Monday, June 29, 2009

London Trip

Well, we have returned from London and a great time was had by all.

I will post some pictures up, but we spent Thursday and Friday touring around London and saw all the major sites, went to the Tower of London, rode on all forms of London transport including a Thames River cruise and had a memorable lunch in a small pub off Oxford St where we had fish, chips and mushy peas!

Highlights included Trafalgar Square which was busy and the girls were impressed with the size of the lion statues; the Big Bus Tour of London in which we rode around in the open top double decker bus; the Tower of London and the showing of medieval weaponry and the Crown Jewels and Westminster Abbey late on our last day in which the sunset made the Abbey look very pretty.

We also did the London Eye and I was impressed that we were on board 10mins after buying a ticket.  They sold tickets at 17 pounds for adults, 8.50 for kids but you could buy "Express" tickets for 27 pounds a head.  Given that our general tickets got us on board in 10mins, I would say the express is a rip off!  But the trip or "flight" itself was excellent and we went late in the day when the sun was well and truly on the way down... very pretty.

We also caught up with our nephew Scotty who has been in London since last October and we had a nice dinner out at an Italian place and drank a bit... we had just 2 bottles of wine but given we have been in the middle east for a while it perhaps had a touch stronger effect ;-)

Our accommodation was better than I expected... pokey yes, but it was clean and modern and it was within walking distance of Bayswater tube station and Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens.  The girls loved the Peter Pan themed Gardens and playground and we were "forced" to go back for one last play before our car picked us up for the airport.

All in all, a bit whirlwind, but a great trip and I am glad that Niki and the girls got to experience the benefits of being close to Europe so early in the piece... since coming home, sleeping patterns have been a bit out of whack and whilst I have gone back to work, Niki & the girls have been able to sleep in but then last night the girls were still wide awake after 11pm...

Now we have to think "what next"?

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