oh ya meerkats too!

Colin & Maria also had lunch with the llama's..

And when they were having their chicken & bacon sandwich, a gang of chickens came around asking questions..



Then a really cool zoo attraction was the coatis, from the raccoon family, except these animals are day animals and they don't eat your garbage. They eat fruit and other veggies. And today was a special day, the zoo staff allowed the animals to cross the rope bridge over top of the crowd! They only do this once every month or so.. Nobody got pooped on..



Unfortunately there were no unicorns, so it was off to the Hard Rock Cafe, the first in the world and where Eric Clapton has a lifetime reservation at the bar! This place is jammed with rock n roll memorabilia! But not before getting back on the Underground, which had a delay, which backed up passengers, which made Colin & Maria feel like they were in Japan and people with white gloves had to push people onto the train so they could close the door and Colin almost got beat up.. Anyway back to the Hard Rock Cafe...

Colin & Maria sat beneath Keith Richard's guitar on the left & Carlos Santana's guitar on the right. Mick Jagger is behind Colin..

That's John Bonham's (Led Zeppelin) drum kit!

On tap for the two tired travelers was 3 Stella Artios' and 1 Corona! The food was fantastic! Maria had twisted mac with chicken & cheese with bacon and mushrooms added. Colin had a delicious open faces sirloin sandwich with brown sauce! The Hard Rock liked C&M so much, they gave them an "All Access" pass. No matter which Hard Rock they go to in the world, they get priority seating, and discounts on food!

Tomorrow is a travel day to Amsterdam. Oh boy.. Not sure how the internet will be on the house boat..

Rolling Stones, Beatles, Steve & Tag Team Hair Drying

The day in South West London started like every other, a team effort in blow drying Maria's hair. Colin would have to hold the plug while Maria's did her hair.

Then it was off to Picadilly Circus for breakfast! Picadilly is like the Times Square in New York or Young & Bloor in Toronto!

Walking to Hyde Park Colin & Maria passed through Green Park, they just happened to be on the "Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk"!

And then, Hyde Park! Hyde Park is a really nice place,

That also has a huge place in Rock N' Roll history... Many, many big acts have played here. Queen, Live 8 also one of the Rolling Stones BIGGEST concerts in 1969, where almost 500,000 people attended! This is the concert that was free, and it was also the show that the Rollings Stones played 2 days after he death of founder Brian Jones. This summer Kings Of Leon will play!

A quick drink from the horse trough, and it was off to Abbey Road! The birthday place of the Beatles albums and album covers!

When arriving to Abbey road, there was actually a line up to get your picture taken at the "ZEBRA CROSSING". You can watch the famous Abbey road crossing live! http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/
Outside the studios.. And 30 seconds from the crossing.

This is Colin pretending he's on the Bealtes cover..

Then it was off to the Thames River for tea and a piece of cake! Maria had Victoria Sponge cake with strawberry filling & Colin had Coffee Walnut! The cake was from the Borough Market, a little kiosk called The Cakehole. This was beside London Bridge.

To make it a little more romantic for the travelers, some guy showed up to play on his 12 string.. Colin didn't tip.. Beside their stoppage for tea, a neat little pub called The Anchor

It's one of London's oldest, built in 1615.. So the two stopped in for a pint!

Maria enjoyed a Pimms Lemonaide. It had real fruit! Orange, lemon, strawberry, lime, orange and a cucumber! Maria "I never ordered a drink with a cucumber before!" Colin had a Stella Artois Black, a little darker and crisper than a regular Stella.

Then it was off for a non-chalant tour around London at rush hour! Some guy yelled at Colin who was wearing a Laconia Biker Week hoodie he picked up in 2009.. Turns out Steve is from Laconia, New Hampshire!

After getting lost in the East End, and seeing some great sights along the harbour

They found a great place for a pint and a pee. The Brown Bear, they don't see many tourists in this place.. But it was really relaxing.. Colin had a St. George the Dragon and Maria had a Strongbow Cider.

To finish the day, it was back to the area near their hotel for a nice dinner at the Courtfield. This place was started by the guy who founded The Scouts. Lord Powell. Go here for great food and atmosphere! Completely Victorian dining room and fun music! Colin had the3 Chicago chicken and chunky chips, Maria savoured the steak with grilled tomato and mushroom. for drink Colin Had a Estella, GREAT beer, and a Starpramen. Maria had a glass of Jacobs Creek Shiraz and a coffee with Baileys.

Tomorrow it's off to mingle with the monkeys!

High Above London at Night!

It was off to the London Eye for a champagne experience at night!

It was a bit pricey, but if you want a different London experience this is very cool, especially at night when all of London's lights come on!

You can also do the less expensive London Eye excursion. This is a huge "ferris wheel" (for lack of better terms) that rotates non stop, It takes 30 minutes to go round and you see all of London. The pod holds about 14 and rotates with the wheel.

But first! It was off for a drink to the All One Bar, right beside the Thames River. It's a Montreal-esque feel, trendy, high class with relatively good prices! The music is from the dancey/crashy category, but this place was more dancey & less crashy..

Maria had a glass of pink spritzer & a glass of Prosecco Delle Venezia, while Colin had a Guiness Extra Cold & a pint of Sharp's DoomBar, a nice beer with good head & a soft taste.

Then it was off to the London Eye to watch the 4-D film which was unbelievable! A kiss before we get on...

And away we go!

Out comes the champagne..

Down goes the day..

and a champagne toast at the top of London.

Next adventure.. Looking for Sir Mick Jagger, The Beatles & a small London pub crawl..

A stroll through London & Canada was closed!

It's true what they say, we all have a twin somewhere in there world there are doppelgangers for everyone, everywhere!

The old train stations around the UK are beautiful! Great old structures standing up to the test of time.

The day in London started by feeling like they slept on a concrete slab & used rocks as pillows, other than that, this bed & breakfast was ok!

Hop a ride on the Underground to Covent Garden where they browsed around and heard an energetic small symphony while drinking coffee.

Also in this market was Ice Creamists, the boutique that brought the world the first BREAST MILK ice cream, unfortunately it's no longer for sale.

While exploring London, they came across this gem!

Then a short distance later it was Trafalgar Square. Where Colin tried to climb on the lions..

and Maria snapped a bunch of photo's (thats the Olympic countdown clock in the background)

On one side of the square was Canada House..

but apparently Canada was closed and that made Maria sad.

Then as they made their way towards West Minster Abbey, there was a changing of the horse guards at the guard house.



It was getting mid afternoon and our travelers were thirsty, so a stop into the Red Lion pub, which is across from where the British Prime Minister lives to enjoy a pint!

Maria had Spring Sprinter and Colin sucked back a London Pride.

Hey look! Big Ben is growing out of Maria's head!

It was here that a couple of young American tourists were heard saying "is Big Ben, like, part of a church or something?" Please if you know you're traveling to a LARGE city, you might want to do a bit of research on where it is you are going... Also there must have been 1,000 people waiting in line to get in to West Minster Abbey.

London is an easy city to get around in, but it is a bit pricey. It was onward to Buckingham Palace, where today the Queen Mum was home, as evident by the raised flag. Just what does she have in that big bag of hers?

Canada has 2 pillars that mark the beginning of a park beside the palace, that our country gave to the queen in 1906. Can you spot the flags of the six countries in gold on the gate? PEI, NB, NS, Ontario, Quebec & Manitoba. Newfoundland had it's own pillar!

Then Colin & Maria met Mike & Kristen from DC, nice couple, but they were going one way & C&M were going another to get some food at the Friars Inn.

Where they had the worlds smallest sink.

Tomorrow, a ton of pictures from high above London!