The last day in London (Thursday 4th July 2013)

Once again, many miles were trod around the pavements of London today. The day started with a race to the London Eye – the huge Ferris Wheel by the banks of the Thames. The one in Docklands will be a real disappointment for folks who have been to London – if it ever gets finished. I couldn't fine the tickets I had printed in Bendigo so in the end we raced out he door with less than 45 minutes to get to the London Eye. Thankfully the Underground didn't let us down. The trains arrived right on time and the directions at the stations meant no time wasted deciding to turn left or right or go up the escalator or down. The value of having all the documentation in the the Cloud has paid dividends again. I was able to show the girl at the Eye the copy of the tickets on my phone and she never hesitated in providing the tickets to me. We proceeded to the Fast Track queue and walked straight on the the next pod. Perfect timing!! The view from the top was good. Worth the money? Maybe. Would it matter if one visited London and missed the attraction? No, in my opinion. Nevertheless, dozens of photos were taken from the high vantage point.

We caught our breath and strolled back across the river past the Houses of Parliament, grabbed a take-away coffee and sat in Parliament Square in the sunshine. We were lucky enough to hear Big Ben chime eleven o'clock. Pardon me for sounding like a philistine but we couldn't come at the 18 pounds per person to visit Westminster Abbey, so we strolled around it. Despite it's obvious grandeur and history we all agreed that with all the tourists inside it would struggle to match the beauty, peace and solitude we all felt inside the Exeter College chapel in Oxford.

We marched on the Trafalgar Square, which by now had been cleared of all its Canada Day infrastructure and was back to normal. Emily and I climbed up onto the famous lions at the base of Nelson's column for a photograph. Easy to get up, not so easy to get down with a dodgy knee! We then visited the adjacent National Gallery and saw some wonderful art from across the ages. We all particularly enjoyed the Impressionist's Hall.

A quick bite to eat (and another entry onto my list, Jim) at a nearby pub and it was off to Leicester Square in search of souvenirs. We were all getting pretty weary by now but St Paul's had to be ticked off. Emily resumed her role of navigator and got us there quick smart on the Tube. As I suspected St. Paul's had undercut Westminster Abbey by a couple of pounds but it still wasn't enough to lure us in past the first few metres. At least we did get inside and got a glimpse of the architecture. We decided to save our money for Notre Dame Cathedral. The refreshing cup of tea at the adjacent cafe was some compensation.

The last stop of the day was to be the other great “religious” monument of London – Harrod's of Knightsbridge. It was very busy in there, mostly tourist no doubt. I was not really surprised to see a men's watch costing 7500 pounds but was aghast to see a Rolex costing 60,000 pounds – that is not a typing error – matched only by the whiskey costing the same. We settled for a Harrod's bag for Kerry (which she has always wanted) and a Harrod's tea-leaf strainer holder. A steal at 4.50 pounds. We walked very carefully through the Waterford and Wedgwood Hall and headed home. Stopped at a local pub for Bangers and Mash and then head back to the hotel to pack for our early start to Paris tomorrow.