LONDON, UK - 14 - 19 July 2011

FRIDAY 15 JULY- LONDON, UK

We were very excited to hit the London streets this morning.  We wandered along High Street Kensington because we were staying on a side street off the High Street.  The kids were excited to catch a double decker bus so we jumped on one and headed to Harrods for a shop.  From here we were meeting Ian for lunch and had arranged to meet him outside St Paul's Cathedral.  We caught the tube to meet him.  All these things we take for granted are exciting for the kids; 'Mind the Gap'!

We met Ian and had lunch at a Sushi Train, we all seemed to want to talk at once to tell him our stories so no doubt Ian was worn out after an hour long lunch with us.  From St Paul's we caught another bus which eventually got us back to High Street Kensington.  

Our apartment

We put our feet up for a little while and then headed back out to go on the London Eye.  We had booked on for 8pm.  The London Eye was fabulous, the sites from the very top were incredible and we had very clear views of the City of London and far into the distance.  The whole experience took about 30 minutes.  

Once we were off we walked along the Thames and up over the river to Big Ben.  We arrived under Big Ben just before 9pm so we waited till it struck 9 and then walked over to Westminster Abbey to catch a bus to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. 

Dining at the Hard Rock completed our European Tour of Hard Rock Cafes.  The Hard Rock Cafes we went to were; Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome and London.  Loved them all!  By the end of dinner we were exhausted and very ready for bed.

SATURDAY 16 JULY- LONDON, UK

Today we had organised to meet Jim, Angela and Jim's twin 3 year old boys.  First though, we went to Oxford Street to have a look at the shops.  As usual Oxford Street was absolutely packed.  The rain didn't seem to deter anyone but it was certainly unpleasant to battle the streets in.

We met Jim, Angela and the boys at Waterloo Station.  They had come up from Portsmouth for the day and this was the twins first visit ever to London.  They were very excited.  Because of the wet weather, we decided it would be best to go to a Museum but first we headed to Leicester Square where we got some lunch, tried to dry our shoes out a bit and then we went to the British Museum.  We spent quite  a bit of time here and I think the most interesting part of all for everyone was seeing Cleopatra's mummy.  All of the Egyptian exhibition was exciting and interesting to see.

Cleopatra

We left the Museum and headed towards Oxford Street again where we stopped at a Starbucks for a hot drink and then finally said goodbye to Jim, Angela and the boys.  It was great of them to come to London to see us.  We headed home, quickly changed and headed out again to meet Richard and Karen for dinner at Brinkley's in Earl's Court.  We had such a fabulous dinner with them, Richard as usual entertaining the kids and it was very sad to say goodbye at the end of the night when we jumped into a cab to head home.  Hopefully it won't be so long before we see him again.  Another busy day and another late night but that is definitely London for you.

SUNDAY 17 JULY- LONDON, UK

We slept in this morning because we had had such a late night however once we were up we were keen to get out to see more of London.  Another very wet day so we were seeking indoor activities.  We first caught the tube to Madame Tussard's however the queue was 2 hours long so we decided against that.  We caught the tube back to Leicester Square where we went for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe - exactly the same one that is at Paris Disneyland.  After lunch we thought we would try and see a stage show however we had missed most of the starting times and there weren't anymore on for that day.  Such a shame.  Instead we walked down to Leicester Square and went and saw the movie 'Kung Fu Panda 2'.  We had to find something inside to do because of the rain and the kids were keen to sit for a while so it worked out perfectly.  After the movie we wandered around a little more and then went to China Town for dinner.

MONDAY 18 JULY- LONDON, UK

Our very last full day in Europe/UK.  Quite a sad day, we were feeling a bit melancholy about it because we had been over here for just under 4 months now and had had such an incredible time but it had to come to an end eventually and here it was.  Our last day we spent with Ian, Sal, Olivia, Grace and Zachary.  They came to London and met us at the Science Museum.  Unfortunately we had to spend another day inside because of the weather.  It was quite cold really, incredible that it was summer.  We spent several hours in the museum meandering around enjoying a chat, lunch, coffee stop and all that the museum had to offer.  We certainly talked about a return trip one day because we now realise that this trip is the beginning of more to come, certainly not as long a time away but we know that we can do it with a family of 6 and we are definitely keen to be back sooner rather than later.  Hopefully Christmas with the Fairalls one year.

Godson & Godfather - who has more hair?

We tried to prolong our farewell as much as possible.  We had a quick visit to the Natural History Museum but unfortunately we arrived 30 minutes before closing time.  Soon enough it was time to say a very sad farewell to the Fairalls and we then waved them off in a taxi.  Wish we could have stayed longer but it makes us more inspired to come back again soon.

Farewell ... till next time!

We headed back to our apartment, gathered our bags and our maxi taxi arrived to take us to our hotel, the Ramada at Heathrow.  We decided to spend our last night out near the airport so we could get our flight without fuss the next morning.  Our last night.  Hard to believe.  We had mixed feelings because we didn't want to leave however we were also very excited to get home and see our friends and family again and resume our lives where we left them.

TUESDAY 19 JULY- LONDON, UK

This is it!  We are leaving, our European adventure is over.  We caught our flight, Qantas A380 at 12.20pm and unbelievably we were under in our luggage allowance by 10kg.  Incredible since we had 3 extra suitcases and had bought so much - goes to show how little we came away with when we left.  As we took off, we all were looking out the windows at rainy England, feeling a little sad, as we flew off to Singapore.

Our flight home

Till our last instalment .... x

Slideshow of Dubai ... (highlight text, right click and choose 'Open URL')

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DISNEYLAND, PARIS - 10 -14 July 2011

SUNDAY 10 JULY – THURSDAY 14 JULY- DISNEYLAND, PARIS, FRANCE

We had 5 days at Disneyland.  One day we didn’t go but instead went to the Outlet Mall, went swimming in the pool and also finally dropped our car off to the Peugeot Dealership in Paris.  We had had it for 99 days and did a whopping 15,939 kilometres.  It was covered in bugs and filthy inside and we were really sad to say goodbye to it, it had been our lounge room and home for 99 days.  We then had to get on the train back to Disneyland.  We went for dinner at Planet Hollywood at the Disney Village.

Each day we went to the Disneyland Park or Disney Studios, we arrived around midday but stayed till it closed at 11pm each night.  We went on pretty much every ride and met every character.  The kids had a fabulous time and never tired of it.  Each night we collapsed into bed exhausted, the four kids clutching their Mickey or Minnie Mouses.

We finally had to tear ourselves away and back to reality.  We were booked onto the Eurostar to London at 7.37pm Thursday night.  The trip took just over 2 hours - it was sad to finally leave the Continent, we were slowly on our way home.


Till next instalment ... x

GENEVA, Switzerland - 9 July 2011

SATURDAY 9 JULY – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – DISNEYLAND, PARIS, FRANCE

First thing this morning was to find breakfast somewhere.  We were thrilled to be in Switzerland, in particular Geneva which is such a stunning city.  We headed towards the lake and found a restaurant with croissants and hot chocolates for breakfast.  We then wandered down to Lake Geneva and fed the swans and ducks as we admired the beautiful scenery before us.  Across the lake were fabulous hotels that lined the lake and behind them in the distance was a beautiful range of mountains that would look incredible in winter with the snow on them.  We sat by the lake for a while, the warm sun was lovely.  It has been 12 years and 3 months since Corky and I were here last on our honeymoon – I am still wearing the Tag Heuer watch we bought here.

We were keen to get to Disneyland however we hit the world’s longest traffic jam it seemed.  We sat in it for at least an hour, all because of road works.

We finally arrived into Disneyland.  Each kilometre we got closer, the squeals in the car got louder, we were all on the look out for the first sighting of the Disney castle.  We went straight to our Hotel; The Explorer Hotel, checked in and went to dinner.  After dinner the kids wanted to go swimming in the indoor pool with slides so we got changed and had a late swim.

Till next instalment .... x