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Gulliver's House is a small but very friendly affair, right in the heart of Rome's backpacker area. With only three dorm rooms, it's little more than a large apartment tucked into a building; but both the staff and the people are very friendly, and the lounge/TV room is a great place to hang out and shmooze (or to just watch The Simpsons all night). Sadly, as with all good places in Europe, you do need to book this place ahead — but if you're able to plan exactly when you'll be staying there, it's well worth the effort.

That's it for England: this evening, I flew out of the country, and now I'm in Rome! As with the US, England has been nice and easy: no language barrier; everything home-like and familiar; and really, nothing that took me radically by surprise. But then again, England's also boring, it's expensive, and the weather is foul. It's quite funny: although this is the first time I've been to England, I feel like I may as well have been here a thousand times before, as it's so socially and culturally similar to Australia, and as I've learned and heard so much about it for my entire life. Anyway, now I'm in Italy, and that should be far from boring: new language; new cuisine; and new craziness.

Before I scooted off out of England this afternoon, I managed to duck into one of London's big bookstores, and to stock up on some literary resources that I'll need for Italy et al. For my planned trip to Sicily, I grabbed a copy of the Nat Geo Sicily guide, as well as a detailed (as in 1:200,000) map of Sicily, and another map of Southern Italy (from Naples to the tip). Additionally, I threw in the LP Italian phrasebook; and for my journeying in Central Europe, the LP German phrasebook. Hopefully, all that will get me through the next few months in Europe.

This morning, I just managed to fit in two things that I really wanted to do, before leaving London. I visited the British Museum — one of the largest museums in the world, holding some of history's most famous artifacts — and I caught up properly with Jack (as last night, the music and the beer were so good that we didn't have a chance). I'm very glad that I've done both those things: although really, one morning in the British Museum is a bit of a joke — you could wander around it for a week, and still only see a quarter of it.

I haven't been to a huge amount of live entertainment, thus far on my trip. But tonight, I was in for a treat: Max and Joel took Jack and myself out to a club in London's West End, which is famous for its all-star line-up of Monday night jazz music. Apparently, the place is crowded and sleazy (and the music sucks) on other nights. But every Monday, they have this setup where a great band — comprised of some of England's best-known jazz musicians — play for an hour or two; and then, they hand over the floor to amateur musicians, which is anyone who's walked in the door (with their instrument, preferably), and who is willing to get on stage and to join in, improv style. No cover charge, either. This is a great show, and it's also clearly a huge opportunity for aspiring musicians to get themselves heard. Anyone's welcome, but the night is certainly first and foremost "by musicians, for musicians".

It's been a looong time — over 6 months, in fact. During that time, we've both been reasonably lazy in keeping track of each other, and we've both made a few (failed) attempts to meet up. But now, finally, we've managed to successfully organise a reunion. Tonight, I met up with my mate Jack, whom I met back in Cusco, and with whom I went on that famous adventure, those many moons ago! Jack's one of the greatest people I've met on this trip, and it was good to see that he hasn't changed at all: it was totally sweet to see him again.

These two lads are flat-sharing here in London's Mile End area, and they're being kind and hospitable enough to host my mate Jack, during his week or so in the city. Max is a London local, and Joel's originally an Irish boy. Max met Jack a few years ago, when he was backpacking round the world, and when he crashed at Jack's place in Adelaide. Now he's returning the favour. Great blokes.

Meininger London, an English branch of a German chain of hostels, is a funny one. Nice location, in South Kensington; and nice rooms, facilities, and all that. But it's a bit weird, as hostels go. Doesn't seem to be much of a backpacker place: I guess the fact that they have a conference centre, and proper hotel rooms as well, contributes to this being the case. Plus, not much of a hangout area anywhere, which is a bit disappointing. Anyway, it's good if you want to stay somewhere nice for a short time, and if you're not too concerned about meeting fellow travellers or not.

I needed to get the bus back from Bath to London this morning — but I hadn't booked a ticket; and I had no idea what the departure times were (I tried checking yesterday, but the terminal was closed). As it turned out, I was really, really lucky: I checked out of St. Christopher's, rocked up at the bus terminal at 9:40am, and just managed to jump on the 9:45am express bus to London! Phew — would have been quite a wait if I'd missed it. See, turns out that you don't have to plan and book-ahead everything here in Europe: sometimes you can get away with doing it the Latin way — i.e. turn up, and go somewhere, just like that.

Following the afternoon's Stonehenge tour, my final evening in Bath was quite easy-going. Just wandered up to the chill-out room at St. Christopher's, and made good use of their extensive video library by watching a few movies. I saw one called "Sleepers", a disturbing but very well-produced film about boys in juvenile prison in the 60s. Also saw one of my old favourites, "American Pie 2", with a few crazy American kids, who wandered upstairs as well (their pick). Plus, I couldn't resist a bit more curry for dinner. Nothing like a good Sunday night in front of the telly.