We're Home

After a couple of long flights. Thecranegirls are back home.

Our Final Day in London

Train to Gatwick

It's been a busy last day in England. This evening we returned to Victoria Station and collected our baggage before catching the Gatwick Express. Brooke was really impressed by this train. We're not sure if she was comparing it to all trains or just the ones she had been on over the last few weeks.

After arriving at the airport terminal, we caught a small shuttle train over to the main airport area and the Sofitel where we were staying the night. The girls worked on their journals in the lobby of the hotel before going to bed.

Big Ben

After Westminster Abbey we walked around the corner to the Elizabeth Tower which contains Big Ben. This landmark has always been a favorite of Courtney's and although we had seen it earlier in the week, it was nice to get up close. The girls were given another of their Lifescout badges which they were pretty happy about.

Then we caught the tube to Bond Street and met Louise at Selfridges on Oxford Street. We had dinner at Yo Sushi, of which both Courtney and Brooke have become big fans.

Westminster Abbey

This afternoon we visited Westminster Abbey, which is primarily a church but also serves as the the place of coronation for the kings and queens of England and the church in which Prince William and Princess Kate were married.

There is a whole section of the church called Poets Corner where a lot of famous writers and musicians have been buried or a monument has been erected to acknowledge their life.

The Last Lunch

It's fair to say the girls are now very good at negotiating the London Tube, walking through busy crowds and taking their lunch in any corner pub. It is now fairly seamless to arrive, find a wifi network and order a lemonade with lunch. We're going to miss this lifestyle.

Tower Bridge and the Tower of London

This morning the girls and Dad caught the tube to the Tower Hill station and then walked down the hill to the waterfront where we could get  a good view of the Tower Bridge. Ever since he was a little boy, Dad had thought this bridge was called the London Bridge and it was this bridge mentioned in the nursery rhyme - but he was wrong. The London Bridge is a little further along the Thames.

Just next to the Tower Bridge is the Tower of London. It is another castle which is a lot smaller the Windsor Castle but still very impressive. It was interesting to learn that past Kings had collected a lot of exotic animals and kept them inside the castle grounds. In some places you can see bricked areas which may have been used for animal enclosures. Apparently at one time there were lions, tigers, elephants and even a polar bear living inside the castle walls.

We saw most of the Crown Jewels which had been made since English Civil War. We were lucky Queen Elizabeth II's crown was there because she had worn it the previous day at the opening of parliament. We were not allowed to take any photos of the crown jewels, not even of the old rickety boxes that were built long ago to keep them in.

  

It was really cold the day we went to the Tower of London and there were long lines to get into each building so the girls quickly lost interest in going to see the gallows or places where people were executed. We did go and look at the exhibition about how the money was made and all the different types of weapons the royal soldiers have used over the centuries.

Les Miserables

This afternoon the girls went to see Les Miserables on stage. They were both really impressed.

The British Museum

This morning saw us of to the British Museum for a wander around. It's fair to say the museum experiences are all blending together for the girls (and Dad) and their interest levels are decreasing.

Still, it was good to see the Rosetta Stone and a sphinx statue. Courtney had learnt about them in school and she spent a lot of time teaching Brooke everything she knew.

With only a couple of days left in London, it's starting to dawn that this adventure is coming to an end. The girls are excited to get home and see Mum and Tiger, but at the same time they know there is so much more to see here.

A Busy Day

This morning we caught our first double decker bus. Courtney quickly worked out the direction and bus number we needed and we were lucky enough to have the whole top deck to ourselves. We sat right at the front and had an awesome view of the streets below us.

We took the bus to Earls Court tube station where there is a real blue police box which is designed to look just like the TARDIS. We're not really sure what purpose the box serves but it looks like some sort of CCTV station.

From Earls Court we caught the tube over to Charing Cross Station. In another moment where you come out of the underground and know you are standing somewhere special, we walked up the steps and found ourselves standing in the middle of Trafalgar Square with all the monuments and fountains.

We walked to the M&M World which was four floors of every colour and merchandise you could think off! Awesome place - you can buy (and spend top dollar) on anything there and it will have an M&M logo on it. There was a wonderful smell of chocolate in the air.

Then we walked on the National Portrait Gallery which houses one of the weirdest things we have seen. Marc Quinn's sculpture entitled 'Self' is a self-sculpture made out of 8 pints of his own frozen blood!

Then we went to the National Gallery and saw works from Van Gogh and Monet. Dad and thecranegirls have really sponged up the culture in the last month. We have taken to stopping and looking at only the art which takes our fancy. There is just too much of it to take it all in.

To end the day, we went on to the British Cartoon Museum which was a little too political and over all our heads - so we went to the pub next door for a lemonade.

London Zoo and Regents Park

Today we caught the tube to Camden and then walked to the London Zoo. We were lucky, having the London Pass cards got us express entry and we seemed to have half an hour in the zoo without too many other people.

The zoo was impressive and had a lot of reptiles and a large aquarium exhibit, but on the whole it was similar to Perth Zoo. A great experience and another lesson on how well we have things at home. One of the cool things about the zoo is the girls (unknowingly) visited another location where they filmed a Harry Porter movie. In the photo below the girls are standing right on the spot Harry Potter was sitting when he spoke to the snake for the first time.

After the zoo, we walked through Regents Park on our way to catch up with Dad's cousin Bryan who lives in London. The gardens were absolutely beautiful! Pa would spend hours wandering around theses gardens.

The Royal Mews

Just down the road from Buckingham Palace, we visited the Royal Mews. This is the place where all the Queen's horses and carriages are kept.

We had a guided tour and we met some of the horses. We got to see the Australian carriage and learnt it has electricity installed to operate the air conditioning and heating.

Buckingham Palace

We went to Buckingham Palace today and got to see the guards standing smartly to attention out the front - and some policemen leaning on the corner of the building chatting to each other.

Dad did not think too much of Buckingham Palace and can see why the queen prefers to spend her weekends at Windsor Castle. The Palace (on the outside at least) is fairly bland and does not have any where near the character of Windsor Castle.

The gardens were in full bloom and there were lots and lots of people taking photos of themselves, the buildings and monuments.

Veronica and Albert Museum

We visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, (which is more commonly known as the VnA/V&A) today. The girls and Dad gave it a little of a whirl wind tour looking for the music exhibition that Louise had seen here years ago. They searched high and low but we did not find any musical instruments, but they did find some very interesting miniature portraits. These paintings are on broaches or items of similar size but they are very detailed portrait paintings. You needed a magnifying glass to see some of them and it is amazing how life like a painting that size can be.

The Science Museum

We went to the Science Museum to finish off the afternoon. It was pretty cool with areoplanes, steam engines and space craft along with lots of other things. Dad has since found out that we missed about a third of the museum and not because we ran out of time, we just did not see the sections on the map. We'll have to go back there one day and finish off all the areas we missed. 

Windsor Castle

We've just visited Windsor Castle. Although the Queen was in residence, she did not invite us in for tea.

We saw around the state rooms and watched the changing of the guards as well as looking through the St George's Cathedral. It was amazing to see the areas which had been restored after a fire. In some places they had simply turned the burnt floor boards over and resurfaced the other side.

The girls got to see the doll house which was made for Queen Mary. Although it was never to be a toy, the doll house has contributions from many different artists, furniture makers etc. It was to be a show case of all the best things in England, on a miniature scale. It even has running water!

Courtney liked the Cathedral most of all because of the area dedicated to the Knights of the Garter. Each Knight is permitted to select their coat of arms and above their seat they display their sword and 'colours'

First Day in London

London

We have arrived in London and the girls have already experienced a lot of the London Underground. We left the hire car at Heathrow Airport and caught the train into the city. From there we caught a 'black cab' to our apartment which is in a lovely part of town.

It was a beautiful day outside so we walked went for a coffee and then walked through the Kensington Gardens and into Hyde Park. We saw the Albert Memorial, Albert Hall and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It has been a bright and warm day in London and the gardens looked wonderful. The fountain was funny because there was a security guard preventing the children from playing in one section of the Diana Memorial. Obviously there had been a few too many kids slipping over in that particular part.

Just when the girls had given up on walking, Louise took us back on the tube to Westminter. It was amazing walking out of the tube station and realising your standing at the base of Big Ben. It really hits home that you have arrived in London.

We went on the London eye but as the sun was so bright and setting, it was at times a touch warm inside the glass room and a little uncomfortable. Still the views were pretty good and Dad and the girls are pretty excited to see all of the places we are going to visit up close over the next week.

The Winchester City Mill

It's been a lazy old day in Winchester. We has a sleep in and the wandered into town to look at a traditional working flour mill. The stream powers a water wheel which turns the gears which in turn move a big stone which grinds the corn into flour.

It's easy to see why Louise misses Winchester. It is a very pretty little town with crystal clear streams running right through the parks.

On the way home we did some window shopping and Brooke bought herself a finger ring which is a lizard, wrapping around her finger.

This evening we went toThe Wykeham Arms for dinner.

Walking the Streets of Winchester

We went to the Winchester Cathedral this afternoon. The catherdral has been in place in various forms since 648 AD.

There was a huge stain glass window which was made up of lots of pieces of broken glass. The pieces came from previous windows of the church, which were smashed during the English Civil War.

The author Jane Austin is buried within the cathedral but no one really knows why, because she only lived in Winchester for 8 weeks before she died and she was not famous when she died.

The crypt of the cathedral floods according to the rain and there is a statue in the crypt which aside from it being a monument - it also acts as a depth gauge. On the day we went the floor was only partially wet but we are told it gets as deep as his knees after heavy rain.

One of the memorials inside the cathedral honors a man who spent 6 years diving in the dark water under the cathedral, single handedly working to install concrete supports to the foundations of the cathedral.

Courtney really doesn't like all these churches. She is a little put off by the fact historical places if worship have become tourist attractions charging an entry fee and also because you have to step on peoples remains in order to walk around the church.

Afterwards, we wandered the streets of Winchester and CJ bought a new colorful backpack which she loves. Then we went to the pub - for the WiFi.

Winchester

Thecranegirls are currently in Winchester, staying in a three storey house - with no internet connection!

We're all taking a little break from the frantic tourist lifestyle and the girls have taken to playing Risk, a board game of army strategy. We're having a ball but at the same time wasting the beautiful sunny days that are outside.

Last night we went to the Bush Inn in Ovington for dinner.

We're here until Friday when we move into London for the last week. Then it will be back to madly trying to see and experience all we can as quick as we can.