London Day 2

First up today was a train ride to St Pauls Cathedral. I really loved this church last time and visiting it for a second time was just as exciting...

Photography is not allowed inside but I couldn't resist taking a shot of the dome from inside my handbag. This picture shows the viewing gallery above the arches we climbed to and looked down into the cathedral and the very top of the Dome.

Looking down into St Pauls from gallery

 Peter and I left Dad on the outside balcony enjoying the view of London while we climbed the steep spiral stairs to the very top of the Dome where there is a little viewing window down into the Cathedral...

And then step outside for a fantastic view over London...

We had an early lunch in the cafe at St Pauls then caught the train to find the United Grand Lodge of England Freemason's Hall. We were running a bit late for the 12pm tour and in our haste of looking for the building we went into the first one we saw with word "Grand" on it. Dad rushes up to the desk and asks if we have missed the tour, the lady looks at him strangely and suggests perhaps we are looking for the building next door. We were in this hotel... 

After much laughter we find the correct place and are very pleased when they let us join the tour late. It was actually quite interesting and our tour man was very passionate and was very informative...

A very happy Freemason

United Grand Lodge of England Hall

 Back on the train to Kensington and a walk to Kensington Palace. They have had a refurbishment in the Palace and it is now open to the public. The gardens have also been tidied up and looked lovely... 

We met Peter's workmate Frank and his wife Dawn here for a cuppa. They had come over from Paris for the day...

We then went for a tour through the Palace. It wasn't that appealing inside but it was interesting seeing some of Princess Diana's dresses on display...

We sat outside and chatted to this 90 year old man who comes everday to feed the squirrels nuts. He was very interesting and let us feed some squirrels...

So very very cute!

We then went walking to High Street in Kensington and went shopping in Marks and Spencer. The men found some shorts to buy. Then we went back into "Whole Foods" and I bought some healthy snacks. We decided to buy our tea from here and for 7 pound you can fill a little container up with any food from a choice of about 60 salads and hot foods. Great value and great food...

Exhausted from another busy day we caught a taxi back home.

London Day 1

We woke up early with the early morning sun and very confused body clocks. After some breakfast we packed up and walked down to the local train station Earl's Court. The men worked out which one we were to catch to Buckingham Palace...

We looked in a few shops around the Palace then made our way to a spot to watch the changing of the guard ceremony...

It goes on for quite a while so we ventured down away from the front of the Palace to the side and had a great view of the guards marching back and forth-with these two coming right up to us and one of them poking his tongue out at us... 

We then went for a walk through Green Park next to the Palace to hunt for a toilet (little did we know how many toilets we would have to find over the next 3 weeks!) We found one at the train station.

We then went wandering along various streets admiring all things so British - High tea in the Ritz...

Patriotic streets...

Beautiful old buses...

We eventually made our way to Trafalgar Square...

And then onto Downing Street...

Where security is very high...

We found a cafe that was pretty ordinary to have some lunch only to find a much better one closer to the London Eye. Peter decided fast track tickets for the Eye were the way to go so we skipped the queues and were soon enjoying the great views over London...

Next we visited the beautiful historic Westminster Abbey. It was great to get a perspective of where William and Kate stood when they got married in there last year. We had some afternoon tea in there and bought a few souvenirs...

Then it was back on the train and out to Harrods. Once again a toilet was a priority and we went up and down different floors as someone on each floor told us it was somewhere different all the time - got to have a good look around Harrods though!

I was told the food hall was a must see and it didn't disappoint...

Janelle - have you ever seen so many different types of dates??...

A Harrod's Shopper

One side of Harrod's had the traditional green awnings removed and decorations up for the Queen's Jubilee...

With a few Harrod's shopping bags we went back to our area and had tea in a local cafe which was very nice then home to rest our weary feet.

Off we go!

After months of planning it was time for Peter, Dad and I to head off to London and Europe. Yesterday was a mad rush organising the dogs and the house for Nicole. We finally loaded the car and drove up to Perth. After checking in we sat around and waited for our flight to Dubai at 10.30pm.

It was a good 11 hour flight, not too bumpy and nice food but still couldn't sleep...

  We sat around in Dubai airport for a few hours - it is very big but also very busy and full of shops. Finally time to board bound for London on the big A380...



A very hazy Dubai

   After another 7 hours flying we arrived in London, got through customs quite quickly and found our driver who took us to our accomodation in Earls Court. We checked into The Mansions and settled into our little apartment...

We went for a walk and did some food shopping and discovered this fantastic 3 storey health food shop called "Whole Foods". I could have spent hours in there exploring...

I settled on a green smoothie...

 We then decided to sort out Oyster cards for our underground train travel we would be doing over the next few days and caught the train into the London central area...



Dad got his first look at Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and the London Eye...







We had tea at the local pub called the Blackbird and then made our way home exhausted.