We've booked flights to and accommodation at a hostel in Berlin for a week in Feb when the girls have their half-term holiday. Seeing as I studied the Berlin Wall last year, it's about the only city I know anything about, plus I can speak the language so it should be great!

Friday we got up early to eat breakfast with the girls and then headed into London fairly early. We took a few trains and eventually got out at London Bridge Station. It. Was. FREEZING. We walked over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London and then back over London Bridge. All very exciting... except for the fact that, for the third time since last March, my camera decided to stop automatically focusing, and I had to manually focus every shot. Both annoying and time-wasting, and often unsuccessful. Outside the Tower of London we saw a seagull that looked like it was dancing, jumping from one foot to the other, and I don't know if it was because we were so cold but we found it hilarious. I even managed to capture it on very bad quality video. We then found our way to Borough Market, which we walked through and got free samples of baklava and looked at and smelled all the amazing sweets, pastries and cheeses. We decided to get lunch and then come back so we went to Café Rosso; I got an avocado/tomato/mozzarella/basil ciabatta for £4.50 (food is quite expensive). After lunch, we went to the Globe Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe! We got a tour for £10 of the inside of the theatre, plus a look at an exhibition about the site. We have to go see a show there when it opens in April - no roof so they don't show in Winter - if you're okay with being a 'groundling' (stand/walk around right below the stage and be prepared to be yelled at by the actors if you're not paying attention) it's something like £10.

It was sunny and slightly warmer when we came out and actually quite pleasant. I could finally feel my feet again too. We went back to Borough Market, got a huge £1.10 hot chocolate from a place which was closing up, a brownie for £1.50 (notes about expenses are mainly for me to remember!), more samples and Caitlin got delicious hummus. We weren't sure what to do after this, and some of the places we had on our list had already closed. We ended up getting on the train and then decided in the spur of the moment to get off at Green Park to go see Buckingham Palace. It was pretty exciting, and very pretty in the fading light. We also saw the marching guys out the front with the big black hats and we could see the lit-up London Eye in the not-so-distance. We took the train to Piccadilly Circus and met Georgie and Izzy in Maccas (we just had to get out of the cold!), Izzy left to meet other friends and the rest of us went to eat in China town. Again, I just got egg fried rice, one of the very limited vege dishes, and the cheapest (£2.50). It was really tasty though. To finish off, we went back to Maccas on the way home to try their weird and wacky McFlurry flavours - Crunchy, Dairy Milk and Smarties, and only 99p!

Because there were no boarders for the weekend, we had no food provided so on Saturday morning we just ate toast and cereal at Highlands. When we got to the station, we discovered we had to take a bus to Amersham and then a train into London so the trip took about 1.5 hours all up. Then we took another train and when we came out from Westminster Station, we looked up and saw Big Ben! The Houses of Parliament building was also right there and very pretty. We found out about the 1 hour 15 minute tours of the inside and decided to come back after lunch. We walked past Westminster Abbey and other amazing places and then ended up at this really dodgy little place, where the bread was stale and the soup was tinned. Luckily Caitlin and I had taken banana/honey sandwiches with us and didn't have to eat there. We went back and bought tickets (£10 for 'students') for the 2.15pm tour of the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos past the first room; every ceiling, floor and wall was incredible. Amazing royal-looking wallpaper, stained glass windows, and countless portraits and statues of royals and politicians. We saw the Queen's robing room, where she puts on her robe before she opens parliament, with a lovely throne. The room was huge. We also saw the Houses of Lords and Commons. The tour guide pointed out all the Australian things on the tour to us, e.g. the wooden chair in the House of Commons which was 'the gift of Australia'. We went to the giftshop and bought postcards and then to the cafe where I had hot chocolate of course (£1.35) and a choccy muffin (£2.25).

We got back on the train and headed to South Kensington to check out Harrods. I knew it was a gorgeous building from seeing it last week but now it was all lit up in the dark. I spotted it from down the street it was that bright (it also had a big lit-up SALE sign). We wandered through the sweets room, jewellery room and others. They're all amazing and we had a good look at all the Tiffany stuff <3 We also checked out the Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed memorial again. We walked back to the station (I say 'back' but the entrance was literally outside the Harrods entrance) and left Janet who was going to meet the others to see Chicago. Would have loved to have gone but apparently it was a last minute organisational thing. So Caitlin, Greer and I came back to Godstowe, again by train and bus. It only took an hour and a quarter this time. We made pasta and mash (the only food we had left from our very first shopping trip) and watched 17 Again.

Last night the girls arrived back and I worked from 6pm (Caitlin will work next time). I only found out there was no supper provided at about quarter to 6 so I scoffed down 2 pieces of toast and half a can of baked beans (actually our last food) in about 5 minutes. Needless to say, I felt a bit yucky all night. After work I headed over to the gap flat and we finalised Berlin, which is the next thing to look forward to, or perhaps a Friday day trip somewhere. Transport is so expensive though! The daily on Friday was £9.75 with a group discount and on Saturday £12.85.

What are you all up to down under?