London

London is fantastic.... so much to see and do. We managed to see a couple of things most days, some with the kids and some without depending on the nature of the venue. I reckon even if we had been here for six months, we still wouldn't have seen all there is.

A quick mention that everyone is doing well and have mostly settled in. The girls are living it up shopping, shopping and yes more shopping...there are an abundance of shops to tempt even the most resistant of shoppers ( however i did manage to limit myself to only ONE pair of shoes, and as you know a resistant shopper I'm not!!) Maddie, in six weeks has moved on big-time, lots of changes. It was great seeing Rosie and spending time with them all...

We were lucky enough to be staying only a couple of tube stops from the group household and a little further away from Rose. Another Trip Advisor gem. This one had a great system for the bathroom light at night. One night i got up to go spend a penny(!!) and thought , in an effort not to wake Tone i would leave the light off. However just as my cheeks touched the seat, on came the light. Wow was I suitably impressed with the sensor activation!! . The next morning i mentioned all to Tony , who then asked me to try it out again. Only too willing to share the discovery, I mimed the process again behind a closed door. The light came on! Tony called me out and lo and behold there he was with his hand on the light switch...he had got up the night before and turned the light on for me !!.

The food is amazing. were were told that London had stodgy boring food and it was hard to buy anything fresh...not so at all, it's an epicurean delight. In true Cole fashion food played a BIG part of our stay and the variety of types of food is awesome (asian, middle eastern, european, french patisseries) and they're really big into fresh and organic, so that made me a pretty happy camper :) It was lucky for me that within the first couple of days i had an attack of the bali belly which made it sooo much easier to resist the temptation of the yummy delights. ..hanging around with Nic is great coz she already knows the good eateries!

It's hard to describe the impact of being in the middle of a place such as London, where there is the evidence of the knowledge of history(people, places and events)right before your eyes. There is a sense of unreality as you see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Coronation Throne; St Pauls, Windsor Castle, The Tower of London and London Bridge. To see statues of Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth 1, Wellington, Nelson, Churchill; to walk over the crypts of Issac Newtown, Charles Dickens, to see the tombs of Queens Elizabeth and Mary; to see tradition enacted with the changing of the guards; to see the British Museum with it's displays of ancient and modern events and places...we were awestruck .

Things we did:

British Museuum
Shakespeare at Hampton Court
St Paul's Cathedral The London Eye
Tower Of London
Windsor Castle
Sunday Roast at Richmond after the Meeting
Soho Night walk - VERY enlightening
Westminster Abbey
Hop on, Hop Off Bus Tour
Buckingham Palace

Sorry no photos this time ---blogger keeps crashing every time i,ve tried to download them :(