Hello from rainy London...

Well here I am, safely arrived in London, which constantly looked like it was going to rain for the first couple of days, and is actually raining now. The flight was horrible - 9 hours to Bangkok, a 3 hour wait, and then 11 and a half hours to London. Surprisingly, there was a larger than normal amount of legroom for all seats (taller people might want to note this - Thai Airlines) and excellent food. There was no personal entertainment system though, which is half the fun of international flights, and the air hostesses kept waking me up to ask if I wanted food, which was really really annoying.

Once I got to Heathrow I spent 2 hours in the immigration queue surrounded by Americans complaining alternately about the fact that they didn't have a special queue for Americans, and about the security restrictions (aren't they their fault anyway?). American tourists are the bane of my existence. People say that the English whinge - the Americans complain about *everything*, and they're so loud that you can't block them out. I was privy (along with everyone else in a 3 mile radius) to one American lady's complaints about how Pounds were so difficult to work out - I'm not really sure how she got to this conclusion considering that they're exactly the same as dollars, just with a different name.

London is very expensive, as I was warned... I enjoyed my $10 Subway sub yesterday. It's also surprisingly difficult to find internet. The cafe I am in now unfortunately doesn't let you access USB ports, so no photos today. I've seen lots of things, including lots of squirrels (but no hedgehogs), the outside of Buckingham Palace (still not sure if it's worth the £15 to get in), 30 seconds of the changing of the guard (from behind around 3000 tourists - I got bored and left), the inside of Kensington Palace (where I was surprised to see that queens have bedrooms not much larger than most "main bedrooms" in Australian houses), Hyde Park, the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels, walked across the top of the Tower Bridge, and visited Leicester and Trafalgar Squares and Harrods (totally non-user friendly - no maps and no directions, unintuitive layout).

I was hoping to see Les Miserables at the theatre tonight, but tickets are £40, so I might see if the matinée is any cheaper. I'm going to head over to the British Museum soon, as I'm keen to see the Rosetta Stone.

Tomorrow I'm considering heading out to Stonehenge, despite numerous warnings about how unimpressive it is. Not sure what I'll do otherwise...