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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Our flight home |
Till our last instalment .... x
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