I'm writing this onboard the northbound train to Newcastle which means that our time in London is over for now. Outside the window, the autumnal fields of the English countryside are rolling by. It's stunningly beautiful. People might say that England is boring, all those identical brick buildings, the grey weather, but I just don't see that. The sky overhead today is an almost cloudless blue and the building passing by are regal, solid, weathered - never boring.

Yesterday we went to St Pauls Cathedral just after 9am when it wasn't busy. It was 12.50 to get in, which is the first time I've paid to see anything since I got here, but it's probably the single most amazing building I've ever seen. The thing is MASSIVE. I don't think it's possible to impress the scale of this thing on you if you've not seen before. You have to see it in your lifetime, there's just no excuse not to. We went up to the top of the top of the building, the Stone Gallery where you can get a 360 view of London. I'll start posting videos soon to show how amazing the view is.

From there it's just a short walk over to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre right next door. The Tate is in this huge industrial age power plant that has been hollowed out. There are some breathtaking works in there by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol... just overwhelming. It's a 10 minute walk from there to the Borough Market, and in keeping with the theme of this trip, was the best market I've ever been to. I don't think there's been a moment on this trip where I've stopped and thought, 'New Zealand totally does this better'.

Anyway, the market has some very tasty smells and even tastier foods. We had an awesome bacon and sausage butty and some kind of grilled cheese monstrosity called a Raclette. They also have a few stalls selling mulled wine which I have decided I quite like. From there we caught the tube across town to Carnaby and then back to the hostel which is right next door to the British Museum, which we hadn't been to yet. So we went there finally and it is completely different to all the other museums that we've been to. It's surreal to wander around amongst ancient Greek and Roman and Egyptian statues and monuments. I definitely want to come back and have a better look at a later time.

So that brings me to last night, where I finally had the energy by 9pm to go out with some of the people from the hostel. I can't remember the name of the place we went to, which is one of the more well known perils of alcohol, but it was somewhere in King's Cross. I need to try and find a nice bar which plays music I like and is more like one of the Wellington bars that I love - I'm sure they exist.