Last day in London

On our last day in London, we decided we'd skip the touristy thing and be more practical. I really need new flight stockings- my old ones are laddered and ugly- so we set off in search of a new pair. We obtained information from a very helpful assistant at the Boots Pharmacy at Waterloo station, who wrote down the name, address and phone number of a place called John Bell & Croydon. We bussed it to Housnlow, then tubed it in to Hyde Park Corner, saw Wellington's Monument, Apsley House, and the Royal Horse Guards on our way through Hyde Park up to Marble Arch where we stopped to take a photo of the Arch and were mobbed by pigeons.

After a leisurely stroll down the famous Oxford Street, we arrived at Selfridge's and I suggested we at least go in for a look since we were here. We were assaulted by several assistants spraying us with a variety of perfumes and colognes, all of which I had never heard of. Unlike Harrod's, everything had prices marked on them, so I thought I'd check out the price of the things I need from Clinique. As well as the toner I needed which was much cheaper then Australia, I ended up with a bagful of goodies! Bargain!

Continuing on round the corner to Wigmore Street, we arrived at John Bell & Croydon who had everything you can think of, including a hole wall of flight stockings. They measured me and looked at the numbers on my old ones (very glad I'd popped them in the bag) and 23 pounds later, we were on our way. Another bargain! They were $90 in Australia 4 years ago!

Lunch at the Cock and Lion (I keep wanting to say Cock and Bull!) was a scrumptious chicken and mushroom pie for me, and bangers and mash for Ross, washed down with cider; Stella Artois for me, Bulmers for Ross. Enough to get us on our way! After some more window shopping at Swarovski
(they have some beautiful bracelets for 29 pounds), we headed down to the Oxford Circus tube to take u back to the south-west train home to start packing.

Then off to dinner with Joe and Angela to Saigon Saigon, a very posh looking Vietnamese restaurant near Hammersmith (I think!) The starters were delicious- I've discovered a new favourite herb- mint- in my rice paper rolls and wrapped around the little spring rolls- delicious! I ordered a seafood sizzler sate for mains, but asked them to tone down the spicy chilli which they did thankfully. As it was I could barely eat it. I did manage to get down the scallops, prawns and squid but my lips were burning and nothing would stop it, not water, not wine, not cucumber, not lime, nothing! My lips were still burning this morning when I tried to apply lip gloss.

Joe dropped us right to our door thankfully, as I had worn a sleeveless dress and hadn't taken a scarf (it's packed!) so I was quite chilly in the night air. It still wasn't cold though! I brought so many warm clothes and I haven't needed any of them. Summer dresses and Angela's silver scarf in the early morning and at night were all I wore the whole time here. We've woken up this morning and it's raining- the first rain we've seen! Maybe the weather knows we're leaving- we've had two and a half weeks of brilliant weather, hardly like London at all!

Just waiting for our chauffeur  (Joe and Eli) to take us to the airport. Thank goodness he's an extremely good driver and manages to weave his way our of dangerous situations effortlessly  but not without a blast on his horn to the wrongdoer! I'm not generally a good passenger, but have been very relaxed in the front seat. I've not been so good on the buses though. People just walk straight out in front of then and I have kittens every time! Well I'd better finish my saga here, turn off my laptop and pack it away. Next time it sees light of day, we'll be home, sweet home!

The British Museum and Jolly's Indian Restaurant

With only two days left of our holiday, we headed to the British Museum, train to Waterloo then tube to Tottenham Court Road, too easy! However, my mind drifted off thinking about all the work I had to do when I got home and we completely missed the station. No problem- hopped off at Euston, and caught the tube going back the other way almost immediately,  stayed focussed, and didn't miss it second time round!

We walked up Great Russell Street to the entrance to the British Museum- you can't miss it- it's enormous! First we explored the Ming Dynasty special exhibition- just amazing how old the artifacts were. To put it in perspective, everything here was before Christopher Columbus was even born! What great condition they were in! Next it was off to see Elgin's Marbles. OMG- there's so many of the friezes, the metopes and the pediment pieces here- Athens is NEVER going to be able to get them back from the British Museum- they'll have huge empty spaces on the walls. It would be nice to see them in their original place (the Parthenon) but I can never see that happening.

The left was "under maintenance" so we had to take the stairs. Ross took one look at the stairs and decided to call it a day, as his legs had given up. Mine seem to be getting stronger- maybe I am getting fitter- so on and upwards I went to explore the upper floors on my own. Where do I start? Ancient Britons, Roman Empire, the Etruscans, a magnificent collection of old clocks and watches, and an amazing collection of extremely ancient coins were a few that I remember. I wandered as far as my feet could carry me, and only decided to leave when my right foot caught on fire. (figuratively)

I managed to find my way back to the tube station, and luckily jumped straight on one heading to Waterloo, which is an enormous station/tube complex. I managed to follow the signs to platform 15, where a train was just about to pull out. I hurried to get on, not having time to check if this was the right train. Hah, I thought if I'm on the wrong one, I'll just get off at the next stop and try again, so was very happy to hear I was on the right train when they announced the next station. The train Citymapper  suggested I catch was the express, but this wasn't it. It didn't matter as I wasn't in any hurry.

Walking down the High Street, I spied two bobbies- they're few and far between here- and stopped to take a photo. One of them saw me and asked would I like a photo with him. Hell, yeah! (see photo)
On to home and a short rest and a pint of cider before heading off to dinner at Jolly's across the road where we met Angela and Joe and Eli ( who was sound asleep in his new stroller). Pappadums were followed by samosas, tandoori lamb chops and mushrooms and that was just starters! Mains followed and I had a malayan prawn dish, with coconut, pineapple and cream- every rich and I could only eat half of it. ( I just ate the rest for breakfast!-yummy!)

Home for shower, bed and Glee! I didn't even get to see the end of the episode, and slept like a log all night. Only one day to go!

Westfield and Hampshire Hog

The plan was lunch at the Hampshire Hog, followed by a visit to Westfield. However, we were ready so early we decided to head to Westfield first.  After a few buses, we arrived. It's huge! We had morning tea at Ca'puccino Cafe. I had a basil and lemon real lemon drink- very refreshing and strawberry tiramisu as a change from pannacotta. Off to M&S to buy some polos for Ross. I succumbed to temptation and bought a nightie with " Today I don't feel like doing anything at all" on it, for the days I'm in my nightie all day which according to some people is every day!

Then a couple of buses to the Hampshire Hog where Angela had booked a table outside. It was a beautiful day and was very relaxing sharing roast pork and roast chicken with yorkshire pudding and gravy with Ross, Angela, Joe, Angela's sister Jen, and Katrina Sly all Aussies who live and work in London. After a couple of bottles of really good red wine, and an Irish coffee, we headed home. Somehow we managed to get on the right bus going in the right direction but we had transferred to it actually after the stop we had to get off at. difficult to explain. I kept saying to Ross I don't recognise anything, but the only times we've taken this bus have been late at night on our way home from Joe's and it was still light at this stage.

Once we realised our error, we hopped off and decided to have a coffee while waiting for the return bus. The coffee turned out to be coffee and pannacotta- just can't get enough- at a lovely little Italian restaurant called Canta Napoli at Teddington. Finally arrived home to watch a half hour of TV before bed, but for some reason, did not sleep well at all! Maybe it was all that food!

Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park has been on Ross' bucket list for a while, so we decided we'd get going early and spend the day there. Even so, after a train, a tube and another train, it was just on midday when we arrived. After getting our bearings (it's a huge estate) and looking through the displays in block C, we ate lunch- an egg and bacon sandwich with an elderflower sparkling water for me- and then headed up to the Mansion to join the 1pm tour. Our guide was very informative and we found out everything we wanted to know which no one knew about till 30 years after the war finished. It was fascinating! We heard about the lives of some of the men and women who worked here during the war- over 9,000 on round-the-clock shifts, so 3,000 people coming and going every eight hours and no one in the village ever questioned it. It was wartime I suppose.

This was the place that the codebreakers worked day and night to break the Enigma codes- the Germans made a new code every single day so every single day it had to be broken. The Enigma machine had initially three rotating wheels so when a letter was typed, another letter was selected, I think 25x25x25 possibilities- the only thing that wasn't possible was the same letter was selected! Not much of a hint! As the war progressed, the Germans increased the difficulty of the Enigma machine by adding more wheels. Hitler also had a machine called a Lorenz whose code could only be cracked with the help of Colossus (a huge computer) and Tunny ( to decipher the code). They helped the D-Day invasion succeed by fooling Hitler into thinking they would land near Calais- so very very clever!

The operation started in The Mansion before the war and rapidly expanded to many huts where 3,000 people worked. The Mansion itself wasn't very old by English standards built in the late 1870's and was purchased by the Leon family in 1882. http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk if you want to know more. The saddest thing was Alan Turing  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing who was a major driving force in the development of machines to speed up the decrypting process was found guilty as a homosexual after the war and committed suicide by biting an apple coated in cyanide, whereas the German commander behind the Enigma machines was released after 3 years in jail. No charges were laid.

I tend to get carried away with history and its injustices. I sat sunning myself by the lake (it was a glorious day) while Ross walked a few more miles to actually see the Colossus and Tunny machines. I sat imagining what it would have been like to have been one of the workers back then. They had recordings at points around the lake of meetings between young men and women who worked there, so it was not too difficult to put myself back in history. The park itself is very peaceful with so much history that was secret for so long!

We then trained it back to Euston and headed to Joe and Angela's for a delicious Chinese takeaway, washed down with an Argentinian red- very multicultural. Joe dropped us back to our apartment- I don't think we could have managed an eight bus trip today- and once again I was showered and in bed asleep in seconds.

Blenheim Palace and Lacock Medieval Village

Up early, showered, dressed, and ready to go to Blenheim, Winston Churchill's birthplace. Whilst waiting for Joe and Eli, we grabbed a coffee downstairs at the Whitton Cafe. Bad mistake! By the time we arrived at Blenheim Palace, I was beyond busting! To add to my distress we had to park miles away! The cool wind was blowing straight through me as I scurried across the palace grounds to find the loo. I was tempted to ease my pain by using the nearest tree except the grounds were buzzing with people- nowhere to hide! Arrggghhh!

We started the tour with the State Rooms, which have some beautiful porcelain collections. I loved the Chinese collections- they'd be worth a pretty penny and are very pretty as well- but was entranced by the book collection in the Great Hall. Almost every book looked like first editions, with a preponderance of history books. Scattered amongst them, I spied a few classics; Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Sadly, the huge room wasn't very conducive to curling up with a good book as most of the lounge chairs looked to be extremely uncomfortable ( not that I actually dared to sit on one!)

We wandered out to the Water Gardens overlooking the beautiful lake. It was here that we enjoyed "morning tea" of coffee and cake, even though it was past noon. I wanted to walk along the lakeside as apparently it's a beautiful walk, but alas, if I wanted to get to Lacock, there wouldn't be time. You can't do everything, although you can try! There was also an Arboretum, Rose Garden and Cascades which we didn't get to see. We did walk down to the Butterfly House, which was hot and humid but very pretty. Most of the flowers are common in Australia, but were much healthier specimens than my potted variety. The walk to the Butterfly House had knackered me, so Joe walked back to get the car while we stayed with Eli. We pushed him down to the Marlborough Maze, but the recommended time was 25 minutes so we didn't venture in to try to solve it.

We all piled back into the car and everyone nodded off to sleep except Joe ( thank goodness, as he was driving!) We arrived at Lacock at 4pm just in time for lunch! I wasn't hungry until I read the menu, and suddenly I was starving! Ross and I ordered the broccoli and stilton soup, which was indescribably delicious and then I ordered beef and ale pie with chips and peas, while Ross had moroccan lamb pie, and Joe had fish- all served with chips as they're supposed to be. I was actually full after the soup as it came with fresh crusty bread and butter and I should have stopped there. I really have to learn to stop eating so much!

Ross and I then headed off to the Abbey actually called St Cyriac's Church. I really enjoyed its simple beauty. Built in 1271 ( I think) it has survived through the centuries uncelebrated and still serves as a church to the village. I love places like this! Then it was time to head back to London. We were thoroughly exhausted (again!) but had enjoyed a wonderful day exploring the countryside with Joe and Eli, who is the best, most uncomplaining baby you will ever hope to meet.

"The Book of Mormon" and Harrods

Finally, a sleep in! Today's the day we're going to see a West End show recommended by Angela; "The Book of Mormon" matinee. After finding the Prince of Wales theatre and exchanging our piece of paper for tickets, we looked for a place to have some lunch. Not a lot of choice- TGI Friday's, Concerto Caffe or the Angus Steakhouse. We chose the latter as we both had a hankering for steak.

Styled along the lines of Hog's Breath,we had high expectations of the size and tastiness of the meal, so we skipped starters and went straight for mains. 40 minutes later, and a couple of enquiries, we were served our meal, which was average at best. The onion rings were delicious, but my steak was quite tough. I'd had a glass of red which I'd finished while waiting for the meal so didn't enjoy it nearly as much as if I'd had it with the meal. I must say the staff were fantastic though; very friendly and helpful. We didn't have time for dessert if  we were going to make the show on time, so determined to return for the double dessert if we couldn't find anywhere else.

Our seats were not far from the back but we had an excellent view as the theatre wasn't very big. "The Book of Mormon" was very funny and irreverent from the very start, but I wouldn't say I fell in love with the music. They received a standing ovation at the conclusion of the show- the actors were extremely well-cast- especially Arnold Cunningham.

We headed off to look for dessert and found ourselves back at the Steakhouse, ordering the massive (see photo) rocky road sundae to share. For your information, we tried very hard but we just couldn't eat the lot. We helped wash it down with a coffee- mine was the Irish variety. Delicious!

After that feast, I was ready for home, but Ross encouraged me to take a "quick visit" to Harrod's. Let me tell you there is no such thing as a quick visit to Harrod's! It occupies an entire block at Knightsbridge, with five complete floors divided into separate sections or even shops. We started at the top, "Shoe Heaven", and slowly descended via the Egyptian escalator. Most items were unpriced, and the few markdowns I did find were still very expensive! A beach towel was marked down from 280 to 99 pounds about $160, four times the price I would normally pay. Needless to say,  I left it there on the shelf.

Next was the Disney shop where we did actually buy some reasonably priced items ( not for ourselves!)  and kept on going down, down, down to the ground floor. By the time we exited it was almost closing (9pm) and we had a long way to go home. Fortunately we managed to "tube" it all the way to Hounslow East, then bus it home right to our Fourways Corner. The transport system here is magnificent! Completely knackered, it was shower and bed for me.

Brighton

After a day of rest and relaxation and a beaut barbie at Joe and Angela's, we headed off to Brighton. First the train to Clapham Junction, then change for the train to Brighton. Easy! We'll be there at 10.25 I message Rosa. An unforeseen problem with signals at Haywards Heath delayed our arrival by an hour and a quarter. After sitting for an hour in the train, everyone was transferred to another train which was standing room only, but there was no chance of falling over as we were in like sardines. A young girl offered me her seat, which I politely declined as I didn't think it could be far to Brighton. I'll accept next time- my feet were on fire by the time the train pulled into the station.

Ross recognised Rosa immediately: I was a bit slower. We headed towards the sea: Brighton Pier was the only thing I knew about Brighton, but there's so much more! Rosa took us there via the Lanes, the old fishing village section of town, where shops now occupy the fishermen's huts, and the streets are winding and narrow. I loved it! After a short walk, we came across Choccywoccydoodah, which Hannah said was worth a visit. What an understatement! We climbed the stairs to the cafe where we each had a different hot chocolate; more like a meal than a drink! I've never seen or tasted anything like it!

Then through more lanes to a courtyard with a pretty fountain, then down to the King's Road and on to the Pier. I was determined to walk to the end which I did! The Pier was all I imagined it to be. We loved the old music from the seventies and eighties which I always associate with places like this; Lido Shuffle, Xanadu and Walkin' on Sunshine to name a few. Ross dared me to go on the roller coaster at the end of the pier- is he crazy?

We strolled back to the foreshore where we enjoyed fish'n'chips at OhSoSocial, which Rosa had recommended as one of the few fish'n'chip places on the seafront that is delicious and reasonable priced. This is the value of seeing a place with a local! I ordered a Sol beer, but was brought a Heineken- I was so thirsty I could have drunk both! Ross had a passionfruit Rekorderlig, and Rosa had a Speckled Hen. Funny name for a beer!  The fish and chip meals were delicious too.

After dipping my toes in the pebbles (no sand here), we headed back to the Royal Pavilion gardens where we rested once again: this time for a coffee. Just a beautiful relaxing place to be; families and young people enjoying picnics on the lawns, a busker playing guitar, and a general sense of peacefulness.

Rosa left us here to enjoy the Royal Pavilion on our own. We went inside and checked out the first two rooms, but there was nowhere to sit so I decided to buy a book instead. Oh God, I hope Stacey doesn't read this. It was getting quite late so we decided we'd head back to the station to catch the train back to London. We arrived just on dark completely knackered, but what a wonderful day we'd had!