DAY 9

First of all, I now know the score from the Saturday night games. Although its too bad that Montreal got knocked out of the playoffs and Calgary was beaten by our arch enemies last night, I am glad that at least one hockey tradition remains unchanged: The Leafs will continue to remain cupless since 1967.


On with my day...



I've been meaning to take a picture of one of these for a couple of days now. When one travels to Europe, one expects to see a number of "exotic" cars... makes like Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, plus the usual array of Benz and BMW. One does NOT expect to see a Dodge Caravan, the symbol of North American suburbia.



Hopped on the tube for a long journey north out of the core of London, and into a quiet suburban neighbourhood. In addition to many average Londoners, this area is home to...



... the Royal Air Force Museum :)



A Spitfire and a Hurricane on stand in the park outside the museum.



A mock-up of the Wright Brothers Flyer



North American P-51 Mustang



The array of flying machines in the first great hall



Eurofighter Typhoon



"Jim, he's down there!"



Harrier Jump Jet



He-162. With planes this ugly, no wonder the Germans lost.



The British version of the F-4 Phantom. The only difference is the airframe is slightly modified to fit a pair of Rolls Royce engines rather than Pratt and Whitneys.



British Airways L-1011 cockpit simulator.



The civilian version of the EH-101 helicopter. If that sounds familiar, its because these were the helicopters that Jean Chretien cancelled in the early 90s. Jerk.



A Canberra jet. This aircraft set the England to New Zealand air record in the early jet age.



The control capsule of His Majesty's airship.



The plaque leading into the Battle of Britain exhibit.



Back in the heart of London now. I thought i'd take a shot of this... its how they tow cars over here.



Marble Arch. An impressive gateway and directly adjacent to...



Speakers Corner. I had visions of this place as one where people took turns getting on their soapboxes. Not so. Given that I was visiting on Easter Sunday, it was pretty religiously charged.



There were Muslims...



Christians...



generally crazy people...



and people giving free hugs.



Its hard to believe that, just next to this shouting festival, people were peacefully enjoying the park.


From here, I headed back to the hotel to shower and change. After, Sunday night is hockey night in London.



So it was back to where I started the trip :)



Didn't take long to make friends, as usual. Luke (on the left) is from Toronto and, obviously, a Leaf fan. Len, in the Habs shirt, is from Saskatoon. This was taken shortly after the Habs lost to Toronto.



Also included in our impromptu group were Kit (dude in the middle holding the Jays hat) and Jim (not pictured for some reason), also from Toronto.



My Flames shirt also caught the attention of these ladies (from Calgary) who also merged with the ever-growing group.


The rest of the evening is a sad, sorry blur. Habs lost, Flames lost. I then decided to play the good Canadian and join the Toronto boys over at the Sports club where they were showing Sunday afternoon's Islanders-Devils game live (at, like midnight here). That too ended in disaster as the Islanders won to clinch the last playoff spot in the east.


Given the healthy flow of beer last night, this morning has been pretty relaxed. I'm finishing this up, then heading back to the hotel to pack up and check out. I'm maximizing my time at Heathrow to a) explore and b) improve the odds of getting an upgrade.


I'll have one more post with pictures from today and the trip home to Victoria.


In the meantime, cheers from London!