befok!

Saturday: Left London early this morning for France we took ferry from =
Dover, so we got to see the white cliffs and take some nice pictures. We =
landed Calais which is very much a huge industrial area, but once we moved =
away from the shore into the French counrty side things became really =
beatiful with green open fields and trees.

Most of the day was spent on the road. We reached Paris late in the =
afternoon. We checked in, had dinner and climbed back on the bus for some =
sightseeing. Paris at night is breathtaking. There are lights everywhere. =
We got some nice pics of the eiffel tower all lit up.

Numbers: I did just over 18000 steps on Friday. I’m worried i might clock =
it before the trip ends Also they had a 4.5kg Toblerone on the ferry =
(holy cow).

It was up and early on Friday morning, but we still missed the bus we =
needed to take. Fotunatly we managed to catch another one and made our way =
to russell square to check in our luggage at the hotel. It was the off to =
Picadili Circus to star our red bus tour of London. Our first stop was =
Bucingham palace, next was Wesminster abbey. The tower of London was =
amazing especially being able to see the crown jewels. The one crown =
contained one of the Cullining diamons which is just over 500 carats. Which =
probably the size of a golf ball! I got some nice pictures of Tower bridge =
from one of the walls.=20

We the caught a ferry on he Tems to the Eye of London. The eye was nice, it =
was typical english weather, but you could still see quite a =
distance.

Thereafter we popped in at a Dali expo. It’s nice to finally see his works =
in the flesh. We then got word that I had mixed ths meeting time with Rob =
and Henriette. I had 9pm they had 10am. So we made our way to the hotel, =
checked in and headed off to Picadili Circus to do some window shoppping. =
Everything is open till late and there are lots of people.

The one shocker for the day was that Contiki have a strict 20kg weight =
limit, so after all the stress of getting our overloaded case on the plane =
we would have to get rid of it anyway =20

Contilki starts today, Paris here we come!

We went to see Blue Man Group this evening. The seats were a bit of a =
surprise, front row. What was disturbing however was that the 5 rows of =
seats closest to the front all came with disposable rain coats!

The show was amazing. It consisted of 3 blue men performing pecussion music =
on all sorts of intersting drums and contraptions. The show is loaded with =
witty moments and the crouwd interaction really makes for a memorable =
experience. I hope someone brings them over to South Africa.

PS. it seems the raincoats were simply a precaution but I guess things have =
gotten a bit messy in the past

Just arrived in Gatwick airport. Customs and baggage retrieval was quick =
and painless. We are now waiting for a friend to pick us up and after a =
quick stop at his place we will be doing the red bus tour.

After waiting 30min to board our flight to London we were looking forward =
to some sleep. Unfortunatly 10min into take off we hit some turbulance. =
There was a loud bump and suddenly the oxegen masks deployed. After a =
collective gasp of silence from the whole plane, the flight attendent asked =
people not to use the masks. Shortly thereafter we turned back to swap =
planes, this now totals up to a 4 hour delay ontop of the 3 hours we had to =
wait for the connecting flight. Oh the joy of traveling!

We are now sitting in international departures awaiting our boarding =
call.

Our respective families came over last night for drinks and snaks. =
Afterwards we sorted out some last minute items in the flat and went to Rob =
and Henriette were we spent the night.

It was up bright and early to get to the airport. After having our bags =
wrapped and weighed we were a little nervous. Our bags were 25 & 26kg each! =
Fortunatly checkin did not say anything, so we were quite relieved. After =
that it was a quick goodbye to Rob and Henriette who brought us to the =
airport. Immigration was friendly and assured us he would not be flying the =
plane After briefly standing in the wrong boarding queue, we found the =
correct gate.=20

The excitement levels are high!.